The first form of Roulette was devised in France in the 17th century by mathematician Blaise Pascal. In the early 1800s the game was brought to the US and the rest of Europe, as a result we still today have two forms of roulette, American and European.
American Roulette is played with 38 slots on the reel, numbers 1-36, 0 and 00. The second 00, is the main thing that differentiates American Roulette from its popular European neighbour.