No, it’s not. At least that would be the answer I would give if I were talking to you informally. However, there are many “ifs” and “buts” in this answer. Things are never too simple in the real world, are they?
Then follow me:
THE GOOD LUCK FACTOR
Let’s start with the simplest “but”: if a person plays one or a few sessions in the roulette game and is lucky enough to win and then goes home and doesn’t play again for the rest of his life, well, that person won the game and played the personal equivalent of “long term”.
[Please note: “long term” is a poorly defined term that means a lot of time, which means that we basically don’t have a clear idea of what “long term” is. However, we know that bets should be based on odds, as there are no short-term systems that can beat the casino’s advantage over the player.]
In fact, I know a person who won and did it in three games on his one visit to the casino. Let’s call him Vincent. He won $10 in blackjack, $28 in craps and an incredible $160 in roulette. For some reason, he didn’t like playing at the casino (oh, his wife certainly did!), So he retired with this win. (Talk about quitting while winning.)
Thus, we will call short-term-long-term good luck to win at roulette and then give up for good. Very few casino players will have this because it tends to go against human nature.
THE DOUBLE ROULETTE SITUATION
Roulette is actually two different games in one. There is the gambling game; which means only the types of bets placed on the layout. To play for real, you need a bet on the layout. They can be internal bets directly on the numbers or several proposition bets on the outside of the layout. You can choose to bet on one or the other or both types as you play. Therefore, a progressive bettor can also be a direct bettor.
The second type of game at roulette is playing against the wheel. That’s right. The numbers on the roulette wheel are arranged differently than the numbers on the layout. The numbers on the wheel are usually a certain number and its companion number on the other side of the wheel. Therefore, look for the number 1 and on the other side of the wheel will be the number 2. This tends to be valid both for the American double zero wheel (0 and 00) and for the European single zero wheel (0).
Therefore, players who bet on, say, numbers 1 through 5 on the layout, may think they are betting on five numbers next to each other on the wheel. They are not. These numbers on the wheel are not together; they are separated by other numbers. These five numbers are only in the layout together.
[Please note: why the numbers were arranged in this double way; in one way in the layout and another in the wheel? This was to protect the casino from someone betting a series of numbers that were accidentally coming out because there was something wrong with the wheel itself. Remember that the wheels in the past were not perfect and the grouping could occur because of that.]
Almost all roulette players are layout punters; they are rarely interested in knowing where the numbers they bet on are on the wheel. Historically, the casino is in good shape because roulette players are layout players.