The world of roulette is subject to scams just as are other games in the world of gambling. Scams were even more prevalent before gambling was legalized, when people would attempt to rig the roulette wheel; when the wheel was rigged, it was sometimes said to be “gaffed.” However, today gaming commissions have been formed and may ask to take any gaming equipment from a casino they believe to be suspect, so most casinos don’t attempt to rig games anymore. People, on the other hand, sometimes still try to take their chances.

Rigging the Wheel

While casinos don’t want to risk losing their gaming license, people who try to scam the casino don’t seem to mind the inherent risk involved. People who are gambling where gaming is illegal, though, should be aware that in an already illegal situation, the casino owners might be more suspect than those in a regulated state. Some examples of casinos trying to influence the outcome of the game include the dealer spacing electromagnets around the bowl of the wheel. These magnets would be used in conjunction with a ball with a steel core. When the dealer dropped the ball at a strategic time, the ball was sent down to the rotor earlier than it normally would because of the force of the pull. In this way, the dealer can attempt to direct the ball away from the numbers that have the most wagers.

Casinos are not the only ones who have tried to scam gamblers; gamblers have tried equally as hard-and continue to try-to scam the casinos by tampering with the games. Some gamblers have tried to loosen the sectors on the wheel, so that when one strategically positioned player bumped the table at a certain time during the ball drop, he could influence whereabouts the ball would land. Others have tried gluing materials to the back of the wheel to make a biased wheel. Some players have also tried a concept called ball tripping, where the ball is again knocked during a strategic time and bounced to a more favorable number. Scams such as these certainly can happen in the world of roulette, just as with other gambling games.