Russian Roulette Gambling Game

Roulette is a casino game named after the French word meaning little wheel.In the game, players may choose to place bets on either a single number, various groupings of numbers, the colors red or black, whether the number is odd or even, or if the numbers are high (19–36) or low (1–18). 5pcs Russian Roulette Ball Casino Roulette Game Replacement Ball Acrylic Ball. $2.15 + $1.91 shipping. 5pcs Russian Roulette Ball Casino Roulette Game Replacement Ball Acrylic Ball. $3.62 + $2.65 shipping. Picture Information. Opens image gallery. Image not available. Mouse over to Zoom-Click to enlarge.

The rules are simple. All that is needed is a revolver, some cartridges, and one or more players. The revolver is opened, a single cartridge loaded, and the cylinder spun. The players then take turns placing the revolver against their heads and pulling the trigger. Depending on the rules, the cylinder is either re-spun after each play or left as-is. Play continues until a player either forfeits or blows their brains out. This is Russian Roulette, a deadly game of chance with a dark allure, which through countless portrayals in popular culture has become known as the pastime of the unhinged, of the desperate, of those with nothing left to live for. In reality, however, the majority of the victims of Russian Roulette have been ordinary people, whose attempts to recreate what they had seen in films or on television ultimately ended in tragedy. But where did the idea of Russian Roulette come from in the first place, and how many people have actually played this most dangerous of games?

The first written description of something resembling Russian Roulette comes from The Fatalist, the final chapter of Russian author Mikhail Lermontov’s 1840 novel A Hero of Our Time. In the chapter, the protagonist of the novel, Pechorin, tells the story of Lieutenant Vulich, a Cossack officer who becomes embroiled in a debate about fate and destiny. Believing that a man’s death is predestined and cannot be changed, Vulich pulls a random pistol off the wall, primes the pan, places it to his head and pulls the trigger. When the gun fails to go off, his comrades conclude that it must have been unloaded. But when Vulich re-primes the weapon and aims it at the wall, this time it goes off. Mere hours later Vulich’s fatalism is vindicated when he is cut down by a drunken, sabre-wielding soldier chasing after an escaped pig.

The more familiar form of Russian Roulette would have to await the development of the modern cartridge-firing revolver. The most common origin given for Russian Roulette is among Tsarist forces in 1917, when, according to one account:

“…their officers felt that they were not only losing prestige, money, family and country, but were being also dishonoured before their colleagues of the Allied armies, some officer would suddenly pull out his revolver, anywhere, at the table, in a cafe, at a gathering of friends, remove a cartridge form the cylinder, spin the cylinder, snap it back in place, put it to his head and pull the trigger.”

However, there are a number of problems with this account. First, the service revolver in use with the Russian army during this period, the M1895 Nagant, is unique in having a mechanism that cams the cylinder forward with every shot, creating a tight gas seal between the cylinder and the barrel. This mechanism makes it functionally impossible to spin the cylinder freely as is required when playing Russian Roulette. But the main issue is that the preceding passage comes not from a historical account but rather a 1937 short story written by Swiss-American adventure writer George Surdez. First published in Collier’s Magazine in January 1937, the story, titled Russian Roulette, takes the form of a letter written by a Sargent Hugo Feldheim of the French Foreign Legion to his Lieutenant, seeking advice on how to cover up the suicide of fellow officer Sergeant Burkowski. Burkowski, a gambling addict, introduces Feldheim to the titular game, which he picked up while serving in the Russian army during First World War. Seeking ever greater thrills, Burkowski plays the game with increasing frequency, ultimately resulting in his death.

The story was the first popular depiction of Russian Roulette, and the first to refer to it by that name. However, as Surdez kept few research notes, it is unknown whether this depiction is based on actual accounts or whether he simply made the whole thing up. Evidence pointing to the latter includes the aforementioned incompatibility of the Russian Nagant revolver and the fact that in Surdez’s description of the game five cartridges are loaded instead of only one – giving 1-in-6 odds of survival that – one imagines – none but most foolhardy players would be willing to accept.

