Automatic Roulette Wheel

Automatic Roulette Wheel Rating: 4,1/5 8104 reviews

Live Dealer Slingshot Auto Roulette is a hybrid concept developed by Evolution Gaming. Unlike most of the company’s live dealer games, this roulette variant is powered by a fully automated real-time spinning wheel. The dealer has been replaced by the Slingshot 2 – a specially designed roulette wheel built by the U.K. based Cammegh company.

Benefits of Playing Live Slingshot Auto Roulette:

  • The game uses an automatic ball launch wheel which means no live dealer is required.
  • Live Slingshot Roulette follows the same rules as European Roulette.
  • Live-streamed at a professional production studio.

Read our complete Live Dealer Slingshot Auto Roulette guide and learn how to play this exciting casino game. Once you understand the rules and how to play, you should be ready to spin the wheel and win at our recommended online casinos.

Live Dealer Slingshot Auto Roulette

What You Need to Know

Best Live Dealer Roulette Casinos

An automatic roulette wheel in which at the end of a turn the wheel is accelerated and the ball (6) is ejected from the pocket (30) under centrifugal force and moves to the top of the ball track (4) and the direction of rotation of the wheel reversed. May 10, 2020 - The perfect timepiece for enthusiastic players & casino people. See more ideas about Roulette, Roulette wheel, Watches.

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How to Play Live Slingshot Auto Roulette

Live Dealer Slingshot Auto Roulette may look like a regular online roulette game, but the wheel is actually a live stream that has been inserted onto the computer-generated table.

There is no live dealer for this game, but rather an automatic system, the Cammegh Slingshot2 system that shoots the ball out as players place their bets. There will always be someone monitoring these games, as to avoid any problems.

  1. Sign-Up at a Slingshot Roulette Live Casino

    Choose the best live dealer casino to play slingshot roulette online. Sign up and make sure that any online casino you play at is trustworthy.

  2. Play & Make Your Bets

    In order to place your wagers, you simply click on the colored and numbered chip graphic of your choosing, before clicking on any inside or outside wagering area. A chip graphic will then appear on that betting space, and you can repeat the process several times over to place as many wagers as you’d like.

  3. Watch the Roulette Wheel Spin

    A yellow light will begin blinking to alert players that betting will soon be closed. Finally, a red light will blink to provide the proverbial wave of the dealer’s hand, as all betting is then closed. You’ll be tuned into a live-streamed overhead shot of the wheel spinning away, as the ball revolves around the perimeter.

  4. Cash Out Your Winnings!

    In about 30 seconds the ball will find its final resting place, at which point the game’s virtual table layout will “drag” any chips placed on losing spaces to the house while paying out your winning wagers with an automatic credit to your onscreen bankroll. With seconds of the payouts being awarded, the green light will blink again to signal the start of another spin of Live Auto Roulette.

If you’re not sure how to play Live Slingshot Roulette, take a look a the following video to get a better feel of the game.

Top Live Dealer Slingshot Auto Roulette Casinos

Live Slingshot Auto Roulette was designed and launched by Evolution Gaming, one of the industry’s recognized leaders in live dealer technology. This means you’ll only be able to find Live Dealer Slingshot Auto Roulette at online casinos that have secured licensing deals with the company.

Fortunately, Evolution Gaming has worked diligently since its founding in 2006, expanding its presence by partnering with many of the industry’s most trusted online casino platforms. Today, most major online casino brands partner with the company to power their live dealer casino components.

Features
Bonus
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Play against the house and watch a real roulette wheel spin in Auto Roulette.
$200

Roulette Wheel Simulator

Unfortunately, Live Slingshot Auto Roulette is only available at international casino sites. However, if you enjoy playing standard live dealer roulette, we recommend trying the following recommended US online casinos.

