Roulette is definitely one of the most popular casino table games and might be similar to BlackJack in terms of availability. You’ll have a hard time finding a casino that does not offer Roulette in at least one of its many forms. The game is also one of the oldest out there and dates back in centuries and it’s believed that the first real form of Roulette was invented in France. That actually makes a lot of sense as the term is french for ”Little Wheel.” Lets go through the various forms of Roulette that are offered and can be played nowadays. Even though there are way more than 100 forms of the game, only 3 of these are known as the main variations.
- European Roulette – the most popular variation of the game, offered in pretty much any land based as well as online casino. It features a wheel of 37 numbers included a single zero.
- American Roulette – a variation that has lost its popularity, for the most part that has happened due to the increased house edge, which is a result of the double zero wheel & table layout this form features.
- French Roulette – as France is the homeland of the game, it’s quite logical that there would be a variation named after the country. French Roulette is a somewhat rare part of the offerings nowadays, though. This is mainly due to the fact that this variation features the smallest house edge of all, thus being the least favourite from the casinos perspective.
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Roulette Bets & Payouts
Even though there are well over 100 Roulette variations and types out there, the layout and bets remain same in just about all of them. You’ll find that all the bets that can be made are divided in two types:
- Inside Bets – these are bets that feature high payouts, but also are way more unlikely to occur. A great example would be betting on a single number to be spun.
- Outside Bets – unlike inside bets, outside ones feature relatively low payout ratios, but are way more likely to occur. You’ll often have close to 50% chance of winning, when making these.
Inside Roulette Bets
- Single – a bet on a single number, pays out at 35 to 1 odds.
- Double – a bet on two numbers, pays out at 17 to 1 odds.
- Street – a bet on three numbers in a horizontal line, pays out at 11 to 1 odds.
- Corner – a bet on four numbers in a squared shape, pays out at 8 to 1 odds.
- Double Street – similarly as a street bet on three numbers, this is a bet on 2 streets and 6 numbers in total. Pays out at 5 to 1 odds.
- Trio – a bet on either 0;1;2 or 0;2;3 when playing single zero Roulette. Pays out at 11 to 1 odds.
- Top Line – a bet on 0;00;1;2 when playing American Roulette. Pays out at 6 to 1 odds.
- Basket – a bet on 0;1;2 or 0;00;1 to be spun. Pays out at 11 to 1 odds.
Outside Roulette Bets
- Red or Black – likely the most popular bet in the game. Features even money payout odds of 1 to 1.
- Odd or Even – similar bet to the previous one, but predicts whether the next number spun will be odd or even. Pays out at 1 to 1.
- Dozen – a bet on one of the three number dozens featured in the game (f.e. 1 to 12). Pays out at 2 to 1 odds.
- Column – a bet on one of the three columns of numbers in the game (f.e. 1-4-7-10-13-16 etc.) pays out at even money odds.
- 1 to 18 and 19 to 36 – two separate bets predicting that a number spun will be either between 1 and 18 or 19 and 36. Pays out at even money odds of 1 to 1.
GamePlay
One of the main factors for popularity of this game is the simplicity. Even those who have never played it will be able to do so after they read this short paragraph. In order to play roulette online or at a land based casino, you’ll only need to be aware of the bets that can be made.
Similarly as BlackJack, the gameplay in Roulette can be divided into rounds or better, spins. Before croupier spins the wheel, players have around a minute to place their wagers and place bets. Croupier than goes on to announce that the betting is done and a winning number is determined by spinning a ball on the numbered wheel, it’s exactly that simple.
La Partage Rule
The La Partage Rule is a part of an unique set of rules that are featured in the French Roulette variation and highly benefits players that like to make outside bets. The most simple form of this rule is the so called ”en prison”, which allows player to have a second chance spin on already lost even money bets. Lets show a basic example to make sure you understood what exactly this means.
You place a wager of $100 on red playing French Roulette and unfortunately the number comes black, instead of loosing your wager the croupier puts a marker on it thus giving you a second chance of winning. If the next number comes red, you get 100% of the stake back, no winnings on top. If it comes black again, you loose the wager. Remember that this rule applies only to outside bets.
Roulette Strategies and Betting Systems
Since the game of Roulette was introduced, gamblers were desperately trying to find a loophole that would allow them to gain an advantage over casino winning loads of money along the way. We hate to say this, but unless you are cheating, there is no loophole. House is always at an advantage as every spin is individual and it’s mathematically impossible to gain an edge. However, for informational purposes we would like to share some betting systems with you. These won’t turn you into a millionaire, but you sure will have some fun by using them.
- The Martingale Betting System – one of the first real betting systems that a lot of people believed in. It suggests that you should double your wager every time you loose, thus once winning you would surely book a profit.
- The Fibonacci Betting System – this isn’t really a strategy, but more like a sequence of numbers that are written down and used to determine how much you have to bet at every spin.
- The d’Alembert Betting System – a similar system to the Martingale, but instead of doubling your wagering up and down, d’Alembert suggests that you increase and decrease your wagers by 1 unit.
The House Edge
We already made a brief mention of the house edge and that it isn’t possible to overcome it without cheating. That’s true, but you can be careful, when selecting what type of Roulette you play and increase the chances of winning this way. Lets take a look at the three main types of the game and the house edge they feature.
- American Roulette – approximately 5.4% house edge.
- European Roulette – approximately 2.5% house edge.
- French Roulette – approximately 1.25% house edge, when betting on outside bets (check the La Partage Rule for more info).
So what you can do is simply play either French or European Roulette and try to avoid playing American variation. What do these % mean in life? They show how much money you expect to loose mathematically every time $100 are wagered. If you wager $100 at European Roulette, you expect to get back $97.5 of that money longterm.
Top 2 Roulette Casinos
So you’re keen to try out how it’s like to play roulette online? It’s honestly great fun, but you will need to join a top notch casino to have the best experience. We’ve prepared a list of the top 3 casinos for our readers that want to play exactly this game online, check it out.
1. 888 Casino – launched in 1997, 888 Casino has been growing ever since. Their platform is simply astonishing with hundreds of unique games and a great rewards programme. When it comes to Roulette, you’ll find all the main variations along with some superb ones like Rockin’ Roulette, which seems like the very same game, but features a completely different concept.
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2. 32Red – a very well known brand in the UK, mainly for their sports betting offerings. However, 32Red has grown in all areas, they are becoming a well known player in the online casino world outside the UK as well. More than 20 Roulette game types powered by MicroGaming will surely please every player out there. 32Red also has developed a fantastic mobile platform thus allowing you to play games directly from your smartphone or tablet.
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