Nonetheless, there is historical evidence of Russian recruits introducing some form of firearms-based game of chance to the French Foreign Legion in the 1920s. In his 1991 history of the Legion, author Douglas Porch writes:

“The Russian recruits may have been poor soldiers, but they were credited with one cultural innovation in the postwar legion – the game of “coucou.” Apparently imported from Czarist army messes, couch was a variation upon Russian roulette with the odds of survival greatly reduced. The rules required one legionnaire chosen by lot to step outside while his comrades arranged themselves around the walls of a completely darkened room. The single legionnaire then reentered the room and said “coucou”, while, one imagines, simultaneously taking violent evasive action as his comrades took this as a cue to fire their revolvers in his general direction.”

But whatever the veracity of Surdez’s story, its impact on the American popular psyche was immediate and long-lasting. On January 8, 1938, less than a year after its publication, Thomas H. Markley Jr. of Austin, Texas killed himself while playing Russian Roulette to celebrate his 21st birthday. It was to be the first in a long line of similar incidents that would claim dozens of lives over the following decades, including those of R&B musician Johnny Ace in 1954 and actor Jon-Erik Hexum in 1984. The most public and shocking of these deaths occurred on September 3, 1976 during a performance of Finnish magician Aimo Leikas’ famous Russian Roulette act.The act involved loading a revolver from a mixed box of live and dummy ammunition, with Leikas supposedly using psychic powers to select only the dummy rounds. Leikas had performed the act without incident for over a year, but on that fateful day he accidentally selected a live round and fatally shot himself in front of a live audience.

But perhaps the most influential cultural depiction of Russian Roulette comes from the 1978 Vietnam War film The Deer Hunter. In the film’s most infamous scene, three American soldiers, played by Robert de Niro, Christopher Walken, and John Savage, are captured by the Vietnamese and forced to play Russian Roulette for their guards’ entertainment. Shattered by the experience, Walken’s character, Corporal Nick Chevotarevich, turns to playing Russian Roulette for money, ultimately leading to his death. In addition to shocking audiences, the film generated significant controversy over its depiction of the Vietnamese treatment of American POWs, with many pointing out there was no evidence for the events depicted in the infamous scene. In his review of the film, however, Roger Ebert defended the use of Russian Roulette as an artistic choice:

“It is the organizing symbol of the film: anything you can believe about the fame, about its deliberately random violence, about how it touches the sanity of men forced to play it, will apply to the war as a whole. It is a brilliant symbol because, in the context of this story, it makes an ideological statement about the war superfluous.”

Tragically, in addition to re-implanting Russian Roulette in the popular psyche, the release of The Deer Hunter lead to a major resurgence in copycat suicides. According to psychiatrist Thomas Radecki and columnist Paul Simon, between 1978 and 1989, a total of 35 deaths in the United States were directly attributable to games of Russian Roulette inspired by viewings of The Deer Hunter. And the trend continues to the present day, with one of the most recent Russian Roulette deaths taking place on January 24, 2019. The incident involved two Saint Louis police officers, Katlyn Alix and Nathaniel Hendren, playing a variation of the game called Russian Poker, in which the players point the weapon at each other rather than at themselves. During the second round the weapon discharged, killing Officer Katlyn.

Of course it is impossible to know the exact number of people killed by Russian Roulette, as the aftermath of a solo game is often indistinguishable from suicide, and surviving players often cover up the cause of death to protect themselves. Nor is it possible to know who will be seduced by the game’s deadly allure.

If you liked this article, you might also enjoy our new popular podcast, The BrainFood Show (iTunes, Spotify, Google Play Music, Feed), as well as:

Expand for References

Porch, Douglas, The French Foreign Legion, HarperCollins 1991

Lermontov, Mikhail, The Fatalist https://kittylevin.livejournal.com/29535.html

Surdez, Georges, Russian Roulette, Collier’s Magazine, January 30, 1937 https://monlegionnaire.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/russian-roulette.pdf

Webb, Benjamin, Russian Roulette History – When and How it Came About? Best Casino Sites, June 3, 2019, https://www.bestcasinosites.net/blog/russian-roulette-history.php

Othen, Christopher, America’s First Russian Roulette Victims, December 15, 2017, https://christopherothen.wordpress.com/2017/12/15/americas-first-russian-roulette-victims/

Mikkelson, David, The Deer Hunter and Suicides, Snopes, https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/the-deer-hunter-suicides/

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Roulette is undoubtedly one of the oldest and most popular casino games that most serious gamblers want to master. While the game may conjure images of Monte Carlo’s well-heeled wagering a small fortune on every spin of the roulette wheel, the table game has become most popular in America, especially the online version.

