Defective Roulette Wheels

The most important piece of equipment in roulette is the roulette wheel. When that wheel is in any way defective or damaged, it can introduce a bias in the game that can greatly impact the quality of the game. That’s why players should always be aware of the quality of the wheel when selecting a roulette table to play at.

Bias in Betting

One of the important features of roulette is that the game is completely random. That means that when the ball is spun on the roulette wheel, it has an equal chance of landing on any of the available spots. A defective roulette wheel can affect that randomness and introduce bias in the way the ball lands. For instance, if the wheel is slightly off center and spinning at an angle on its spindle, it may begin to favor landing on a certain side of the wheel over the other. That can result in many bets becoming invalid and costing players a good amount of money.

Other Defects

Another way the roulette wheel may be defective may have to do with the individual spaces on the wheel. If any of the boxes that house those spaces are damaged, they may prevent the ball from easily slipping into those spaces. The boxes may also be slightly less than even, encouraging the ball to slip into larger boxes and shun the smaller spaces. These defects to the boxes may be so small that they cannot easily be seen, but their impact can still be great.

Players should be careful only to play at roulette wheels that have been carefully tested for bias. Seeking out defective wheels and playing on the bias is just another form of cheating.