Over the years, gamblers have tried many different ways to beat the odds. Every gambler has his or her own supposedly foolproof system that will give him or her an advantage. More often than not, these systems are about as credible as the lucky rabbit’s foot.

There are, however, a few tried and tested methods that can help you beat the odds at the casino. Casinos are ever vigilant, looking at each and every gambler who enters their premises as a threat. They have sophisticated security devices in place to help spot the person who is trying to beat the odds.

Casinos are happy enough to take large amounts of money from people. However, they really don’t like people who beat the odds and win it all back. Security cameras watch the punter's every move. Professional card counters are also employed at casinos. They are able to spot players who use card counting to win large amounts.

Card counting is one method that has been used for years to beat the odds. Card counting takes a lot of skill and patience. A card counter is able to work out, from the cards already dealt, the probability of the cards about to be dealt. He or she can figure out how many high or low cards are still to come in the deal. This skill can be learned over time, but it takes a very focused brain to be able to count into a six deck shoe.

One of the most popular casino games is roulette. Roulette is more a game of luck and chance than skill. There are ways of beating the odds, but they are uncertain to say the least. Spread betting your money over a large amount of numbers may help. Also, using the laws of probability to try and gauge the likelihood of red or black appearing may help.

Casinos hate cheats, and they spend huge amounts of money on surveillance devices to spot them. The cheating techniques used by certain gamblers to beat the odds are usually spotted. Over the years, only a few have gotten away with it.

In 1875, Joseph Hobson Jagger beat the odds and broke the bank at Monte Carlo casino. Hobson noticed that the roulette wheel had a faulty spindle and was likely to stop at certain numbers. In eight days, Hobson won the equivalent of 1,615,378 US dollars (USD).

In 1966, again in Monte Carlo, a group of 12 men took the casino for 719,219 USD. They were said to have devised the ultimate way to beat the odds at the roulette table. After winning this amount, Norman Leigh and his friends were banned from every single casino in France.

The techniques used by casinos to catch suspect gamblers become more sophisticated every year. So do the techniques used by the gambler to beat the odds. This year, a computerised scanner hidden in a mobile phone was used to beat the odds at roulette. The laser scanner worked out the speed of the ball and the numbers it would most likely fall on.

This device reduced the roulette odds from 33 to 1 to just 6 to 1. The group using this technique, including a glamorous blonde woman, won 2,415,791 USD in two days before security became suspicious. They were reported to the police and released on bail, and will no doubt face criminal prosecution.

There seems to be no formula except cheating that can beat the odds at roulette in a casino. Professional card counting seems to be the best method for beating the odds. It is a skill that requires great mind control and it is not cheating, although the casinos may disagree.