Beat Roulette by thinking like a physicist

Published by CasinoTopsOnline on July 6, 2016 in Industry News

Roulette TableIn the game of Roulette, there are three different ways to play. You can choose to play it safe by betting exclusively on red or black to ensure a 50/50 chance of winning. You can go for the far weaker odds and bet on a specific number which would give you a 38 against 1 chance of winning. Or you can use physics to stack the odds in your favour and by doing so manage to beat the house.

"When playing at a land-based casino, beating the house can be quite easy according to Professor Richard Muller."

The Physics professor explained how a friend of his managed to beat the house at its own game. Muller explained that as a way to encourage betting at the roulette table, it has been allowed for bets to be made after the wheel has been spun and the ball has been thrown. You are allowed to place as many bets as you like until the ball begins to drop. Unfortunately, this tactic won’t work when playing at online casinos. He explained that there is enough information available in that moment to allow a measurement and computation that could possibly double the odds of your winnings.

Muller went on to say: "You don't have to predict the number where it will fall. You only have to increase your odds by 3% to go from losing on average to winning on average.” The key is to be careful as J. Doyne Farmer, a mathematician from the 1970’s, can tell you. Farmer built a machine that helped him win at the game of Roulette using science. 

Of course he was eventually caught and banned from all casinos, but just before that he almost made enough money to pay off the roulette wheel he bought for his home to practice on. The casinos couldn’t prove he was cheating but they couldn’t continue losing money so they blacklisted him and spread the word to fellow casinos.

The machine he built had a switch for his toe, his pocket and his leg. Farmer would tap his toe each time the ball spun, and he used a separate switch to tap each time the wheel turned. This was enough information for the small pocket computer he carried to calculate which bet options would be the best. It communicated the information to Farmer by tapping him on his leg.

While we can’t all have a smart computer to tell us how to win, you could learn how to understand the relative speeds of a Roulette ball and have a basic understanding of physics. Or you could just rely on Lady Luck for a nudge in the right direction. The choice is yours!