Whether you’re practising online roulette for free or playing for real money, it’s one of the most popular casino games around. Easy to master and with plenty of variety, it’s the ideal online game to kick back and try your luck (and some skill) at. So, how do you get started, can you improve your odds against the house and is this the game for you? Check out our full review to find out all about playing roulette online.
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Introduction
While the exact origins of roulette are difficult to trace, one of the most traceable theories suggests that the wheel game was inspired by an Italian lottery-type of game at the start of the 18th century. The original also used a wheel to determine the winning number. The game quickly spread across France, with reports of roulette tables first appearing as early as 1758. By the end of the century, the game was mentioned in fiction and, interestingly, the game we now know as American roulette was originally French.
If you’ve ever watched a game of online roulette, or indeed played, you’ll know that the two common versions are European Roulette (with one zero) and French Roulette (with a zero slot and a double zero slot).
Today, there are several popular online roulette variants, each with more than a dozen ways to bet, different house edges and a few strategies to boost your winning chances.
Luckily for us, we can try out all the variations before betting real money. How? By playing free online roulette games. These work exactly the same as real money casino games but don’t require wagering your hard-earned coins. This way you can get a taste of the different types of roulette online game variants and find your preferred one to try out properly.
Free vs Real Money Roulette
| Real Money Roulette | Free Roulette |
|---|---|
| More games to enjoy | Experiment with different bets |
| Chances of winning real cash | No financial risk |
| Play for a wide variety of stakes | Learn different strategies |
| Benefit from special online casino bonuses and promotions | Try different versions of online roulette |
| A real casino experience when you play Live Casino roulette | Play for as long as you like with no risk |
Variations Of Online Roulette
The Most Popular Variations Of Online RouletteIf you’ve heard terms like American and French roulette before, but never really got to grips with the difference, here’s your chance. Below, we’ve put together a simple breakdown of the most popular online roulette variations you’ll come across.
This is many players’ go-to version of online roulette owing to the 2.7% house edge. In this game, the wheel is numbered 1 – 36, and there is a single zero slot. You’re able to place all the usual bets on numbers or clusters of numbers, odd/even, lines and colours. It’s a great starter if you’ve never played the game before.
The major difference in American roulette is that double zero features, along with the standard single zero. On the downside, the double zero pushes the odds further in the house’s favour, increasing the house edge to 5.26%.
Similar to European online roulette, this game has two special rules. The ‘en prison’ rule lets you recover your stake if you place an even-money bet and the ball falls in the zero pocket, while the ‘la partage’ rule allows you to get back half your bet if you lose an outside bet as a result of the ball landing in the zero slot. French roulette sports a house edge of 1.35%.
This is one of the most fun versions of online roulette, delivering several games at once. Rather than placing chips and waiting for the outcome, you can keep things going across different wheels. You’ll see just one table, but you can use it to bet across several wheels, usually placed just at the top of the table. This gives you a more likely chance of hitting on any given spin.
Boost your odds of winning with this online roulette compact version of the game. With Mini Roulette, the wheel runs from 1 to 12 with a single zero. The odds have been changed to reflect this, which means you may well win more often, with smaller, frequent payouts a likelihood.
If you’re keen on the live experience without having to leave home, Live Casino Roulette is for you. You get to watch live-streamed footage of a real wheel spinning as you bet on the action in real-time, with real croupiers. Some Live Casino lobbies let you chat with the dealer and other players.
How To Play Online Roulette
To an outsider, this game may look easy enough. But if you’ve never played roulette, there are a few important things you need to know, especially when it comes to the game’s layout and different bets you can make.
The BoardThe roulette board is a layout of the numbers you’ll find on the wheel, set in numerical order. There are three columns and 12 rows, giving you plenty of betting opportunities.
With online roulette, you have the chance to place bets on a single number, a row, two adjacent numbers, four or six adjacent numbers, and also on dozens. You can even place a bet on zero to win if you’re feeling lucky.
There are positions for bets that pay 1:1. You can bet on whether the number will be even or odd, the colour of the number, or even to which half of the numbers it belongs.
The WheelWhen you play against the online casino, the wheel uses a random number generator to spin. When you play online roulette in a Live Casino, the croupier spins the wheel for you.
On the wheel, there are 37 or 38 numbered pockets. As we’ve mentioned, American roulette has the double zero slot, which lowers your chances of hitting each slot.
The idea behind the numbers being positioned randomly is to ensure that as few numbers that belong to the same large group of bets appear together. But this doesn’t affect the randomness of the game.
Inside Bets
The Different Types Of Inside Bets in Roulette GamesOnline roulette offers players several different ways to bet. With inside bets, you place bets on the numbers on the board and while these bets are harder to hit, they do pay out more. With a 2-1 payout, you get your original bet back and two more units, tripling your bet. The same goes for other types of payouts. In the below inside bets, we refer to your chances of winning European online roulette. When it comes to the American version, your chances are a little lower because of the double zero.
