Perhaps for roulette more than any other casino game, the quality of the equipment is of primary importance. Craps requires that the dice are of the best quality and that the table is flat. Poker requires only that the cards be of a high quality. Roulette, however, requires a large stable, flat table and a spinning wheel tooled to very high tolerances.

Physicists will tell you that a roulette wheel just 0.2 degrees out of level can mean a area as big as one-third of the wheel where the ball will not land. If the wheel itself also is out of alignment, that can translate in a big shift in the odds of certain numbers turning up.

Costly

As one might expect, to buy a professional-quality roulette wheel is going to be expensive. Even a small 18-inch plastic wheel will cost nearly $200. A larger wheel, made from polished mahogany, will cost more than $500, probably more than $1,000. And that is just the wheel itself. Expect to pay several thousand for the wheel with the betting layout included. That is getting to be large piece of furniture.

As with just about anything these days, anyone wanting to purchase a roulette wheel or table can find a better deal on line, specifically eBay or one of the other online auction services. For those willing to pay full price, there are a number of manufacturers who sell their products on line, but the prospective buyer might need to convert dollars in the English pounds or euros, not to mention international shipping, to compute the final cost.

One company even markets a computerized, automated roulette machine. Looking a little like a circular video game, the wheel is under glass in the center of the machine with stations around the edge with betting layouts for the players.

Maintenance

Aside from buying roulette equipment, casinos also need to maintain a maintenance program. Experienced roulette players are said to be able to identify and track imperfections in wheels. These experts also will tell you that virtually every wheel has some imperfections. As such casinos often rotate wheels between tables to throw off the sharks.

Because of this, roulette wheel manufacturers advertise the ease of maintenance of their wheels. They also tout the tooling and workmanship of their products that serve to lower maintenance costs and reduce imperfections.