7 Sad Facts About Roulette

I like to play roulette every now and then, but most of the time I play it’s to test out a new system on the free online tables. I know the system isn’t going to work, but I enjoy testing them anyway.

Like many gamblers, I pretty much quit playing roulette for real money. You can find too many better options in the casino.

This is just 1 of the 7 sad facts about roulette covered in this article. It’s hard to find a good roulette table, and even when you do find 1 you still can’t win.

1 – Not Enough Good Tables

Roulette tables are available in 2 main variations and at least 1 configuration that’s rare. The rarest form of roulette has a triple 0 space. This version of roulette is so bad that it shouldn’t even exist. Never make the mistake of playing roulette on a table with a triple 0 spot.

• The 2 most common roulette tables either have a double 0 space or don’t have a double 0 space. The total number of spaces on a double 0 roulette wheel is 38. The other tables have 37 spaces.
• The best roulette tables are the ones with 37 spaces. But there happen to be 2 different variations of these tables as well. The difference isn’t in the wheel. The difference is in the rules the table follows.
• Most single 0 roulette wheels are what are called European roulette wheels. But a special version of the rules is played on a few roulette wheels, called French roulette.

The difference is that on a French roulette wheel, when you place a wager on an even money wager and lose, the loss is put in prison, or en prison as it’s called in some places, and if you win the next bet you get your loss back.

This means that the only type of roulette wheel you should play is 1 that uses French rules. These tables are hard to find. Some casinos only have double 0 wheels, and most casinos that offer single 0 wheels only use European rules.

If you’re going to play roulette you need to find a French wheel to play on.

2 – Strategy Doesn’t Exist

Gambling games can be split into 2 groups. The first group has games where you can use strategy decisions to influence the outcomes and results. The second group has games where you can’t use strategy to influence anything.

The games in the second group almost always have a lower return to player number than games where you use strategy. Roulette falls in this second group.

I suppose that you can call making only even money wagers on a French roulette wheel a strategy if you want to. But even if you do call this a strategy, it’s all you can do. In my mind this doesn’t count as a strategy, even though this is the best way to play.

The return to player percentage is the same on every wager you make at a roulette table. The return percentage is the same whether you bet on red or 17. The only exception is the even money wagers on a French wheel.

Technically the basket wager on a double 0 roulette wheel has a lower return to player than the other wagers, but you already learned that you should avoid these tables.

3 – Roulette Systems Give False Hope

Plenty of roulette systems are available. All of these systems claim that they can beat roulette. But another thing that they all have in common is that they can’t really beat roulette.

You can use some roulette systems that seem like they work for a short time, but they all eventually crash and burn. Many different reasons exist for why roulette systems fail in the long run. But they all fail, and most of them end up costing you more than if you just made small wagers on whatever you want.

If you find a roulette system that looks too good to be true you can test it of you want. Just test it using a free roulette program. And test it for a minimum of 100,000 spins. Anything less than this can be short term variance and give you false results.

And if you happen to get lucky and find a system that is still standing after 100,000 spins, I’ve got bad news for you. You haven’t found the Holy Grail. You simply haven’t played it long enough to lose yet.

4 – Even the Best Tables Are Bad

The return to player on an even money wager on a French roulette wheel is 98.65%. This is twice as good as a European roulette wheel and almost 4 times better than a double 0 wheel.

When you compare French roulette to all other roulette options it looks great. But when you compare it to some other gambling options you find that it’s not really that good.

With the right strategies you can actually get a return to player of 100% or more when you bet on sports, bet on horses, play poker, or play blackjack. And some video poker games and baccarat offer a higher return to player than French roulette.

If you’re stuck on playing roulette you need to play French roulette. But if you’re looking for the highest return to player numbers, you need to avoid playing roulette altogether.

5 – Roulette Is a Dying Game

Roulette isn’t as popular as it used to be. I see few young gamblers playing roulette. As the older generations of gamblers stop gambling for 1 reason or another, there are fewer players who want to play roulette.

Casinos aren’t in the habit of offering games that nobody plays. And this is what’s going to eventually happen to roulette wheels.

I don’t see any reason why younger gamblers would want to play real money roulette online. The most common tables have a terrible return to player percentage, and new slot machines are more fun to play for younger players.

Slot machines are more like video games than roulette. And younger gamblers have grown up staring at screens and playing video games. Roulette is a dying game, and I don’t see any way it comes back to life.

6 – It’s Slow

Roulette is a slow game to play in a casino. This is another reason that many younger gamblers don’t enjoy the game. They’re looking for a lot of action and immediate gratification.

Every spin requires time for the gamblers to place their wagers and then for the ball to spin until it lands in a space. Then the losing wagers are collected and the winners get paid. All of this takes time.

Depending on how fast the people running the roulette table operate, you might get in 50 to 80 spins every hour. This might sound like quite a few, but when you compare it to how many hands you can play on a video poker machine or how many spins you can take on a slot machine you see just how slow roulette plays.

7 – Online and Mobile Roulette Is Too Fast

It probably sounds weird that in the last section I explained how slow play hurts roulette and then turn around and state that mobile and online roulette is too fast. But both things happen to be true.

You can play mobile and online roulette almost as fast as you can play slot machines. This means that you can make 400 or more spins every hour when you play mobile or online roulette.

If you’re betting $25 on each spin and play in a land based casino, you might wager a total of $2,000 in an hour at a fast table. But making the same wager online you risk as much as $10,000 or more every hour.

The large gap in how much you risk directly leads to higher losses. Of course, you can usually make smaller wagers when you play mobile or online roulette, but even with smaller wagers you’re going to be taking too many spins every hour.

Conclusion

Roulette is available in almost every big casino, many smaller casinos, and at many mobile and online casinos. But it’s difficult to find a good roulette table. You really shouldn’t play roulette unless you can find a French rules table.

You can’t use strategy when you play live dealer roulette and all of the systems that are available don’t work. And the biggest problem is that even when you find the perfect table, there are still many better options in the casino.

Roulette is a dying game and as older gamblers top playing it’s in danger of disappearing all together. Young gamblers don’t seem interested in roulette.