The basic rules of roulette are one of the simplest to understand – pick a number, place your bets and wait for the wheel to spin. There are other bets as well, of course, but they’re equally straight forward – red or black, odd or even.
This simplicity is what helped it become one of the most popular games in the casino and even novice players can show up and get straight into the action without needing to learn complicated rules.
There is, of course, more to it than this. With advanced bet types and patterns, eccentric game variations and plenty of history. All of which you’ll find in detail on this site.
Where Can I Play Roulette Online?
We’re going to cut straight to the chase. If you simply want to know where you can play a standard version of roulette, then look no further. All of the casinos listed on this site offer all three of the main types of roulette – including American, French and European.
What’s the Difference?
Roulette is roulette, right? Actually no. There are subtle and major differences between even the standard game:
- American Roulette – If you have a choice of game, never play American Roulette. This version of the game has two zeros but the same payouts as it’s single zero cousins. We’ll go into this in more detail later in the site but effectively it has double the house edge of European Roulette.
- European Roulette – Named after Europe but found around the world, European Roulette only features one zero compared to the American double zero. Other than that the game is very similar to it’s American Counterpart.
- French Roulette – The french version of the game goes one step further and for certain bets actually has half the house edge of European Roulette and a quarter of American Roulette. For even money bets (black/red, odd/even) if the ball lands on zero you get half your stake back (known as la partage). Alternatively in some versions of the game your bet stands for the next spin (en prison).
Live Roulette
Roulette is historically a very social game, with players rubbing shoulders leaning over the table placing chips and this is one element of the game that can be lacking when playing online.
Live roulette seeks to bridge this gap. And whilst you won’t actually have to reach over your fellow players or ask them to help place a chip in a far corner of the table, it does add a social element back into the game.
The nice thing about live roulette compared to other games is that there’s no limit to the number of people who can play on one table, as the chip placement and payouts are done by the computer. It also means you don’t need to wait around for other players to decide whether they want to hit their hard 12 or not, as you often get in live blackjack.
Because of this you can still find relatively low stake games if you want. And if you really want to keep your bets to a minimum but still want to have a real life feel to it there are automated roulette wheels such as Evolution Gaming’s ‘Slingshot Roulette’. Here a physical wheel is used but instead of being spun by a real person it’s all machine operated – so the result still relies on where the ball lands rather than the outcome of a random number generator, but it doesn’t have the added cost of having a someone operate it.
As well as allowing for lower stakes, it’s also much faster with up to 80 spins per hour and runs around the clock. Of course you’re losing a lot of the personal interaction that live roulette introduced to the game and some would argue that it’s no different to ‘traditional’ RNG roulette, but it takes all sorts to make a world. So play whatever you enjoy the most.
Other Roulette Games
In a local casino you’re generally limited to a choice of just one or two tables – normally a mix of American, European and French (depending on where you are in the world). In larger casinos, such as those in Las Vegas, you may come across versions that have side bets or jackpots but on the whole the land based roulette scene is relatively vanilla.
Online is a whole different ball game though, and there are many weird and wonderful adaptions of the game. Some of which you might even consider it a bit of a stretch to refer to as roulette. The reason for this is simple – they don’t need to build a special table or have to abide by the laws of physics and so the developers can let their imaginations run wild.
From roulette with three balls through to multiple wheels, hot streaks and elaborate bonus rounds there’s something to keep even the most seasoned roulette player interested: