Roulette Wheel

The creation of Roulette wheels comes with some simple comprehension. Newcomers to playing the game of Roulette sometimes get a little overwhelmed when looking at the wheel. The wheel is designed to rotate on the Roulette table. There are numbers that range from 1 to 36 and can go from small to big, red to black and even or odd. In American Roulette, players will find a 00 slot on the wheel or just a one 0 slot with all other versions of the game. 

A roulette wheel has two fundamental parts. The first is the static bowl, which is made of solid wood with plastic features sometimes located on the wheel. The construction of the bowl includes the ball track, a lower ball track apron with special ball reflectors, and a spindle that supports the rotating wheel head.

The second part is the wheel head, which is assembled into the bowl and fits in with the upper and lower ball tracks. The coloured numbers and pockets are on the outer part of the wheel head. The cone is located in the central region of the wheel head. The turret decorates and hides the height adjuster. A roulette wheel is tested to ensure there are no defects before entering a casino.

The only difference one will find between the Roulette wheels playing the European or the American-style game is the number sequences.

Number sequence on a roulette wheel

Players might think that numbers are positioned randomly on a roulette wheel. At first glance, there is really an impression of a chaotic placement without any pattern. On the one hand, this looks like true. On the other hand, there are still a few basic principles underpinning the sequence and logic of numbers on European and American roulette wheels. The key provision behind this logic is that adjacent numbers must have as many differences as possible. To understand this idea better, let’s look at the attributes of numbers in roulette. Any number can be grouped under the following criteria:

  • High (19-36) or Low (1-18)
  • Red or Black
  • Even or Odd 

For example, 10 is Low, Black, and Even. Wheel creators tried to arrange the layout so that any two neighbouring numbers would have as few common properties as possible, implying that you’ll never find two numbers, both being high, red and even, adjacently. Look at the three numbers that are next to each other on the European roulette wheel:

  • 1: Red, Low, Odd 
  • 20: Black, High, Even
  • 14: Red, Low, Even

A similar approach applies to an American roulette wheel. It has a different numeric row, but the principle is the same as explained above.

Roulette ball and track

Let’s talk about the roulette ball. The first ball was made of ivory bone. The material from which the ball is made does make a difference in the gameplay. According to gambling regulations, a roulette ball must be 3/4 inches in diameter. All roulette balls do not go over this limit as it provides the best speed for rotating. 

The important part is the ball track itself; the newer design has a lip like the older models, reducing prediction results by 90%. When there is a lip on the track this results in little action of the ball as it slows down. The Roulette ball slips off the lip and lands straight into a pocket. The new track style doesn’t prevent the ball from rotating and then landing at the point where it would be difficult to guess.

Live roulette wheel

In live roulette, a wheel looks and feels like a standard device used at land-based casinos. It has the same 37 or 38 slots and is set in motion by the croupier. In many live casino games, the wheel is spun automatically and never stops. Besides, there are so-called Auto Roulette titles (Evolution, Pragmatic Play, etc.) where the wheel is completely autonomous with no dealer involved in the action.

Exotic roulette wheel variations

As you might know, roulette games are not limited to the classic trio. Some providers go the extra mile by bringing out unique roulette versions that have offbeat tables, wheels, and rules. One of these one-of-a-kind games is Mini Roulette from Spribe, featuring only 12 numbers 1-12 and no zero sector. This abridged format cannot but reflect on the wheel structure, which accommodates only 12 red and black numbers. 

Another bright example is a wheel in Astro Roulette. Instead of traditional numbers, the game uses 12 signs of the zodiac, and its wheel features 13 pockets, one of which (Infinity) serves as a zero in normal roulette. 

A biased roulette wheel

Here is some information about a biased roulette wheel. This roulette wheel’s probability of a number coming out more often than others is higher because this wheel has some manufacturing or attained defects that result in a consistent pattern of roulette wheel numbers. 

Some players will look for biased wheels to benefit from wagering. Some of the defects may be the bigger pockets of the wheel, and the edges may be loosened a bit. There is no way a player can beat the roulette wheel when it comes to playing in online casinos, as there can’t be any defects. However, this issue can occur in live roulette, at least theoretically. Reliable providers (Evolution, Vivo, Swintt, etc.) take care of this thing and never let the wheel wear to the point of becoming biased.