Online Roulette Basics
Online roulette is one of the most played games for a reason. The game is one of the most social that you’ll find in the live dealer section. Letting the ball and wheel do the work leaves plenty of time for players to chat. The game is also deceptively easy to play, but hard to master. The more you learn about playing roulette online, the more layers of complexity you discover. Some new players think there’s little more to playing online roulette than watching the ball toss around the wheel and randomly placing chips at sections of the table. They couldn’t be more mistaken. Sure, you can play online roulette like that, but once you read our guide, you’ll know better than that.
The experts at slots.xyz are there to show you both the right and wrong way to approach the game. Instead of having you betting on everything on site, we’ll take time to show you the different odds, bet types, and online roulette variants. Of course, there’s no guaranteed strategy, but if you know the game rules and terminology, you can play better and enjoy roulette online more.
How To Play Online Roulette
Before you register at an online casino website and start throwing chips and bets with every spin of the wheel, take a moment to learn how to play roulette. Whether you want to play against the computer or human dealer, the basic roulette online game rules remain the same. In the live dealer casino, however, there’s also a bit of etiquette to consider. Knowing the basic rules is as important as the informal rules if you’re not looking to be an obvious newb.
Online Roulette Rules
Playing roulette online is easy-peasy. The ubiquitous red and black colours feature on all variants of the game. European Roulette, however, also has an extra green pocket that’s numbered with a zero. American Roulette also has another green pocket that has two zeros. Besides these slight differences, all roulette games are played in the same way.
Place Your Bets: The online roulette wheel has pockets numbered from zero or double zero, up to 36. The first thing a player needs to do is to choose where they’d like to place their bets. This can either be a single number, a set of numbers, colours, or even or odd numbers. You may even cover the whole online roulette table with bets.
Spin: When you’re playing roulette online, the next thing would be to click spin to give the live dealer or computer the go-ahead to spin the wheel.
Wait for the Outcome: Once the wheel starts spinning, you simply have to wait for the outcome. If you’re playing online roulette for real money, the paytable will determine the payout that you’ll get. Obviously, if you bet on a group of numbers or on colours, your chances of winning increase, but your payout is reduced. That’s all there is to online roulette rules. Like we mentioned earlier, the game is deceptively simple.
How to Win At Online Roulette
Online roulette is, for the most part, a luck-based game. However, that’s not to say that players can’t do anything to hedge their bets. The only way to ensure that you know how to win at online roulette is to master the tricks, tips, and strategies that can give you an advantage. Also, just as you would look for online slots no deposit bonus offers when playing slot machines, you also want to find the best roulette bonuses. All that is, of course, while you stay within the rules of the game. Like with any casino games, you have to decide how much you want to bet at online roulette before you start playing. More risk may equate to better rewards—it may also result in more losses if you bet more than you can afford. You want to play using the same strategy until the game is over. How to win at roulette will also become less complicated if you’re playing specific variants of the game. However, playing roulette online is mostly about having fun, so dare to experiment with multiple options. If you want something that’s a bit less complex, you can also check out our guide to the best scratch cards. Most importantly, remember that chance rules the game—not you.
Online Roulette Bets
Like most casino games, online roulette has numerous types of bets, ranging from basic ones to obscure and arcane options. Would you tell a Straight-Up bet and a Corner bet apart? How about a Street and Six-Line? You may play roulette online for years and never play some of the bets. Still, knowing them ensures that you’re never left nonplussed by the dealer’s instructions or the chat at the table. You’ll also approach the game in a more calculating manner and get more mileage from your chips.
All online roulette bets are categorised into inside, outside, and announced bets. Unless you want to get adventurous from the get-go, slots.xyz advises that you start by learning the first two categories inside-out. Announced bets are more advanced and only feature in a few select variants of the game. Let’s dive straight into the basic bets, and follow up with the more advanced ones later.
Inside Bets
If you take a closer look at the online roulette UK table layout, you’ll notice that the main part is numbered from 0-36. The rest of the table has sectors for betting on groups of numbers: red/black, even/odd, 1-18/19-36, dozens, and columns. The bets that you place on numbers on the inner section of the table are called inside bets. Online roulette inside bets have a lower chance of winning but offer higher payouts. If you like to take more risk, and you have a larger bankroll, you can try the following inside bets:
- A Straight-Up Bet is when you put a chip on and wager on one number. Straight-Up bets have a winning payout of 35:1. For example, if you bet on Black 19, the ball needs to land on the exact number and colour for you to win.
