Many people wonder how to predict roulette numbers. But is it really possible? Professional dealer Peter Nairn is here to solve the mystery.
Here’s what you’ll uncover:
Author’s Take
Roulette was invented by French mathematician Blaise Pascal in the 17th Century and ever since then, many people have tried to create a roulette predictor. Even Pascal himself dabbled in roulette prediction, working on mathematical models and so on.
But so far, no-one has invented a legal roulette number predictor. And I’m very confident in taking the position that they never will.
Why not, you ask?
Because there are simply too many variables in the game that don’t allow for accurate roulette number prediction.
My recommendation
Having a solid strategy to follow is a good idea to preserve your bankroll, and using a system to try to win at roulette is a better option than betting on randomly selected numbers, but you are still at the mercy of Lady Luck.
The short answer isn’t just no, it’s ‘absolutely not!’.
Here’s why:
The wheel is going at a random speed, which changes as the wheel slows down, and when the dealer increases or decreases its speed.
The ball (and they come in different sizes and weights), which is rotating in the opposite direction to the wheel, is also going at a variable speed and the dealer increases or decreases the speed as they spin it, as they’re trained to do.
Each wheel has a different feel, and the canoes are specifically placed to interfere with how the ball drops from the track.
And the wheel itself is set up with very shallow pockets to allow the ball to roll around before settling in the final number.
Fun fact
When I was doing the research for this article, one of the sources I looked at even stated that a player should look into developing their psychic powers, because that was just as legitimate as any other method of predicting roulette numbers.
Obviously not a method to be taken too seriously.
Let's explore the most commonly used methods players use to predict the roulette numbers, and whether they are worth it or not:
- Biased Wheel: While it may work in land-based casinos, with old and/or poorly maintained wheels, the time spent identifying the wheel, and whether it’s truly biased is not worth it. Especially since wheel maintenance is a high priority for the casinos these days;
- Dealer Signature: This can be used to track the results and possibly gain an advantage that way. However, you have to know the wheel numbers and sections perfectly, and even then, it may not work because the dealers are trained not to have a signature;
- Visual number pattern prediction: This technique may be possible to use if dealer isn’t dealing a true random game. You need to be good at assessing ball speed and wheel speed to accurately predict where the ball will fall from the track. This requires you to have in-depth and accurate knowledge of the number layout in the sections of the wheel.
- Computer-based roulette prediction device: This is the only proven method to accurately predict upcoming roulette numbers. A Croatian/Serbian team won over £1 million at the Ritz Casino in London in the early 2000s. However, they’re illegal in any legitimate jurisdiction, and you may end up in jail if you use one. Of course, if you would like to play in a non-licensed casino, you may not end up in jail - the shark pool at the casino owner’s house may be the alternative.
- Prediction software: This tool analyses previous spins and (ahem) ‘suggests’ possible future outcomes. Einstein stated that every roulette spin is an independent event, therefore past results have zero impact on future performances.
- Using mathematics to predict the upcoming numbers: This is not a proven method to gain an advantage - and even roulette’s inventor Pascal, a pre-eminent mathematician of his day, couldn’t prove it. The systems approach may help organize your money management, but it’s not a way to predict the next numbers or sections.
- Betting based on the totally random outcomes: Using a Paroli system may give you a short-term opportunity to win. This is how you will quickly become aware that there are no guaranteed ways to win.
Can You Accurately Predict the Numbers on Roulette?
As you’ve probably noticed from the above descriptions, it’s impossible to predict the next number to hit. It doesn’t matter what method you use because none of them are accurate.
The reason why you can’t accurately predict the next number is because there are too many variables, and consequently it’s impossible to predict the next number.
Understanding The Most Common Numbers in Roulette
People like to make bets on their favorite ‘lucky’ numbers.
Family birthdays, the 7, 17 and 27, plus the middle column numbers of 20 and 32 are all popular.
Of course, there is nothing to support that these are ‘lucky’ numbers except the players’ own confirmation bias.
What is ‘confirmation bias’?
According to the Encyclopedia Brittanica, it’s ‘people’s tendency to process information by looking for, or interpreting, information that is consistent with their existing beliefs’.
This means that people believe that they have lucky numbers when those numbers hit, even though they hit in the same percentages that the game would allow.
If you review my article on Roulette Strategy, you will discover that over the years, many folks have tried to devise a way to predict the numbers.
One way that is used a lot is betting the sections while playing the European wheel. They are called ‘Les Tiers’, Les Orphelins and Les Voisins de Zero.
