alt Hacker NewsRoulette Computers: Hidden Devices That Predict Spins
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There's a classic book from 1985 about an early, successful attempt to make one.
> It depends on the computer version. Normal mobile phones cannot accurately process timings, so they are unsuitable for roulette computers. This is why our phones are modified. How we modify each phone depends on the model, but in most cases we install a crystal oscillator that acts as a microprocessor timer, then we re-program the phone firmware to source it’s timings from the new timer. The phone has the timer, custom firmware, and interface software depend on each other. This gives the best combination of accurate timings and complex algorithms to predict roulette spins. The modifications are difficult and expensive, which is why most roulette computers are unmodified phones or PDAs, or microprocessors.
Is it just me or does this sounds more like a justification for the cost and/or to discourage reverse engineering? I'm skeptical this is actually necessary.
Isn't this easily defeated by closing the betting before the wheel starts spinning? Is that not standard practice anyway?
I read a story one time about a mysterious player who visited the casino one time per month. He would look at the table for many spins, make a single bet, win a small amount and leave. When he entered security was on high alert, they all had their eyes on the monitors, didn't see anything suspicious. When he left they would pull up the footage from his previous visits and examine it again. They did that every month and thought it was hilarious how he came to "steal" something like 50 bucks one time per month and got away with it every time.
This is almost certainly unlawful in the UK. Phil Ivey lost a lawsuit just for edge sorting. Introducing a device is far more obviously dishonest.
I don’t have proof to back up my assertion but my gut says a lot of these online/non-us/crypto casinos are cheating. How would you the end user know? The house knows where the big money is placed on the table and then magnetic or some mechanism control where the ball lands. Profit even more than their statistical edge.
Fun fact: roulette computers were (arguably) the first wearable computer [0] in 1961 and co-invented by Claude Shannon of information theory fame.
[0] https://mitmuseum.mit.edu/collections/object/2007.030.014