- A Split Bet is a Straight-Up Bet but on two neighbouring numbers. For example, you can bet on 12 and 13. The payout for a winning Split Bet is 17:1.
- A Street Bet is when you wager on three consecutive numbers. For example, you can bet on 3, 4, and 5. The payout for this type of bet is 11:1.
- On a Corner Bet, you bet on four numbers. The wager is placed on a corner where the numbers touch each other. The winning payout is 8:1.
- A Five Bet is only available when you’re playing American Roulette. The bet is on the numbers 0, 00, 1, 2, and 3. A Five Bet has a winning payout of 6:1.
- A Line Bet is placed on 6 numbers, with two rows of 3 numbers each. The bet has a winning payout of 5:1.
Outside Bets
Outside bets are those that you place outside the number field. These cover a more extensive set of numbers, which provides more winning chances. However, the potential payouts are also significantly lower. In fact, unless you start by playing free online roulette, you may want to start with outside bets while you hone your skills. You also get the chance to use the en prison and la partage rules to improve your edge and earn back your cash if the ball lands on zero. You can try the following online roulette outside bets:
- A Column Bet covers 12 numbers, which is almost a third of the wheel. For American Roulette, the coverage is 31.6%, and 32.4% for European Roulette. The winning payout is 2:1.
- A Dozen Bet allows you to bet on the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd section of 12 numbers on the online roulette wheel. The bet has the same wheel coverage as a Column Bet and the same winning payout.
- Players can also bet on a Red or Black Bet, which essentially covers half the wheel. This basic bet is usually favoured by new players and has a 1:1 winning payout.
- Another popular online roulette bet is the Odd/Even Bet. In this bet, you’re betting on all the odd or even numbers. You should, however, take into account that, unless you’re playing European or French Roulette, you’ll not win if the ball lands on 0 or 00. The winning payout is 1:1.
- A Low/High Bet is where you either bet on low numbers (1-18) or high numbers (19-36). Again, that’s close to half the numbers on the wheel. A Low/High Bet also has a 1:1 winning payout.
Announced Bets
As we mentioned earlier, players make inside and outside bets by placing chips on a particular section of the table. With announced bets, you simply call out your bet. In land-based casinos, announced bets make the betting process simpler and reduces crowding the table with chips. Since announced online roulette bets most commonly feature in French Roulette, they also have French names.
- The Voisins du Zéro bet is also known as the Neighbours of Zero It covers the numbers that surround zero on the online roulette wheel, including 22, 29, 4, 21, 12, 18, 7, 0, 3, 26, 15, 19, 32, 28, 35, 2 and 25. 9 chips are required for the 15-number bet.
- The Jeu Zero bet, also known as zero game bet, is placed on three numbers on either side of zero on the online roulette wheel. The bet covers 12, 3, 26, 0, 35, 32 and 15 and requires 4 chips.
- The Tiers du Cylindre is a 6-chip bet that covers 12 numbers on the online roulette wheel, from 27-33. The numbers include 27, 11, 23, 5, 10, 30, 24, 13, 36, 8, 16 and 33. The Tiers du Cylindre bet is located on the other side of the roulette wheel from the Voisins du Zéro bet and has a winning payout of 17:1.
- The Orphelins cover the rest of the wheel that isn’t covered by the Tiers du Cylindre and Voisins du Zéro bets. The 4-chip bet covers numbers including 1, 20, 17, 34, 6, 14, and 31.
- The Neighbours bet covers a number and the two numbers on either of its sides. For example, a player can use the 5-chip bet to pick 29, then also include 18, 22, 7 and 28. Some online casinos even allow players to choose up to 8 neighbours.
Online Roulette Strategies
Now that you’re well-acquainted with online roulette rules and bets, you’ll probably want to know how you can boost your winning odds. The good news is that there are numerous tactics that you can follow. The downside is that none of them is perfect—otherwise, players would be making a killing every day, and the lights in Vegas wouldn’t still be shining as brightly. These strategies are more of a way to manage your money than helping you gain an advantage. Winning at roulette online is still strictly a matter of luck. You can start by playing several free online roulette games to practice with each strategy and see what works for you.
