Blog

February 17, 2020

How Physicists Used Science to Beat the Odds at Roulette

From every atom to a cell that exists on the planet has a strong scientific base. What almost all scientists like to believe is that there is an enormous relevance to the subject in all fields of life. Science works in strange ways in some of the most unexpected places. The immaculate floors of luxury and panache would be considered by many to be under the light of any domain but science. Casinos have been proven to have highly influenced by science, so much so that several tricks and strategies function pertaining to the subject. Physicists around the world have exploited this feature of gambling to rake in some big numbers. Roulette is one such casino game that has scientific applications which have been tested on by many physicists in the past, which were efficient in beating the odds. Here’s how they managed to do it.

How Physics Comes Into play

  • An unbalanced wheel is what you badly need to have at the casino to take advantage of. You must always be prepared with tactics to tackle the situation where the wheel is balanced. The best casinos can do to prevent this from happening is by tweaking the setup of the gaming table.
  • The deterministic nature of the ball and wheel and their spin has to be explored deeper for a better understanding. Basing your strategy on this will help you get closer to beating the odds of Roulette. The casinos can change nothing about this as the bets start getting placed when the wheel starts spinning. You have to make the most out of this opportunity, where you can learn the wheel’s weaknesses and motion patterns.

History

There have been several attempts made by both professionals and fraudsters in the past to suck money out of the casino vaults. One of the earliest attempts was the one at Monte Carlo casino, where two gamblers (a mechanic and a mathematician) went in to leverage the wheel by logging a huge outcome from each spin of six roulette wheels. Due to the bias that the wheel had as a factory imperfection was the flaw that let the gamblers take home almost 65,000 pounds. Many such cases have occurred in the past, some of which even being great scientists.

From the Brain of a Physicist

The foundation of the physics in the game lies at understanding the ball’s motion, its location and relative speed when the croupier sets the wheel spinning. Studies and experiments have also stated that a keen observation of the wheel right from the beginning will benefit the player. Keeping a record of the initial conditions further enhances the chance to beat the odds. This experiment worked out with impressive results of 20 per cent earnings which were speculated at the beginning. Mounting a digital camera above the wheel will help you in recording the progress.

Another experiment was conducted to track the ball’s path by using a computer and calculus to record the number of times the ball passes a certain point to predict the outcome. This was found to be successful more than half of the time, which could generate at least 18 per cent profit. The experiment proved the theory of the Roulette table having a slant, which could be exploited scientifically.

About