In English, they’re called ‘The T- Air, The Orphans and The Neighbors of Zero’.
And they represent the three sections of the European (some call it the French) wheel.
There are also some ways that certain blocks of numbers are together on the wheel.
For example
The six red numbers of the middle dozen on an American (double zero) wheel are all in one section of just over 1/4 of the wheel. Betting those six numbers (14, 23, 16, 21, 18, and 19) straight up, and the same total amount on Black can be a profitable way to bet.
There is a corresponding bet where the six black numbers in the second dozen (13, 24, 15, 22, 17, and 20) form a section on the opposite side of the wheel. Betting those straight up and the same total amount on Red may be a good strategy to help you win.
If you see the dealer hitting a section like this, it may be a way to tilt the odds in your favor.
Random Number Generators are notoriously complex and have been around for more than 50 years. Any hacks that are immediately apparent have been tried many times.
Perhaps the prototype is the 60+ year-old ‘ERNIE’, an English national lottery (sort of) selector. It used the Alan Turing-designed computer that decoded the German ENIGMA coding machine from WWII as its basis.
Since then, there have been many variations, including using ambient electrical signals through a neon tube and measuring the difference in impedance they cause and so on.
So unless you are a member of Anonymous Hackers (and even then, almost certainly not!), good luck in hacking an online casino’s RNG.
Modern day stream ciphers that frequently change the seed randomly, non-open-source software and massive website protection software suites are all reasons why it’s too challenging to hack the RNG in online casinos.
And of course, it’s illegal, too.
Below, I have listed 7 different methods of predicting numbers that could work, but as already mentioned, are not guaranteed:
Method 1: Using Mathematics to Predict Roulette Numbers
There are several popular mathematical formulas that players have been using for years, and while they can’t predict what numbers are going to come up next, they can assist in making your betting strategy a bit more profitable.
The most popular strategies are the Martingale, the Paroli, and the Fibonacci. If you’re going to use a formula, I’m a big fan of the Paroli (sometimes called the Reverse Martingale) strategy.
The Paroli starts with a small bet, and if you win, you bet the initial bet and the winnings again. And try to do that five times in a row.
So starting with a $10 bet, after five wins in a row, you would have $320.
The Martingale works the other way round. Every time you lose, you double your bet. So your initial $10 becomes $160 on the fifth bet in a row. And when (if?) you finally win, it’s only the initial bet you win back.
There are a few conservative systems that will possibly prolong your playing time, too.
Pro tip
The D’Alembert, the Andrucci and the LaBouchere systems come to mind. And of course, the James Bond system. (And yes, there really is a James Bond system).
These systems are all numbers-based and are not considered cheating because they all use information that is freely available to all the players. And of course, no late betting, no ‘scam moves’ or anything underhanded at all.
Method 2: Predicting Roulette Numbers Visually
This is partially tied to the ‘dealer signature’ method, too.
By looking at the ball and wheel speed, some players believe that they can predict the section of the wheel where the ball is going to land. To do that successfully, the player needs to have strong visual assessment skills.
While that may be possible, I’ve watched many players try to do it, and they seem to be successful in line with the House Advantage of the game.
Method 3: Online Roulette Number Prediction Software
You can buy an online roulette predictor that may help you predict what numbers are coming next.
The way this is supposed to work is that a computer (perhaps on your smartphone) sees the previous numbers and determines a pattern that it replicates.
Let’s say it sees the winning number advancing around the wheel by approximately 15 numbers every spin.
Pretty soon, it can start giving you a list of the numbers in a section it thinks the ball will drop into on the next spin.
These software-based tools claim to be foolproof, but in fact aren’t very accurate.
Why? Because the dealers are trained to make sure the ball spin is random, and the wheel speed is changed frequently.
Method 4: Roulette Prediction Devices
There are some available to be bought on the internet.
They can be an app on your smartphone, or perhaps a standalone small computer, and they measure the wheel speed and the ball speed and give you a section that it predicts will hit.
What I have to say about that is ‘caveat emptor, or buyer beware’.
- First problem - they’re highly illegal in any legitimate gaming jurisdiction. In Nevada, it’s a felony to use one, and jail time is a given.
- Second problem - there’s no guarantee that they’re accurate.
- Third problem - you must have the camera stationed so that it can see the entire wheel to measure the speed of the ball and the wheel.