Martingale
The Martingale system is one of the most basic strategies, which is why it’s so popular with players. Using this strategy, you double your bet after every loss and revert to your original bet after every win. For example, if you start by betting £1, you’ll change to £2, then £4 after two consecutive losses. If you win after you bet £4, you’ll go back to betting £1. In a nutshell, the Martingale system allows players to capitalise on winning streaks and recover their losses. The only downside is that if you keep on losing, you’ll either run out of money or reach the table limit.
Fibonacci
The Fibonacci sequence is a progressive set of numbers where the next number is the sum of the previous two. When you’re using the Fibonacci strategy, you’ll always be looking to stay even, as you always wager an amount that’s equal to what you’ve lost. Also, as with the Martingale strategy, you might reach the table limit or bust your bankroll, albeit, at a slower pace.
D’Alembert
The D’Alembert strategy is also referred to as a pyramid system. The system requires that you add your bet by one unit after a loss and subtract after a win. For example, if you start with £1, you’ll bet £2, £3, and then £4 after losing. If you finally win, you’ll start reducing your stakes back to £3, £2, and then £1. It’s almost impossible to reach the table limit using this strategy.
Paroli
The Paroli strategy is best used on bets that have 1:1 winning odds. Using this strategy, you double your stake until you lose or win three times in a row. The system is low-risk, as you’ll either lose your initial stake or winnings from previous spins. Since you stop doubling bets after three wins, you also won’t reach the table limit.
Labouchere
The Labouchere system is a bit more complicated, but slots.xyz revels in simplifying complex concepts. Get a pen and paper for this one though. The basic idea behind this strategy is to start with an arbitrary line, for example, 1-1-2-3. Your first bet will be the sum of the first and last numbers, which is £4. If you win, you go on to the next to inner numbers, in this case, 1-2—so your next bet would be £3. If you had lost, you would have to add your initial bet to the end of the line, to make it 1-1-2-3-4. Your next bet would, therefore, have been £5. You can create a line that’s long as you like, but if you lose a lot, you might end up with too long a line and start over.
Parlay
The Parlay strategy is just the reverse of the Martingale system. Instead of doubling your stake after each loss, you do it after each win. The system is, however, designed to work in the short term, as you may end up losing all your winnings if you play for too long.
Popular Online Roulette Variants
If you picked up from our occasional name-dropping in the previous sections, there’s a crazy array of online roulette game variants out there. If you want to try them all out without breaking the bank, then you might want to look for free online roulette game options.
European Roulette: Is the most popular and widely regarded as the original variant of the game. When you’re playing European roulette, you can place your bet on a total of 37 pockets. The game has 18 black and red numbered pockets and one green 0 pocket for the house advantage.
American Roulette: Is different from the European variant in that it has 38 pockets. On top of a green 0 pocket, there is another 00. As such, the game has a higher house edge.
French Roulette: Has a similar structure to European Roulette. However, it may be detailed in French. It also has two additional rules, En Prison and La Partage. The La Partage rule comes into play when the ball lands in the 0 pocket. In such cases, you get half your stake back. The En Prison rule is similar to La Partage, but instead of getting half your stake, the bet remains on the table—or in prison. This chance at redeeming your money makes French roulette the most player-friendly variant of the game.
Multi-Ball Roulette: If you’re not one to settle for the ordinary, then you can add an exciting twist to the game and play Multi-Ball Roulette online. As the name suggests, Multi-Ball Roulette is played using more than one ball. Some variants have as many as 10 balls. The rest of the game looks identical to European Roulette.
Multi-Wheel Roulette: Is another option for adventurous spirits. The online roulette version usually features on most Microgaming and Playtech casinos. As the name suggests, the game is played using multiple online roulette wheels. Players will try to predict where the ball will land on each wheel.
Live Roulette: These days casinos offer their customers the chance to enjoy ultimate brick-and-mortar casino gambling experience without having to travel. Playing live roulette online is an excellent way to bridge the gap between online and land-based casino gameplay. You will be playing against real dealers who spin the roulette live roulette reel with real balls via live stream.
