Roulette is a game that is full of fallacies and myths, especially when it comes to playing roulette on the Internet. Here are a full list of myths and misconceptions that need to be cleared up.
Online Roulette Is Rigged – Lots of disgruntled players like to go onto message boards and blogs to tell the world that online roulette is rigged. The reason for this? Because they lost.
Are players being cheated when playing live roulette online? Is Live Roulette Fixed in favour of the casinos and live casino providers? Are players being conned out of their bankrolls? I’d like to say an unequivocal Yes or No. But I can’t because I don’t own or run the tables or businesses that host Live Dealer Roulette.
Normally they will say something like this: “I got ten Reds in a row and I was betting on Black so it’s bound to be rigged.” Sorry, but 10 reds in a row is a mathematical certainty, it’s bound to happen sooner or later. Spin the wheel without placing any bets and you will get the same results. All of this is explained in detail on our Martingale roulette system description.
There’s also the fact that roulette has a house edge and no roulette strategy can overcome this. As we’ve said many times throughout this site, strategies are nothing more than a plan of playing and a way to manage your money, none of them are going to overcome the house edge.
To put things bluntly, if you’re playing at a well known and reputable UK online casino, you don’t need to be worrying about whether or not the game is rigged, it’s the house edge that should be worrying you.
Now we aren’t saying that all online casinos are fair. There are a few unknown and unlicensed casinos that are probably operated out of a basement somewhere, these are the kind of casinos that are rigged and should be avoided at all costs.
What we are saying is that well known UK brands like William Hill, Bet365, Betfair, Paddy Power, and Ladbrokes are fully regulated and they have a reputation to maintain. They aren’t rigged because they don’t need to be.
If they were caught cheating on their games, they would lose far more money in lost custom than what they would gain by rigging the games in the first place. They already have the house advantage and table limits in place that favour them, there’s no need to rig anything.
The Roulette Wheel Has A Memory – OK, no one actually believes that the roulette wheel has a memory, but people play as if the wheel does have a memory. For example, a common strategy that people try and use is betting on something that hasn’t hit for a few spins.
For example, if there’s been 8 Reds in a row, people bet on Black because it’s “bound to hit now.” Sorry, this is the biggest fallacy in roulette. As many people have said before – each spin is an independent event. Just to add food for thought, when playing online we’ve seen 15 colours in a row.
Guaranteed To Win Software – This is just silly really. If you do a search for roulette betting software, you will find a seemingly never ending list of websites that either sell or give away software that is supposedly able to win at online roulette.
When unsuspecting players see these kinds of programs, they probably think something along the lines of – “Oh it’s a software program so it’s bound to be programmed to win”. What’s worse is that the distributors of these programs calim to be “former casino programmers” or that their program has “unique algorithm analysis technology”.
It’s all nonsense. These programs are just a rehash of the strategies we have on this website, nothing more. In most cases, they’re simply trackers for the Martingale, so they bet on something when it hasn’t hit for a few spins, which as we explained higher up, doesn’t work.
You also find that a lot of these software programs are free. Why are they free? Simple, because it’s nothing but an elaborate scheme to convince you to sign up at online casinos. For example, you often download these programs and then inside them you will find a list of casinos where the program is supposedly “guaranteed to win” but in actual fact it’s nothing but an advertising scheme.
In short, be very cautious about roulette software programs that are free and contain a list of casinos where you should play, it is almost certainly a deceptive marketing scheme. We have reviews on loads of these programs which you can read at Roulette Software Reviews.
Force The Zero – Some people believe that when playing roulette either online or on FOBT machines in UK bookmakers, you can “force the zero” to hit and profit from it. They believe that you can bet on Red and Black at the same time, and therefore never lose except when the zero hits.
So to get around this, you bet on the zero as well. Let’s be blunt here, this is nonsense, don’t try it. For starters, you would lose the zero bet every single time you get Red or Black. Also, if you truly could force the zero, that would make roulette rigged but we already discussed this at the top.
On top of that, if it was rigged and you could force the zero, obviously the casino software would realize that the zero was “being forced” and simply no longer force it.
Bonuses Give You More Chance Of Winning – This applies to playing roulette online with bonuses that online casinos give you. Some websites claim that by accepting a bonus from the casino, you have more money to play with and therefore more chance of winning.
This just isn’t the case because casinos attach terms and conditions to bonuses. We’ve covered this issue in detail at avoid casino bonuses but to cut a long story short, if you have intentions of winning and actually being able to cash out the money you win, avoid bonuses.
The Casino Will Ban Me If I Win Too Much – People have been spreading this myth for years and even in 2017, we still receive the occasional email from someone that’s concerned about being banned if they win “too much”.
It’s a waste of time thinking about this. We have seen people win over £40,000 during a single session playing roulette at both Betfair and William Hill, and cash out their money with no problem. We’ve seen someone win £100,000 at Ladbrokes over the course of a month playing roulette and cash out their money.
In all these instances, the players were simply betting big and they were lucky. They didn’t get banned because contrary to the myths, reputable UK casinos don’t ban players for being lucky and winning at roulette. You will not be banned for winning so rather than worrying about it, you should worry about actually winning in the first place.
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As a professional roulette player, the first and most critical thing to understand is that there is a big difference between the roulette table and the wheel.
Can Roulette Tables Be Fixed Income
The roulette wheel layout and the roulette table layout are a deliberate randomisation. The most obvious is the alternation of red and black pockets because they do not represent any specific sector of the wheel. Although you could argue on the American 00 wheel, at around 00 there is a slightly higher average of red pockets, and at around single zero, there is a slightly higher average of black pockets. But the difference is not significant.
