Is Roulette Rigged? Past Cheating Methods and Modern Safeguards

In roulette the dealer spins the ball by hand, so you may have wondered whether the dealer could cheat. Or, after watching the same numbers come up again and again, you may have suspected that the wheel had been tampered with. When the ball never seems to land on the numbers you bet on, it is natural to suspect foul play.

If a dealer really could cheat, however, players would have no way to protect themselves. This article looks at whether cheating actually takes place in roulette.

What You Will Learn

• Cheating has occurred in the past, but the chance of it happening at casino roulette today is extremely low.
• Land-based and online casinos both take a range of measures to prevent cheating at roulette.

This article takes about 10 minutes to read.

The Short Answer: Cheating Is Practically Impossible at Roulette Today

At roulette today, cheating is practically impossible, both because of how the game works and because operators have no motive to cheat.

Cases of cheating have come to light in the past, but today land-based and online casinos both take a range of measures to prevent it.

Below, we look at the reasons from three angles: the dealer, tampering with the wheel, and the payout of winnings.

Roulette Cheating from Three Angles

1. Roulette Cheating by the Dealer
2. Roulette Cheating by Tampering with the Wheel Itself
3. Roulette Cheating When Winnings Are Paid Out

Roulette Cheating by the Dealer

A common misconception is that roulette is rigged in some way so that players cannot win.

Gambling’s history as an underground business makes it easy to assume that anything can be rigged. Has cheating actually taken place at casino roulette, though?

How Dealers Cheated in the Past

There is no firm evidence, but it is said that dealers cheated until a few decades ago.

These stories, however, are less about dealers making players lose and more about a dealer and a player working together to produce a big win and split the money.

If it became known that a casino had cheated, the casino would be finished immediately.

There is also a theory that, because roulette wheels used to be less precise, it was possible to drop the ball into a particular number.

How Casinos Prevent Dealer Cheating

Because dealers reportedly cheated in the past, some players may worry that cheating still takes place at online casinos today.

Many players have probably heard the rumor that dealers can control which pocket the ball lands in. This rumor is also behind the concern that roulette may be more open to cheating than baccarat or blackjack.

Measure 1: Dealers Cannot Target a Specific Number

Casinos today take a range of measures so that dealers cannot aim for a pocket.

Some casinos, for example, set procedures that prevent aiming, such as requiring dealers to look away from the wheel as they release the ball. Players can also keep betting after the ball is released until the dealer calls “No more bets,” so even if a dealer could aim for a particular number, there would be no way to profit from it. Software-based roulette at online casinos, which uses a random number generator (RNG), involves no physical ball at all, so the idea of a dealer aiming does not apply.

The release and the path of the ball involve countless variables, such as the speed of the wheel, the force of the release and wear on the wheel, so even an experienced dealer would find it technically extremely difficult to target a specific number on purpose. Dealers today receive no training in aiming for particular numbers. In fact, a dealer who develops such a habit (releasing the ball in a set pattern) may be suspected of cheating and could be dismissed, because of the risk that the dealer could collude with a player and cause the casino a large loss.

Measure 2: Improved Wheels Make the Ball Harder to Predict

Older roulette wheels were less precise, so each wheel inevitably developed its own bias. The pockets were also cut deeper, which made it very hard for the ball to bounce out once it had dropped in, and at times the game could be beaten by exploiting this.

In the second half of the 20th century, however, roulette wheels were improved. The pockets were made shallower, so the ball now bounces around far more. Even if a dealer aimed for a pocket, the ball would be knocked away and would not end up in the intended spot.

Wheels are also checked regularly for bias, so the ball lands randomly no matter how the dealer adjusts the release.

Today: Safeguards Make Dealer Cheating Impossible

A roulette wheel is just under 1 meter (about 3 feet) in diameter. Since the circumference is about 3.14 times the diameter, one lap around the wheel is roughly 3 meters (about 10 feet). The ball travels around it about 10 times, or about 20 times when a dealer spins it hard.

At 20 laps, the ball travels roughly 60 meters (about 200 feet) per spin. Hitting a pocket only a few centimeters (about an inch) wide at the end of a 60-meter path is clearly not realistic.

In short, landing the ball in a chosen pocket is technically almost impossible.

Roulette Cheating by Tampering with the Wheel Itself

Even if dealers cannot cheat, some players may wonder whether cheating would be possible with a tampered wheel or ball.

There have been reports of rigged equipment at land-based casinos, such as magnets built into the wheel to stop the ball, or balls fitted with devices that make them bounce. Not all of these reports involve casinos. In at least one documented case, players rigged the equipment without the casino noticing. This section covers these methods as well.

The Past: Reported Cases of Cheating with Rigged Equipment

The methods described here are reported from the past. They are not examples of cheating taking place today.

We also researched the published record, but found no firm evidence that a casino had cheated at roulette to take money from players.

Method 1: Controlling the Winning Number with Magnets in the Wheel

In the reported method, electromagnets were built into the wheel beneath each pocket, and a magnet was also embedded in the ball. Activating the magnet under the target pocket drew the ball toward it, so the ball landed where intended.

