How to Play Online Roulette

Online roulette is an easy game to pick up which gives both beginners and experienced gamblers an equal chance of winning. While some games such as poker, blackjack rely upon the skill of the user, online roulette is purely a game of luck. Only a basic understanding of the rules is required for you to dive into the game that can be played at a pace that suits you.

History of Online Roulette

Frenchman Blaise Pascal is credited with inventing this casino game 300 years ago at the end of the 17th century. The game was introduced in Paris where it quickly gained traction and became immensely popular with the locals. Over the years the game has been altered to provide casinos with an edge and the easiest way of doing this was to add another zero. However, despite the game making its way to America, the essence of the game has remained the same and is especially enjoyed by players in New Zealand.

Rules of Online Roulette

There is one main objective when playing online roulette which is to correctly guess the number the ball will land on with each spin of the wheel. Several bets can be added to this and players can bet on the colour, whether the number is odd or even to increase the payoffs. Once the ball stops on its final resting place, the winners are given their pay off and the new round can then begin. That’s all you need to remember to enjoy a game of online roulette.

Online Roulette Odds and Payouts

Roulette games played at land-based casinos come with the added pressure of the players making their bets within a limited period of time. Whereas at an online casino, you can sit back and decide what number to bet upon whether being obliged by either the dealer or the players around you. You, the player gets to decide when the wheel starts to spin.

The bets you are allowed to place fall into two categories – outside and inside bets.

Outside Bets at an Online Roulette

Bets that are most likely to be favoured by newcomers is the red or black wager and the odd or even wager. Both types offer the same payout with the only difference being that first is dependent on the colour the ball lands upon and the latter on whether the number is odd or even. You can also place a wager on High or Low which involves guessing if the ball will land on numbers between 1 and 18 or 19 to 36. If you play the American version, then you will have to contend with a bigger house edge as it has two zeroes to it. With French Roulette, you will have a better chance of winning even if the ball lands on zero as per the “prison rule”. This implies that you will not lose the bet if the ball lands on zero but instead the bet gets locked in till the next turn. If the next spin is correctly predicted, then the money is released otherwise it goes to the online casino.  Another variation on the outside bet is where you bet on “Dozens” which is either the first, second or third 12 numbers. A similar logic is applied to when you bet 12 numbers albeit based on the distribution of the betting grid.

Inside Bets at an Online Roulette

This approach is for those that are willing to bet big in the hopes of winning big as well. This involves betting on single numbers that offer a payoff of 35 to 1. American roulette offers a similar pay off albeit with worse odds of 37 to 1.

You can also place a ‘Split Bet’ where you place a bet between two numbers and if successful the initial bet is increased 17 times. As the name suggests you are required to place your chips on the line that separates outside bets from inside bets. Corner bet is another example of a risky inside bet where you place the chip at the crossroads of four numbers. However, this is not a bet used by most players as it applies to American Roulette and carries a house edge of 7.9%.

Types of Online Roulette

As mentioned at the beginning, there are essentially two types of roulette wheels that you can play on with the deviation coming from the number of zero slots. American roulette carries a greater house edge compared to their ‘fair’ European counterparts whereas the French Roulette deviates itself from European roulette by adding the ‘En Prison’ and ‘La Partage’ rules. The prison rule has been explained above and the La Partage rule helps you to recover half of your investment if the ball lands on 0.

The fundamentals of the game remain the same between the three different versions and there are no tricks on how the game can be played better. It is a game of luck and should be treated as such!