A bet that’s only placed on one number and pays 35:1. It’s the highest paying bet in online roulette and the only one where you’re allowed to bet on zero.
A bet that you can place on the crossing of the lines where 4 numbers meet. This bet pays 8:1 and comes with a 10.81% chance of winning.
A bet that covers two numbers that are close to one another on the board, vertically or horizontally. It pays out 17:1 and offers a 5.41% chance of winning.
This is the lowest paying bet in online roulette, giving you a 16.22% probability of winning and a 5:1 payout. As the name suggests, you can bet on 6 consecutive numbers, for instance, 4 to 9.
With a street bet, you place a bet on 3 numbers in a row. There’s an 8.11% chance of winning and the bet pays out 11:1.
FAQ
A popular table game played in most online casinos. It’s a simple game, with simple strategies and a whole lot of luck, and it comes with a multitude of variations for you to play.
You’ll find a list of the top online casinos that offer RNG and Live Casino roulette on our top list.
Yes, many online casinos let you play RNG roulette for free in demo mode until you’re ready to wager money.
No, provided you only play at reputable and regulated online casinos that are audited for provably fair gameplay.
There are so many different bets and odds. If you want to go for the biggest odds, place a Straight bet on just one number.
Online roulette either runs on a digital random number generator or is manned by a live croupier, making it impossible to predict which colour will hit next.
Bets with the lowest house edge and highest probability are best, such as odd/even, red/black and hi-low.
Yes, most mobile casinos have variations of roulette for you to play on the go.
Outside Bets
Online Roulette Outside Bets ExplainedOutside bets pay lower but offer bigger chances of winning. As the name suggests, you place bets outside of the matrix and they involve betting on larger groups of pockets.
This is when you place a bet on 12 numbers in the same column. The chances of winning are 32.43% with a 2:1 payout.
Here, you bet on a group of 12 consecutive numbers. You must pick a link and bet on either 1-12 or 13-24 or 25-36. The odds and payout are the same as column bets.
Also called a Passe, this is a bet you place on half the numbers. The low numbers are 19-36 while the high numbers are 1-18. The payout on this bet is 1:1, but the probability of winning is a mega 48.65%.
With this bet, the table is split according to the colour of the slot. Bet black or red, and you stand to get twice your bet back with a 48.65% chance of winning.
Guess if the number will be odd or even. The chances of winning are the same as a hi/low bet, but if the ball lands in the zero pocket, you lose.
Not found in all online roulette games, this is a bet that goes as a zigzag across the board from 1 to 34 and is marked by placing chips on the corner of number 34.
Section Bets
Online Roulette Section BetsWith section bets in roulette, you place bets according to the numbers as they appear on the wheel rather than on the board. These bets come from the French tradition, which is why some of them are named in French.
This section bet is placed on numbers around zero on the board. There are 7 numbers, and you need 4 chips to make the bet. You place one chip on 0-3, the next on 12-15 and the third chip on 32-35. Finally, you place the fourth chip on 26. This bet pays 35:1.
Here, you place bets on five numbers that are close to one another on the wheel. For this bet, you will place 5 straight bets on the online roulette table, each on neighbouring numbers. If one number wins, all the other numbers lose and there is no single payout.
Translated as neighbours of zero, this bet is actually a set of split bets on 17 numbers surrounding zero. You’ll need 9 chips for the bet and while the payouts differ, in the worst case you’ll get all your chips back.
This is a particularly popular online roulette bet where you place a bet on 4 out of 12 numbers that are included in the tiers du cylindre, which are 5, 8, 10 and 11.
A 6-chip bet placed on 12 numbers that are opposite the zero.
A bet placed on 8 numbers on different sides of the online roulette wheel. You need 5 chips to place 4 split bets and 1 straight bet. Land on either of them and you stand to win 14x your original bet.
Maximum Bet For High Rollers
In online roulette, you can place a maximum bet on all inside bets of a particular number. You then progressively bet on all streets, splits, six lines and squares. You need 40 chips for this bet, making it perfect for high rollers.
Conclusion
Now that you know everything roulette, it’s time to put that knowledge to the test. We recommend you pick one of our vetted casinos you can find in our toplist so you know you are playing at a licensed & trustworthy casino. Good luck!
Experienced online casino writer and reviewer who loves to share her knowledge and experience with others. She enjoys analyzing the latest trends in the industry and offering valuable tips to help others by having the most from betting at online casinos. She is constantly looking for new and interesting topics to write about and stays up-to-date on the latest changes in the online gambling industry.
