I’ve been working in casinos for many years.
This means that, just like those who’ve played for many years, I’ve had the chance to see those super rare winning and losing streaks.
And that’s what this article is all about.
Longest roulette color streak
I’ve seen a streak of over twenty black numbers in a row. I also remember a pretty long streak of red numbers — about sixteen or so.
According to the internet, one of the longest roulette color streaks happened in 1943 in an American casino, when the color red came in 32 consecutive times.
Chances of that would be one in over four billion.
Longest roulette number streak
As a dealer, I’ve spun a number four times in a row — only once, though. Chances of that are about one in two million.
A pit boss told me she once spun a number seven times in a row. Chances of that would be almost one in 100 billion.
The most I’ve seen personally from other dealers has been three/four in a row.
Keep in mind, even a double (same number coming in twice in a row) is rare. Statistically one in 1,369 times if the wheel has a single zero, and one in 1,444 if there is a double zero as well.
Longest roulette winning streak
I was dealing roulette once when this young couple sat at the table and started to bet on even chances, mostly red or black.
They won every single time. They would just pick red, black, odd, even, low or high numbers randomly and just get it right on every spin. Roughly twenty spins in a row, I believe.
They didn’t win much, as they were betting the minimum or a bit more. But it was pretty amazing. I believe that’s the longest winning streak I’ve seen personally.
Then there are the stories I’ve been told by other roulette dealers.
Such as a guy who started with £5 on a straight up number and kept winning, and kept increasing his bets, and eventually won roughly £20,000. He left a generous tip as well.
Or another player who was completely drunk and thought it’d be a good idea to go to the casino at 2 in the morning and bet the maximum on straight up numbers, and it turned out it was a good idea as he won almost £200,000.
Not sure how it happened but on both occasions the players just got insanely lucky and basically won every single bet.
No cheating — just pure luck. And the casino lost an awful lot of money.
Can you take advantage of roulette streaks?
When it comes to gambling, and roulette in particular, there are many common but incorrect beliefs according to which previous spins affect following ones.
When the roulette dealer spins the ball, they must do so from the last winning number. For example, if the last winning number was 18, then the dealer will spin the ball from 18 and in the opposite direction.
But does this affect the outcome of the spin? Not really. Unless the dealer tries to hit a certain section on purpose (I’ve written about this topic here).
What may happen occasionally is what’s called dealer’s signature — the dealer may spin the ball the exact same way (that is, spin the ball so it makes the same number of revolutions, and spin the wheel at the same speed) over and over again.
I’ve seen it, and it’s definitely possible. But for you to take advantage of this, and actually have an edge over the casino, you’d still have to get lucky.
This is because the roulette wheel is too unpredictable, and even if you spot a dealer’s signature it’s never guaranteed you’ll be able to take advantage of that. Not to mention that casinos change dealers often.
So if you see a streak of, say, numbers opposite zero (such as 5, 8, 10, and 16) it’s probably not a good idea to keep betting on those as the streak may end at any spin.
And as for even chances, the idea of betting against a streak, or changing your bet according to previous spins, is not very sensible.
Some players like to think that if red has come in ten consecutive times in a row, then it is more likely that black will come in during the following spins. Which is false.
Besides, red/black, odd/even, and low/high numbers alternate on the roulette wheel. So even if you were able to predict roughly where the ball would land, you’d have no advantage from that.
The truth is that patterns of even chances are completely random, and losing or winning streaks are dictated by luck alone.
This means you should never change your bet, or bet size, whenever you see four odd numbers in a row. Or ten middle column numbers in a row. And so on.
Lessons learned from losing streaks
- Rare doesn’t mean impossible. In roulette. In casino games. And in life in general. But over time, all these rare coincidences do seem to follow the actual probabilities. I mentioned I once spun a roulette number four times in a row, and that it happens roughly one in two million times. But how many times have I spun the roulette ball as a dealer? I’d say close to a million times.
- All progressive systems fail. For those who don’t know, these involve increasing or doubling your bet until you win. For example, with the Martingale method, you could start with $10 on red; then, if you lose, you’d put $20 on red; then, if you lose, you’d put $40 on red, and so on. So what happens during a losing streak? You lose all your money. Fast. Plus, all tables have maximum bets. This means you won’t be able to bet over a certain amount.
- The house doesn’t always win. There are so many misconceptions about casinos and gambling, and I’ve heard literally all of them. Casinos cheat. Casinos always win. Casinos are evil. But the truth is that the house edge, in general, isn’t that high. And if there are losing streaks, that means there are winning streaks as well. Like those I mentioned earlier. So no, the house does not always win. And from time to time, casinos lose money.
Thanks for reading!
Don’t forget to check out my article about the craziest stories and things I’ve seen as a casino dealer.
