The roulette wheel is probably one of the oldest known casino devices. Since of its exclusivity, the roulette wheel layout has garnered much speculation from the gambling public.

Roulette Wheel Layout – History

It is believed that the first roulette wheel layout could be traced back to Asia where the Ancient Chinese and Tibetans played a game using 37 animal statuettes. Back then, the roulette wheel layout did not follow the standard “wheel” form that we see now. Instead, the Chinese used a “magic square” with facts that total up to 666. Incidentally, this is the same total that we come up with if we add all the facts in a modern roulette wheel layout from 0 to 36.

After the Chinese, it is said that the game was brought to Europe by French Dominican monks who were on a missionary quest in Asia. The roulette wheel layout underwent a few modifications in 14th century France. Around 1655, the French mathematician and scientist Blaise Pascal invented the first wheel based on that ancient Chinese game brought by the monks. This roulette wheel layout became widely used in early casinos.

In 1842, Frenchmen Francois and Louis Blanc introduced the double-zero (0, 00) to the roulette wheel layout so now the standard wheel contains 38 facts. When gambling was banned in France, Louis Blanc and his child Camille went to Hamburg, Germany where they once again popularized the single-zero roulette wheel layout. For years, this roulette wheel layout was standard in all casinos, especially in Monte Carlo, Monaco’s most well-known casino.

Ultimately, roulette found its way into American soil where the roulette wheel layout underwent another foremost change.

Roulette Wheel Layout – Types

There are two general types of roulette wheel layouts. The first type is the one used in American roulette. This roulette wheel layout uses the double-zero format with 38 facts, counting the 0, 00, and 1 through 36. This type of roulette wheel layout allows a house advantage of 5.26%.

The other type of roulette wheel layout is the standard for all European wheels. It has only 37 facts, counting 0 and 1 through 36. The house advantage for this type of roulette wheel layout is significantly decrease at 2.7% compared to the American wheel.

Roulette Wheel Layout – Number and Color Placement

The roulette wheel layout is impressive in terms of mathematics and balance. All the facts, counting the low, high, odd, and even, are alternated and spaced out over the wheel. The colors red, black, and conservational (for the two zeros) are also alternated and evenly separated.

In a typical roulette wheel layout, when you add up all the facts, you get a total of 666. But, if you add all the 18 odd colors, you only have 342. This makes it impossible to achieve perfect mathematical balance in a roulette wheel layout.

To overcome this one flaw, manufacturers have devised a specific arrangement for roulette wheel layouts to give them the best possible mathematical balance. The upshot is that you have the two zeros, 0 and 00, arranged opposite each other and colored conservational to distinguish them from the other facts. The rest of the 18 facts are then alternated on each side of the two zeros. The single-zero or 0 is between two black facts and as the wheel progresses, the color alternates until you end with two red facts on each side of the double-zero or 00.

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