And in spite of what you may have heard from the folks who are trying to sell you one on the internet, the supervisors who work in casinos aren’t stupid, they know that these things exist, and they know what their use looks like.
While it’s true that in the early 2000s, a Croatian/Serbian team beat the Ritz Casino in London for over a million pounds with what is believed to be a small computer, the laws governing their play were written in the mid-1840s
Even though the perpetrators were arrested and ended up in court, they weren’t found guilty because the laws covering their behavior didn’t include computers, cellphones or electronic cameras. Needless to say, those laws have since been updated.
Apart from them being highly illegal in any legitimate jurisdiction, they also don’t allow for variances in the ball dropping from the track. For example, hitting one of the canoes in the wheel, or dropping and rolling across the number slots because they are so shallow.
They are the most accurate predictors though, and I’ve seen claims that they can give you a solid advantage, even as high as 20%.
Until you get arrested, that is.
Method 5: Biased Roulette Wheels
Trying to find a biased roulette wheel these days is getting to be nearly impossible.
It used to be quite possible, and even Joseph Jagger, the famous ‘man who broke the bank in Monte Carlo’ allegedly did so by exploiting biased wheel(s) he found there.
But that was in the 1880s. Things have changed a lot since then.
Modern wheels, like those made by Huxley and Cammegh are computer designed and manufactured to very tight tolerances. They are highly precise, and the casinos check them frequently to make sure they are still 100% balanced and random.
It is possible to find one in a low-level casino that isn’t well-managed, and even if you do find one, you still have to identify the biased numbers.
Which will take a long time to assess because you have to decide, ‘Am I seeing the random effects of the wheel, or is this wheel biased?
Is it possible to find a biased wheel? Yes, it is.
How likely is it? Not very likely these days.
If you do find one, it is legal to bet a biased wheel because the information is freely available to the general public, so it’s not cheating to use the information.
Method 6: Looking for the Dealer’s Signature
What is ‘dealer signature’?
Dealers become comfortable with a certain wheel speed, and a certain ball speed, so it may be possible to track the spins as they happen.
For example, every spin advances around the wheel by a ¼ of the wheel.
And you may be able to predict it - if you know the wheel layout well enough and can then bet the predicted section’s numbers.
Dealers are consistent in some things.
On a busy game, the dealer may spin the ball with their maximum power as part of their routine. It allows them to keep the game moving faster, while giving the players enough time to place their bets.
And maximum power for a dealer is likely to be exactly the same ball speed every time.
And this becomes part of the dealer signature which you may be able to exploit.
Method 7: Embrace Roulette Randomness
Once you accept that there is no guaranteed way to predict the upcoming numbers, you may decide to choose a system to help you win. And for me, the best system is the Paroli, or the Reverse Martingale.
Start with a set small amount - say $10 on Red. Every time it wins, bet all the money on Red on the next spin. So your $10 just became $20. And then $40 if it wins. And so on.
I like to bet five in a row - which means my $10 will be $320 if I hit five in a row.
Does this happen very often? No, it doesn’t.
But it’s often enough to make a difference to your overall win/loss when playing roulette.
Perhaps the number one thing is to have a budget and stick to it. If you’ve decided that you’re willing to lose $200, once you get to that number, you must stop playing.
We all know that we must have a set amount we’re willing to lose.
But you must have an amount you’re willing to win, too.
If your plan is ‘once I win $200, I’m going to cash out and leave’ and you’ve reached your $200, you must cash out and leave. It’s hard to do.
Everything is going great, I’m winning, and it looks like it might go on for the rest of the night. It’s hard to stop playing.
But every one of us has had this conversation with friends, ‘Oh man, I was winning $200 and gave it all back. I should have quit while I was ahead’.
Let’s talk about the Gambler’s Fallacy.
Red has hit 7 times in a row - Black has to hit next, right?
No it doesn’t.
The odds of Black hitting on the next spin are exactly the same as all the previous spins.
There is no ‘things even out in the end’. That’s the basis of the Gambler’s Fallacy.
And it’s simply not true.
Final Thoughts
There you have it - the complete guide on how to predict roulette numbers.
By now, it should be clear that it’s impossible to accurately predict the next winning number in roulette without using an illegal software-based device.
There are several systems that will help you extend your playing time, and possibly help you with your money management, but as a roulette number predictor, they simply don’t work.
One thing to be aware of is that in the Academy we have many articles about how to play roulette and advanced strategies.
They will expand your knowledge and make you a more confident player.
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