AIBU to rely on roulette as income

[Glucose95]

NC’d as I post my 4am thoughts…

Recently, I have become a rather frequent player of roulette.

i have tried various different approaches, and have found that on four occasions lately I have won over £50 in profit from these FOBTs through one particular strategy.

I put a small initial amount in the machine, maybe £10, and then bet perhaps £3 on red or black. The maximum stake is £2 so if I place £3 on red or black then the spin bar (red or green) will offer a 66.6% chance of activating the roulette feature. More often than not, I have been successful in placing a winning bet on red or black which increases my credit to £16 or £18.

I then consider the £6 to £8 “profit” I have made as “free bets” where I can take riskier bets without worrying about losing the original £10 “capital” I staked.

My strategy has always been to place between £1 and £2 on 0 or 00.

I feel that these machines will more frequently return 0 or 00 as it is these that give the “house edge” to the bookmakers.

I have played this strategy five times in the last two weeks on roulette FOBT’s in various different bookmakers and service stations (when I have been out and about) and on four of the five occasions I have been successful and placed a winning £72 bet on 0/00.

On average, I have only put £30 into the machine before I achieve this payout, resulting in a £40 profit each time.

I did lose £25 yesterday in Ladbrokes (I never seem to have much luck on their machines), but overall my strategy has paid off and I would say that I am in profit generally.

Has anyone else been successful on these machines (the ones in the bookmakers) using a similar strategy? Can you share your tips?

I feel that my strategy pays off more often than not, and having staked a few hundred pounds on these machines in the last few months I think I am in profit still, which is a good achievement.

Does my strategy/playing approach make sense?

I feel that 0/00 are more likely to come up on these machines as it is these numbers that give the house its advantage For instance, if 0 or 00 come up, all bets on red or black/odd or even automatically lose, so the bookmakers are more incentivised to have 0/00 come up more often on these machines?

AIBU to continue playing these machines frequently and consider roulette as part of my income?

i feel that if my strategy continues to work I will be able to use roulette as a way to increase my income by about £100 per week.

I am quite a conservative player and can quit when I realise when my strategy is not working. For example, yesterday, I left the bookmakers when I lost £25. I had another £50 in my purse that I could have kept putting into the machine but I realised that it wasn’t my day and walked away. Last month I lost £100 after I emptied my purse, but this was before I worked out how these machines worked and developed my 0/00 strategy.

Since then, I have won my £100 back and slightly more through my 0/00 strategy. I would say that despite my £25 loss yesterday, I am still marginally up through the previous wins I have had.

Does anyone else who plays these roulette machines feel that 0/00 will come up more likely, and have you had success in betting this way on roulette?

Just checked and found real UK roulette only has a single 0, machines are effectively slot machines where they have doubled the odds in favour of the house by having a 00 as well.

Not that that is relevant.

A few card games, some forms of poker and black jack for example, you can alter the odds slightly in your favour by remembering what cards have been used and being very very good at maths.

The house doesn't need to fix games to make a profit, the profit is built into the format, as you need a licence, why would you risk it by cheating and thus killing the goose that layed the golden egg?

I like to think I am a bit of a libitarian, but honestly the gambling industry in the UK is an out of control monster.

I mean a friend of mine’s father bankrolled two houses and private school fees as a professional poker player. I’m not sure roulette is really worth the hassle for £50?

House always wins - the people who create/maintain these games were/are masters of probability. If you really are analytical genius who'd found a winning tactic- which is extremely, extremely unlikely, they would quickly cotton on and ban you.
You had a lucky streak - but like most humans when we gamble, your psychology will take over and will eventually let you down.
Only gamble for fun and only what you can afford to lose x

Poker is VERY different to roulette. It’s skill, not just random luck (though luck plays a part, of course.) And to make that much money, he was likely playing in tournaments. i.e. against others, not the casino itself. Totally different things.

You cannot beat the house.

You can minimise your losses by playing the game with the least edge to the house. Roulette with one 0 is the best - this gives the least edge to the house. In the US they play with 0 and 00, which doubles their return, but it is still quite a favourable game. I think slots are about 90% return and blackjack about 98% if you play it perfectly (without card counting) but it depends on the rules. Anyhow the upshot of this is that in the long term, the house will always win. So relying on it for a living is pointless. You can beat the house in blackjack by counting cards. But that is an incredible mental effort, especially if large numbers of decks of cards are used. And if the casino suspects you are doing it there is a chance they may kick you out. I doubt whether anyone who could turn up and win again and again and again would find themselves welcome.

Poker is the exception, because you are not playing the casino. You are playing the other people around the table. The casino takes its cut (called the rake) for each hand that is played, so it makes its money that way.

Poker on line works the same way. The problem is that a lot of the online players are skilled up. So your chances of extracting money from them is very small. Ideally you want to play with amateurs, but it is harder to find these people around these days.

Even in live poker in big tournaments the days are really gone where you had highly skilled players who would win a lot. These days there are many. many highly skilled players, so the tournaments are largely won on luck rather than on skill.

No shit. That was rather my point.