RANK LIVE CASINO MIN BET MAX BET START
1Las AtlantisMIN BET $1MAX BET $1,000
2Super SlotsMIN BET $1MAX BET $5,000
3El Royale CasinoMIN BET $1MAX BET $1,000
4BetOnline CasinoMIN BET $1MAX BET $5,000
5Wild CasinoMIN BET $1MAX BET $5,000

Other Online Casinos with Live Auto Roulette

We’ve compiled a current list of the Evolution Gaming powered online casino brands which carry Live Slingshot Auto Roulette as part of their live dealer selection:

  • Betclic Casino
  • Betsson Casino
  • BetVictor Casino
  • Casino Campione D’Italia
  • Casino Club
  • Casumo Casino
  • Come On! Casino
  • Napoleon Games Casino
  • Danske Spil Casino
  • Dublin Bet Casino
  • Genting Casino
  • Grosvenor Casinos
  • Hippodrome Casino
  • Leo Vegas Casino
  • Lottomatica Casino
  • Marathon Bet Casino
  • PokerStars Casino
  • Red Bet Casino
  • SB Tech Casino
  • Sporting Bet Casino
  • Stan James Casino
  • Unibet Casino
  • Vera & John Casino
  • PAF Casino
  • Green Casino
Show More ↓Show Less ↑
Once you’ve reached one of these online casinos, be sure to navigate your way to the live dealer area of the site’s games menu. You’ll usually be directed to the traditional virtual version of each game first, so simply click through to the live dealer area to find Slingshot Auto Roulette tables running 24 hours a day, seven days per week.

Live Auto Slingshot Roulette Rules & Bets

Aside from the Slingshot 2 table technology and streamlined pace of play, Live Auto Roulette is essentially the same game as you’d find on any single zero roulette wheel anywhere in the world.

As a European style game, Live Auto Roulette uses the single zero wheel. Along with the usual 1 through 36 alignments of alternating red and black spaces, this type of roulette wheel features a single green “0” space.

On the American roulette wheel, you’ll find two green spaces (“0” and “00”) – which increases the house’s edge by roughly half.

Player Bets Remain the Same

Fortunately, the player-friendly European roulette wheel is the standard for all Evolution Gaming live dealer versions of the game. Even better, whenever the ball does happen to land on the “0” space, all losing bets (any bet not placed on the “0” wager) will receive half of the amount returned in a push – as opposed to losing the full amount as under American rules.

The betting layout used in Live Dealer Slingshot Auto Roulette is the same as found on any roulette table, featuring the “inside” bets arranged into a 3×12 rectangular grid containing the numbers 1 through 36, and the “outside” bets (odd / even and the like) situated around the inside grid.

The term inside bet is used to describe any wager placed on either a single number or multiple numbers in a combination (“split,” “street,” “corner,” etc.). Inside bets are typically referred to in slang, so we’ve put together a list of each inside bet, along with a more formal description, below:

Single Number

Split

Two numbers that are vertically or horizontally adjacent

Street

A bet on three consecutive numbers which forms a horizontal line

Corner or Square

Six Line or Double Street

A bet on six consecutive numbers which form two horizontal lines

Trio

A bet on three number which includes at least one zero

Basket or First Four

Outside Bets

The outside bets are usually group based bets, as you’ll be backing a wide selection of numbers at the same time. The most common outside bet is obviously the classic red or black “coin flip” wager, but you can also choose:

  • 1-12 / 13-24 / 25-36 “dozen” groups
  • 1-4-7 / 2-5-8 / 3-6-9 columns
  • 1-5-9-12 “snake” bet

Players can choose between any combination of inside and/or outside bets, and often you’ll see the betting layout covered in chips from corner to corner.

The minimum and maximum wagers for this game are configurable, so each client casino sets their own stakes. For the most part, you’ll find Live Dealer Slingshot Auto Roulette with minimum bets of $1 or less, and maximum bets into the mid five-figures.

Live Auto Roulette Pay Table

The standard paytable used to settle all roulette bets on a European single zero wheel is shown below:

BETPAYS
Zero (0)35 to 1
Single Number35 to 1
Row17 to 1
Split17 to 1
Street11 to 1
Corner8 to 1
Top Line or Basket6 to 1
Six Line5 to 1
1st / 2nd / 3rd Column2 to 1
1st / 2nd / 3rd Dozen2 to 1
Odd / Even1 to 1
Red / Black1 to 1
1-18 / 19-36 Halves1 to 1

Live Dealer Slingshot Auto Roulette Strategy

Facts are facts, and the fact is, roulette is nothing more than a game of chance. That doesn’t mean it’s not a great gambling game, as proven by roulette’s centuries-long history and iconic status today. Players looking to apply strategic thinking or skill, roulette just isn’t that type of game.

