Triple zero roulette has been introduced at two casinos in Las Vegas, Planet Hollywood and New York-New York.

Re: Roulette wheel numbers add up to 666; says it all! By movingon2014 » Sun Jan 18, 2015 9:04 am I didn't realise this until recently - roulette truly is the devil's game.

Rumor was that Blanc had made a deal with the devil to learn the secrets of Roulette, explaining why the numbers added to 666. While gambling halls in Paris at the time had both a zero and double zero for the house, Blanc advertised patrons had better odds of winning because his wheels only featured a single zero. A double zero layout. The legend of roulette that survived the centuries is that the numbers on the roulette wheel add up to 666, which is said to be the number of the devil. Francois Blanc, who developed the system of a zero slot on the wheel in the 1800s, was thought to have a connection to the devil.

Venetian got the first triple zero roulette table (two, actually) on The Strip back in Oct. 2016, and it seemed inevitable the much-reviled game would proliferate.

That it has.

Here’s a look at the triple zero roulette table at Planet Hollywood.

On the bright side, one of the “fun facts” about roulette stays the same: The numbers on a roulette table add up to 666.

“What is triple zero roulette?” you ask.

Well, a typical roulette table in U.S. casinos has two zeros.

On a table with two zeros, the house edge is 5.26%. That’s one of the highest house advantages in the casino.

On a triple zero roulette table, the house edge jumps up to 7.69%.

See, that’s what makes a much-reviled game so reviled.

Given the odds are worse on a triple zero table, why would people play it? You ask great questions!

Typically, the minimum bet on a triple zero roulette table is lower than on a double zero table.

Yes, there are some single zero tables in Las Vegas casinos, but they tend to be reserved for big spenders. An exception is the single zero table at Cromwell. There’s a premium to be paid for the better odds, of course. The minimum bet at Cromwell is $25.

The house edge in a single zero roulette game is 2.7%. You go, Cromwell.

How did we know more triple zero games would make their way to Las Vegas casinos? Another excellent question!

We knew because players at Venetian’s triple zero roulette table (see below) didn’t care at all about the less favorable odds.

Roulette Table Adds Up To 666 Numbers

Triple zero roulette tables are often packed when double zero tables are empty.

It was the same at Planet Hollywood during our visit.

Planet Hollywood has eight roulette tables. Seven have a $15 minimum, one has a $10 minimum. The lower table minimum is more than enough to entice recreational gamblers, and casinos couldn’t be happier about it.

Before you start calling triple zero roulette players stupid, consider this: They’re not gambling to make money. They’re playing to have fun.

And here’s a confession: We had fun playing triple zero roulette at Planet Hollywood, too. And we won money to boot.

We even made money on one of the bets you’ll only find at a triple zero roulette table. It’s a bet on any of the zeros, and it pays 11-to-1.

Big thanks to Planet Hollywood for not asking security to Taser us for taking photos.

Oh, and while we’re at it, here’s another counter-intuitive fact about triple zero roulette: It can actually make your money last longer.

It’s true!

Despite disadvantageous odds, the lower table minimum at triple zero roulette means a typical player (assuming they make the minimum bet) will lose less over time than someone betting more at a double zero roulette table.

That’ll teach you to be less judgy.

Roulette Table Adds Up To 666 Number

So, no, not everything is ruined. But that doesn’t mean we have to like triple zero roulette.

Triple zero roulette is a symbol of an evolution taking place in Las Vegas casinos. As gambling revenue declines, casinos have to find new and clever ways of bolstering their bottom lines.

If guests play games with a higher house edge, casinos will continue to find ways to raise them even higher.

The irony, of course, is gambling revenue is declining because the perceived value of gambling has declined. Casinos tighten their slots, so players play slots less. Casinos change 3-to-2 blackjack games to 6-to-5, so fewer play the game. It’s a vicious cycle.

Our strategy is to play the games where we have the most fun. That way, we can spend our time being entertained rather than doing math.

We’d love to hear your thoughts. Do you care about the number of zeros on your roulette table?

Thanks to our friends at the You Can Bet on That podcast for alerting us to the triple zero roulette table at Planet Hollywood.

Updated (4/26/18): Park MGM has also introduced triple zero roulette.

Updated (4/13/19): Since this story, a number of Las Vegas casinos have introduced triple zero roulette. Las Vegas casinos with triple zero roulette:

• Venetian and Palazzo
• Planet Hollywood
• Circus Circus
• Golden Nugget
• Park MGM
• New York-New York
• Harrah’s Las Vegas
• Luxor
• Wynn Las Vegas
• Linq
• Binion’s
• Four Queens
• Aria Las Vegas
• Caesars Palace
• Green Valley Ranch
• Palms

We've all heard about the infamous number 666, which is rather cryptically referred to as the 'number of the beast' in the New Testament, and has more recently become known as the number of the Antichrist.

But what is it about this simple, symmetrical number that's been giving everyone the heebie jeebies for the past 2,000 years? It's just a number, right? Or is it...?

As the boys from Numberphile explain, 666 doesn't really have any remarkable mathematical properties, but if you look back into its history, it reveals something pretty incredible about the way the Bible was originally written.

Turns out, what you see in the The Book of Revelation where the writer refers to 666 in an apocalyptic vision isn't entirely what you get.

Put simply, 666 is being used as a code, and not a particularly subtle one, if you were alive and literate at the time of the New Testament.

This text was originally written in ancient Greek, where numbers are written as letters, as they are in Hebrew - the other main language of the original Biblical texts.

For small numbers, the first letters of the Greek alphabet, alpha, beta, gamma, represent 1, 2, and 3.

Then like in Roman numerals, when you want to form big numbers like 100, 1,000, 1,000,000, they're represented by their own special combination of letters.

'Now what this means is that every word also has a numerical value,' says Pete in the video above. Keep that in mind.

So back to the Bible, where in Chapter 13 of The Book of Revelation, it reads: 'Let the one with understanding reckon the meaning of the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. His number is 666.'

As the video explains, the English word 'reckon' comes from the Greek word for 'calculate' or 'solve'. 'So it's almost as if the text is saying, 'I'm gonna give you a riddle, you need to calculate the number of the Beast,' says Pete.

So what does the number 666 mean when you translate it out using the Greek alphabet?

Well, given the hatred of the Roman Empire at the time, and particularly its leader, Nero Caesar, who was considered to be especially evil, many historians have been looking for references of this in the Biblical text, which was not written in a vaccuum, and was very much a product of its time.

When you actually look at the original text, you'll see that in this passage, the letters of 666 are actually written in Hebrew, which places a higher significance on numbers meaning words and words meaning numbers than ancient Greek. The writer was very clearly trying to tell us something.

And sure enough, if you translate the Hebrew spelling of 666, you actually spell out Neron Kesar - the Hebrew spelling of Nero Caesar.

Even if you take the alternative spelling of the number of the beast, which has been found in several early Biblical texts as being written 616, you can translate that out as being Nero Cesar.

'It adds to the kind of complexity of it kind of being a riddle, a secret,' says Pete in the video above.

'No one wants to write a book under imperial persecutions saying, 'The root of all evil is Nero Caesar.' You're not going to spell that out.'

Roulette Table Adds Up To 666 Minutes

Now, when I said 666 doesn't have any particularly remarkable mathematical properties, that's not entirely true, because it's actually what's known as a triangle number.

To find out what that means, and to understand more about the connection of the devil's number to the roulette table, watch the Numberphile video above.

Roulette Table Adds Up To 666 People

A version of this article was first published in May 2016.