If the slot matches a bet, then the player wins.Īlthough there are many types of bets that can be placed, let me reiterate the classic ones:

Eventually, the ball falls into one of the slots. First, the wheel is spun and a small ball is subsequently rolled into the groove, in the opposite direction as the motion of the wheel. The game then proceeds in the following way. The numbers on the wheel are ordered in such a way that high and low numbers, as well as odd and even numbers, alternate in addition to red and black. Here are the color distributions across the numerals: For those of you unfamiliar with its layout, the American roulette wheel has 38 slots numbered 00, 0, and 1 through 36. The first accepted reference is a byproduct of an attempted perpetual-motion machine invented by French mathematician Blaise Pascal in the late 1640’s, but roulette in its current form did not appear until 1796 in Paris casinos.Īlthough there are two major versions of the game, for this analysis I am going to use the American version of the wheel. Not only is it a popular casino staple, but is also often declared as the oldest casino game still in play today. That's compared to a -2.7% return in the normal course of roulette gambling.One of our favorite casino games to analyze under a probability lens is roulette. By betting strategically in accordance with those predictions, this enabled them to get an 18% return on their gambling. Using those simple measurements and the equations presented in the paper, the researchers were able to predict which half of the roulette wheel the ball would end up in about 59% of the time.

That approach, according to the researchers, produces results that ' although noisy, are feasible' for making predictions. The first step is simply for a player to note the time it takes for the ball to pass a fixed point to get a rough approximation of the velocity of the ball. Of course, casinos tend to frown on precise measurements and computer simulations by their gamblers, so the researchers developed a simpler method of predicting the outcome of a roulette game that could be deployed without notice.

'In some cases you can beat them quite significantly.' 'Knowing the initial conditions allows you to beat the odds,' said Michael Small, who carried out the study with Chi Kong Tse, in a press release.

How to win roulette casino game