The Strangest Facts About Roulette

Roulette is one of the most iconic and popular games in the world of casinos, thanks to the spinning wheel that is at its centre, a staple for many years now. Although so many people are familiar with how roulette plays out, there are a number of strange facts which lie beneath the red and black surface.

From secrets relating to the layout of the wheel, all the way to how it once managed to save a country, we have compiled the strangest facts surrounding the game of roulette, which you have probably never heard before. 

Roulette Was Invented By Accident 

Despite it being arguably the most famous iteration of a casino table game today, the game of roulette was actually invented by accident. The origins of this title are almost as bizarre as some of the spins in live roulette. A French mathematician named Blaise Pascal originally attempted to create a perpetual motion machine in the 17th century. The idea around this was to create a device that would run forever without the need for an energy source. 

As you may expect, this did not work; however, in his pursuit, Pascal managed to come up with a spinning wheel mechanism that later evolved into the roulette wheel as we know it today. Even though he failed to defy the laws of physics, the mathematician succeeded in creating one of the most iconic games in casino history.

American Roulette Eagle Pockets 

The roulette wheels of American roulette today feature both a single zero and a double zero pocket, with the slightly higher house edge which this creates compared to other versions being a defining factor of the American variants. However, in the early 1800s, when roulette first became popular, American wheels had an additional pocket that displayed a bald eagle symbol. 

Although you may assume that this was just some form of patriotic decoration, this was actually the equivalent of a third zero, acting as yet another advantage for the house. Due to the casino edge which the 3 zero pockets gave, the eagle space didn’t last long; however, it is still a unique part of the game’s history.

How Roulette Saved Monaco

In the 19th century, gambling as a whole was heavily prohibited in France; however, for the principality of Monaco on the Mediterranean coast, this turned out to be a golden opportunity. At the time, the region was especially struggling financially. Therefore, Prince Charles III, who owned the country at the time, invited a number of casino operators to build what would go on to become the legendary Casino de Monte Carlo. 

With no gambling being allowed in the neighbouring country, French elites and other nobility from across Europe flocked to Monaco to play roulette and other new casino games. As a consequence of this, the popularity of roulette essentially helped to fund the economy of the country, something which shaped Monaco into the glamorous destination it is today.

Longest Roulette Spin 

Typically, when the ball is dropped onto the roulette wheel, it takes less than 30 seconds for it to settle into a pocket. However, in 2012, something rather strange occurred at the Rio Casino on the iconic Las Vegas strip. During one spin, the ball seemingly refused to come to a stop, circling the reel for more than two full minutes. Staff and players around the table watched on, stunned as the ball defied the laws of friction and gravity, with some speculating that there was a mechanical glitch. However, upon looking into it further, no technical fault was found, with an unusually perfect spin being the only explanation.

The Shoe That Beat Roulette 

By creating a computer that was mounted to a shoe, the game of roulette was actually beaten by a team of physics students at Santa Cruz in the 1970s. This computer was designed specifically to predict the outcomes of roulette, using timing data to measure the speed of the ball and the wheel. In turn, this helped it to calculate where the ball was most likely to land. 

By having a number of them sit around the same table and communicating using subtle toe taps and other hidden receivers under their clothes, these students successfully boosted their chances of winning. Though they were eventually discovered and banned from several casinos, their experiments showed that roulette wasn’t entirely immune to prediction, especially before the anti-cheat technologies that were introduced in modern variants.

Secret Wheel Layout 

One thing you may not be aware of is that the layout of numbers on the wheel is meticulously balanced, not as randomly as it may seem. In European roulette, red and black alternates perfectly, with odd/even and high/low numbers being distributed with a calculated symmetry. Although this may seem like a measure taken for fairness, which it is, this has also been done to maintain the illusion of visual equilibrium. Even the placement of all the neighbouring numbers helps to reduce bias and keeps all outcomes feeling predictable in turn.

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