A rarely mentioned factor is that one can apparently cheat at roulette. If you've got a gun with a barrel that really spins freely - which is a precondition for

A rarely mentioned factor is that one can apparently cheat at roulette. If you've got a gun with a barrel that really spins freely - which is a precondition for the first shot being at all "random" - then since the chamber with a bullet in it is heavier than the empty chambers, it's quite likely to end up on or near the bottom of the gun (with "bottom" defined relative to whatever way you're holding it) and quite unlikely to end up on top. Thus if the rules were that one spins the barrel every time, the game can actually go on indefinitely. And if the rule is that you spin once, the first round is the safest.