Roulette Guide

How to Play Roulette

The aim of the game in roulette is to guess where the little white ball that is spun around the wheel will land. The wheel itself will rotate counter-clockwise, and the ball will be spun clockwise. As the ball loses speed, it will land in one of the 37 or 38 pockets on the wheel, and the hope is that it lands in a pocket that you’ve placed a bet on. In theory, you could place a bet on every single number or pocket on the wheel, but this would naturally not pay off in the long run. However, you can choose to place bets on large parts of the wheel, on just a few numbers, or on only one. We have more info on this in our in-depth roulette guide for beginners, as well.

Type of Roulette Bets

There are several types of bets players can place when enjoying online roulette for real money. Below, we’ll briefly go over each of them.

Outside Bets

The outside bets are bets on big groups of numbers that never include 0 or 00. You place your bets on the fields surrounding the numbers but never directly on a number, column or row.

Racetrack Bets

A type of bet you won’t find on all roulette tables is the racetrack bet. This is a bet on 12 numbers based on the placement of the numbers on the wheel.

Inside Bets

In roulette, you can bet on whatever you want and as many or few numbers as you’d like. If your bet is not an outside bet, it will be an inside bet. These bets are not placed outside of the columns of numbers but rather directly on the numbers or rows you want to bet on.

• Straight
• Split
• Street
• Square
• Top Line

American Roulette

One version of roulette you’ll find at almost all online casinos is American Roulette. This is the roulette game where the house has the biggest edge of 5.26%. Naturally, the wheel used is the American roulette wheel, meaning it has a total of 38 pockets. Since there are two green pockets, 0 and 00, the house has double the edge compared to European Roulette and other versions of roulette.

European Roulette

In most places in the world, European Roulette is the version of the game that’s considered the standard. On the European roulette wheel, there’s only one green pocket, and it’s marked with 0. This means there’s a total number of 37 pockets on a European roulette wheel. The payouts for a winning bet are exactly the same as in American Roulette, but your chances of winning are higher since the house edge is only 2.7%.

French Roulette

After American and European Roulette, French Roulette is the next most common game. In the French version, the European wheel is used. In addition to the normal roulette “rules,” there are two extra rules that can be used. This is what gives the casino a much lower house edge than in European Roulette. The house edge in French Roulette is as low as 1.35%.

En Prison

If you place an outside bet, and the ball lands in the green pocket, the En Prison rule can be used. This rule allows your bet to be held for one more round. However, you can’t change your bet, or add on another bet. It will remain exactly the same as in the previous round. If the ball lands in a pocket you’ve bet on, you’ll get your bet back. The winnings for the round won’t be paid out, but your bet will be returned to you. If you lose, you’ll also lose your bet.

La Partage

This is also a rule that can be used when the ball lands in the green pocket in a game round where you’ve placed an outside bet. There won’t be an extra spin of the roulette wheel or a chance of winning or getting your entire bet back, but half of the bet you placed will be returned to you, cutting your losses in half.

Other Versions of the Game

There are too many variations on roulette to list here, but we’ve taken a closer look at some of the most exciting versions:

• Double Ball
• Lightning Roulette
• California Roulette
• Multi-Wheel Roulette

How to Win at Roulette

The game roulette in itself is a game of chance, but that doesn’t mean you can’t use strategies to increase your chances of winning roulette. How to play roulette and how to win at it are things you can learn in 10 minutes or less, but mastering the game is another story. For this, you need to familiarize yourself with some different roulette strategies. The chances of getting a win in each and every game round will be the same no matter what you do, but you may be able to influence your chances in the long run.

Playing Roulette at Online Casinos

There are many different ways to play roulette online. All online casinos have roulette games, but which versions of the game they have, and which options they have to actually play, will differ. The most popular way to play in 2023 is, of course, playing live. With a live dealer, you can play on an actual physical roulette wheel, and the game is exactly the same as when you play at a land-based casino. 

Live Roulette Tables

When you play, you play through a live stream, and you can get this in HD. The dealers sit in a studio with a roulette wheel, and actually spin the ball, just like they do at land-based casinos. You’ll see the table as a pop-up on your screen, which allows you to place your chips. The bets are handled digitally by the casino you play at, and your winnings are automatically paid out to your account balance.

Online Roulette Games

A digital roulette game works more or less the same way as a slot machine. A random number generator decides the results of the game, which makes it completely random. The benefit of playing a digital game is that you can spend as much time as you like deciding how you want to bet since there’s no time limit. In the same way, you can start the game round as soon as you like since you’re playing alone.