Is there a number on the wheel that wins more than others? Yes and no. It depends on the roulette wheel’s design and unique imperfections.
The first thing to understand is that there is no difference between one pocket, or another. Physically each pocket is identical, with the exception I’ll explain below. But let’s assume roulette wheels are physically perfect, as wheel designers try to make them.
If there was such a number on the wheel that won more than others, what would happen if the pocket’s number was changed? Would it mean the ball is more likely to fall in the pocket, which now has its favorite number? Of course not. But believe it or not, some players are uneducated enough to think it’s possible.
But ironically, every wheel has particular pockets where the ball lands more often than others. This phenomena is called biased wheel. You may have heard of it before, but it’s difficult to find accurate information on the Internet.
The odds of a number winning are basically the chance of a number winning. If the spins are random, then the odds are based on the amount of pockets. It’s different to sports betting because there are for more factors that contribute to which team wins a game. Worldbookies sports betting lists various places to bet on sports.
Exactly What’s a Biased Roulette Wheel?
A biased roulette wheel is one where the ball tends to favour specific pockets. It happens as a result of a defective roulette wheel. Keep in mind roulette wheels are manufactured devices, thus are subject to physical imperfections. Even if the wheel begins physically perfect, it inevitably develops signs of wear and tear. As time progresses, the imperfections become greater, and the winning number is no longer random.
Do Biased Wheels Still Exist Today?
Most people have little or no experience with biased roulette wheels. Countless self-professed professionals claim biased wheels don’t exist today. But the fact is every wheel is biased to a degree. It’s almost impossible for any physical roulette wheel to not develop bias. Even completely brand-new wheels are biased to some degree.
However, usually of the bias is not significant enough for a player to achieve an edge. Or is it?
It’s easy enough to understand no wheel is physically perfect. But what most players don’t understand is that a bias can occur only in specific conditions. One example is a bias can occur only with specific combinations of rotors and bowls. The bowl of the roulette wheel is the outer part, made of wood, and encased in epoxy resin. The rotor is the inner spinning part of the wheel, which contains the pockets.
Casino’s Software To Detect Bias
You would expect any casino to protect itself, by ensuring biased wheels are detected and removed. This is why almost every casino uses automated software that logs and analyses spin results. This will detect any significant flaws in the majority of roulette wheels. But the problem is it takes between 5000 to 10,000 spins in most cases.
Each time something physical on the roulette wheel is changed, like the roulette wheel rotor and bowl combination, new conditions are present. This gives professional players new opportunities to find and exploit wheels, before the casino knows about the bias.
Techniques to detect biased wheels before the casino are rare, but there are more active teams applying these techniques than you might think. You just don’t hear about it, because it’s not something professional players publicly discuss. As with any technique the beats casinos, they remain underground, and you only hear about it decades later. So although casinos like to think they are ahead of the game, the reality is professional players are ahead of them. After all, they spend more time studying the game than anybody else.
Hot Numbers Aren’t Biased
A very common misconception is that hot numbers are likely to continue. Hot numbers are specifically numbers that have spun recently. This has nothing to do with physical defects of a wheel. It is normal statistics and probability that some numbers will spin more frequently than others, at least in the short term. Unfortunately casinos and wheel designers exploit this misunderstanding, and present players with statistics revealing recent hot numbers. Every casino like those listed at choiceonlinecasino gives statistics of previous spins.
True roulette wheel bias analysis is done over far more numbers than are usually displayed in touch bet terminals. A single number bias analysis may take as many as 10,000 spins. With the use of advanced methods, it can be as few as 300 spins. And on wheels with a very strong bias, the analysis may take under 100 spins. This involves observations of the wheel visually, and listening to sounds. So it’s more than a list of previous winning numbers.
An example of listening for sounds is when the ball hits a pocket. Wheels that have red and black pockets have the plastic glued to the wheel rotor. Over time, this glue comes undone, which loosens the colored plastic. In turn, this makes the ball bounce less when it hits this plastic. The inevitable result is a deadened area, where the ball is most likely to stop. When listening for the sound, the ball will hit this plastic and make a kind of pop sound, rather than a ping. With experience, and with knowledge of specific wheel designs, you can identify the sound very quickly.
Don’t make the classic mistake of thinking hot numbers indicate a genuine roulette wheel bias. Even with random number generators, some numbers are likely to win the most. Again this is normal probability and statistics. A number is more likely to win than another only if there is a real physical reason.