It seems like all I do is dump on online gaming these days. I’m not quite that bias against the virtual world of gaming. Even if I do prefer a real casino setting for a variety of reasons, I understand the appeal of playing online. But it seems like every day there are new accusations against online gaming sites that cry foul. We’re not talking strategy, we’re talking cheating. And roulette is no exception.

If you’re not familiar with the term RNG, let me catch you up to speed (although if you’ve played roulette online and don’t know what this is, you should rethink your gambling habits.) RNG stands for Random Number Generator. You’re talking about software written for the purpose of randomly generating numbers on a roulette wheel, specifically written for that purpose.

I’ve known or talked to a handful of people, smart folks, who have lost a ridiculous amount of money playing roulette – online. And most of their claims – although born from defeat – revolve around the notion that these programs are written for the casinos specifically for the purpose of making the player lose in the long run.

It’s not about luck, physics, any of that “random” stuff. It doesn’t take into account laws of probability or averages, either. Strong statements, but nonetheless ones worth looking into, especially when they’re paired with emotional pleas to try our own experiments and see if something’s fishy.

I don’t play roulette online, just in casinos, but I put up a minimal amount of money to test the theory. Not enough to really mean anything, but just to get an idea. The idea was to bet all numbers but one for a series of 10 spins, then rotate that every 10 spins and see how many times that one number you didn’t bet actually came up, and in what probability. It only happened once or twice for me, but those who’ve lost a ton – and have played through thousands of rolls – swear they see the losing outcome show up in much greater frequency than would be reasonably accepted as “random” in real life.