Is Online Roulette More Random than Land Based?

There is a fine line between the loving the element of chance in the game of roulette and understanding the complex physics and probability at play in the most popular table game of them all (In Monaco in any case).

To play roulette is to embrace the risk inherent in the game; will the ball fall into a particular pocket and make you a fortune? Some of the romance of the game disappears however when you move the game from a land based casino to the world of online roulette, but does anything else change in this move to virtual games_

If you browse the online forums, you’ll notice that there are plenty of threads about the random nature of online roulette, with terms like algorithms being bandied about. One of the questions posed is whether the online version of the game is more random that a traditional Huxley wheel spinning away in casinos around the globe?

You don’t need to delve deep into the crowded online gambling space to find websites claiming to have fool proof betting strategies like the Martingale System of doubling your bets to beat the house and make a killing on the wheel, so what are all these gamblers going on about?

When you play roulette on a physical roulette wheel there are a number of different variables at play: how fast is the wheel spinning, how long will it take for the ball to slow down, as it slows which diamond shapes arranged on the wheel will it hit and deflect into a pocket…the list goes on and then, the ball comes to a rest.

There are players who believe that by understanding the physical constraints of the game and taking advantage of these, players can increase their edge of winning over the house.

When you play online, such as at the Grand Ivy roulette tables, what are the factors which affect the game?

Virtual roulette games use a different system to come up with the winning number in a round and this is achieved by a clever piece of kit- a Random Number Generator (RNG). This technology relies on algorithms: sets of instructions or rules that the computer follows to produce an outcome.

Random Number Generators are not just the magic behind online gaming, they have a role to play in land based slots too. We use them every day to create random numbers.

So what’s so good about RNGs? Well the bad news for roulette players is that they make some gambling strategies defunct, such as Dealer or Wheel Signature- they are just too accurate for us humans! But on the plus side, they make for a genuinely random number which means that the casino operators can’t cheat either.

And if the casino is licenced, these results should be audited to ensure that the house is offering fair odds. The big online gaming businesses are regularly tested and certified by third parties who make sure that all the tech is random and therefore honest.

It could be said then, that when you take a spin at an online roulette game, you remove all the physical variables and are truly in the hands of a gamblers best friend: Lady Luck! I guess that all depends on whether your luck is going the right way or not.