Every bet but one carries an identical house edge, so it’s a guessing game and nothing more. For players who have read roulette strategy books, most of which purport to offer a foolproof “system” for predicting which bets to make ahead of time, this may come as surprising news.

You may have even spent a session or two playing alongside a dedicated “results tracker,” or somebody who scribbles down the results of each previous spin in order to detect patterns in the numbers or colors.

Mathematics and logic tell us that these systems and patterns simply don’t exist. Every single spin of the roulette wheel represents an independent occurrence – in other words, previous spins have no bearing whatsoever on future spins.

Just like if you flip a coin five times and land tails on each flip, your chances of landing heads on the sixth try are still exactly 50%. You’ll never be “due” to hit a particular number or color, and anybody who claims that they can predict roulette spins ahead of time is simply trying to bilk you out of the cost of their book.

Strategy: Pick the Game with Best House Edge

The only effective strategy for playing roulette is based on realizing that no such strategy exists. As soon as you begin playing the game for what it is, a fun guessing game based on chance alone, you’ll be better prepared to exercise bankroll management, play with discipline, and prevent massive losing sessions while you chase small wins.

Of course, experienced roulette players know that there is a certain strategy to game selection, as the European single zero wheel is far more favorable in terms of house edge than its American double-zero counterpart. When faced with a choice between the American wheel and its 5.26% house edge, or the European wheel and its significantly lower 2.70% house edge, sound strategy dictates playing the single zero wheel.

That wheel is the real deal, maintaining the live dealer emphasis on legitimate equipment, and players are able to watch the wheel spin before the ball finds its final resting place.

Once the ball drops in and lands, the game’s computerized scoring system determine which wagers are winners and awards the proper payouts automatically. In this way, the typical pace of play found in virtual versions of classic casino games can be maintained, and Evolution Gaming promises players between 60 to 80 spins per hour.

Evolution Live Dealer Slingshot Auto Roulette

Other than this inclusion of the Slingshot 2 mechanism, Live Slingshot Auto Roulette plays in the same fashion as Evolution Gaming’s other live dealer roulette offerings. The betting layout, available wagers, and gameplay procedures are all taken directly from the age-old game of roulette as it’s been played for centuries.

As the scope of Evolution Gaming’s influence within the online casino industry continues to grow, an increasing number of venues are relying on the company to power their live dealer games. And while Live Auto Roulette doesn’t involve an actual dealer, its live-streamed presentation from one of Evolution Gaming’s two European studios, as well as the reliance on a genuine wheel and ball, puts the game squarely within the live dealer classification.

Live Slingshot Auto Roulette Players Also Asked

  • What is Live Dealer Slingshot Auto Roulette?

    Live Slingshot Auto Roulette was designed and launched by Evolution Gaming. Unlike most live casino games, this variant doesn’t have a live dealer. Instead, the game is powered by a fully automated yet real-time spinning wheel capable of 60 to 80 games per hour. The game is live streamed from one of Evolution Gaming’s custom studio designed to replicate a real-life casino.

  • How Do You Play Live Slingshot Auto Roulette?

    Just like any roulette game, Live Auto Roulette is easy to play. Players sign up at a live casino, make their bets on either the inside, outside or a combination of both. The dealer spins the wheel and launches the ball. If the ball lands on any of your bets you can cash out your winnings!

  • What’s the Best Strategy to Win at Live Auto Roulette Online?

    Roulette is nothing more than a game of chance. Players looking to apply strategic thinking or skill will be disappointed to know that Live Slingshot Auto Roulette just isn’t that type of game.

  • Can You Play Evolution Live Dealer Slingshot Auto Roulette at US Online Casinos?

