Once upon a time, if you wanted to play roulette, you had to visit a brick-and-mortar casino. You might buy your own wheel for use at home, of course, but playing at a licensed venue was the only way to wager for real money and potentially win big prizes. Today you can play roulette at land-based casinos, online casinos, casino apps, and on Fixed Odds Betting Terminals (FOBT).
Is there a system for playing FOBT roulette? Is there a strategy you can use when wagering? And does the FOBT roulette system offer any cheats? We will answer these questions below.
What is the FOBT Roulette System? Explained
Fixed Odds Betting Terminals are a staple of bookmakers on UK high streets. According to the UK Parliament website, betting shops are allowed a maximum of four FOBTs in each branch, with maximum bets and payouts capped at £100 and £500, respectively.
Terminals allow you to play a range of games, including roulette, for real money. Roulette works just the same on FOBTs as at online casinos and land-based venues. The rules, odds, and prizes on offer are no different. You wager on the outcome of a spin, and you either win or lose. With the £500 cap on FOBT payouts, though, the prizes on offer are smaller than those available elsewhere.
As a result, there is no FOBT roulette system you can use to improve your odds of winning cash at a machine. Some players may expect FOBTs to pay out more frequently if they wager a certain amount or start playing at a specific point in the day.
However, that’s not the case: like fruit machines, FOBTs use a Random Number Generator (RNG) to maintain fair gameplay. They create a random outcome for each play, which means that every spin in a game of roulette is unaffected by those before it. You could get a big win on your first spin, you could get one on your hundredth spin, or you could get none at all.
Crucially, in a FOBT roulette game following the European model, the house edge will be 2.7%, That means for every £100 wagered on FOBTs, the operators get £2.70 of it on average. American roulette has a 5.26% house edge due to the double zero, so you may prefer to play European or French roulette instead if an FOBT offers a choice.
Roulette Wheel
FOBT Roulette Strategy
There is no definitive strategy with the FOBT roulette system. Remember: the outcome of each spin is randomised with an RNG, and trying to predict which number will win next is basically impossible.
However, there are certain strategies you can use when playing FOBT roulette. One option is the flat betting approach, which involves wagering the same amount on each spin to help make your bankroll last longer and reduce the risk of substantial losses. For example, if your budget were £100, you could bet £1 on 100 spins.
Another option is to bet on the same number on each spin, again and again, in the expectation that it’s likely to win eventually. That’s based on each number having a 1 in 37 chance of winning (in European roulette, at least).
However, it is possible that the ball will not land on that number at all in a single session. Ultimately, the main benefit of this approach is that you do not need to choose a new number between spins.
Last but not least, another strategy to consider is betting on red or black. As there are 18 reds, 18 blacks, and 1 green zero (in European roulette), you have almost a 50% chance of winning — the zero knocks it down to 48.6%.
That’s still better than in American roulette, where the odds of red or black winning are 47.4% due to the double zero.
Roulette Table & Wheel
Does the FOBT Roulette System have cheats?
Some players will wonder if there are any cheats or loopholes in the FOBT roulette system. Surely there must be some way to get the machine to pay out more often than it should, right?
Well, no. Some may believe that they can cheat FOBTs to win, but there are no legal or effective ways to do so. FOBTs are designed and built with the utmost care to ensure they offer players a fair experience.
The UK Gambling Commission strictly regulates all forms of legal gambling, including Fixed Odds Betting Terminals. They must perform in specific ways to be permitted in licensed betting shops. That’s also why FOBTs don’t cheat players: they’re tested for fairness and use RNGs to randomise results.
Final Thoughts
Fixed Odds Betting Terminals make playing roulette at licensed establishments quick and simple. However, there is no FOBT roulette system that you can use to increase your chances of winning, though you can apply different betting strategies to play in specific ways.
As with all games on high-quality FOBTs in reputable bookmakers, roulette is random and impossible to predict with certainty. It’s a game of chance however you play roulette, so remember to always gamble responsibly. Set a limit and stick to it.
If you want to play roulette online, check out Gambling Zone’s guide to the Best Online Roulette Sites to get started.
