When it comes to casinos and winning, know that you’ve got an extremely slim chance of actually winning something significant. The odds of winning at a casino are not good and the chances of winning for roulette are even worse! J.B Maverick, who is a financial author for Investopedia explained the science behind the American roulette wheel. He said that the house has a 5.26% edge on the wheel and this percentage is higher than other games such as blackjack.

Denner Nuenes/ Pexels | Nothing is impossible, as they say

What Does This Mean?

A roulette wheel has numbers from one to 36. Logically one might think that the odds of winning a single number bet is 36 to one. Maverick goes on to explain that roulette wheels also contain zero and sometimes they even have a double or triple zero, which makes the actual odds of winning by 37 to one, 38 to one, or 39 to one but it cannot be 36 to one. He continues and reports that a casino makes around $50,000 for every $1 million played and the house gets more and more as the player continues to play longer. So, with all this information in mind, how did a college professor manage to win $8 million in 5 years?

Drew Rae/ Pexels  | The answer has been given through scientific research.

The Winning Professor

Dr. Richard Jarecki is a medical professor who works at the University of Heidelberg. He happens to be one of the 13.5% of people who have won and not just won but he won big time from 1964 to 1969. So, how did he do it? By noticing a flaw in the system. Jarecki noticed that roulette wheels are subjected to wear and tear over time, which may influence the number that it pulls due to the damage, causing the wheel to land on a certain number more frequently.

Javon Swaby/ Pexels | Professor by profession, gambler by chance

Once he had made the observation, he quickly got to work and started studying the wheels across Europe by spending numerous hours in the casinos, collecting data. He managed to track tens of thousands of spins and analyzed the pattern that the wheels were making. Jarecki even hired people to join him on his quest and once the data was collected, he got to work. The professor took the risk and borrowed 25,000 pounds from a private investor and slowly began placing his bets. His hard work paid off as he managed to make a net profit of 625,000 pounds!

He then went on to win more and probably joined the list of the smartest professors.