    Unfortunately, Live Auto Roulette can only be played at international online casinos like 888 Casino.

The present invention relates to gaming wheels, more particularly it relates to roulette wheels in which the ball is automatically put in play.

Roulette is a well-known casino game which has been played for many years. A typical conventional roulette game includes a table bearing a felt covering upon which indicia forming a betting layout has been silk-screened or otherwise imprinted. A typical roulette wheel includes a number ring bearing a circular array of numbered segments bearing numbers 1 through 36. In addition, the number ring typically includes the numbers 0 and 00 disposed at diametrically opposite locations on the number ring. The numbers 1 through 36 are not disposed in numerical order, but are typically disposed in a predetermined arrangement, such that roulette wheels located in different casinos will have the same standard predetermined number ring arrangement. The numbers disposed in a circular array in the number ring region of the wheel bear the alternating colours of red and black, with the exception of the 0 and 00 numbers, which are typically coloured green. A ring of pockets corresponding in number to the plurality of numbers of the circular number ring lies adjacent, but radially inward of the number ring, on the typical roulette wheel. In addition, a typical roulette wheel includes a circular, inclined ball track, disposed above, and radially outwardly of the number ring.

In operation of a typical roulette game, players place chips or tokens on the betting layout located on the roulette table, and then the croupier or dealer spins the roulette wheel to place the ball in motion about the circular ball track. As the wheel slows, the ball moves radially inwardly and comes to rest in one of the pockets associated with a particular one of the numbers of the number ring. After the ball comes to rest in one of the pockets, the croupier or dealer settles the various wagers placed on the table layout in accordance with predetermined rules and wager odds and the process repeated.

In order to reduce costs, automatic roulette wheels have been devised in which the process of putting the ball in play is done automatically, these machines can be made like slot machines with the bets being placed and winnings paid out using a machine rather than a croupier. This reduces the costs associated with security, chips, dealers etc.

In a known system, in order to recover the ball after each spin, a trap door opens beneath the pockets and the ball drops through this trap door and passes through a series of channels and returned back up to its staring position. The ball can then be put in play by a solenoid firing the ball onto the ball track.

Another system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,735,416 in which the wheel is displaced relative to a rim and the ball falls into the gap formed and into a return channel under the wheel for returning to its start position.

Such systems involve the ball disappearing from view and involves complicated machinery to recover the ball and to fire it into play. Such complication requires a great deal maintenance and servicing, particularly to maintain the accuracy of the wheel and the randomness of the winning numbers.

We have now devised an automatic roulette wheel which reduces these problems.

According to the invention there is provided a gaming apparatus which comprises a stationary base; a roulette wheel having a rotor rotatably mounted on a vertical axis with respect to the base; the rotor having pockets on its periphery into which a ball can be received with each pocket being associated with a number; a peripheral inclined surface concentric with the rotor for receiving a ball rollably thereon in which the ball will roll into one of the pockets when the ball slows, the said surface comprising a circular, inclined ball track, disposed above, and radially outwardly of the rotor there being means for propelling the ball along the ball track.

The apparatus is particularly suitable for use in playing roulette but it can be used for any other game which is played on a roulette wheel or roulette type wheel and can include games in which more than one ball is in play during the game.

The roulette wheel or rotor is able to be rotated in both directions.

Automated Roulette Wheel

The means for propelling the ball along the said ball track can be a means which can rotate the ball track about a vertical axis in relation to the base. In this case the rotation of the ball track will cause the ball to be rotated as it is located on the ball track.

Alternatively there can be means which give an impulse to the ball as it is positioned on the ball track, this means can comprise, for example air jets positioned at the edge of the ball track which can direct a jet of air at the ball thus impelling the ball along the ball track. The speed of the ball will cause centrifugal force to cause the ball to move to the outer edge of the ball track where preferably there is a rim to prevent the ball leaving the ball track.

