Sun International review: Automated roulette wheels 6

I put this under the Scams and Fake Checks section simply because "Scam" is the closest I can find in the list.

Grand West Casino has removed their live dealer operated touch bet roulette wheels (Old Huxleys) and have replaced them with two x Novomatic automated pneumatic wheels in the Non-Smokers casino and 1 x Novomatic, 1 x Organic Interblock and 1 x (I think) different Interblock automated wheel. So all in all from 2 live operated Huxley wheels to 5 x Automated wheels.

I have played roulette for many a year now and have specifically done research on these automated wheels. Now lwt me tell you now. IT IS NOT ROULETTE. It looks like roulette feels like roulette but the wheel and ball does not produce the result. A computer does. It does this by changing the wheel speed during the spin sequence usually very late in the spin. It also does this by using either electromagnetic forces or air jets in the pockets depending on which model. The Novomatic definitely uses air. So if the ball lands in number 5 but the computer wants it to land in another number or section of the wheel, the jets will kick in and the ball will seem to hover above the numbers. This does not always work out and sometimes the ball actually enters the pocket to then be ejected at a speed higher than what it entered the pocket... I have seen numerous times the ball actual ejected back onto the track to then change the final result by 180 degrees...

Be assured this is not roulette but a slot machine. Remember roulette table game (Euro wheel has a 2, 7% hose edge. It is a negative expectancy game and the house gets their 2, 7% on a win or loose spin simply because they pay you short on a win and on a loss they get all of it + the house edge. 37 numbers payout 35 to one. Ok we know this and we cope with this. We accept it. However. On a computer generated rng classified as slots and not table games I will bet my bottom dollar that these automated wheels take more than the 2.7% house edge. It will take the same as the slot machines. 7%...8% ? Who knows?

This brings it to another point. If the number to fall is manipulated by changing the wheel speed and using air jets or electromagnetic forces... then because all bets are locked in on the digital screens. The computer can in a fraction of a second calculate the least covered section on the wheel and therefore manipulate the ball to end up there... Don't believe me? Do yourself a favour. Go there take R2000 and cover 30 of the 37 numbers leaving a section open of 7 numbers. Bet the whole R2000. You will see how the ball magically finds it's way around the wheel into one of the open numbers.

To make things worse. The Novomatic wheels are place on raised platforms, so if you sit down you cannot see the wheels at all. Standing up you will see about a quarter of the wheel. No video screen on the Novomatic wheels. Instead at the end of the spin a very bad resolution video of the wheel pops up on your screen where you can hardly see what goes on. Clearly every effort has been made to keep eyes off of the actual wheel... I wonder why? (sarcastically meant)

All these Auto wheels also have racetracks to bet on so it is similar to the call bets on live tables except you can place as many as you like whereas at the tables only 3 call bets are accepted before the spin and 3 after the spin and those 6 call bets is for everyone as a group. So if they are used you cannot call. On the auto wheels you can place as many as you like it is unlimited. Off course it is also crooked so no point in betting the race track. The reason why I bring this up is that Grand west very cunningly have change minimum betting per number on the call bets at the tables. A R5 table means minimum of R5 per number on inside bets. That also means that if I make a call bet, number 12 and the neighbours by 5 that means Number 12 and the 4 numbers either side of the 12 all bet by R5 per number ... so a R25 bet for 5 numbers. What they have done now though is to raise the minimum of call bets to R20 per number. So even if I play a R5 or R10 table I have to bet R20 per number if I do a call bet... Off course we do not have this problem with the newly installed Auto wheels where you can even bet R2 per number using call bets ir rather the race track.

So what they have done is to push people playing call bets to their Automated wheels ... so-called roulette wheels... yeah right.

Way back in Las Vegas when the Mafia was prominent in the casino business, gaffed wheels were around (gaffed wheels is a roulette wheel that has been fitted with magnets or any other method to affect where the ball will end up. This off course is highly illegal BUT casinos today (Grand West no exception) get away with loopholes because these wheels are classified as slots and not table games.

So is this illegal? Technically most probably not. In reality sure as hell.

I have also contacted two Auto wheel manufacturers and asked them the above questions. I was shot down in flames and rudely told. These wheels are certified random. This however does not mean they are random. For instance. You need a large amount of spins (7500) to look at the standard deviation of each number and to see if anything is abnormal. So, during busy hours it can nail everyone being non random and quiet times it can correct the balance over time. Remember these wheels operate non stop 24 hrs a day 7 days a week with about 60-80 spins an hour. So random certification is useless and means absolutely nothing. How the Gambling board will ever be able to prove these machines are non random is any one's guess.

I just wish that Grand West was at least forced to put large notification boards at these auto wheels that it is not roulette but computer generated rng. I know one thing for sure. I am finished with Grand West and will rather play in Caledon although they have Cammegh wheels with scalloped pockets or I will play Club Mikinos Langebaan. which as far as I know still have Huxley wheels and still operate with standard roulette rules.

Concerned Gambler