[Physicist]

Of course, all bets must be on the table before the ball leaves the croupier's hand.

Is that true? In The Eudaemonic Pie (supposedly a true story), a group of hackers computed the outcome based on the timing of the ball's motion. It seems that they were able to place bets after the ball was in play. The prediction wasn't perfect, of course, but it doesn't take much of a statistical edge to beat roulette on average.

[steve-b]

Obviously, I'm describing what the croupier should be doing (to prevent just such a whittling-away of the house percentage). As for what they actually do, YMMV.