In use, with a rotatable ball track, at the end of a turn the ball is resting in a pocket and the rotor is rotating slowly or is stationary, the ball track is then rotated until its speed of rotation is the same as that of the rotor, the wheel and the ball track are then rotated together and the ball is ejected from its pocket onto the ball track by the action of centrifugal force and the ball moves onto the ball track and moves to the outside of the ball track. As soon as the ball has left the rotor, the rotor decelerates and is made to turn in the opposite direction. The ball track is then decelerated and the ball then carries on moving by its own momentum and rolls spirally down the ball track towards the rotating rotor as in conventional roulette wheels. The ball then comes to rest in a pocket on the rotor and the rotor slows and can stop and, after settling the bets the process can be repeated.

In one embodiment preferably there is a releasable holding means whereby the rotor and the ball track can be held together and so they rotate at the same velocity and, when the ball has been ejected from the pocket onto the ball track, the holding means released and the direction of rotation of the rotor reversed.

The rotor and the ball track can be rotated by means of one or more motors with a timing mechanism so that the successive operational steps can be taken at the appropriate time. There can be a ball stop at the top of the ball track so the ball can be held in position relative to the ball track.

When there are means which give an impulse to the ball as it is positioned on the ball track, such as air jets positioned at the edge of the ball track the ball track does not rotate and, in use, at the end of a turn the ball is resting in a pocket and the rotor is rotating slowly or is stationary. The wheel is then accelerated to a speed sufficient to eject the ball from its pocket onto the ball track by the action of centrifugal force and the ball moves onto the ball track and moves to the outside of the ball track. The rotor is then stopped and rotated in the opposite direction. When the ball reaches the outside edge of the ball track it will be held against the rim by the action of centrifugal force and, in order to give an impulse or impulses to the ball jets of compressed gas, such as air, are projected against the ball to keep the ball in position. After a predetermined time the air jets are turned off and the ball then spirals down the ball track to the contra-rotating wheel thus simulating the action of a croupier.

Preferably there are a plurality of jets positioned around the periphery of the rim of the ball track so that the ball can be propelled along the rim for the required period of time, normally a few seconds and then the jets can be turned off so that the ball will spiral down simulating the action of the croupier.

Roulette Wheel Online

Preferably there are air jets positioned to propel a ball in either direction, clockwise or counter clockwise, as croupiers can spin the wheel in either direction and the ball can then circulate around the ball track in the opposite direction to the direction the wheel is rotating. The jets are preferably angled downwardly.

Without the air jets or other means to propel the ball the ball tends to bounce off the rim and is then thrown back against it in a manner which is unsatisfactory and gives an unrealistic effect.

Preferably there is a transparent cover such as a glass or transparent plastics cover over the apparatus such as a transparent sheet which fits into the apparatus in the rim above the air jets. This has the effect of improving the action and control of the air jets. The central rotor is then mounted so that it fits beneath the sheet. Above the sheet is preferably a static turret in line with the rotor. This turret preferably has a smooth reflective surface and can be for example in the shape of a cylinder or has a circular cross section of varying diameter along its length i.e. it has a curvilinear shape. In use the numbers or the wheel are reflected in the turret and, as the wheel rotates, the turret has the appearance of movement.

Preferably there are a plurality of ball stops uniformly located around the peripheral inclined surface; in a typical wheel there can be eight ball stops. In use preferably the operation of the wheel is computer controlled and, by controlling the speed of and the acceleration of the wheel, the ball can be projected up the peripheral surface between any pair of ball stops. This can be chosen at random by the computer.

In addition to incorporate further random effects the duration of the time the air jets are on and the time to reverse the direction of rotation of the wheel can be random so the is no predictability about the operation of the apparatus.

The motor is preferably a stepper motor which enable there to be accurate control of its operation and preferably the motor is coupled directly to the rotor e.g. by friction with a step down gearing to give high torque drive to the rotor and wheel which improves control.

Optionally the outermost section of the ball track adjacent to the rim is at an angle to the horizontal which is less than that of the rest of the ball track. This means that, in use, less centrifugal force is required to hold the ball against the rim than is required to propel the ball up to the rim. In use, when the ball reaches this outermost section, it will tend to stay against the rim as the ball track slows down or the air jets are turned off and when it leaves this section it will then rapidly spiral down to the wheel and to a pocket.

