Roulette is a game of chance where the ball is spun around in a revolving compartment of a spinning wheel. Players place bets on which red or black numbered numbers will come up. Some bets are more specific and have a lower payout, while others offer a larger payout but a higher risk.
Origin
Although there are a few fanciful theories about the origins of roulette, the game is generally agreed to have been invented by a 17th-century French physicist named Blaise Pascal. His attempts to invent perpetual motion may have failed, but he did come up with the concept of a wheel with slots marked with Os (odds) and Es (evens). It wasn’t until the mid-18th century that the game came to France where it was given its current name, after which it spread rapidly across Europe. Other influences on the modern game are said to have been English Even-Odd games, and Italian board games such as Hoca and Biribi. However, these attributions remain unproven. Until around 1900, encyclopaedias usually described a roulette wheel that had 38 numbers as ‘Italian Roulette’.