How Much Do You Know About Roulette Inventor Blaise Pascal?

Most roulette players will know that the game originated in France in the 17th Century. And it is also fairly common knowledge that an early version of roulette was created by the polymath Blaise Pascal when he was trying to create a machine of perpetual motion. But how much more do you know about the man who helped spark an industry that is now worth billions of dollars? Pascal was actually responsible for a few more highly influential ideas beyond roulette.

Invention of a Game That Changed the World

Looking at the sprawling gambling industry that exists today, it seems hard to pinpoint what sparked it all. Online casinos are popular in almost every country in the world, and gambling games like roulette have spread much further than their European origins.

Indeed, there is even a bustling gambling industry in the Arabic world now, with so many options available that players need to use tools to find the best casinos for Arabic players. These sites allow players to play roulette and other favourites and accumulate points while doing so. Later, these can be exchanged for rewards such as free spins and deposit matches. Some sites even offer VIP services, which this site details and provides guidance on. Also, some operators will offer faster payouts and unique promotions. It’s hard to imagine that Pascal had concepts like this in mind when he first created his wheel.

To the modern player, this behemoth of an industry seems like it has always existed, and it is difficult to comprehend that it all originated from a few basic ideas. But if you were to trace gambling all the way back to the beginning, Pascal’s idea would be one of the Adam and Eve-like moments that led to what we know today. The inventor never set out to give birth to the gambling industry and did so inadvertently. It all began when he tried to develop a machine of perpetual motion, which inspired the creation of the roulette wheel.

Child Prodigy

From a young age, it was obvious that Pascal was going to have a huge impact on the world. It swiftly emerged that the young Frenchman was a mathematical genius, and by the age of 16, he had already written extensive works on the subject of projective geometry. His later work alongside Pierre de Fermat had a huge impact on the development of modern economics. One of Pascal’s early inventions was to do with his maths skills. Indeed, in 1642 he became one of the first two inventors of the calculator.

Alongside mathematics, Pascal was also an established physicist, writer, philosopher, and theologian. Due to frail health issues throughout his life, Pascal died at the young age of 39. However, he managed to cram a lot of important work into that short space of time and is now remembered for a vast number of things.

Pascal’s Wager

In modern times, players constantly wager on the game of roulette that Pascal gave birth to. Interestingly, the inventor thought up another famous wager that is still influential to this day. Pascal’s Wager is a well-known and thought-provoking philosophical argument about the existence of God. Pascal was a religious Catholic himself and believed in a higher power. But his rationale was aimed at those who were less pious than himself.

Pascal’s Wager states that even if you don’t believe in God, you should live your life as if he exists. Then if you die and it turns out he doesn’t exist, you have only had to sacrifice a few things in your life such as pleasures and luxury. However, if he does exist, you will then gain entrance to heaven, where you would then have infinite gains. Those who don’t wager on the existence of God and then find out he does exist would face infinite losses in hell.

Roulette players will know Pascal as the man who gave birth to the egg from which roulette hatched. The man who sparked the industry is expected to be worth $127 billion by 2027. This was an incredible achievement, but the Frenchman should also be remembered for his other work. His contribution to philosophy was particularly important, as it led to intriguing debates about religion.