For the tables fans, bingo is the game-o as here the house only takes in 8.8% of the wagers there, followed by blackjack (11.1%). Most punishing by far is 3-card poker, where gamblers lose an average of 32.5% of their money. And keeping the rigged stock market analogy, there is liquidity and then there is. Are you talking about the middle 12 numbers (13-24)? If so, 31.6%. However, when it comes to gambling, nothing is exactly a guarantee. Roulette as a whole doesn't exactly have the best odds for making a profit at the casino.

  1. Play Casino Roulette
  2. Are Casino Roulette Wheels Rigged
  3. Indian Casinos Are Rigged

At some gaming establishments in the United States, due to the lack of gaming control board inspections, one can assume that all roulette wheels located in illegal gambling halls may be rigged. In fact, one needs to be suspicious of wheels located in almost every state, with the exception of Nevada and New Jersey, no matter if the wheels are in legal or illegal halls. The reason for it is there have been various ways to gaff roulette wheels since the genesis of the game itself and some of them are still being in use today. Now, let us dedicate some time to discuss the most common ways of rigging a wheel, which are, unfortunately, part of casino practice, especially at dishonest gambling establishments.

Ball Tripping

One method of rigging a roulette wheel, which establishments probably prefer the most, is to control where on the wheelhead the ball will likely come to rest. In order to do this, dishonest casinos use a procedure, known as ball tripping. With it the roulette ball is prematurely dislodged from the track, so that it settles into a particular desired section of the wheelhead. This can be done in a number of ways and has been a regular practice among both casinos and roulette players.

At present the majority of reputable casinos have placed plastic security shields around their roulette wheels, a measure which put to a halt any ball tripping methods employed by gamblers. However, at illegal casinos and establishments outside of Nevada and New Jersey, ball tripping techniques are still put to action on rigged wheels.

Rigging the wheel mechanically

The usual way

A roulette wheel can be rigged in several ways, but the most commonly employed method includes the control of a trip pin placed in the ball track. In case a dealer is willing to displace the ball from the track, he/she can do so by using a level under the edge of the roulette table. The dealer can attach this lever to a cable, which in turn is connected to a spring-loaded pin. This way the pin can be projected scarcely into the track. Whenever the ball spins around the track, it can be tripped with the pin and forced to fall onto the wheelhead. In many cases the dealer will attempt to cause the ball to settle into the single zero or the double zero pocket. He/she will, of course, make an exception, if players have placed huge bets on those numbers, or if somebody has bet on the center column.

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In case the dealer has a well-developed visual tracking ability, he/she will usually attempt to direct the ball to a wheelhead section, where betting activity has been low. Some dealers have shown quite a remarkable skill doing this, a skill which may even cause players to believe that those dealers can actually aim the ball, after the latter is released. If it weren't for the trip pin, there will be no way for a dealer to direct the ball where he/she desires.

Another curious fact to note is that some wheels feature a brake, which can slow the rotation of the wheelhead. By using this ”additional element”, a skillful dealer is, in fact, able to synchronize the speed of the wheelhead to that of the ball, so that whenever the latter comes into contact with the trip pin, the wheelhead itself is positioned appropriately. Despite it may seem quite obvious, if a trip pin is well-made, it could be really difficult to spot. As the trip pin is located on the side of the wheel, which is closest to the betting layout, it cannot be immediately observed by players at the table. The hole in the ball track wall is usually miniscule, while the pin appears to be thinner than a six-inch sewing needle. In addition, the ball track is partially recessed under the rim, so it would be extremely difficult to have a clear sight of its ”modification”.

A more elaborate scheme

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Some casinos have come up with a more elaborate scheme. They will rig their wheels by using small blocking pins, with each one of them being placed at the front wall of every pocket. In addition, under the roulette table at the dealer's side of the wheel, there will be two hidden levers. One of them will control the pins in the red-colored pockets, while the other – the pins in the black-colored pockets, respectively. Whenever a dealer moves one of the levers, this will extend the pins and prevent the ball from settling into that particular set (red or black) of pockets. As the pins jut out only during wheelhead rotation, players will probably have difficult time to detect them.

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Because this is a more complex scheme than a single trip pin, it is not immune to failure at all (jamming, for example). And because such a way of wheel rigging blocks individual numbers having a certain color, dealers usually employ it against players with a habit to bet on color.

