If you want to look at French Roulette history, you have to go all the way back to ancient Rome where soldiers supposedly used the wheels of their chariots, tipped onto their sides, to fashion a spinning wheel for games. History books also suggest that a game involving a spinning wheel existed in China by the Middle Ages. The Italian game hoca and the English game Even and Odd (E.O.) also both bear a resemblance to roulette, and both were well known in their respective countries long before roulette gained prominence in France in the 18th century.

The true roulette wheel, however, is commonly considered a French creation, attributed to mathematician Blaise Pascal. Pascal, of course, did not intend to make his mark on French Roulette history. When he developed a basic version in 1655, he was actually invested in creating a perpetual motion device, an ambition that proved unsuccessful.

Nonetheless, Pascal’s work led to the first true roulette wheel, which initially featured 36 numbers (1-36). The next segment of French Roulette history, however, would have to wait another two hundred years.

Finally, in 1842, brothers François and Louis Blanc hit upon the idea of the single-zero wheel. By adding just one more number to the wheel, a zero that benefited the house, the duo greatly improved the house odds for roulette. There’s actually a legend that the pair made a deal with the devil for the secrets of roulette, probably inspired by the fact that if you add all the numbers on the roulette wheel, from 1 to 36, they total 666, often considered the number of the beast.

When the brothers Blanc hit upon their single-wheel strategy, gambling was actually still illegal in France. However, as these things tend to do, roulette quickly surged in popularity, both in France and other Europeans countries.

François Blanc later established the first casinos in Monte Carlo, where French Roulette history would see the evolution of Roulette Monte Carlo. This second game is still popular today and remains true to its predecessor with the exception of the En Prison rule.

French Roulette history shows that the game also migrated further abroad. In the early 1800s, on the heels of the French Revolution, refugees took their knowledge of the game with them to both England—where it surpassed the similar E.O. in popularity—as well as to the United States, where the double-zero wheel would evolve. The original French Roulette, however, continues strong in its native France and is still played worldwide today.