American Wheel Layout
The American wheel has 38 pockets, including numbers one through to 36, the single zero, and the 00. The American wheel house edge is -5.26%. The order of numbers on the roulette wheel is 0, 28, 9, 26, 30, 11, 7, 20, 32, 17, 5, 22, 34, 15, 3, 24, 36, 13, 1, 00, 27, 10, 25, 29, 12, 8, 19, 31, 18, 6, 21, 33, 16, 4, 23, 35, 14, 2
European Wheel layout
The European wheel has 37 pockets, including numbers one through to 36, and just a single green zero. The European wheel house edge is -2.7%. See the roulette odds page for more detail.
Can Roulette Tables Be Fixed Cost
The payouts for each of the wheel variations are exactly the same, but the odds are not because the American wheel has the extra pocket. Therefore as a general rule, players should favour the European wheel where possible. The majority of casino throughout the world offer only the European roulette wheel, which was designed with only one green 0 to compete with other casinos using the American layout wheel. The order of pockets for the European wheel is 0, 32, 15, 19, 4, 21, 2, 25, 17, 34, 6, 27, 13, 36, 11, 30, 8, 23, 10, 5, 24, 16, 33, 1, 20, 14, 31, 9, 22, 18, 29, 7, 28, 12, 35, 3, 26
On the note of the difference in house edge between each wheel, professional roulette strategies that beat roulette typically achieve a player edge of anywhere from 5 to 120%. In particularly with roulette computer devices, and edge of 80% or more is common, so the difference in edge between the American and European wheel is is not overly significant for professional players. Simply whichever wheel exhibits the most predictable spins is favored. The house edge of the wheel is more a hindsight, although it is particularly relevant if you wish to play for fun. Simply a greater house edge means you have a lower chance of winning.
Sector Bets on the European Wheel
Jeu 0 (around zero): Bets on 12, 35, 3, 26, 0, 32, 15
Voisins du Zero: larger area around zero, bets on 22, 18, 29, 7, 28, 12, 35, 3, 26, 0, 32, 15, 19, 4, 21, 2, 25
Orphelins: Bets on 1, 20, 14, 9, 17, 34, 6
Tiers du Cylindre: Bets on 27, 13, 36, 11, 30, 8, 23, 10, 5, 24, 16, 33
Neighbor bets: These bets typically cover 5 consecutive numbers.
American Roulette Table
The Betting Table Layout
The table layout is much the same for both the European and American wheels, with the main difference being the American table has the betting area for the 00 pocket. Another significant difference is that additional types of bets are permitted on the American roulette table.
The Types of Bets and Chip Placement
Refer to the second image and the below for an explanation of the types of bets:
(1) Straight (1 number): 35-1 payout (pays your original bet PLUS 35 units). The example covers number 25.
(2) Split (2 numbers): 17-1 payout (pays your original bet PLUS 17 units). The example covers numbers 20 & 23.
(3) Street (3 numbers): 11-1 payout (pays your original bet PLUS 11 units). The example covers 13, 14 & 15.
(4) Square (4 numbers): 8-1 payout (pays your original bet PLUS 8 units). The example covers 7, 8, 10 & 11.
(5) Six Line (6 numbers): 5-1 payout (pays your original bet PLUS 5 units). The example covers numbers 1 to 6.
(6) Colours (18 numbers): 1:1 payout (pays your original bet PLUS 1 unit). The example covers all red numbers.
(7) Dozens (12 Numbers): 2-1 payout (pays your original bet PLUS 2 units). The example covers numbers 25 to 36.
(8) Highs / Lows (1-18 or 19-36): 1-1 payout (pays your original bet PLUS 1 unit). The example covers numbers 19 to 36.
(9) Odds/Evens (18 numbers): 1-1 payout (pays your original bet PLUS 1 unit). The example covers all odd numbers.
(10) Columns (12 numbers): 2-1 payout (pays your original bet PLUS 2 units). The example covers numbers 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 24, 27, 30, 33 & 36.
Roulette Table Defects and Manufacturing
Roulette tables are designed to carry the weight of roulette wheels, which typically weigh approximately 80 kg. It is important for casinos to use quality tables and a sturdy floor, otherwise the angle at which the roulette wheel sets is varied. This creates an effect where the roulette ball will fall off the ball track at certain points more frequently than others. Another result of this, is that the ball will hit some metal deflectors more often than others. This is not the result of a bias or defect of the wheel itself, but rather a tilt, which is why professional roulette players often refer to this condition as a tilted wheel. However, dominant diamonds is not necessarily always caused by wheel tilt. Most casinos strive to carefully level their wheels, because tilted are easier to beat by professional players.
Even on a sturdy roulette table, and very carefully level roulette wheel, the simple act of a player leaning against the table is enough to create a significant tilt of the wheel, and therefore dominant diamonds affect. Leaning on tables is often used by teams of professional players in casinos that very carefully level their roulette wheels. But even in casinos that do carefully level wheels, it is almost impossible to avoid the ball favouring particular metal deflectors, known as diamonds.
Placing Bets on The Roulette Table
At particularly busy times in the casino, the roulette table can be crowded with players, and placing bets can be difficult. To a casino, the more players that are able to bet, the more money a casino will earn.Generally if you are not betting on the table, you will be asked to leave.
Modern casinos often use what’s called rapid roulette, which is where a real physical roulette wheel is surrounded by touch bet betting terminals. Each player can sit in their own chair and place bets electronically by the screen in front of them. This can support 20 or more players at the same time. In some casinos there are rows of 40 or more players all watching the same wheel and placing bets.