Who invented roulette?

The game is an activity that has accompanied human beings since the beginning of time, when the first societies began to be created, since playing is also a way of relating.

As happens with many games today, especially casino games, as soon as we dig, we will realize that they are much older than we think. Although technological advances allow it to now be possible to play the online roulette from anywhere and at any time, the journey of this game is very long.

To find the origins of roulette we have to travel thousands of years back in time. Even the current game, both online and in physical casinos, is still in essence very similar to an invention that arose centuries ago.

It is difficult to determine who invented roulette because, despite its multiple transformations over time, it gives the feeling that it has always been with us.

The origins of roulette

It is said that the invention of the wheel is one of the great milestones in the history of mankind. In prehistory, almost all technical advances arose by imitation of what was in Nature. Therefore, the fact of not finding cylinders around it caused the invention of the wheel to be “delayed” quite a lot.

The first record of a wheel was found in what was Mesopotamia, and dates back to 3,500 BC, so it is a relatively new invention. The really important thing about this invention is not the wheel itself, but the axle.

Making a wheel roll mechanically was a huge breakthrough. From there arise machinery and transport that suppose the beginning of the Bronze Age, a new Era.

The invention of the wheel that rotates on an axis was key to the socio-economic development of society. And it was also so that, years later, roulette was invented.

The wheel of Fortune

In many of the world's civilizations - if not all - there are deities dedicated to fortune and the ”whims" of fate. The randomness of life, inexplicable in another way, was blamed on higher entities.

One of these goddesses, Tique or Tyche of Greek mythology, ruled the luck and prosperity of humans. Therefore, he embodied fortune and destiny. Its allegory, that is, the symbol that represents it is the roulette wheel of fortune.

It is in Ancient Greece when the game began to be fully introduced as leisure, forming part of social life on a large scale. That relationship between the ancient Greeks and the game has been extended to the present day, in which Greek mythology continues to inspire specific titles on digital platforms such as PokerStars Casino , as the slot Age of the Gods, which has as protagonists Zeus, Hercules, Aphrodite and other icons of the time.

Our contact with Greek mythology, not only in the game, but in general, is maintained thanks to the Romans. Ancient Rome inherited much of the Greek culture and adapted it to its own circumstances and customs.

The goddess Tique was renamed Fortuna in Rome, but only the name was changed. Her symbol, which is sometimes depicted as if it were a rudder (because she is the one who directs the fate of humans), remained.

Over the centuries, multiple artistic representations of the goddess Fortuna have appeared, and her allegory is another example of the influence of mythology on current games. Although here now it is called The roulette wheel of luck , it is still the same program that was invented in the United States in the mid-70s under the name Wheel of Fortune.

The first roulette

We have the cylinder on the axis and the random element of fortune. To get to the current casino roulette, we are missing the numbers. We owe those to Blaise Pascal.

We could say that Pascal was a genius. A prodigy to whom, despite his short life (he died at the age of 39, in 1662), we owe great inventions and mathematical advances; probably the best known is the Pascaline, considered the first calculator in history.

A restless man, this French mathematician wanted to invent a perpetual motion machine. To find the balance, he divided a cylinder into squares from 1 to 36, without the zero.

This invention served him to develop theories about the branch of mathematics that studies probability, but also to have a good time with friends. Casino roulette was born.

Roulette and casino

Once we have the invention, we have to make it known. And that was taken care of by two twin brothers named François and Louis Blanc, who are considered to be the first great entrepreneurs of the casino world.

They were the ones who introduced the zero in roulette to make it a little more interesting (years later, the double zero characteristic of American roulette would be added). It was this game that made them known in the mid-nineteenth century; so much so that in 1861 they were given the concession of the famous Monte Carlo Casino for 50 years. Thanks to the Blancs, the Monaco Casino became what it still is.

The rest is history.