Originally thought to become the perpetual motion machine, the roulette wheel was invented in the 17th century by a renowned French mathematician Blaise Pascal and imprinted in the minds of gamblers from all over the world for the years to come. French, European, or American – it doesn’t matter as much as the fact that in being one of the least profitable casino games, roulette has become a global cultural phenomenon and a major source of income for brick-and-mortar gambling halls and later, online casinos.
So are there any secrets to this low-odd game? There should be some since otherwise how can one explain the fact that roulette with its house edge of 5.26% or 2.70% at best still prevails over state-of-the-art slots and games, some of which grants almost equal chances for the casino and the player with only 1% in favor of the gambling venue?! Well, let’s try to explain the unexplainable.
Cinematographic Boost
Even in the era of YouTube and social media, television still makes a difference…but ask millennials (or better, baby boomers) about the role of TV in their childhood and they will tell you that it literally made it. And if to think of the famous movies that screened roulette, the first that pops up in mind is a series of James Bond flicks with an omnipresent roulette wheel that added certain subtleness and charm to Bond’s persona. And you must know the favorite number of the latter, huh? Seventeen that is!
But not only Bond has been popularizing roulette in the XX century: Casablanca, the Oscar-winning movie, featured the game of roulette during the post-war period of the middle of the last century; and if you know nothing about the movie – ask baby boomers, they must remember it. And if to recall more recent flicks, one would mention Run Lola Run – an iconic movie in which the main character bets on 20 as a lucky number and gets a series of huge wins – and probably The Events series if to refer to one of the latest shows.
So what do we have as a result of the roulette expansion? Pretty much the following: even though there are noticeable differences in global gambling cultures – just as vivid as the differences between gambling in offline and online gambling – offline or online roulette is sitting quite confidently on its pedestal since it grabbed its place in the XX century.
The Invisible Line between Reality and Myths
Do you know why newscasts are built on highlights of disasters, carnages, evil events, and myths? Just because people react to that: for better or worse, it’s in our nature to pay attention to sensations, mystifications, and any supernatural phenomena that give us chills and allow us to look at usual things from a different perspective or, what’s even better, have a feeling that we know something that the rest don’t. For the same reason gambling fans constantly try to beat the house at roulette, the game in which they cannot win in the long run unless the wheel is broken or they abuse the rules.
And, you know, sometimes they succeed, though mostly in the laboratory and very rare in reality. Nevertheless, when some hothead manages to bankrupt the casino, the news travels at lightning speed – newspapers, magazines, and TV shows picture the lucky beggar and boost the popularity of the game. Among the most blatant cheating cases of the XXI century – and that’s in the age when security systems are almost omnipotent – one could recall the fraud that the gang of Francis Farrugia, Francesco Baioni, and Frank Camilleri, the three men that have been ripping off European, American, and Australian casinos for two decades until got caught in 2010. But, after all, for roulette itself it wasn’t significant that they were caught – much more important is the increase in popularity that these gambling Musketeers have caused.
The Bottom Line
Paying no attention to the differences in gambling cultures between continents and countries, roulette somehow manages to win the hearts of millions through cinema, science, and myths that wrap it in mystique and attractive covering you will sooner or later dare to remove and taste the flavor of the Game.
