How they did it
13 April 2012
- A laser scanner concealed within a mobile phone and pointed at the roulette wheel measures the speed of the ball as the croupier releases it and where it first lands on the wheel from the croupier's hand.
By recording one revolution of the wheel the scanner can calculate the rate the ball and wheel, which has been spun in the opposite direction, are slowing at.
- It then beams these factors to a separate microcomputer which analyses the thousands of possible spin simulations and sends a message back to the mobile phone indicating the most likely landing quarter on the wheel.
- The high-speed calculations by the microcomputer allow the gambler to place a bet on several numbers before the third spin of the wheel, by which time the croupier calls "no more bets"
- Estimates suggest the device can cut the odds on winning from 37-1 to 6-1.
