button in SafariHow Can You Be Sure A Roulette Wheel Is Fair and Random?
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As with any gambling game, roulette has to be both fair and unpredictable for both the player and the house.
"Fair" in that there should genuinely be exactly one-in-thirty-seven (or thirty-eight if there is a double zero) chance of the ball landing on any given numbered segment of the wheel on every spin. And "unpredictable" in that neither the players nor the house should be able to tell where on the wheel any given spin will land.
In the days before computers gave us the random number generator, this was done by creating precise engineering for reliability combined with a little human error for randomness.
Fairness In Live Roulette
The roulette wheel in a modern casino in 2026 is more or less the same piece of equipment as was used by Dostoevsky's players in The Gambler.
A hand-spun wheel that spins counter to the hand-propelled ball. This simple setup is designed to operate the same way every time. The croupier spins the wheel, then slides the ball rapidly in the opposite direction around the outer track. As the ball slows, its circle narrows until it hits the spinning wheel, bounces multiple times, and then comes to rest in one of the depressed, numbered segments of the wheel.
Here, fairness and unpredictability are both provided by the numerous small variables. The initial speed of the wheel and ball, their starting position relative to each other, the rate at which their speed degrades over time, the angle at which the ball first hits a divider and bounces, these all introduce small variations in the starting conditions that produce large differences when compounded.
None of these are exactly replicable from one spin to another. So, the result is random. And none of them are easily measurable on the fly, so the result is unpredictable.
But how does that translate to online games?
How Online Roulette Games Stay Fair
Part of the popularity of roulette comes from the transparency of its randomness. It feels correct that the wheels cannot be rigged by a clever throw or careful spin. You need to imagine up some kind of roulette strategy or system to believe the house can be beaten.
A recent article by the team at PokerStars explains how they use RNGs to ensure game fairness.
Although your favorite digital roulette game animates the spin of a wheel, it probably isn't simulating one. Instead, the number is determined by one of several bits of clever mathematics designed to produce a random set of digits.
An additional layer of protection for players on regulated sites is that the regulator works with the operators to ensure that the software does what the operators claims it does. For example, PokerStars Casino is licensed and regulated in the UK by the UK Gambling Commission, which oversees PokerStars Casino's behaviour.
It is always important to check that the website is regulated in your jurisdiction and to understand how effective your local regulator is.
