The Deal with the Dealer
If you think about it, the dealer is a very important person in just about any casino game. In blackjack and poker, for example, the dealer is the one who gives you your hand, brings out all the cards and hands out all the chips. That's well and good in card games where you get to make a decision and thus influence the outcome. But what about the dealer factor in roulette?
While the dealer practically has the same duties in roulette as he or she does in poker and blackjack - the handling of the game equipment - there's a fundamental difference between the card games and roulette. Roulette is a game of chance, and thus chance and luck should be the only ones affecting your game. The whole story changes now that a human factor is introduced into the picture. It's like having a casino employee manually turn the wheels of the slot machine for you. There is, to some extent, the possibility of a pattern showing up because the employee is doing the same action again and again.
In a roulette game, there's a possibility that you could use this to your advantage. Think about it: the croupier spins the roulette wheel, holds the ball and releases the ball, the same ball that will land on the winning number. Because the croupier does the same action again and again, day after day, there's a possibility, to some extent, of a pattern forming. The fact that the dealer physically touches and manipulates the equipment means that he or she has got to have some kind of effect on the outcome.
In fact, some people have studied games with respect to the roulette dealers and have found that, indeed, the croupier does affect the outcome. The croupiers are people too, after all, so they're bound to have biases or mannerisms or some other predictable behavior that will make the outcome a little more predictable as well. In some cases, a person's observation of the croupier actually allowed that person to formulate a little roulette betting strategy to take advantage of the croupier's pattern of behavior. That kind of game is now known as signature roulette because it relies on your knowledge of the croupier's 'signature' or behavior for you to win the roulette spin. Casinos, of course, have tried their very best to minimize if not eliminate signature roulette entirely. Some casinos even replace the croupier right then and there when the management notices that too many people are winning at that croupier's roulette table.
Don't think that the dealer's cheating, though, because the random element is still there. If you're looking for a fair game, like when you bet on Jazzsports.com, online casino and sports betting, you're bound to get it because the croupiers know that playing a fair game will be more in their interests than letting someone win repetitively. However, be aware that the croupier can be a very big influence in the outcome of the game and that some people will try to exploit that.