There is another wheel gaffing scheme, known as the ”set wheel”. Casinos can set such wheels to favor a particular group of pockets by widening or narrowing the space between the pocket separators. As a result, one set of pockets will be made wider and another one – narrower. These wheels are rigged, so that alternate pocket separators are attached to the center hub. Whenever that hub is turned either way, the dealer is able to control the width of alternate pockets. The overall effect is very much the same as that caused by blocking pins.

Magnetic Rigging

When it comes to using magnetics, one of the schemes includes the replacement of some of the brass (non-magnetic) pocket separators with separators made of steel (a magnetic material). The steel separators are manufactured with precision, so that they appear identical to the ones made of brass. When a casino uses a roulette ball with a magnetic center, logically, it is drawn to the steel separators and gives preference to those ball pockets. Because the separators are permanently attached to the wheel, the preferred ball pockets need to be determined aforetime. In many cases casinos choose the single zero and the double zero as favored numbers. Once the steel separators have been installed, the dealer is now able to decide whether to favor the above mentioned pockets by putting the magnetic ball into or out of the play session.

During the 1940s and 1950s casino industry in Cuba developed well and astute gamblers were aware that all the roulette wheels in the capitol city of Havana were rigged. Many of these gamblers decided to go against casual players, as the ball usually settled into sections of the wheel where betting activity was low. Back then a common way to gaff a Cuban wheel was by using electromagnets behind the ball track. One simple scheme employed four electromagnets, which were placed at an equal space inside the woodwork around the back side of the ball track. As the roulette balls had a core of steel, logically they reacted to the magnetic field. With a simple press of a button, a dealer was able to activate those electromagnets and force the ball off the track towards any of the four sections. Dealers had four sectors on the wheel to select from, thus, directing the ball to the desired area was not much of an effort, especially for a skilled dealer.

Other efforts for magnetic gaffing have been tested as well, but they proved to be not that successful. There has been another scheme, which involved the placement of electromagnets in the wheelhead under pre-determined ball pockets, but it was quite difficult to maintain. The major issue featured the electric current transfer to the spinning wheelhead. Several slip-ring contacts (one for every electromagnet) and a common return line were put to use. However, it was not a reliable method, because the frequent maintenance would eventually reveal to more people than what casino management could accept, that the wheel is rigged.

The Contemporary Way

As technology developed, the methods of rigging a roulette wheel became more complex. The majority of older methods had the following relevant issue – the wires or levers needed to be run to and from the wheel, which tied the latter to the roulette table and made the rigging more exposed to players. Contemporary methods do not use buttons, levers or external wires, but instead all the mechanisms and wires are hidden entirely within the wheel.

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One of the modern methods, used by some casinos, features electrically-operated blocking pins at every ball pocket. A miniscule electrical solenoid is placed behind each of the pins inside the spinning wheelhead. Every solenoid will push the respective pin out, whenever an electric current is applied. All 38 solenoids are connected to an electronic circuit board, which includes a radio receiver and digital control circuits. The board and the solenoids receive power from alkaline dry cells. The specific moment is that the batteries, the wires and the circuit board are positioned under the cone of the wheelhead and rotate along with it. With the help of a remote control, similar to a TV set remote, a digitally-coded radio signal is sent to the circuit board. This signal ensures that one or more of the solenoid connections are selected and the electrical current necessary is applied.
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The remote control is usually operated not by the dealer, but by an associate of his/hers. It can be set ahead of time, before the ball falls onto the wheelhead, to block the numbered pockets where betting activity is high. When the ball falls off the track, the dealer’s associate will simply press the activating button and the blocking pins will be pushed out for as long as a few seconds, not allowing the ball to settle into the designated pockets.

Are Casino Roulette Wheels Rigged

This is a system, which requires no maintenance and is completely out of the players’ sight. As it is inside the wheelhead of the wheel, the latter can be rotated, leveled and moved around, as if it is not rigged.

Indian Casinos Are Rigged

As casinos and other establishments have been using rigged roulette wheels and other casino devices of fraud for a while, the time has come for resourceful roulette players to respond. Therefore, they have invented a number of smart ways to overcome the odds.