[steve-b]

The only way you can potentially win at Roulette starts by over a long period of time studying the "dealer" who sets the ball in motion on the wheel, figuring out how much force he or she puts on the ball, and from there you could possibly have an idea on what range on the wheel the ball will land. That's extremely difficult to figure out and that's assuming the "dealer" uses the same amount of force every time.

It's effectively impossible if the cropier is properly launching the ball in the direction opposite the wheel's spin -- at first contact, the ball bounces hard, and rather unpredictably, in the direction of the wheel's spin.

Of course, all bets must be on the table before the ball leaves the croupier's hand.

[Physicist]

Of course, all bets must be on the table before the ball leaves the croupier's hand.

Is that true? In The Eudaemonic Pie (supposedly a true story), a group of hackers computed the outcome based on the timing of the ball's motion. It seems that they were able to place bets after the ball was in play. The prediction wasn't perfect, of course, but it doesn't take much of a statistical edge to beat roulette on average.