|
 |
Misc. PBS |
|
|
|
|
Top Online Casinos |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
In 1873, the Englishman Joseph Jaggers
made the first famous biased wheel attack
against the Monte Carlo casino. His
background was in engineering, working at
a cotton mill in Yorkshire. This mechanical
background made him wonder whether
roulette wheels were perfectly balanced or
just as subject to wear and tear as his
cotton mills. His hunch was that there
would be a natural tendency to deviate
from perfect outcomes.
To investigate his theory, Jaggers recruited a team of six clerks to clock the six roulette wheels at the Monte Carlo casino. For 6 days straight, the team of clerks recorded every roulette result. Jaggers himself would then subject the results to statistical testing to check
whether the results were truly prefect and random.
Five of the six roulette wheels were close to random but a sixth wheel showed significant
bias. A string of nine numbers, closely connected on the wheel were showing up far more
often than a random wheel would suggest. This opened the opportunity for Joseph Jaggers
to make his biased wheel attack.
|
|
|
|
By betting only on the numbers showing bias, Jaggers made $70,000 on his first day. He
continued his attack until the fourth day at which time he had amassed a profit of $300,000.
Alarmed and suspicious of the consistent luck of Jaggers, the Monte Carlo casino played
back. Overnight, the roulette wheels were all switched around. So when Joseph Jaggers
played at his usual table the next day, he was in fact up against a different wheel.
The Monte Carlo casino’s trap worked. Joseph Jaggers proceeded to lose almost his entire
winnings over the day until he noticed that an identifying scratch on his biased wheel had
disappeared. Checking the other wheels he found his biased wheel again. With a vengeance
Jaggers then proceeded to win $450,000, a truly massive sum for 1873!
Again the Monte Carlo casino set another trap. They called for the master roulette
manufacturer to be brought to the casino. The biased wheel was then modified with movable
frets so that they could be moved to new positions every night. While this did not remove the
inherent bias, it did make it impossible to identify.
The trap again worked for a time. Joseph Jaggers went on a two day losing streak. Now, he
bowed adieu and walked away from the table calling it quits but with $325,000 profit still in
his pocket! Jaggers never played roulette again but lived in luxury and ease from his highly
successful biased wheel attack.
The song "The Man Who Broke The Bank At Monte Carlo" was written the year he died.
|
|
|
|
|
