For there to be a hot number it has to have hit several times in the past, not the future. This means that we have to use past spins, whether we have bet on them or not doesn't matter.
Not all hot numbers are created equally. Some hot numbers are biased numbers. They hit more frequently than they should because of a defect on the wheel. These are the kind of hot numbers that people want to play because they hit more frequently than probability would predict for a reason. The accuracy of a prediction has been increased.
Defining a biased number can be achieved through standard deviation testing of a statistically relevant number of spins and by testing the over all fitness of the wheel using chi square. Now, many people like to point to the law of the third and binomial distribution, but really chi square is a much better way to quantify how far outside the norm a wheel is performing. Several people are now looking at how many non hit verses hit numbers there are in various samples to define how a wheel is performing. My suggestion to them is stop using the law of the third nonsense, collect much larger data sets, and use the chi square instead.
Hot numbers that aren't biased numbers are just random fluctuations. Meaning they're bobbing up and down due to variance. Unfortunately, variance/luck is not predictable. We can define the range of variance that's possible, but that's only because we can define the size of a spin sample. Meaning we can't have 11 reds in a row if we're only looking at 10 spins.
-The General