Can You Make a Living Playing Roulette?

Making a living playing roulette is a tall order, as the game is much more random than casino games like poker and blackjack. There are roulette advantage play methods that can reduce the house edge, however. This guide highlights common advantage play tactics. We’ll also suggest which methods prospective pro roulette players can use to potentially make a career out of it.

House Edge for Regular Roulette Players

The house edge in roulette changes based on which variation you play. The most common variations and their respective house edges are as follows:

European Roulette House Edge

European Roulette wheels feature 37 pockets and only one zero. You can calculate the house edge by dividing the number of zero pockets (1) by the total number of pockets (37) to arrive at 2.7% (1 ÷ 37 = 0.270).

French Roulette House Edge

French Roulette offers the same number of pockets (and zeroes) as European Roulette, but its unique La Partage rule tilts the odds in favor of the player. La Partage pays you half of your wager back when the ball lands on either zero pocket (0, 00), cutting the house edge in half to only 1.35% (2.7 ÷ 2 = 1.35).

American Roulette House Edge

American Roulette wheels differ from European and French wheels with the addition of an extra zero pocket. These wheels have 38 pockets and two zeros (0, 00), so the 5.26% house edge in American Roulette is nearly double that of European Roulette (2 ÷ 38 = 0.526).

Roulette Advantage Play Methods

The best way to consistently win in roulette is to learn advantage play methods. No betting system is ever guaranteed, but advantage play can put you in a position to win more games when properly executed. Here are some common advantage play techniques in roulette.

Dealer Signatures

Roulette dealers are encouraged to keep games moving quickly. This focus on speed can lead to predictable patterns in the dealer’s spins, called a Dealer Signature.

Dealer signature is when the ball lands within a certain range of numbers after each spin. This range is typically 6–10 pockets away from the last winning number. While there is no guarantee to win, spotting patterns in the dealer’s release point vs where the ball lands can give you an edge.

For example, let’s say the dealer often releases the ball at 3 o’clock, and it frequently lands around 6 o’clock. By betting on multiple numbers in that general area, you can give yourself a slight advantage. And with single-number bets that pay 35:1, you could potentially cancel out your losses with your wins and turn a profit.

Another way to gain a slight advantage is by counting how many revolutions the wheel makes each time the dealer spins it. Doing so can potentially help you make more informed betting decisions.

The best roulette online casino sites feature live dealer roulette games. Use them to study the dealer’s habits so you can try some of these tactics out.

Wheel Bias

The Wheel Bias method is a time-consuming but effective method that can help you gain an advantage over the house. Roulette wheels wear and tear over time. As they do, they can start to favor certain numbers, making the results slightly less random and therefore more predictable. 

However, it’s been estimated that you need to see wheels spin at least 5,000 times to begin tracking their bias, which could take over 100 hours. While this is a difficult task, you can do it, though not alone.

It’s worth mentioning that these strategies would have been deployed on older, wooden wheels. Modern roulette wheels are made of metal and wear down significantly less than wooden ones. Since it’s more difficult to track wear on them, it’s also harder to gain data to help you win more.

Chaos Theory

Chaos theory is a mathematical study that states there are underlying patterns in seemingly random events. Even tiny, microscopic events can affect the patterns. Physicists from the University of Western Australia in Perth and Hong Kong Polytechnic University used roulette to demonstrate the theory.

Using advanced equations and a camera above the wheel, they used chaos theory to predict which half of the roulette wheel the ball would land on with 59% accuracy. 

The researchers noted that you can determine the velocity of the ball by measuring how long it takes for it to pass a certain point on the wheel. They also noted which deflector the ball initially hit. This, combined with the ball’s velocity, allowed them to make educated predictions on where the ball would land. 

The researchers also (indirectly) said that Dealer Signature and Wheel Bias come into effect as well.

“If you wish to beat the house, look for a wheel for which the ball drops only from one side of the rim. Prediction becomes substantially simpler and more reliable.”

—Michael Small, statistician at The University of Western Australia in Perth

What Advantage Play Method Should You Use To Be a Roulette Professional?

The most beneficial advantage play method is the one you’re most comfortable with. Dealer’s Signature, Wheel Bias, and the Chaos Theory methods are all effective to some degree. However, the Dealer’s Signature method is likely the most viable. 

Modern roulette wheels are more durable and predictable than their wooden predecessors, so Wheel Bias may not be as effective today as in the past. Chaos Theory advantage play was mathematically proven by academic researchers. However, the advanced mathematics required to perform the tactic is probably out of reach for the majority of players. 

Meanwhile, the Dealer’s Signature strategy is still difficult to pull off but yields much better results. By studying different dealers’ habits, you may be able to learn some roulette facts and gain a slight advantage over the house.

Roulette Bankroll Management

No matter how you approach trying to make a living as a professional roulette player, you’re going to need a big bankroll to get you started. You might be able to make $1M playing roulette, but you’ll need to cover multiple bets per round to make any strategy work. Moreover, deploying any strategy will quickly become expensive. 

For example, wagering $5 on nine numbers per spin equals $45 every round. At the average roulette speed of 50 spins per hour, you’d spend $2,250 every hour. While you’re likely to win money during that time to cut those losses down, even small losing streaks could quickly drain your bankroll.

While the theory suggests you’ll win enough to offset your losses and make a profit, it’s not guaranteed. So, you’ll need to start off with a big enough bankroll to manage losing streaks and keep playing through the rough patches. 

Going off the $45 per bet example, $5,000 would give you 111 wagers. I wouldn’t recommend starting off with anything less than that. Even then, you’re better off starting off with more if you can.

The only way to ensure a winning roulette session is to walk away if you get ahead. The house always wins in the long run. By responsibly managing your gaming session, you can increase your chances of turning a profit playing roulette.

There’s Not Enough Skill To Become a Roulette Pro

Understanding roulette advantage play methods can help you mitigate risk and potentially win more games by cutting down on the house edge. But the truth is that roulette is too random of a casino game to make a career out of playing it. While poker and blackjack players can use skills to win enough games to become professionals, doing so in roulette just isn’t realistic.