Roulette is a French word which means “small wheel”. There have been no proper origin details of using the spinning wheel as a gambling tool mechanism. There are traces found out that this mechanism has been started during the Greco-Roman period. The spinning wheel had an attachment of an arrow which pointed towards the space which is marked on the wheel. History states that, Greeks played the game on their shields which had a metal point as their revolving object. The shield was marked with equally divided spaces on the surface. When the shield stopped rotating, the arrow that pointed towards the space is chosen as the winning space.
The spinning wheel was also used as a torture element by the Chinese, who loved gambling. The victim was placed between two rapidly rotating wheels which were placed on either side of the victim, i.e. one wheel is placed in front of his chest while the other wheel was located at his back. These wheels were embedded with spikes which were again in different sizes. The gamble then begins where the betting is carried against the wheel or the number on the wheel. A person who has chosen a bigger number and who is also fat will be sliced by the wheel in its first rotation itself. A person who is thin and has chosen a smaller number such as 5 may get some scratches on his body and will survive.
Roulette has been considered to be originated from the French land for a long time as the French Mathematician “Blaise Pascal” invented the same in the year 1655. A few others believed the fact that the early French Dominican Monks have invented the game for their entertainment in their monasteries. But, there are facts that prove the game being played a century ago before the French Roulette gained popularity inParisby the end of the French Revolution (1789-1799). The games that were played before the Roulette were the Italian Hoca and the American game of E – O (Even and Odd).
The Hoca game which was played much before the Roulette was a very popular game in Europe. Cardinal Mazarin, the then chief minister of France and counselor to King Lois XIII and King Lois XIV, constructed casinos all over the Franceduring the 17th century, which consisted of the game Hoca, to raise funds for the royal treasury. The Hoca game consisted of a table constructed in circle along with 40 stationary cups. Later, the ball was pushed from the center of the table. As there has been a force exerted on the ball, the ball moves along the perimeter of the table before stopping in one of the stationary cups. Out of the 40 stationary cups, 3 cups are marked as zero which belongs to the house. When the ball lands on one of these 3 cups, the entire winning of the gamble goes to the house. If the ball lands in any one of the 40 stationary cups, the winner is announced according to the respective stationary cup. The advantage the house gains were over 7.5% against the players.
