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Pascal’s roulette machine

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Who invented roulette?

The history of the roulette wheel leads back in time directly to one man, Blaise Pascal. He was a famous physicist and mathematician known for many important contributions to both fields. Pascal lived in the 17th century and he was an excellent philosopher in his era. His work is greatly praised and used in several fields, even today. The question is how such a talented and famous person ended up inventing the iconic gambling machine. The answer is – by chance.

Who invented the roulette wheel?

In the 1605s, Pascal set about to create a perpetual motion machine to produce more energy than it used. In other words, a machine that would not stop moving once it had begun, even without an energy source. In the process, he stumbled upon an accidental invention and in 1655 the roulette machine was born. Of course, it wasn’t a roulette wheel like we know today. This accidental invention was an early version and did not have the numbers, but the principle was set and ready for innovators to come along to find a way to gamble on it.

The name for Pascal’s invention was derived from the French word for “the little wheel”. That roulette wheel remained the same for centuries. All that changed in 1842 when Francois and Louis Blanc designed a roulette wheel with a single zero on it, specifically for King Charles III of Monaco. This monarch was facing some money issues and had the brilliant idea to use the rising popularity of gambling to solve some of them. He opened several gambling houses in Monaco, where roulette was prominently featured. Consequently, the game became really popular among aristocrats and royalty.

Pascal’s Theory for Solving the Gambling Problem

Blaise Pascal and another well-known mathematician Pierre de Format invented probability theory in 1654 to solve a gambling problem related to expected outcomes. Pascal’s friend wanted to figure out the best time to bet on a dice game, and how to fairly divide the stakes if the game was stopped midway through. He asked a math genius to help. Pascal worked on the answer with Pierre de Fermat and the correspondence between them contains the foundation of modern probability theory.

From European to American Roulette

The roulette wheel that Blaise Pascal invented is a type that we know as European Roulette. In the 19th century, the game spread all over America and developed into American Roulette which differs from the first version. The most important difference lies in the numbering of the roulette wheel. The European wheel is numbered from 1 to 36 to which an extra single zero green color slot was added. Unlike him, the American wheel also has an extra double zero slot. The single zero and double zero slots are placed opposite to each other on the wheel.

Online Roulette

Pascal’s invention added a lot of fun to people’s lives. With technological advancements, this game has taken over the internet, and become loved by players a lot. Now, every roulette lover could spin the roulette wheel on his phone or PC, without going out of the house. You can only visit our bet-safe and crypto-accepted Casino Brango and chose from a variety of roulette games. To increase your chances of a win, read more about two strategies you should use.

History of gambling

A Brief History of Gambling

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Gambling is as old as mankind. In ancient times, people used to look at the skies and ask for a bit of luck, rain, destiny prediction, or higher knowledge about the stars. Gambling, in its various forms, has always been connected with divine nature. People perceived it as the fine interaction between an individual and luck. Luck, as the abstract, divine force played a major role. A brief history of gambling is closely related to both mathematics and the spiritual world.

Ancient Gods & Dice Games

In ancient Egypt, people used to play the game called “Senet”, which was very similar to some of the board games today. During a game, a player had a task to pass the path of his entire life. This was depicted by moving pawns on the board. Although no dice had been used, the Egyptians used sticks. The movement of pawns on the board depended on the combination of faces portrayed on the sticks. Or, should we say – it depended on luck and throwing skills.

History of gambling recorded the story of Thoth. He was the God of writing, wisdom, magic and the moon in ancient Egypt. He was also known for gambling. Namely, he played the game of throwing a dice and competed against the Moon. Eventually, he won, earning 5 additional days to help the sky goddess Nut to deliver children.

Nezha was the Chinese god often associated with gambling. This mythical creature was one of the rare creatures that was brought back to life. The force that helped his revival was based on prayers of the mortals. The legend says that people invoked him, partially due to his ability to help with revealing the winning numbers in lottery.

Chinese also had their own versions of board games similar to the Egyptian ones. The same goes for ancient Greeks and Romans. From betting on animal fights, gladiator combat, to casting lots, people living in ancient times engaged in games that would determine the events that were about to take place.

The Greeks Playing with Numbers

We should also keep in mind that ancient Greeks, for example, had a very deep knowledge of mathematics, and that they liked to play with numbers. Nevertheless, it is a bit strange to think that they were thrilled to play the game of luck, hoping for the winning number combination to pop up. It is strange, because at the time, they have already had extensive experience in “playing” with the numbers and calculus. Some of the conclusions they came up with, we still use today.

What would the history of gambling be without ancient myths. There is an interesting Greek myth mentioning shooting of the dice. Furthermore, it is at the basis of one of the greatest Greek myths. Namely, Zeus, Hades and Poseidon were said to shoot dice in order to see how the entire Universe would be divided among them. Zeus won and he chose the heavens, with thunders as his main weapon.  This virtual event formed the basis of the order of gods and semi-gods in the Greek mythology temple. Having gambling at the heart of such an important event in mythology should send us some messages. Could one of those truths be that gambling is the inseparable part of our nature and we should simply accept it as it is?

Let us know your thoughts.