Roulette Wheel

An examination of the roulette wheels found at land-based and online casinos.

What is a Roulette wheel?  A roulette wheel is composed of a precisely balanced center section called a wheel head.  The wheel head is 24 inches in diameter and it is placed in a stationary bowl that 32 inches in diameter.  Roulette wheels may seem to be composed of random numbers scattered over the face of the wheel but this is not so.  The roulette wheel has 38 pockets which are alternately coloured black and red, except for the green pockets, 0 and 00.  The numbers are placed around the wheel in a mathematically balanced pattern, for instance in American Roulette the single zero is directly opposite the double zero and one is opposite two, three is opposite four etc.

Online casinos use the same pattern as land-based casinos with their respective Roulette wheels.

The roulette wheel is placed, either sunken or slightly raised, on a roulette table at the of the layout.

How does a Roulette wheel operate?

An online roulette wheel is operated by software, a random number generator or RNG.  Once you have placed your wager and click on the spin icon sophisticated software kicks in and the winning number is generated.

At land based casinos the dealer spins a nylon or acetate ball in a clockwise direction on the outer rim of the wheel.  The ball whirls around a the outer rim a few times and as it loses momentum and drops towards the center.  When the ball reaches the wheel head, that is turning in a counter clockwise direction, it bounces around the stops and finally settles in a stop.  Once the ball settles in a stop and the wheel comes to a halt the winning number and colour is determined.

American Roulette Wheel

European Roulette Wheel