A game you will almost always find at an online casino is roulette. Its popularity is far from new and it is one of the absolute oldest casino games in the world, and one that has been available at land-based casinos long before the first online gambling site launched. If you are curious about Roulette, how the game works and how to win at online roulette, then we encourage you to continue reading through our comprehensive guide below.
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Introduction
A Roulette wheel has 37 or 38 separate compartments in black and red. Each compartment is numbered and you play by having the dealer (or a Random Number Generator, which is the case for video Roulette) drop a ball onto the wheel as it spins, and then you place your bets based on where you think the ball will land once the wheel stops.
You can bet on a specific number, a colour, odd or even numbers and much more, and you win based on the size of your bet and the payout of the chosen outcome. The higher the likeliness is of a certain outcome, the lower the payout, and you’ll find higher payouts on unlikely or rare outcomes.
What you can bet on:
Online Roulette works exactly the same as Roulette at a land-based casino, only you watch the wheel spin on your screen. You can play classic live Roulette games in the best casinos with real dealers or video Roulette where a Random Number Generator (RNG) determines the outcome, or try modern Roulette versions such as the popular live game Lightning Roulette.
There is no way to cheat in online Roulette or to affect the outcome of the game, but you can learn more about how to place your bets in the most favourable way, which is what we are going to cover in this article.
The roulette wheel is divided into small and equally sized pockets, which are all numbered from 0-36 and coloured red and black. Additionally, there is one green pocket in European roulette and two green pockets in American roulette. If you place an even-money wager, the green pocket(s) comes into play and if you land on it—the wheel spins again and if your original wager wins then you regain your stake.
Online Roulette Tips for Beginners
Perhaps you are already a Roulette pro who doesn’t need much help, but if you are new to the game then you might need a few good pointers to get started. The most important thing is always to have fun and to play according to your financial abilities, but we have also listed a few extra tips for beginners here below.
You can play Roulette without knowing a single thing about the game, as all you need to do is to place your bet and start the game. However, understanding how the game works will likely make it more entertaining to play, and your knowledge could also help you make smarter choices that could increase your chances of winning.
The basic rules for Roulette are always the same, but there could be small differences depending on the type of Roulette you choose. Lightning Roulette, for example, works differently than classic Roulette even though the basic principles are the same. You can find the game rules next to each game at most online casinos.
For someone who isn’t too familiar with Roulette, it can be a smart move to try the game first before you bet real money. Many online casinos offer free play in demo mode on their video Roulette games, where you can play without betting real money. Just remember that you also can’t win real money when you play demo Roulette games.
There is no demo mode for live Roulette, as these include live-streamed elements that you need to place a bet to partake in, and you can only play video Roulette (RNG controlled) in demo mode.
It is so easy to get caught up in the game and think that if you lose several times in a row—a win should theoretically be right around the corner! Or? No, forget all about this as this is not how online casinos work. Sure, you can calculate probability based on the game’s RTP and such, but this is the total RTP for all players using the same game.
In theory, it would be possible to only lose at an online casino game and for another player to always win (but you would have to be very unlucky), and it is therefore recommended against using any type of superstition as motivation to continue playing. Always play smart and know your own limits.
Knowing your limits is also about sticking to a budget, even when you feel tempted to keep playing. Roulette is an incredibly intriguing game and it is easy to forget about both time, place and how much money you are spending, and this is a recipe for disaster. If you keep exceeding your budget, we can almost guarantee you won’t win at Roulette.
The issue is that gambling addiction and unhealthy gambling behaviours often start with the idea that you can win back your losses. Has it ever happened to you? Perhaps you are on a losing streak, and instead of quitting, you keep playing to try to regain what has already been lost. Avoid this at all costs, and think of each casino deposit as a purchase, where you don’t expect to get the money back.
You’ve probably heard this saying, but is there any truth to it? In a way yes, because the house—the casino, will always have what is called a House Edge, which is the percentage of each bet they get to keep. However, games at reputable casinos are not set up to favour the casino, and every player has a fair chance to win on every bet.
If you want to get a better chance of winning, check the house edge for the specific Roulette game you are planning to play. The lower the house edge and the higher the RTP (return to player), the better it is for you!
Strategies to Win at Online Roulette
Online casinos are very safe and they use Random Number Generators and real dealers to make sure the outcome is always unpredictable and fair. As a result, you can’t do anything to change what the Roulette ball will land on, but there are still a few tricks to up your chances of walking home with a win.
In Roulette, there are both outside bets and inside bets, and you are more likely to win on outside bets. Outside bets increase your probability to win, but you’ll win a smaller amount more often, as opposed to inside bets. Inside bets, on the other hand, are more difficult to win but when you do win, you win significantly more money.
Examples of outside bets are odd/even, black/red and high/low, and these are also considered column bets. By betting on the Roulette ball landing on one of the game’s columns, you once again increase your chances (probability) to win. Keep in mind that outside bets like these pay out often, but the amounts you win are usually small.
American Roulette has 38 compartments on the wheel while European Roulette only has 37. This is only a 1-compartment difference, but it brings down the casino House Edge significantly! Expect a game of American Roulette to have a House Edge of 5.26% (which is still lower than slots) and European Roulette to have a percentage of as little as 2.7%.
Conclusion & Recommendations
Roulette is a very simple game with a low House Edge, which means the Return to Player (RTP) is high. Such games offer their players a good chance of a decent payout, and it comes as no surprise that both beginners and experienced online gamblers are drawn to Roulette games when they gamble online.
The basic rules are simple, but if you do your research, you get a chance to learn more about how your bets affect your chances to win and what you can do to increase the probability of a desired outcome. There is no gambling strategy that can affect the outcome of a Roulette game, but the more you know, the easier it gets to bet smart.
FAQ
There are never any guarantees when you gamble online, but a good strategy is to focus on the outside bets as these are more likely to generate a win. Just keep in mind that the amounts you win will likely be smaller.
This would only be an issue if you gamble at unlicensed casinos, as one of the requirements for a site to obtain a gambling licence is to ensure fair games with random number generators and close monitoring of live games.
There is a myth that number 17 appears often on the roulette wheel, and that it has generated some quite impressive wins, but there is no science behind this and most likely just superstition as the roulette wheel stops at random numbers every time.
The odds that the wheel will stop at red is 47.4% in American Roulette and 48.6% in European Roulette.
There is no difference between red and black, but red and black both come up more often than green.
There is no real difference in how easy or hard it is to win at either one, and it all comes down to how you place your bets.
No. Regular online roulette uses random number generators to provide a random outcome, and live roulette has a real dealer whom you can see the whole time via webcams. You can learn to get better at predicting the outcome based on probability and statistics, but this is not considered cheating.
If an even-money wager is placed, the green field(s) come into play.
