Like most timeless games, roulette is extremely simple. Even if you’ve never played it before, you probably have a good idea of how it works.
So, what are the key aspects of roulette technology that you need to know about before playing?
The Basics
A roulette wheel is divided into different sections. You’ll see the numbers from 1 through to 36, with colors that alternate between black and red. As for the zero pockets, the number of them on the wheel depends upon the version that you play. American roulette has two zeros while the European version has only one. You can try both versions on this page: https://www.bovada.lv/casino/roulette-games
The dealer spins the wheel and then releases the ball. You win if you correctly predict where it lands, and that’s pretty much all there is to it. Yet, despite being such a simple game, it has fascinated players for at least a couple of centuries.
Some people have put a huge amount of research into trying to work out whether the ball is more likely to fall into one of the pockets than the others. This might have been possible in the past, with issues such as unintentionally biased wheels or a dealer’s style.
However, the setup is so tightly controlled by good casinos now that we can say that it’s simply a game of chance. There is an equal chance of the ball landing in any of the different pockets on each spin.
A Look at Probability
The idea that there is the same chance of the ball landing on any number might not seem quite right at first. For example, what if it lands in the number 8? Does the next spin not have less chance of landing here than in any other pocket?
To understand this issue, we need to look first of all at something known as the gambler’s fallacy. This is when you think that a certain outcome is more likely than any other, yet it’s actually completely random.
If we look at that situation where the number 8 comes up in roulette. It might seem strange if the same number comes up again in the next spin, but there’s no reason to think that it’s less likely than any other number.
This is what makes roulette so unpredictable and exciting. You have no way of knowing what happens next, even if you know what happened in the previous games. Over many spins, we’d expect to see a fairly even distribution of winning numbers, but with a smaller sample it’s totally random.
What Are the Best Bets?
Once we understand the simple technology behind the roulette wheel, it becomes a lot easier to see how you can win at this game. However, that doesn’t make it any easier to place a winning bet. Instead, it gives you the knowledge needed to choose the right type of bet.
For example, if you choose a single number the payout is 35 to 1. The odds of winning are 36 to 1 on a European wheel and 37 to 1 if you play an American version of roulette. This is where the house edge comes in, as the casino will expect to pay out less overall than it receives in stakes. The extra zero on American wheels means that these games have a higher house edge than the European version.
In each of these versions, you’ll see the same house edge across all of the different bets. This means 2.70% in European roulette and 5.26% in American games. The exception is with the five-number bet in American versions of the game, which increases the house bet to 7.89%.
Therefore, the type of bet you make is more about managing your bankroll than increasing your chances of winning money. You need to look for a type of wager that suits your style and your playing budget.
Have Online Casinos Changed the Roulette Technology?
The emergence of online casinos changed the way that we play roulette and other games. If you look now, you’ll see two different ways of playing the game. The first is with computer-generated wheels where a random number generator is used to ensure the same level of fairness and unpredictability that a physical wheel gives.
We can also see live dealer games too. There are versions where a human croupier spins a physical wheel and the whole thing is streamed onto your screen. It retains the classic roulette mechanism, so there’s no need for software to add the random factor to each game.
It’s easy to see why roulette has remained such a popular game for so long. It gives us a terrific combination of simple, random gameplay and the chance to win money. Of course, the feeling of calling it right and winning is what keeps people coming back to the roulette table time and time again.
