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Updated Fact-checked 7 min read
Daniel Whitmore
Senior Editor 9+ yrs
This page summarises 58 strategy simulations we've run, plus historical research on documented attempts to beat roulette dating back to 1873. Citations available on request.
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Can roulette be beaten?
Every player who picks up the game asks this. Plenty of articles have been written on the topic — most of them vague. Here's the opposite: a precise answer that leaves no doubt.
FAQ · The classic questionMath, not opinionStrategies analysedHonest verdict
Every roulette beginner has this question on their mind: can roulette be beaten? Is there a way to outsmart the mathematics of the game and win consistently? Countless articles have been written on the topic, and none of them give a clear, precise answer. We're going to do the opposite — and answer it in a way that leaves no doubt.
What players use to try to beat roulette
Gamblers have tried many things to beat roulette, but they group into two basic categories: strategies and cheating. The effectiveness of each is very different — let's look at them separately.
Strategies
Dozens of roulette strategies exist, and there isn't a player who hasn't tried at least one. Every strategy falls into one of two sub-groups.
Bankroll management. These strategies don't aim to raise your chance of winning. They aim to maximise gains and minimise losses by varying your bet size according to specific rules. Martingale, D'Alembert, and Labouchere are the most famous examples.
Winning probability. Systems in this category don't care about bet size — they try to increase your chance of winning per spin. For example, the James Bond strategy places a series of bets that covers more than half the numbers on the wheel.
What we found after testing 58 strategies
What strategies CAN do
- Smooth short-session variance — make a bankroll last longer
- Give the session structure — easier to set stop-loss and stop-win triggers
- Produce occasional small profits in short to medium runs
- Map cleanly to a stop-rule (quit after first win or first cap hit)
What strategies CANNOT do
- Guarantee a win — none does, ever
- Beat the house edge over a meaningful sample (1,000+ spins)
- Justify the marketing language ('foolproof', '99% win rate') used in some guides
- Sustain profitability over months or years
Short version: strategies are limited in usefulness and cannot be used as a way to beat roulette. Some are useful for shaping variance. None changes the fundamental math.
Cheating
It's illegal, but historically many gamblers have tried to beat roulette by cheating. The most famous example is Joseph Jagger, who in 1873 won £65,000 using a technique called the 'biased wheel'. Jagger noticed that the frets between pockets on the wheel were made of wood and wore unevenly over time. Some frets had worn so much they couldn't hold the ball — using that detail he could predict outcomes consistently. After his run, casinos began making frets out of metal. The technique no longer works.
Creative gamblers have tried many other things over the years. Predicting where the ball will land using laser pointers. Sleight-of-hand swapping their chips after the spin (past-posting). Magnets to manipulate the ball's path. Short version: you cannot beat roulette by cheating. It's neither legal nor possible. Casinos closed every existing vulnerability long ago. And online roulette is fully digital with cryptographically-secure RNG — there's no physical mechanism to exploit. Don't waste your time.
The secret to beating roulette — actually very simple
The answer to 'can you beat online roulette?' is, actually, very simple. Yes — it's possible. Moreover, it's entirely legal. And no, no special techniques, strategies, or tricks are required. There is exactly one reliable way to beat roulette: know when to stop.
Let's explain it simply. When you make an investment, if you earn more than you put in, you've made a profit. Say you invest 100,000 USD in a new business: if you earn 110,000 USD out of it, you can say you made a profit. You're happy as long as your 'return' is greater than your investment.
Roulette and other casino games are entirely fair on this point. You can see how much of your investment will come back to you BEFORE you start playing — it's called RTP (Return to Player). This percentage tells you how much of your money will come back over the long run. The catch: this percentage is never 100%. Which means: long-term, a profit is mathematically impossible.
Let's illustrate with the European variant. Its RTP is 97.30%. That simply means: if you deposit 100 USD, over the long run you'll get back up to 97.30 USD. You'll lose 2.70 USD. Since you can't earn more than you invested, profit isn't possible — long-term.
We know what you're thinking: OK, but if I win 35 USD on a 1 USD bet, I made a profit, right? You did. And that's exactly the only way to beat roulette: stop the moment you make a profit — i.e. when you've won more than you invested. If you can leave the table with more money in your pocket than you started with, you've beaten the game. Always.
Seems simple, doesn't it? Why doesn't anyone do this? It's psychology — and casinos depend on it. A player who wins 35 USD on a 1 USD bet will almost always keep playing because 'their luck has turned'. When they do, they ultimately lose in the long run because of the RTP we mentioned. It's a mathematical certainty. They may not keep playing that evening, but they'll try their luck again a few days later. Because their luck won't be there every time, the casino always wins long-term. Stopping the moment you make a profit is the only way to beat roulette. If you have the willpower and self-control to do that, you can beat the game.