in many of the casinos that I visit in England, the electronic versions of roulette are becoming very popular. Roulette is very popular here anyway, but at my local casino you will find as many people playing either the video roulette machines, or the 'half-way-house' machines which allow you to place bets on electronic terminals but with a real wheel and ball as are betting on the live roulette tables.

In some cases (the Hard Rock I think is one, but I'd need to check next time I am there) they actually use a croupier to put the ball into action on the wheel, but betting takes place on the electronic terminals. They still have live roulette tables, but I bet that we will find a casino soon that only has electronic versions.

Roulette is probably the best example of where play slows down as a result of having to change chips, as the chips are not interchangeable between tables. Also the long payout times, especially at busy tables, means some people prefer the instant payouts of the electonic machines.

I also noticed at the Stanley Derby casino a few weeks ago a sign on the cashiers desk that they have introduced £100 tokens for people to buy to use in the roulette machines. This is unusal here - remember that slot machines take currency and not tokens, so a token of any denomination is a rarity, and this is the first that I have come across which is only for use in machines.

And so will roulette be the first table game to become devoid of chips?

Jason