From time to time, videos claiming to expose magnets hidden under a roulette wheel spread widely, and some show the ball moving in ways that look clearly unnatural. Even live roulette games from major providers are sometimes accused of cheating.

Even in normal play, however, the ball in roulette often appears to move unnaturally. If every odd-looking movement were treated as cheating, every roulette game would have to be considered rigged.

Method 2: Rigging the Ball to Make It Bounce on Purpose

Other reports describe a rigged ball. A button sent a strong vibration through the ball, so when it was about to land in a pocket carrying a large bet, the operator could press the button and make it bounce into a different pocket, keeping players from winning big.

Players have also used this method. In 1973, at a casino in France, players reportedly hid a radio receiver inside the ball. When the receiver was activated, the ball landed in one of six specific pockets, and they are said to have made more than $1 million through the scheme.

Both methods make the ball move unnaturally, so they are exposed by surveillance cameras and records of results.

Roulette Cheating When Winnings Are Paid Out

Could cheating happen when roulette winnings are paid out? To keep money from being skimmed, casinos guard against cheating in the following ways.

Land-Based Casinos: Two Dealers at a Table Prevent Cheating

At land-based casinos, many roulette tables have two dealers. One runs the game, and the other pays out the winnings.

While one dealer pays winnings to the players, the other always checks the payouts and points out any mistake immediately.

If the two dealers worked together, some room for cheating would remain. However, the scheme would fail as soon as a player noticed, so it is safe to say that this does not happen in practice.

Online Casinos: Payouts Calculated Automatically by the System

At online casinos, computers handle all winnings. In both RNG roulette and live roulette, winnings are calculated automatically, so there is no need to worry about receiving the wrong amount.

Some players occasionally believe they have been paid too little. In most cases, either the bet was placed just before betting closed and was not accepted, or the player simply miscalculated the winnings.

What Happens If a Casino Is Caught Cheating at Roulette?

At this point, some readers may wonder why casinos do not cheat, given how easily they could make money by doing so.

When casinos go out of their way to state that they do not cheat, it is not because they have something to hide. There are sound reasons for it, and the consequences of being caught cheating are simply too severe.

Loss 1: The License Is Revoked and the Casino Can No Longer Operate

Every company that runs a casino, whether land-based or online, must obtain and maintain a license.

A license is a permit to operate, issued only to companies that meet the required standards after a government body has thoroughly examined whether they are fit to run a casino, including their finances, sources of funds and affiliated companies. A licensed casino has therefore passed the review of the government body that issued the license.

The licensing requirements include measures to prevent cheating, and a license is not issued if the casino’s systems would even make cheating possible. If cheating is discovered after a license has been granted, the regulator investigates and can impose penalties such as suspension or revocation.

In other words, a casino caught cheating would no longer be able to operate, and this removes any incentive to cheat.

Loss 2: The Casino Loses Players’ Trust

Whatever the method, cheating costs players money. If every player kept losing more than the return to player (RTP) would suggest, the casino would lose their trust. Once players start leaving, the casino suffers losses greater than the profits taken from players.

Loss 3: Lawsuits Can Lead to Damages

If players who were cheated took the casino to court, it could be ordered to pay large damages. There would likely be a large number of claimants, so the total would be enormous. The casino would lose its business reputation and many times what it had gained through cheating, all at once. It would simply not be worth it.

Casinos Have No Reason to Risk Cheating

European roulette, for example, has an RTP of 97.30% and a house edge of 2.70%. For every $1,000 wagered, the casino keeps about $27 on average. The game already makes a profit without any cheating.

Weighed against these losses, there is no rational reason for a casino to take the risk of cheating.

Frequently Asked Questions About Roulette Cheating

How can I be sure that roulette is not rigged?

If an online casino holds a government license, you can confirm objectively that its fairness has been verified by a third party.

RNG-based slots and table games at online casinos run on a random number generator (RNG), a system that produces results at random.

Independent testing agencies such as GLI and eCOGRA, which are separate from both casino operators and game developers, check these games regularly to confirm that the system works correctly and that the RTP has not been tampered with. Manipulating these games to work against players is therefore effectively impossible.

How do I choose an online casino where I can play roulette safely?

When choosing an online casino for playing roulette safely, check two things: the license it holds and its operating track record. Specifically, look for a casino licensed by a recognized regulator, such as the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA), which is known for particularly strict reviews, or Curaçao, whose regulator (now the Curaçao Gaming Authority) has licensed online casinos for many years.

Summary: Modern Roulette Leaves Almost No Room for Cheating

Roulette is said to have been rigged at times in the past, in eras for which few reliable records survive.

Modern roulette, however, is hard to cheat at, offers little to gain from cheating and carries heavy losses if cheating is discovered. For these three reasons, there is almost no room for cheating in practice.

You may still see results that make you wonder whether they are even possible, such as the same number hitting three times in a row or the same color coming up ten times in a row. Such streaks simply stick in the memory, and in most cases the results are roughly in line with the probabilities. Taking the first spin as given, the probability that the next two spins repeat the same number is 1 in 1,369, and the probability that the next nine spins repeat the same color is 1 in 655.

Each spin of a roulette wheel is an independent event, and previous results have no effect on the next one. A streak is not evidence of cheating but a coincidence that falls within the range of probability.