How European Roulette Came to Be

Blanc brought to Monaco what this remote and secluded corner of Europe on the Mediterranean coast needed most – vast experience, inexhaustible energy and large financial resources. Almost overnight, he erected the building of a new casino. Its official opening took place in May 1865. A new hotel, the Hotel de Paris, was located nearby. Blanc then spent 400,000 dollars on laying new roads, laying out gardens and parks, and reconstructing the port. Gradually, a whole new city grew up around the casino, occupying more than half of the current territory of the principality. In 1866, by decree of the ruler of Monaco, Prince Charles III, this part of the principality with the mountain rising nearby was solemnly renamed Monte Carlo. Five years after Blanc crossed the border of the principality, the first trains ran along the railway line stretching from Nice to Monaco. And in 1870, the construction of a new highway between the two cities was completed. As soon as regular service was established, crowds of vacationers began to flock to Monaco. Blanc did everything in his power to ensure that the public arriving in Monaco did not rush to leave the principality and spent all their time in the casino. To do this, as in Homburg, he left one zero on the roulette wheels instead of the usual two, thereby reducing the house's winning percentage by almost half. Nevertheless, by the end of the first year, the casino brought its new owner a net profit of 800,000 francs ($160,000).

The game is understood as betting on the entire field during the movement of the ball. As a rule, 3 turns before it falls, the dealer announces that "No more bets!", waves his hands over the field and returns to the players all the bets made after the words and hand gesture. But sometimes it is very difficult to stop players who have gotten into a frenzy. And sometimes a person simply physically cannot cover the playing sector - so he tries to make it in time, making "late bets". And someone hopes to calculate the sector of its fall on the last turns of the ball. Who knows what reasons everyone has! It is precisely at the moment the ball falls, having seen the winning number, that the player can make a bet. Usually they bet on equal chances or columns - fields for bets located at the greatest distance from the dealer, which you can not keep track of. This is where the inspector must come into his own, who is obliged to remember all the bets on the outsides - outside the playing field. "There are no late bets, there are only late children," Rashid liked to say when his latest set-up was removed from the field and returned unpaid. And if the inspector is a gaper, then the dealer has a solid basis for paying such a bet, provided that the person who made it is in cahoots with him. In any case, the dealer is not held accountable: the responsibility for what is happening on the table lies with the inspector, which means he is the one to answer for it. If the inspector is attentive, then the dealer has an excuse - he got fed up, it happens to everyone. An experienced player will not set up a second time if the first time did not work - he will be afraid to "expose" his accomplice. There are more interesting ways to set up roulette, when your own dealer is not needed.

By his decree on closing gambling establishments that do not meet certain standards, Yuri Mikhailovich Luzhkov rendered an invaluable service to the gambling business. Almost all hotbeds of gambling-related crime are a thing of the past. They have been replaced by establishments located in separate buildings and not near social institutions (schools, kindergartens, clinics, hospitals). "Garbage dumps" with 1-2 tables have disappeared, people who enjoy the game itself have started going not to eateries, where they were tried to beat them by hook or by crook, but to cultural and entertainment centers that guarantee safety and bear financial responsibility to guests. It was decided to set the minimum number of tables in gambling establishments at 10. Casinos were given the opportunity to choose their guests and not let in those who do not play, but wait for something. "Growlers" have disappeared. A large group of dealers was released: healthy competition appeared in their market, which contributed to the improvement of the quality of services provided. The dishonest and thieving people had a chance to improve: in the new format of casinos, fraud threatened to cross out their future careers. And yet, the most important advantage was the reduction in the number of gambling establishments. A distinctive feature was the presence of a restaurant in each casino, whereas before, the owners often limited themselves to a bar counter with a simple assortment of alcoholic beverages. Some establishments went further - organizing entertainment programs for their visitors and arranging prize draws among players. And most importantly, all switched to a 24-hour work format. To get into the gaming room, it was now necessary to go through a mandatory registration procedure using a passport or a driver's license - evidence that the casino owners were interested in the question of who comes to them and why. In the event of improper behavior or an attempt to cheat, such a guest was blacklisted as unwanted customers with an indication of the reason. Later, many establishments began to exchange this information, protecting both themselves and their visitors from potentially dangerous characters. "House spirits" stopped living in casinos - they were given a "black mark" and were no longer allowed in, so that they would not bother guests and create problems for the staff. The same reward awaited the rowdy and aggressive - the fewer scandals and shouts, the more favorable the climate. But not all of them "got what they deserved" - many troublemakers with a tightly stuffed wallet were sent to VIP rooms, and they threw tantrums exclusively in front of the staff - away from other guests, so that they would not learn bad things. They were tolerated exclusively because of the money: after all, a casino is an organization focused on the financial component. This trend continued until the last days of the gambling business. And the leitmotifs of discontent were no longer associated with the "syntax game" and similar tricks of customers. Its main reasons were the inability to lose with dignity and the need to find an object for splashing out anger and negativity (as always, an ordinary casino employee - a dealer, less often - a pit boss became it). To attract guests, some casinos recruited exclusively girls as dealers, assuming that guests, the lion's share of whom were men, would be much more pleased to play and lose their hard-earned money to representatives of the fair sex. The only thing that did not change was the tax system. To be honest, it simply did not exist. Smart people from the government, back at the dawn of the gambling business, proposed taxing the winnings of establishments and introduced the so-called profit tax. But for some reason, immediately after this, most casinos immediately ceased to be profitable according to official papers, working "in the minus" or "in the slight plus", but at the same time no one was going to close shop ... And yet many establishments closed. Not because representatives of law enforcement agencies came to them and brought the corresponding order. Because they “died”, having worked out their potential, or were “killed”.