Dealer Signature and Wheel Bias
When playing in a live casino, the croupier’s technique will be closely scrutinized by the player. The way they throw the ball, and the manner in which they spin the wheel: together these are known as the “dealer’s signature”. Experienced players in physical casinos will use this information to help them make decisions about where the ball will land, and correspondingly which numbers to place their bets on.
The physical build and quality of the wheel also has an influence. Known as “wheel bias”, this refers to the minor imperfections in the mechanism of the wheel that might skew the results in favor of certain numbers over a long enough time. These imperfections can arise from manufacturing defects, or just the wear and tear of continued use. If the wheel is not perfectly level, this can also obviously favor one side of the wheel more than others.
Likewise, the quality of the plates themselves can degrade over time, leading to some numbers bouncing the ball less than others. This is referred to as “deadening” by players. Based on these observations, experienced players can sometimes discern which numbers are more probable to land.
These techniques have also been the subject of some infamous moments in roulette history. In 1881, Joseph Jagger became one of the earliest people to “break the bank at the Monte Carlo”. From his industrial experience in the Yorkshire cotton industry, he knew that roulette wheels were likely to develop a bias for the reasons we outlined above. After studying the tables as the Casino de Monte-Carlo for a month, he subsequently won over two million Francs in the space of a few days.
Why Online Roulette is Different: Random Number Generators
In contrast to land-based casinos, online casinos use a Random Number Generator in order to land on a number as opposed to spinning a physical wheel. This obviously has different ramifications for how a player might want to predict what numbers to bet on.
So, what is a random number generator? Simply put, a Random Number Generator is a special algorithm designed to output a random series of integers. True randomness can be a computationally complex problem, often requiring some sort of external random input to “seed” the generator. Such inputs can range from using the decay of a radioactive source to pointing a camera at an object with unpredictable movement.
Accordingly, there is a distinction to be made between true Random Number Generators and Pseudo-Random Number Generators which you can read more about in our article here.
The main takeaway from this is, just as with a physical roulette wheel that might develop a bias, casinos are constantly monitoring and refining their RNG algorithms in order to eradicate subtle biases that might emerge over time.
For this reason, RNG algorithms are not made public, as that would allow for savvy players to analyze them for any inherent bias. In the interest of guaranteeing fairness, online casinos will partner with independent auditors and their regulatory body in to certify their RNG algorithms.
Hot Numbers vs Cold Numbers
In light of this, what sort of strategies can players adopt to pick the numbers to bet on? One starting strategy is to discern which numbers are “hot” and which are “cold”.
Hot numbers are collected by tracking the number of returns over a given sample size. Some online casinos will even track hot numbers for the player, say over the last five hundred spins. When certain numbers emerge as hot, players can then decide their betting tactics based on the pattern they discern.
Numbers Strategy: Hot and Cold Numbers
The obvious first tactic is to bet on hot numbers. While it is unlikely that hot numbers are repeated in a row or even closely spaced clusters, the reasoning is that over time, betting on hot numbers will result in improved results over a long run.
The opposite logic is applied when it comes to betting on cold numbers. Numbers that have not come up for a long time are considered “due” by some players, who might bet on them in the hope that the wheel will begin to land on them.
Fundamentally, however, especially factoring in how random number generators work, hot and cold numbers will always have the same probability of landing in the long run.
Betting on Adjacent Numbers
A more refined alternative to betting on hot or cold numbers would be to spread one’s bets on adjacent numbers. The logic is simple: if the player has a hunch the wheel will land on a hot or a cold number, they can put bets on the numbers adjacent to that number, increasing their chances of winning by spreading their bet over a given section of the wheel. This is called a neighbor bet.
There are more exotic spread bets that one can do:
- Voisins du Zero – meaning “Neighbors of Zero”, this bet covers 17 adjacent numbers centered around the zero slot. This is reserved for European roulette wheels, where they cover the numbers 22, 18, 29, 7, 28, 12, 35, 3 26, 0, 32, 15, 19, 4, 21, 2, and 25.
- Tiers du Cylinder – a “third of the wheel”. As the name implies, this involves betting on an exact third of the number opposite the zero. This covers 33, 16, 2, 5, 10, 23, 8, 30, 11, 36, and 13.
- Orphelins – These numbers are referred to as “Orphans”, as they are the numbers that aren’t covered by the two bets above. These numbers are covered in two separate segments of the wheel: 9, 31, 14, 20, and 1 on one side, and 17, 34, and 6 on the other.
Lucky Numbers
Every player has a lucky number, but some numbers are also considered lucky either universally or in specific cultures. The number 7, for example, is considered around the world to be a lucky number. Likewise, in China, the number 8 is particularly auspicious. Conversely, there are numbers that are considered unlucky. 13, for example, is almost universally considered bad luck, except, interestingly, in Italy.
Number 17 has a particularly mythical place in the world of roulette. Lying at the exact center of the board, it has delivered some notorious wins. Notably, millionaire businessman Mike Ashley once won 1.3 million pounds in one spin while betting on number 17. You can read more about Ashley and other big winners in our list of the biggest winners in Roulette.
Plenty of players will also have numbers that are significant to them for personal reasons, that signify important life events or people that are dear to them. Betting on these can bring an extra feel-good factor to the gambling experience.
Conclusion: The Best Numbers to play in Roulette
What are the best numbers to play in Roulette? We have seen various strategies by which players might choose their numbers for roulette. While many of these have an internal logic, the fundamental fact remains that when playing roulette online, we are dealing with random number generators that guarantee true randomness even more than real-world casinos.
In the long run, there are no real winning or losing numbers. All numbers have an equal probability that the ball will land on them.
It’s worth mentioning at this point that while we have discussed a non-progressive number strategy, we have not delved into the topic of progressive betting strategies. This is more a consideration of how you split your money into wagers and the decision making that goes into how you bet. For more information, we recommend our in-depth guide here.
FAQs
As we have seen, there are plenty of methods a player might use to try and determine what numbers they want to bet on when playing roulette. We hope this has been an informative discussion about some of the ways in which you might want to go about picking your best roulette numbers. In the meantime, here are our frequently asked questions:
What are the best Roulette numbers to play?
All table numbers have an equal chance of landing in the long run. Especially online, with casinos independently audited and certified for the fairness of their Random Number Generators.
Where can I play Roulette online?
You can play roulette either in an online or a live casino. We have vetted and reviewed some of the best online casinos here.
What is the difference between online and live online roulette?
Live casinos can give you a closer experience to the excitement of a land-based casino as well as some of the more social aspects, such as dealing with the croupiers and other players in real time. They can also provide exciting variations on the traditional Roulette experience both in terms of gameplay and theming. Take a look at some of our reviewed and recommended live casinos here.
