Russian roulette is a game of chance where a player spins a revolver to determine which chamber will fire, empty or not. The player must guess which chamber is loaded and take the corresponding action. The game is thought to have originated in 1838 in France, where it was known as “La Roulette Russe”. In 1892, the game was brought over to America by an Italian immigrant, Antonio Esposito.
It became very popular in casinos and became known as “21”. In 1903, the American gambling czar, Nick The Greek, banned Russian roulette because he felt it was too dangerous. However, many American casinos continued to offer the game and it eventually became legalized again in 1976. .
There have been many deaths associated with Russian roulette, most notably that of John F. Kennedy.
In 1984, the British writer Ian Fleming wrote a novel called “Russian Roulette” which featured a villain named Le Chiffre who used the game to gamble on political events. In 2002, the British film “Russian Roulette” was released starring Natalie Portman as a woman who becomes involved in a Russian roulette game at a casino and ends up losing her life.
