Role of Zero in Roulette History

Zero has a special place in roulette. It is considered that this number on the roulette wheel provides the casino with its house edge. This statement is valid only for outside bets that lose when the ball lands at zero. If you make inside bets, the casino's advantage is provided by a mismatch between actual chances of winning and payout multipliers.

But all of this can be attributed to little nuances. In any case, zero attracts much more attention than other numbers. The double zero is the main feature of American roulette. Interesting rules such as La Partage and En Prison are connected with zero, too.

Moreover, many players, including superstitious people, believe that the zero has mystical powers. So, let's discuss this in detail and find out where this number on the roulette table came from and how it influenced the development of roulette.

Brief Roulette History

Nobody knows who invented roulette, but many believe that this game, in its simplest form, was created by the French mathematician Blaise Pascal.

By 1796, roulette had already been available in Parisian casinos. Jacques Lable described it in the novel "La Roulette, ou le Jour," where he mentioned the games with 0 and 00 numbers.

So, there is every reason to believe that the first classical roulette had 0 and 00.

Blanc Brothers' Roulette

Only in 1843 did the brothers Francois and Louis Blanc, who had a casino in Hamburg, remove the double zero from roulette to reduce the house edge from about 5.5% to 2.7%. A new version of the game was attractive to more customers, but it did not bring the expected flow of visitors.

The Monte Carlo casino was constructed in Monaco in 1858. A few years later, Francois Blanc signed a contract, and the casino became his property for fifty years; it had already opened under his leadership.

Roulette in the USA

First, he set to casino roulette with two zeros, but later, he employed a single zero game due to a lack of customers. The local public appreciated it, and the number of players increased dramatically. Soon, Europe had almost no roulettes with 00.

But in the US, the situation developed in a completely different scenario. According to the research of the famous historian of gambling, Hoyle, in the late nineteenth century, the United States casinos used a wheel with the following numbers:

• from 1 to 28,
• 0,
• 00,
• and a symbol of the country - the bald eagle, the same as zero.

The payouts were significantly lower than the real odds of winning, so the house edge in roulette was very high.

But over time, competition forced the owners of gambling houses to add numbers to the wheel. Thus, the game, which is now called American roulette, was born. Despite globalization, this situation is still preserved. In land-based US casinos, roulette is more familiar with two zeros, while in Europe, this game is without 00.

However, we should note that American roulette has the En Prison rule, which significantly reduces the house edge in the outside bets. As readers of Casinoz know from previous articles on our website, French roulette is the best option for a player.

In large modern online casinos, there are several roulettes, including European, French, and American ones, games with two balls or several wheels, and even no-zero roulettes. It can be a game based on a random number generator, with live dealers, 3D technologies, or a mobile roulette for smartphoes. In general, it is a game to everybody's taste.

Here are some cool online roulette from famous software providers.

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