Changing roulette balls is a safeguard that a casino will take to make sure the game can’t be beaten. If a wheel is used long enough, it will begin to favor certain numbers if the same equipment is used every time. Advantage players can watch, and document, which numbers become favorable, and bet those numbers to hit every time. They’ll win at a higher rate than a regular player and eventually beat the house for a big sum.

Changing the ball, or moving the wheels around the floor, are some ways to eliminate this type of advantage. The balls are a different size, making for a different outcome on that particular wheel. The wheel may start to favour certain numbers again, but they will be different than they were with the other ball. Advantage players won’t be able to track the favourable numbers when the balls get changed out regularly.

If you’re looking to find the best roulette payouts, you’ll want to find a European version of the game. That game has a lower house edge that the American version, and over the long run you’ll win more, or lose less, playing the European version of the game. The American version has a house edge of almost 5%, while the European version has only a 2.5% edge.

The best payouts within the game in a European version are with the outside bets like black/red or odd/even. They pay out 1:1 and the odds are 1.05:1; not too bad. The dozen and column bets pay out at 2:1 and the odds of winning are 2.08:1.

On an American roulette game all the bets pay out at the same house edge of 5.26%, except the five-number bet, which is 7.89%. Only make longshot bets occasionally because the odds to win are low.

There is no strategy or system that will make you a consistent roulette winner. The game gives the house an edge of nearly 5% when you’re playing American roulette, and 2.5% if it’s the European version. So I don’t need to tell you which game you should be playing.

Becoming an online roulette champion would require a good-size bankroll and some good luck. Sticking to the better odds bets, like the outside bets, is the best strategy you can employ. Wagering big amounts at nearly even odds can make you lots of cash if luck smiles on you, but the house has the best of every bet that is made on the table.

Stay away from betting systems that would have you double bets after a loss or after a win. Betting limits break down the theory of these systems, and you’ll lose your money faster than you normally would.

There aren’t any new roulette games online, only the two versions we all know. There are upgraded versions of American and European roulette, but the game hasn’t changed. Golden Palace casino has a new version of both games. Graphics are sharper than ever. You can play for free as long as you want to before playing for real money.

Bodog also has two types of roulette available to players. Royal Vegas Casino has the latest roulette version on their Viper Software. They offer European roulette odds and rules. Betfair Casino has a roulette game with great graphics. They run Chartwell Technology as their software, technology that comes from Australia.

There are lots of free versions online now. Many require no download and can be played as long as you want, without being bothered to buy-in all the time. Once you get the hang of it you can try your luck.

Lots of celebrities like to play roulette. It’s been a favorite of Hollywood starlets for decades. Kate Moss (above) is known for her gambling habit and was recently seen leaving a casino with 50,000 pounds in winnings. Not that it matters to her; she’s a billionaire from her successful clothing line and other investments. 50,000 pounds in her world could be spent on a hotel room for one night.

Let’s not forget Ashley Revell. He placed every cent he had on a spin of the roulette table. He bet $136,000 on red and hit the number 7 red to double his money. He went back home with $272,000, which many predicted would be gambled away within a year. But he invested it in an online poker site instead.

The only other famous roulette player was Joseph Jaggers. He was the first to attack a biased wheel, winning $325,000 back in 1893.

The voisins du zero bet is a common bet found on European roulette tables. It translates to “neighbors of zero” and is a bet on the numbers surrounding the zero spot on the wheel. It’s a bet on numerous numbers at once, and made with a specific number of chips. A Nine-chips bet covers zero plus numbers on the right and numbers on the left - 0/2/3 + 25/26/28/29, each with two chips, 4/7 + 12/15 + 18/21 + 19/22 + 32/35, each with one chip.

The idea of making this bet is that you think the ball will drop near the zero. This bet has become very popular online for some reason. The odds are good with a 45.9% chance of winning, and the house only has an edge of 2.7%. The return on this bet depends on which number hits. Some numbers have two chips and others have just one.

Roulette is a simple game to understand. The table offers different bets at different odds. You place your money on the spot that you think will hit, and if it does, you win what the bet offers. Here’s a chart of an American Roulette game, and the odds each bet offers:

Odds  Bet

35 to 1: Any one number or 0 & 00
2 to 1: Column or dozen bet
1 to 1: 1 to 18 or 19 to 36, Red or Black, Even or Odd
17 to 1: Two shared numbers
11 to 1: Any three numbers
8 to 1: Betting on four numbers, where they cross on the table
6 to 1: Betting on 1,2,3,0 and 00
5 to 1: Betting on any six numbers

Whatever amount you wager on one of those spots you will get the according payout. The best are the even-odds bets.

We’ve already seen the touch screen poker tables that have no dealer and electronic chips, but now the Swedish Touch Table company has developed “MultiPlay Roulette”. The touch screen roulette game has a 56-inch touch LCD with 3,840 × 2,160 resolution. The table can accommodate as many as seven players and, thanks to the company’s proprietary technology, it can identify each individual person’s bet.

This version is designed to speed up the action of roulette. A game can be played in a fraction of the time of a traditional game, and it will eliminate cheaters. Disputes are handled efficiently by easy access to the stored game histories. This cuts costs for the casino because the tables will not require a croupier, only a power source.

This is another step towards the dealer-free casinos of the future. Touch Table also has a touch table version of Sic Bo available.

Handicapping success or failure is ultimately measured by the bottom line. So when you string together a bunch of correct picks, you’re naturally going to feel pretty good about yourself. Maybe even good enough for a nickname – “The Hammer” is already taken, by the way. Be original.

But let’s put down the champagne for a moment. Just because you hit 90 percent of your picks this past week doesn’t mean you’ve discovered the secret formula to success. You’re not in harmony with the betting cosmos. You simply made good on a very small sample size of picks.

You could apply exactly the same betting strategies next week, and wind up honking every single pick. So keep money management in mind before you turn those $5 bets into $500 bets. Sharp handicappers keep their payrolls growing slowly and steadily; a 55-percent success rate over the long haul is something to really be proud of. Now enjoy that champagne.

Roulette seems to be a favorite with the ladies, and it’s been that way for a couple of hundred years. Because so many women play roulette, does that mean that they play it better than men? That may or may not be true, but I’ve never seen any proof of it.

Good roulette play starts with finding the best game you can. If there’s a European version around, that’s the one you should play. Sticking to the outside bets most of the time is the next tactic that a good roulette player will employ, keeping the long shot bets to an occasional wager.

The rest is up to luck. Most roulette players that play often know these rules and play this way. Maybe women seem like better players because since there are more of them playing, more of them are winning. There’s really too much luck involved for one gender to be judged more consistently skilled than the other.