Preferred angles of the ball track to the horizontal are ten to thirty degrees and preferred angles of the outer most section is from one to ten degrees to the horizontal with the angle of the outermost section being smaller than the angle of the rest of the ball track.

A typical angle of the ball track to the horizontal is twenty degrees and a typical angle for this outermost section is five degrees. The width of this outermost section of the ball track is preferably about the diameter of the ball.

Alternatively the slope of the ball track can change from a greater angle to the horizontal adjacent the wheel to a smaller angle at the outer rim e.g. by the ball track having a curved profile rather than a straight one. The rate of change in angle can be uniform or non uniform. Typically the angle to the horizontal can change form twenty degrees adjacent the wheel to five degrees adjacent the rim.

There can be a fixed outer rim peripherally outward and at the top of the ball track which can incorporate a ball reader so that the position of the ball in a pocket is automatically noted and recorded. A suitable reader is described in patent application Ser. No. WO 01/32278.

It is a feature of the present invention that there is no need to affect the structure or operation of the roulette wheel by means of trap doors beneath the pockets or moveable rims in order to recover the ball so that it is easier to maintain the randomness of the wheel and the ball is in sight of the players at all times.

The invention is useful in conjunction with automatic roulette wheels in which bets are placed via slots or other similar mechanism using coins, notes or tokens and the roulette wheel is spun automatically using the present invention. A payout mechanism can be provided to calculate the winnings and to pay them out in coins, tokens etc. The payout mechanism can include a microprocessor to calculate the amount of winnings on different types of bets, thus enabling completely automatic gaming to take place.

The invention is described in the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. 1 shows a side view of part of a roulette wheel incorporating an embodiment of the invention

FIGS. 2 and 3 show side views of other embodiment of the invention

FIGS. 4 and 5 show a plan view the embodiment of FIG. 2

FIG. 6 shows a schematic view of a section of the ball track

Referring to FIG. 1 a roulette wheel has a rotor (1) mounted on an axle (2) on which is bearing (7). There are pockets (3) on the periphery of the rotor and each pocket is numbered and coloured. Surrounding the rotor (1) is ball track (4) at the top end of which is ball retaining means. The ball track can rotate independently of rotor (1) about axle (2). There is a fixed top rim (5) around the ball track (4) in which there is a number recording device which detects which pocket a ball is in and enables this number to be displayed and recorded. The rotation of the rotor (1) is controlled by motor (9); the rotation of ball track (4) is controlled by motor (10) and the sequence of events controlled by timer (11).

In use, at the start the ball (6) is in position (a) in pocket (3) the rotor (1) and ball track (4) are spun together and when the rotation of the rotor (1) reaches a certain speed the ball is ejected from pocket by centrifugal force and moves outward until it is in position (b). The ball can then be held there by a ball stop. When the ball leaves the pocket (a) the rotation of rotor (1) is decelerated and reversed.

Bets can now be made, if not made before, and the ball track (4) slowed down, as the ball track slows down the ball is released from position (b) and spirals down the slope until it lands in a pocket (3) in counter rotating rotor (1). The pocket is noted by detection means (5) as the rotor comes to rest and the bets settled. This process can then be repeated.

The operation of motors (9) and (10) and the duration of each stage is controlled by a computer/timer (11) so that the operation is completely automatic.

In sequence the steps are:

1. Ball is sitting in a pocket in the rotating rotor as previous game has closed Payouts from previous game have been made and people are now placing bets.

2. The computer instructs the ball track to accelerate until its rotational speed has caught up with the rotating rotor.

3. When the ball track and rotor are rotating together, they are both accelerated until the ball is thrown outwards from the pocket and on to the ball track by centrifugal force, the ball then moves to the outside of the ball track. There are ball stops positioned in such a way as to push the ball to the outside of the ball track where it meets the top rim.

4. Once the ball is on the edge of the ball track it becomes stationary relative to the ball track and, as such, rotates precisely with the ball track.

5. As soon as the ball has left the rotor, the rotor decelerates and is made to turn in the opposite direction at a speed at which a casino croupier would generally keep the wheel turning.

