Roulette is a classic casino game that’s easy to understand and widely enjoyed by people around the world, both in physical casinos and online. In layman’s terms, roulette involves a wheel divided into numbered sections (from 0 to 36, with a single 0 in European roulette and an additional 00 in American roulette). Players place bets on where they think a ball will land after the wheel is spun and the ball is dropped onto it. The ball eventually loses momentum and settles into one of these numbered and coloured sections.
The betting in roulette can be as simple or complex as you like. You can bet on a single number, a range of numbers, the colour of the section (red or black), or whether the number will be odd or even. Each type of bet has its own odds, with bets on individual numbers having the highest odds at 35/1.
There are a few key variants of online roulette, with the main ones being American, European, and French roulette. The European version is the most traditional form, featuring a single zero and offering better odds to players compared to the American version, which includes both a single zero and a double zero, increasing the house edge. French roulette is similar to European roulette but includes additional rules that can further lower the house edge, making it a favourite among players who seek every advantage they can get.
What Are The Rules Of Roulette?
The Basics
To understand the rules, we must understand the basics of online roulette first. The game involves a spinning wheel divided into numbered slots (1-36) alongside one or two green slots for zeros (0 and possibly 00, depending on the version). Players wager on the predicted landing spot of a ball spun onto the wheel. The American version of roulette includes both a 0 and a 00 slot, which increases the house edge, whereas the European version features only a single 0, offering better odds to the players in theory.
Placing Bets
There are two main types of bets in roulette: inside and outside bets. Inside bets are wagers placed on specific numbers or small groups of numbers. They offer higher returns, however, come with lower odds of winning as a result of this. Examples include betting on a single number (straight up), two adjacent numbers (split), three numbers in a row (street), four numbers in a square layout (corner), and two adjacent rows of numbers (six line).
Outside bets, on the other hand, cover larger groups of numbers and offer better odds theoretically but return less in turn. These include wagers on the colour of the winning number (red or black), whether the winning number will be odd or even, the range within which the winning number falls (1 to 18 or 19 to 36), one of the three dozen groups (1-12, 13-24, or 25-36), and one of the three columns of numbers.
Understanding the Odds
The house edge in roulette varies between the American and European versions due to the extra 00 slot in the American version, with European roulette providing better odds to players. It’s important to remember that each spin of the wheel is independent, meaning the odds of each bet remain the same on every spin, regardless of previous outcomes.
Gameplay
The gameplay involves a betting phase where players place their bets on the roulette table layout, indicating their prediction for where the ball will land. The dealer then spins the roulette wheel in one direction and rolls the ball in the opposite direction. The ball eventually loses momentum and settles into one of the numbered pockets, determining the winning number and colour. The dealer clears all losing bets and pays out the winnings based on the type of bet placed and the odds associated with it.
Other Types Of Roulette Bets
In addition to both the inside and outside bets we have already covered, roulette features others called neighbour bets, specific to European and French versions. These are based on the numbers’ positions on the wheel rather than the table layout. These bets can be either fixed or variable, with examples such as Neighbors of Zero, Thirds of the Wheel, and Orphans, among others.
Different Types Of Online Roulette
The online roulette we have been touching upon here actually acts as the foundations for so many other spin offs and more modern iterations, with a whole bunch of developers taking the tried and tested elements and integrating their own creative mechanics alongside them. Titles such as Lightning Roulette for example keeps the overall base gameplay the same, however, after the betting round concludes, random betting options and numbers are struck with lightning, adding multipliers to them. Should the ball be landed on these sections, the multipliers in question could potentially be triggered.
Another popular more modern version of online roulette is Multi Wheel Roulette, with this ditching just the singular rotating wheel in favour for numerous of these, all of which could be spun at once to provide a base game format much more creative compared to the traditional one.
It is worth noting though with all different types of roulette that gameplay is still completely determined by luck. Whether it is live dealers dropping the ball into the wheel or an RNG determining the outcomes, all variations maintain a fair experience for players, with chance being the determining factor behind each spin.