Want to jump straight into the action with Online Roulette for Real Money then read our in-depth guide right here and find out our top US casinos to play for real money.

Otherwise continue to read our guide for roulette basics, strategies, tips, tricks and more

The roulette wheel has stood the test of time because it is not only fun to play but is very easy to play. If you are a novice, this could be the ideal game to start your gambling experience.

At the center of the game is a wheel in which a small white ball spins and drops into one pocket on the wheel. It may not be one of the games to set you on the path to great wealth given the stiff house odds but if you pay heed to some of the time-tested betting strategies that we at CasinoUSA.com share, you could potentially manage to stretch your bankroll and make your time at the wheel worthwhile.

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Contents

• Online Roulette Basics

Let’s look at some of online roulette’s basics, a few betting tips and useful strategies.

Online Roulette Basics

Roulette, as we’ve all seen in the movies, involves piles of colored chips that are placed on a rectangular table.

The online version has almost a similar feel. When the bets are all in, the dealer or croupier spins a large wheel that has slots marked by colors and numbers.

The wheel is spun counter-clockwise following which the dealer drops a small white ball in a clockwise direction. You need to wait for the ball to drop into one of those numbered pockets, which could be the spots on which you placed the bet.

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So, for the most part, betting is about guessing where the ball will potentially land when the roulette wheel comes to a stop. While the croupier drops the ball in a land-based casino and the rest is left to a gambler’s luck or the random number generator (RNG) which determines the outcome in basic online roulette.

Types of Roulette

• European roulette: The spinning wheel in the European variant has numbers 1 through 36 marked on it and includes a zero (0), which means you can place bets on 37 numbers.
• American Roulette: Has two zeros (00) and a single zero (0), which means there are 38 numbers on which you can bet.
• French Roulette: Which is much like European roulette. However, there are two significant differences. The words on the table are in French while the game uses the ‘La Partage’ rule where if the ball lands on a zero you lose only half your even-odds stake.

The betting factor

In online roulette the game is played in a similar fashion as a traditional casino. Players buy chips and have the liberty to place different types of bets. When the wheel is spun and the ball stops, the dealer or in the case of online roulette, the RNG software, will mark the grid that indicates the winning number. The dealer or software will collect losing bets and payout the winning bets.

There are many combinations you can bet on in online roulette. You can place a

• Straight bet: You bet on any number. The payout is the highest at 35:1.
• Split bet: You can bet on any two adjoining numbers both vertically or horizontally on the wheel.
• Street bet: This is a wager on any three numbers horizontally such 1, 2, 3 or 4, 5, 6.
• Corner bet: You can bet on four adjoining numbers in a block such as 11, 12, 14, 15.
• Basket Bet: This is a bet on 0,1,2 or 0,2,3

Apart from these, bets can also be placed on the ball landing on Red/black, odd/even numbers, in the 0 or green slot, number groups, and columns and rows.

Bets placed on numbers are known as ‘Inside bets’ and those placed in the boxes outside the number grid are known as ‘Outside bets’.

Online Roulette Strategy

Our experts at CasinoUSA.com always recommend that you practice for free as much as possible at an online casino before wagering real money. We have an entire list of casinos where you can play online roulette for free.

• Make sure to play sensibly and allocate a portion of your bankroll to short sessions.
• Separate your winnings from your original bankroll.
• European Roulette offers better odds since it has a lower house edge of 2.70% as compared to the American variant that has a 5.26% house edge. French roulette also has a lower house edge of 1.35%.
• It would be wise to bet small and stick to outside bets when you play for practice.
• Inside bets offer greater winning opportunities. However, these bets are ideal for the experienced player. If you are a novice then outside bets such as odd/even and red/black
• Manage your bankroll well and don’t chase your losses. A sensible betting strategy would be place two outside bets of equal amounts – one on even-money play and the other on column or dozen that pays 2:1. For example, you can place a bet on black and another on Column 3, which has eight red numbers. Alternatively, you can place a bet on red and one bet on Column 2, which has eight black numbers.
• Remember, Roulette is a game of chance and there is no magic formula to win consistently.
• Don’t let previous numbers wins influence you since every spin is independent and unrelated to any past spins.

