Is Roulette skill or luck?

Roulette is a game of chance! Skill plays no role in winning or losing and people must stop claiming they have a bullet proof method for winning. Using a good strategy can decrease the casino’s odds while improving your own but is not a guarantee.

Why roulette is not a game of skill?

To win at roulette you must choose the number which the ball will land on. You have no control over the spinning wheel or where the ball will land. Choosing a single number bet gives you a 1 in 37 chance of winning if you are playing European Roulette, whereas American Roulette has 0 and 00 decreasing your odds to 1 in 38.

You can improve your chances of winning by betting on a group of numbers such as 1st Dozen. The more numbers covered by your bet the greater your chance of winning, while at the same time reducing the payout.

Because the Roulette Wheel spins in one direction while the ball spins in the opposite direction it is impossible to predict in which pocket it will land. That is why roulette is not a game of skill.

Do Biased Roulette Wheels exist?

There was a time, 50 – 80 years ago, when roulette wheels were biased a little, perhaps due to manufacturing defects or tampering post-manufacture. Over time Roulette Wheels suffer from wear and may develop a bias towards a particular number range. This kind of bias can not be avioded, but also requires a great deal of skill on the players part too determine what that bias is.

Today it would be rare to find a crooked wheel. Certainly in Australia we have very strick gambling laws and the gaming authorities perform regular checks on casino equipment to ensure fairness at all times.

Do roulette strategies work?

Because roulette is a game of chance stragegies will eventually fail. While a roulette strategy might work well for a while your resulting wins are still based on luck not skill.

One common strategy is the Martingale Strategy and requires the player to double their bet after each loss and only return to a standard wager after a win. The goal of the Martingale Roulette Strategy is to ensure you recover previous losses following a single win. However, the Martingale can quickly get out of hand and bets increase rapidly. It all comes down to how high are you willing to go.

When using the Martingale it is best to bet on even-money payouts such as Red or Black. Even with small $2 starting bets after 10 losses in a row you need to wager $1,024 to recover your original $2.

Return to Homepage or see some popular Roulette Strategies

See how I Play Roulette.