36 Things you Didn't Know About Roulette

It’s the quintessential casino game. Easy to play, simple to understand, fun for everyone. If your lucky number lands, it’s payday.

Roulette is one of the most iconic games at any casino. It’s been a fan favorite for centuries. But just what is it about that bouncing ball, and the spinning reel, that keeps the punters locked in and betting that lucky number?

Here’s a fact for every number on the reel. Here’s the spin…

Things you Didn’t Know About Roulette

1

In 2023, roulette was the fourth most popular table game in Las Vegas, according to the Nevada Gaming Control Board, beaten only by blackjack, baccarat, and craps.

2

Roulette has one of the highest win ratios for the casino, at a hefty 19.8%. By comparison, blackjack is 13.7%.

3

Add together all the numbers on a roulette wheel and it totals 666; hence its nickname: The Devil’s Game.

4

In 2004, Ashley Revell sold everything he owned for $135,300. He gambled it all on roulette. He bet red and won, walking away with $270,600. He even made a documentary about it called Double or Nothing.

5

In French, roulette means small wheel, from the Latin root ‘rota’ meaning wheel.

6

The marker used by croupiers at the roulette table, to indicate the winning number, is called a ‘dolly’ and no one seems to know why. If you fancy trying your luck, visit one of the best online live roulette sites from our extensive list.

7

European roulette is better for players than American roulette. The American game has two zeroes: both an ‘0’ and a ’00’. Look for European single zero roulette games. They have better odds.

8

The roulette wheel was originally conceived as a perpetual motion machine, by mathematician and inventor Blaise Pascal in the 17th century.

9

Albert Einstein understood roulette. He said: “You cannot beat a roulette table unless you steal money from it.”

10

The famous Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky wrote a book called The Gambler, based on his own eight-year addiction to roulette; a habit he picked up touring Europe.

The book was used as inspiration for James Caan’s students in the 1974 movie The Gambler.

11

One of the most famous roulette players of all time is Charles Deville Wells; the man who broke the bank at Monte Carlo. In 1891, Wells arrived in Monte Carlo with the equivalent of $500,000.

Money, he allegedly earned via various cons and hustles. He won 23 out of 30 spins at the table, amassing a fortune worth more than $5 million. It is still unknown how he did it. Collusion or a mechanical bias are the main suspects, but none have been proven.

12

The Martingale Strategy is one of several roulette systems, tried and tested over the years. In brief, it works by doubling down after a losing bet. You need very deep pockets to make it work and – even then – you might end with just your original stake.

13

Roulette facts

In the classic 1942 film Casablanca, Humphrey Bogart’s character Rick helps a young couple escape the war by fixing the roulette wheel and telling them to bet on number 22 twice. They do. They win. They escape. Yay!

14

The first web-based version of roulette appeared in 1996, developed by the world’s first online casino website InterCasino.

15

La Partage is a European twist on the rules of roulette. It simply means that half of your stake is returned, if you lose your wager to a zero. It reduces the house edge and is worth looking out for. It applies only to even money bets.

16

Another European tweak is En Prison. If you find a table playing La Partage (see above), when zero hits, you can ask the croupier to put your even money bet ‘en prison’. He will place a marker on your stake. If it wins on the next spin, your full bet is returned. If you lose, it is all gone.#

17

Things you Didn't Know About Roulette — Biribi table – Image: School of Pierre Bonnard. circa 1950’s

One of the forefathers of roulette is the Italian game Biribi. The game is played on a board, marked with numbers from one to 70. Players stake a number. The banker then draws a winning number from a bag. If it’s your number, you win sixty-four times your stake. The game was a favorite for cheaters.

18

James Bond author Ian Fleming was a fan of roulette and played the Labouchère system; a split Martingale.

19

European roulette has a house edge of 2.7%, compared to the American game where the house edge is 3.5%.

20

In the classic 1998 movie Run Lola Run, Lola has 20 minutes to obtain 100,000 Deutschmarks to save the life of her boyfriend Manni. She ends up in a casino, at the roulette table, where she bets a 100-mark chip on the number 20. It hits. She lets it ride and it hits again. It’s a cracker.

21

Roulette features in the James Bond novel Casino Royale. He wins seven consecutive times, by simply betting the first two groups of 12 on the table. He holds back on spin #8 and zero lands. Lucky guy…

22

In the book Diamonds Are Forever, Bond bets $5,000 on red and wins with a 36.

23

Russian Roulette is a completely different game. If you’re playing it, we suggest you stop. It was first recorded in a short story by Russian poet and writer Mikhail Lermontov. It’s all about honor. Stick to the less lethal table version.

24

You can choose to bet either inside or outside, when you play roulette. Outside bets are on the perimeter of the table and cover groups of numbers. Inside bets work inside the central grid of numbers. There are multiples of each type.

25

Outside bets are red/black, odd/even, high/low, columns, and dozens.

26

Inside single bets are straight-up (a single number), split, (two numbers), street (row of three), corner, line, five-number (00, 0, 1, 2, 3), and basket (0, 1, 2, 3).

27

Another system of betting focuses on the number grouping on the actual roulette wheel. The bets are Voisins du Zero (all the numbers closest to the zero), Tiers du Cylindre (thirds of the wheel), and Orphelins (the two slices of the wheel outside the Tiers and Voisins).

28

Brazilian billionaire Pedro Grendene Bartelle, founder of Havaianas, won $1.2 million at the roulette table in Punta del Este, in Uruguay when he wagered $35,000 on the number 32. If you’re a high-roller like Bartelle, visit one of the best no limit casinos – which all come highly recommended.

29

Roulette facts

James Bond actor Sean Connery didn’t actually break the bank, when he famously bet the number 17, three times in a row, in 1963, at a casino in Italy. It was all a publicity stunt to promote the release of his debut 007 film Dr No. Even today, lots of websites repeat this fake news.

30

Roulette is almost impossible to cheat – unless you are mathematician Gonzalo Garcia-Pelayo. He calculated that every roulette wheel would have a slight bias; as well as the croupiers who operate them.

After months of study, he proved his case and profited, with the idiosyncrasies, to the tune of $1.4 million. As a result, casinos now use the same modeling system to monitor variations in wheels and results.

31

There are now literally 100s of variations of roulette you can play online. These include games with extra bonus numbers, progressive jackpots, multi-wheel roulette, and two-ball roulette.

32

In a casino, every player at a roulette table is given a unique set of colored chips. This enables the croupier to distinguish between the many different bets.

33

The bet to avoid at the roulette table is the ‘five-number’, top-line, inside bet on an American table, covering numbers 00, 0, 1, 2, and 3. It pays the table’s worst odds at 6 to 1 – a 7.89% edge to the house. Read our guide to have roulette odds explained, it’s easy once you get the hang of it.

34

Roulette is a game of pure chance. Unlike blackjack, baccarat, or many other table and card games, there is no decision-making involved. It’s pure chance.

35

You can enjoy a real game of roulette online, if you try your luck at one of the many best live dealer casinos operating today. There are many variants of the classic game to discover and enjoy.

36

Finally: roulette is great fun to play but never bank on it. The house edge is not the best. If you’re looking for a more competitive competition, consider blackjack – and play the perfect game.