This particular game involved 37 animal figurines that had to be put together in a specific order to create a circle or, as you might have guessed, wheel. It is actually thought that the origins of roulette go back further and that those who created the ‘little wheel’ in Paris may have got the idea from a game that had been played for many centuries in ancient China. Yet just because this roulette game is pretty much exactly the same as we play today, that’s not the full story. At that time and in that place, the game was known as the ‘little wheel’. However, despite all these pretenders to the throne, it would seem that the game of chance we all love so much today began its life in 17th century France.
You’ll find plenty of debate over the exact origins of roulette, with a variety of different countries trying to claim it as their own. European Roulette The History of Roulette