My DH's cousin has just announced her divorce from her DH. He started like you, and then became addicted and gambled away their whole life savings. They're now bankrupt, divorcing, with 2 very young kids caught up in it all. Stop now while you can.

Victoria Coren Mitchell talked on Room 101 earlier this week
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001yqs1

about why she loves poker but why she would never play routlette. It's a mug's game.

Exactly

@Glucose95 you know these gambling companies make billions and billions right?

where do you think that comes from?

chumps!

chumps like you sadly.

i think ALL forms of gambling should be banned.

You have a gambling problem.

You shouldn't be thinking about it this much.

It is a gamble, not a sure way to make profit. You are trying to convince yourself of this so you can keep gambling.

There is a lot in the OP's post that I didn't understand like FOBT, but I know that a roulette wheel has O (green) and a load of red and black numbers. I've not known roulette to have O and OO until I opened this thread and you were the only person to acknowledge that roulette should be O only. I have been to 2 casinos and their roulette wheels definitely had O only. This is Scotland though, so England/Wales might be different with O and OO?

@Glucose95 - as others said, get help please. When you gamble, you're buying fun. It should be for fun, not an investment.

No, Europe including the UK has a single 0, USA have 0 and 00.
I have been in casinos all over Europe and never seen the 00.

Exactly this. The Wizard of Odds page I linked up thread explains the differences between European and US Roulette.

FOBTs are fixed odds betting terminals - the roulette and other gambling machines you find in bookies. Roulette on these machines is normally 00 and 0 (ie US Roulette) so the house advantage is higher than if you were playing Roulette in a UK casino where there is only 0.

Fixed odds betting terminals have been described as the crack cocaine of gambling.

@Glucose95 are you alright? You've iad a lot of replies on a difficult issue. It must be a lot to take in

Thanks everyone for your replies. I really appreciate it and they have been a real wake up call.

I will reply properly to all tomorrow, but I really appreciate all of your honesty and sharing your experiences.

Whereas I would have probably went to the bookmakers this evening, all of your responses have put me off this, which is a good start.

I will reply properly to you all tomorrow, but thanks all so much in the meantime.

This is good to hear and well done on not going to the bookies. Please do also contact Gamcare https://www.gamcare.org.uk/

Glad you didn’t go to the bookies. Wishing you well - you’ve had some great advice here.

Transfer the money that you would have spent at the bookies into a separate bank account and do not touch it. If you had gone to the bookies it would most likely be gone anyway. You will end up with more money doing this than gambling.

I have seen people say they have made a lot matched betting, but it is an absolutely terrible idea for someone with a borderline gambling problem and its a lot more complicated than people make out. Bookies have got wise to it too and will ban you if they think you are doing it. I read up loads on it and did practice bets on spreadsheets to see if I understood matched betting (didn't make any real bets at all). I did not understand it and still don't. I couldn't understand how it is profitable after the offers dry up. So I didn't do it.

https://www.gambleaware.org/

This should help identify who is really winning

BBC News - Bet365 boss Denise Coates sees pay jump to £221m
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-67912483

Great to see you're having a think OP x

From someone involved in the gambling industry - I'd strongly suggest quitting while you still can 👍🏼

How unnecessarily rude.

Perhaps you should work on the clarity of your posts, bearing in mind the medium? It very much sounded like you were suggesting an alternative form of gambling. I can only assume that the number of “thanks” I received on it suggests others read your post as I did.

Well done @Glucose95! I think you made the right decision. Best of luck.

I used to audit casinos. Those machines literally have to be tested. You would walk around the roulette machines with management seeing people keeping notes on one machine or the other of what had come next, this number or that number, red or black, whatever their system was. Management always knew what every machine or table was returning, every twenty four hours. They are absolutely on top of their data. The house always wins.

Also worth noting that on a fair roulette table with 0 and 00 the best you can do over a long period is lose around 6% of your stake. This is due to the payouts always being at lower odds than the true odds. If you placed an infinite number of bets you would still have lost c.6% of your stakes.

All casino games have an in built house advantage - the rules are structured that way. It’s why for example in blackjack even if you have blackjack and the dealer does as well you only get your stake back and not the usual blackjack payout. Those are the hands that ensure the house stays up and wins.

The only people not gambling in a casino are the casino owners. Even accounting for a few patrons “having a good night” or “getting lucky” they (the casino) will always make money. This applies to both gaming machines and physical table games. This is why one of the biggest warning signs of problem gambling is when people talk like @Glucose95 was in the OP and think they have found a system or loophole. They haven’t and are trying to justify their gambling to avoid recognising a problem that has the very real potential to devastate their lives and those of their loved ones as well.

I’m posting the link to https://www.gamcare.org.uk/ again. Anyone who feels they may have an issue with gambling or recognises aspects of themselves in the OP please do contact them. The support is there and is non-judgemental. It doesn’t have to be using FOBTs (machines in bookies) it can be any type of gambling including things like online bingo, sports betting, scratch cards etc.

Also paging @mnhq to this thread and asking them once again to consider adding a support/advice page on gambling to the site (if you look back at emails I have sent you in the past you will find a number asking for this to be set up and even advising of organisations who I’m sure would be delighted to work with you on this).