The roulette table is one of the most popular games in any casino for plenty of reasons. For one, the roulette table is easy to understand, which attracts new and old casino players. However, like most casino games, the issue of cheating is always there. In fact, you probably have asked the question “are roulette tables rigged?” In this article, we are going to answer that question.
Do Casinos Rig Roulette Tables?
When it comes to money, some people will always find a way to cheat. In roulette, it may be the casino or the player. While there are instances in which casinos were caught rigging the roulette tables, but these are rare cases.
The truth is, opening and running a legal casino is not easy. In fact, just getting approval to run a legal casino is a big headache. Even after you get your approval, you are regularly checked to ensure that your games are not cheating. Now keep in mind running a casino means that odds are always in your favor.
In other words, statistically, casinos will not lose money on the tables in the long run as the odds are in their favor. Since the casino is going to win the money in the long run anyway, what’s the real incentive for rigging roulette tables or other games?
It seems the only casinos that would resort to cheating are the ones that are greedy or running an illegal operation. In most cases, even if the legal casino is greedy, the extra money they get from rigging the roulette table is not worth the risk of being caught. If a casino is caught cheating, it will severely tarnish their reputation which drives customers away. And, authorities will most likely shut them down.
If there’s a real cause for rigged roulette tables, then it’s when you are playing in illegal casinos. In illegal casinos, pretty much “anything goes” as there’s no authority that regulates and checks for fair play. Having said that, even an illegal casino has a reputation to protect. If players know that they are rigging the tables, then this will have a significant negative impact on the casino’s bottom line.
A Few Known Ways Of Rigging Roulette Tables
* Ball Tripping – a cheating method in which the ball is prematurely and forcefully dislodged in the attempt to control it to rest on the desired spot.
* Rigging The Wheel – there are many ways of rigging the wheel like opening/widening the pockets or the use of a trip pin.
* Magnets – this method involves the use of magnets or electromagnets in conjunction with a rigged ball that has metal inside. The magnet attempts to control where the ball might land.
The thing with rigging a roulette table is that it’s still a probability game. Most rigging methods will only attempt to control the ball. What is very difficult to do is accurately control the ball where it will rest. This means that even if the tables are rigged, it will only bump up the casino’s odds a few notches. For most casinos, the extra gains in odds are not enough to justify if they get caught doing it.
The Bottom Line
Saying that a rigged roulette table doesn’t exist is rather a false statement as cheaters will always exist. However, you can take comfort from the fact that rigged roulette tables are extremely rare. The incentive to rig the roulette tables are generally not enough to compensate for the risk of losing customers or being shut down. This holds true even for illegal casinos, and even more so for legal casinos.