6. Suddenly the ball track is decelerated and the ball will carry on and will then spin as if it had been fired by the croupier; the ball spirals down in the same way as when fired by a croupier and comes to rest in a pocket in the rotor when payouts etc. can be made and the sequence can be restarted.

The invention recreates what a croupier does, except that no dealer has had a hand in the procedure. In particular, in play the ball spins one way and the ball the other way and the ball comes to rest in a pocket as in manually operated games.

Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3 a roulette wheel has a rotor (11) mounted on an axle (12). There are pockets (13) on the periphery of the rotor and each pocket is numbered and coloured. Surrounding the rotor (11) is ball track (14). The ball track can rotate independently of rotor (11) about axle (12). There is a fixed top rim (15) around the ball track (14) in which there is a number recording device which detects which pocket a ball is in and enables this number to be displayed and recorded. There are air jets (30) in top rim (5) located as shown in FIG. 3 and transparent rigid plastics cover (31) over the wheel. The axle (12) stops beneath the cover (31) and there is reflective turret (32) mounted over (12). The rotation of the rotor (11) is controlled by motor and the rotation of ball track is controlled by a motor and the sequence of events controlled by computer. There are ball stops (33) which divide the wheel into sections.

Referring to FIGS. 4 and 5 there are air jets positioned on the rim (15) with one set of air jets A directed in one direction and one set of air jets B directed in the opposite direction. The air jets are controlled automatically by a computer. In FIG. 4 a possible control system is shown schematically with the air jets operated by solenoids controlled by a computer so the system is automatic and each spin of the rotor is in the opposite direction to the preceding spin.

In u, at the start the ball (22) is in position ‘a’ in a pocket (13), the rotor (11) is spun and, when the rotation of the rotor (11) reaches a certain speed, the ball is ejected from the pocket by centrifugal force and moves outward until it is in position ‘b’. After the ball leaves the pocket (13) the rotation of rotor (11) is decelerated and reversed. The air jets, directed in the same direction as ball is moving due to the rotation of the rotor which ejected the ball from a pocket, are started and the they impart a force to the ball which causes the ball to continue to move around the ball track on or near the rim. The speed of rotation of the wheel is controlled by computer and this speed will determine when the ball is ejected from its pocket and where it hits the rim.

Bets can now be made, if not made before, the air jets are turned off and the ball releases from the position shown and spirals down the slope until it lands in a pocket (13) in counter rotating rotor (11). The pocket is noted by the detection means as the rotor comes to rest and the bets settled. This process can then be repeated.

If the rotor is rotated in the opposite direction then the air jets B are operated to cause the ball to circulate on the ball track in the opposite direction.

In sequence the steps are:

1. Ball is sitting in a pocket in the rotating rotor as previous game has closed. Payouts from previous game have been made and people are now placing bets.

Automatic roulette wheel

2. The timer instructs the rotor to rotate and accelerate until the ball is thrown outwards from the pocket and on to the ball track by centrifugal force, the ball then moves to the outside if the ball track.

3. One set of air jets are turned on and the ball circulates along the rim of the ball track.

4. As soon as the ball has left the rotor, the rotor decelerates and is made to turn in the opposite direction at a speed at which a casino croupier would generally keep the wheel turning.

5. Suddenly the air jets are turned off and the ball will carry on and will then spin as if it had been fired by the dealer; the ball spirals down in the same way as when fired by a croupier and comes to rest in a pocket in the rotor when payouts etc. can be made and the sequence can be restarted, with the opposite or same direction of spin of the rotor.

Referring to FIG. 6 there is an outermost section (18) of ball track (19), the rim (16) and edge (18) are made of a metal, e.g. aluminium, or plastics material. There is an air inlet (20) through which compressed air can be jetted out.

In use the ball (17) is ejected from the pocket as described above and moves under centrifugal force to the outer edged of ball track (19) and rests against rim (16). When the wheel slows down the air jet is operated to maintain the ball against rim (16) by centrifugal force, when the air jet is turned off the ball spirals down to a pocket as described above.