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Is Online Roulette Rigged?

Author: Andrew Shepard

You’ll often hear roulette players claiming that a particular roulette game is rigged for one reason or another. What they usually mean by this is that the results (the numbers drawn in the game) are “manipulated” to make sure the player loses. Simply put, they believe that the game is fixed or rigged to stop them from winning.

Realistically, there are two possibilities here: either that the game is genuinely rigged, or that the player, frustrated by losing (especially if they lost several times in a row), is simply blaming the game, the game developer, the casino they play at, and anything else they can. In the majority of cases, it’s this second scenario - players lash out because they’re upset. However, there are some rare cases where roulette games have actually been rigged, and that’s what we will talk about here.

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How Online Roulette Really Works

If we look at whether an online roulette game is rigged from a theoretical perspective, everything seems quite fair. To understand why that’s the case, it’s important to know exactly how an online casino operates. Here, we must point out that we’re talking only about fully licensed online casinos.

  • Let’s take something out of the picture: in most cases, the casino doesn’t develop the games that it offers in its library. The vast majority of games offered by an online casino are created by specialised third-party developers. More often than not, they’re major fintech companies, and you’ve probably heard of some, like Evolution Gaming or Pragmatic Play. These games, including roulette, are developed and hosted on the developers’ own servers, and they are simply integrated into the casino’s platform.
  • Let’s take live roulette as an example. The game is usually broadcast from a centralised live studio or a land-based casino. Players who decide to play the game can the same physical roulette table (the one in the studio), but they don’t necessarily have to play at the same online casino. If Casino A and Casino B both offer Live European Roulette by Evolution, for example, you can from both casinos and you will play at the same physical roulette table, where the results are determined by a real wheel. So, it’s virtually impossible to rig it or tamper with the outcome.
  • For RNG (Random Number Generator) roulette, or digital roulette, the results of each round are produced by a complex algorithm that has been designed to generate completely unpredictable and statistically random outcomes. Again, these games are hosted by the game developers themselves, and not casinos, and, importantly, they are independently tested and audited to ensure they are fair and random. They cannot be manipulated by the casino.
  • The casino operator has no control over the mechanics of the game or the gameplay. It just distributes the game. Its role is to act as a platform that connects players to the games developed by studios, and they can only adjust settings like min/max bet limits, language, and currency. In some cases, online casinos can alter settings like Bonus Buy options in certain slots, add branding to the games, adjust the speed of the gameplay (due to country regulations), but the casinos can never influence the outcome of the games.
  • All of these games, be it roulette, slots, or any other casino-style game, are being tested and audited by certified third-party testing agencies. Some of the most famous ones are eCOGRA, GLI, and iTech Labs.

    • To have their games listed in the game libraries of licensed casinos, game providers must hold a B2B (business-to-business) licence from an official regulatory authority too, like the Malta Gaming Authority, or similar.

  • At the same time, online casino operators also must undergo their own licensing process, which includes the strictest checks from the regulatory body to confirm the fairness and randomness of the games.

There’s much more to online casinos than we mentioned here, but the most important part is, seeing how they are structured, it’s clear that everything is regulated, tested, and – in theory – it’s not possible to manipulate the results of the games.

Does Rigging Happen in Reality?

In practice, things can be a little different. The good news is that the vast majority of online roulette games do operate as we described in theory. Online casinos genuinely cannot manipulate which numbers land in roulette or when a slot game pays out. And yes, even when the games are not rigged, and even when some lucky and skilled players win money, the casino still makes a decent profit. Roulette, like any other gambling game, is designed to always favour the casino slightly. The RTP, by design, is usually from 94% to 98.5%, so it’s never 100%.

Of course, it’s not impossible for a player to have a huge win, say A$100,000 or even A$1 million, and that can certainly cause a temporary dip in the casino’s income. But statistically, it’s all a numbers game, and across all players and all gaming sessions, the casino will always come ahead.

We’re well aware that when players lose, they tend to blame the casino or the game itself. This is a natural psychological reaction. Even in a properly functioning and fair roulette game, losses are more common – simply because the house edge works in the casino’s favour. Naturally, losing money can trigger emotional reactions, which may lead to players accusing everything but their own luck and the odds.

That's why casino operators – and experts in the matter like us – always stress the importance of playing responsibly. To do this, one must set clear limits on the money and time they’re willing to spend. This is the only way to help players manage their emotions and avoid the frustration that comes from losing.

So, Can Roulette Really Be Rigged?

To answer it directly: yes, but it’s rare. However, there have been some cases where players have reported suspicious behaviour in certain roulette games, and it turned out to be true. But how does this happen?

With RNG (Random Number Generator) roulette, a rigged game can occur if the casino chooses to use uncertified games from unknown providers or develops games in-house. In these cases, the casino could, theoretically, access and tamper with the number generator. Another risk is using “broken” or pirated games, meaning that someone has somehow gotten backend access and can manipulate outcomes. A major example of this happened back in 2016, when Twist Casino and Vulkan Casino offered pirated versions of Novomatic games. Investigators found that the games were not loading from the official GreenTube servers (the servers that Novomatic uses for their games) but from a suspicious domain. So, they were pretending to be using genuine Novomatic games and were rigging the outcomes of their games by adjusting the RNG.

