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Most games in casinos around the world are games based on pure luck. These are the most profitable ones, which is why the majority of the offer in both land-based and online casinos consists of them.

Most players believe that roulette is one of the games where this line is blurry. The pocket in which the roulette ball lands every time is determined by pure chance. However, a lot of players have managed to win by employing certain strategies that require a lot of skill.

Do these strategies, even though they require skill, also rely on luck? That’s the question we will try to answer below.

How does roulette work?

There are two main types of roulette that most players out there play. Those are:

  • American roulette
  • European roulette

For example, online roulette UK is played on a small wheel that has 37 unique pockets. They are marked with numbers from 1 – 36 and painted either black or red; plus, there is one green pocket marked with a zero. Players then place bets on either a number, a color, a group of numbers, or a section on the wheel. The dealer spins the wheel, rolls the ball, and the winner is determined according to where the ball lands.

The American roulette is played in the same way. The only difference is that, instead of one green zero pocket, there are two of them. Therefore, players’ chances of winning a color bet or a number bet are much lower than in European roulette.

Taking into account what we know so far, we can say that roulette is a game that relies purely on chance, unless the wheel is biased.  

Do popular roulette strategies work?

Over the years, casino players have come up with a number of strategies that they use to make roulette odds work in their favor. The most popular one is called Roulette Betting Progression. Even though it seems logical at first, the truth is that it has many drawbacks.

To explain why, let’s say that you are playing roulette on Codere, a major Spanish online casino, and you bet one chip on red. If you win, you will get two chips back. If you lose, you bet two chips on red. If you lose again, bet another four chips on red one more time. The idea is to keep doubling your bets each time you lose and keep placing the same bet. The ball must hit the red pocket eventually, right?

However, the reality is that, no matter how many times the ball falls into a black pocket, the chances of it falling into the opposite colored pocket are always the same. They never change, even if the ball falls into a black pocket 100 times in a row.

There is a big chance that you will either run out of money before you get lucky or reach the table’s limit, which means that you won’t be able to increase your bets any longer and you’ll lose all of the money you bet thus far.

Therefore, even though this strategy makes a lot of sense at first glance, we can see that it still relies heavily on luck and probability — factors that are not good anchors in casino games.

The truth is somewhere in-between

As is the case most of the time, the truth is somewhere between the two extremes. In reality, you can increase your chances of winning by practicing different strategies and using them for a short period of time. However, in the long run, the roulette wheel will probably win no matter how skilled you are.

The universe works in a strange way. You might think that the chances of hitting pockets 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 in a row on a roulette wheel are much lower than hitting pockets numbered 32, 5, 28, 17, and 20. However, they are completely the same.

Conclusion

To sum up, the best strategy that you can use when playing either American or European roulette is to try to have as much fun as possible and hope that Fortuna is on your side. If you realize that roulette is not your cup of tea, try online slots — they are becoming more and more popular. You never know when and where luck might smile upon you.

The Herald encourages readers to gamble responsibly. For advice and information, please visit the BeGambleAware website here for free, confidential help.