What is Roulette?
Play Live Online Roulette

Live Online Roulette | Blog | What Is Roulette?

It is difficult to imagine a casino without a roulette wheel. Labeled as ‘the King of all Casino Games’, Roulette is probably the most popular casino game all over the world. The name ‘roulette’ originates from the French word which means ‘small wheel’. As referred to by the name, the basic constituent of this game is the roulette wheel which is placed on a roulette table.

The roulette wheel used in a casino has several areas on it, it has been divided into 37 slots for the European and French version of roulette and into 38 slots for the other wheel, its American counterpart. The slots contain the numbers from 1 to 36 plus a single zero for the European wheel or the same numbers plus two zero compartments (numbered as 00) in American roulette. The compartments are alternatively colored black and red with the zero compartments colored as green.

Players choose to place their roulette bets on either numbers, a range of numbers, on whether the number is odd or even, or the color red or black. The croupier spins the roulette wheel in a particular direction and the ball in the opposite direction along a tilted track which runs along the circumference of the wheel. As eventually the ball loses momentum and falls into a particular compartment, the winning number and color is determined. The chances of the ball falling into any compartment are absolutely random and unknown to anyone and this is what makes it an exciting gambling game.

Historically, the first forms of roulette seem to have developed in France in the 18th century. There are also stories about a Chinese monk who devised the earliest from of roulette where the wheel was a standing one and was called ‘The Wheel of Fortune’.

References to the current form of the game date back to as early as 1796. By 1800, roulette had become a rage all over Europe and the U.S.A. After restrictions were imposed upon gambling by the Germans, the only legal casino operation was set up at Monte Carlo, where roulette became the premiere game and was exported all over the world except for America, where their own counterpart of the game remained dominant. There are legends about Frenchman François Blanc (who was the kingpin of the casino haven in Monte Carlo) having bargained with the devil to obtain secrets of the roulette. This belief had its roots in the fact that the sum of all numbers on the roulette wheel (from 1 to 36) sum up to ‘666’.

Today and since the birth of the online gambling scene it is possible for you to play roulette 24/7 on the internet.