When it comes to live dealer roulette, things are much trickier. The outcome in these games relies only on the physical wheel, so manipulating the result is much harder. The live broadcast also makes it very difficult to tamper with what players see in real time. The action is genuinely streamed in real time, so making any strange movements will be recorded.

However, player-recorded videos (mainly dating from 10+ years ago) on YouTube show strange behaviour with the roulette ball. For example, there’s a recording of Age of the Gods Roulette by Playtech—a popular live dealer game—where the ball appears to jump unnaturally across five pockets after it should have landed.

In another video, featuring a game by Evolution, the ball seems to settle in a pocket, but it then rolls out of it and then appears to be pulled into another pocket.

So, yes, there have been signs of suspicious activity, even involving major providers, and even with live dealer games. These incidents have never been publicly addressed by these companies as far as we know.

But, the big question is: why would they risk it? Think about it: in live roulette, hundreds of players from Australia and around the world are betting at the same time, and on the same spin. Some players win, but even more players lose, and the casino (and the game provider that hosts the game for the casino operators) profit from the natural house edge. They do this across thousands and thousands of spins every day, so why would they risk to rig their roulette wheels? Financially, there’s no reason for them to interfere with an already profitable system. Sure, you would think that they might ‘protect’ themselves from high rollers, but with so many people playing at the same time, there are bets worth thousands of dollars on every number. So, why those strange moments happened remains a bit of a mystery.

How to Avoid Rigged Games – Which Roulettes Are 100% Fair?

Knowing this, a very reasonable question you’re probably asking is: which roulette games are safest to play?

The first and most important step is picking licensed online casinos and games from trusted providers. This reduces the risk by more than 99%. Second, if you play live roulette, you should pay close attention to how the ball moves. Although irregularities are extremely rare, you should pay attention if the ball moves smoothly and randomly, slowing down naturally without any sudden jerks or strange accelerations, especially near the end of the spin. Watch out for anything that might seem like a “magnetic pull” - the ball shouldn’t ‘jump towards’ a particular pocket, or change direction unnaturally. If you notice some strange movements, it’s best to leave that table and choose a different game or provider.

Things are a bit trickier when it comes to RNG roulette. There’s no physical wheel to observe, and the outcome is determined purely by a random algorithm. So, the results should be completely unpredictable. Since roulette is completely random by nature, it might be hard to notice irregularities, but if you do notice some patterns like frequent repetition of numbers or anything that feels “too regular”, it’s a good idea to switch to a different game.

For example, in our own Roulette77 game, we use a simple and transparent random number generator that cannot be manipulated in any way. Our Roulette77 simulator is completely free to play, and you can’t place real money bets on it – and we don’t profit from the game. It only exists to give players the most genuine roulette experience with truly random results, so you can test out different strategies and learn how the game works.

What To Do If You Believe a Roulette Game Is Rigged?

If you believe that a roulette game is malfunctioning or might be rigged, you first need to collect evidence. You can save screenshots, film videos (be it a video you take with your phone of the screen, or record a video on your device), keep transaction histories, and every message or email you have had with the casino operator.

Next, you need to lodge a formal complaint with the casino through their official process. All licensed casinos must keep detailed logs of all game sessions and betting histories of all players, so when you file a complaint, the casino should:

  • Review your transactions and gameplay history
  • Check server and RNG logs, and operations
  • Request a technical report from the game provider (if the game is not built in-house)
  • Review video footage if it’s a live dealer game
  • Review your evidence

Note that the investigation can take up to eight weeks. If a fault, defect, or manipulation is found, the casino is obliged to refund you (or offer you other types of compensation).

If the casino denies your complaint, yet you still believe their game is rigged, you can escalate the matter to an independent Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) service, like CasinoReviews, formerly known as ThePogg, or IBAS (Independent Betting Adjudication Service). Note that you are first required to resolve the issue with the casino, and only then an ADR.

You can also take it upon yourself and post public complaints on trusted community websites like AskGamblers, or take it to Reddit or TrustPilot. While this doesn’t guarantee a solution to your problem, public exposure will likely push the casino operator to act more fairly and quickly.

But, you must gather as strong evidence as possible and follow the correct procedures. If you do so, you’ve got a good chance of having your issue sorted out without needing to escalate things further.

Summary: Can Online Roulette Be Rigged?

Unfortunately, yes. Although it’s extremely rare, there have been cases of online roulette manipulation. But, in the majority of cases, the game is not actually rigged, but players get that feeling after losing a few rounds. The only way for the casino to rig roulette is to use software that interferes with the RNG. In live roulette, it’s much harder because there are thousands of players worldwide watching the same stream. Although there have been some isolated cases of the ball moving unnaturally and jumping from one number to another, there’s no concrete evidence against these developers.

Roulette is profitable for both the casino operators and developer companies by itself due to the built-in house edge, so it doesn’t really make sense for them to intentionally rig their wheels and risk their reputation.