Gaming and gambling: When is roulette not roulette?

Bookmakers and casinos are providing virtually identical products on their premises, but turf accountants have the odds on their side, writes Special Correspondent Mick Clifford

When is roulette not roulette? When it’s played on a bookmaker’s premises, apparently.

Walk into any branch of the major bookmakers in this State and you can play roulette, but not as you know it. Instead of placing chips or cash on a particular colour and waiting for the wheel to spin, you must write your numbers on a custom-printed ‘betting slip’ and hand it over to an attendant. The wheel will then spin on a screen at an appointed time and the virtual ball will fall onto a virtual number.