Most importantly, to make the most of your foray into online roulette, stick with CasinoUSA.com for the very latest.

Online Roulette FAQ

If you’re new to playing real money Roulette, or even if you’re a more experienced gambler looking for some info, here are the answers to the most popular questions about this massively played casino game.

Is there a Working Winning System?

While there are many winning systems sold online that claim to be effective, the truth is that there isn’t much you can do to increase your chances of winning. A Roulette game is a game of luck, i.e. it is a game of random outcomes. To determine the next number, casinos use a Random Number Generator which produces limitless combinations that make predicting numbers entirely impossible.

Now, some claim to have a winning system that relies on how much you bet, the most popular example being the Martingale. Basically this system relies on doubling your bet each time you lose, so that when you eventually win you can cover all your losses. However, the system also implies that you should have enough resources to last you until the win, which may not come for a long time.

The bottom line is that systems will never help you predict the numbers or alter your odds, but only alter your results. Thus, you should always think twice before investing in a system.

Why Does Roulette Contribute Less to Clearing my Casino Bonus?

When you grab a bonus at your online casino, you will find that the terms normally state Roulette games have a smaller contribution to meeting your wagering requirements than slots, or other games. This is mainly due to the lower house edge of Roulette, as opposed to slot games which give bigger advantage to the casino. There are also some casinos which entirely exclude Roulette from bonus contributions.

What are my Winning Odds?

The standard odds of winning a bet on a single number are 35 to 1, while splitting your bets will result in 17 to 1 odds. The lowest odds are given to black/red, high/low, and odd/even bets, which have 1 to 1 odds as the chances of winning those bets is 50:50.

Can Roulette be played for Free?

Almost every online casino offers game demos along with real-money versions. These might also be available to you even if you don’t have a casino account, depending on the casino. Demo versions can help you get a hang of the game before you invest real money in it.

Which are the Worst Bets in Roulette?

One of the most famous things about Roulette is that it offers the same 35 to 1 odds across any number bet. However, there are also some bets that lower your chances significantly, like the top line bet in American Roulette. The top line bet is any bet on the numbers between 0 and 3 (0 – 00 – 1 – 2– 3), which increases the house edge to 7.89%.

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What Is the Main Difference Between French, European, and American Roulette?

While all versions are fairly similar to one another, the main difference will be in the house edge and the number of zeros on a wheel. European Roulette has a single 0 and an estimated house edge of 2.7%.

The French version also has a single zero, but the zero pays back half your bet, which means it has half the house edge, or 1.35%. And finally, American Roulette has both 0 and 00 and the biggest house edge, or 5.26%.

Are Online Roulette Games Fair?

Yes, as long as you play in licensed casinos. All licensed casinos have their Random Number Generators audited by a regulatory body to ensure the casino doesn’t interfere with the outcomes in any way. There are also third-party auditing agencies like TST and eCOGRA that do independent audits. That’s why you should always check for a watermark of a license and audit certificates.

Which Roulette Versions Have the Best Odds?

In terms of odds, all roulette versions are the same, only some have a bigger advantage to the player. For example, a black/red bet will have the same returns in all Roulette varieties, with the only difference being that you’ll have less chances of winning in American Roulette than French Roulette.

Is Online Roulette Legal?

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Yes it is, as long as the casino holds an official license. To find out whether you should play you only need to look for a UK Gambling Commission license.

Is Online Roulette the Same as Traditional Roulette?

Russian Roulette Gambling Game

Both online Roulette and traditional roulette is the same, with the only difference being in how you control and experience your playing. In both game sectors, the outcomes will be entirely random and the odds the same, only traditional casinos have human dealers, which some players feel more comfortable with.