Roulette Royale: Online Roulette Royale is one of the most appealing variants of the game. The game, which was developed by Microgaming, is played on a standard European Roulette wheel that has 37 pockets. The game also has a massive progressive jackpot attached to it. To claim the ever-increasing jackpot, players have to bet on the same number and win five times in a row. Sure, it’s a mean feat, but it’s one that’s worth millions of pounds.
Spingo: Is a combination of online roulette and Bingo. Instead of betting on the classic 37 numbers, Spingo players bet on numbers from 1 to 10. Numbered balls are picked out randomly once the wheel starts spinning, which then fall into coloured trays.
Online Roulette Bonuses
An online roulette bonus is a perfect way to start playing free roulette online. Besides free roulette, you’ll find countless casinos that offer blackjack online free, online slot machines, the best scratch cards, and a lot more free casino games. It’s easy to assume that every bonus offer will allow you to play roulette online free. However, some offers may exclude online roulette or have it as an ineligible game when you’re completing wagering requirements. Some of the popular bonus offers include the following.
No Deposit Bonus Slots: This type of offer allows players to play online slots and potentially win real money, without putting up their own money. No deposit bonus slots offers usually have relatively high wagering requirements. However, if you read the online casino reviews here at slots.xyz, you’ll find some no-wager free spins no deposit required promotions. These are usually new casino free spins from websites that are still trying to establish themselves in the industry.
Free Bonus No Deposit: Just as much as you can register at pay by mobile casino sites and get 10 free slots, you can also play roulette online free with an online casino free bonus no deposit.
No Wager: Playing roulette online for free using a no deposit bonus is always great for learning and having fun. However, most casinos require their customers to wager their bonus several times before they can request a payout. It’s not as common, but some bonuses allow customers to claim their winnings without completing any wagering requirements.
High-Roller Bonus: Like we mentioned earlier, some strategies, such as the Martingale require high-stakes tables to avoid reaching the limit quickly. Some casinos impose low table limits to discourage players from using these strategies when they are playing roulette online. Some casinos, on the other hand, encourage players to place massive bets. Some even reward such players with high-roller perks, such as personalised birthday gifts, holiday packages, exclusive event invitations, and personal account managers.
Cashback Bonus: In case you’re not playing French Roulette and have the En Prison rule to save the day, you can get part of your stake back via a cashback bonus. Casinos usually offer customers up to 10% of their net losses back as a bonus or real money.
Online Roulette vs Land-Based Casino
If you’ve played at brick and mortar casinos before, then you may wonder if it’s necessary to move over to playing online roulette. Our team at slots.xyz has experience playing on both platforms and will gladly give you some insight on what you can expect.
Convenience
You can play online roulette anywhere you want—whether you’re on your commute to work or chilling at home. Most casinos that we review either have native mobile apps that you can download or HTML5-based mobile web apps. For the best online roulette experience, you don’t have to get your tux and driving to the casino. You can simply play online live casino on your smartphone or tablet.
Wider Game Selection
Unless you’ve saved up for a trip to Vegas, you probably won’t find as wide a selection of roulette games as you would at online casinos. Land-based casinos rarely have more than three variants of roulette. Online casinos, on the other hand, usually have at least 5-10 options. This isn’t just true for roulette, you will also find lots more online slot machines in a casino, than you would find ina land based casino.
Faster Gameplay
When you’re playing roulette online, you can get through several rounds quicker, as you won’t have to wait for other players to place their bets as well. It’s just you and the live dealer or RNG online roulette wheel, so you control the direction of the game.
Bonuses
Players can enjoy roulette online free using several bonuses and promotions. Although you probably find 10 free slots offers for every one roulette offer, you can still find some pretty decent bonuses if you use our guide. As we mentioned earlier, no deposit offers allow you to online roulette free without risking your own money. Brick and mortar casinos in the UK rarely offer such niceties.
Less Social
On the flip side, playing roulette online has its own drawbacks. Live dealer casinos come close to replicating the social aspect of land-based casinos, but don’t quite measure up. Playing against the computer is a much more lonesome experience.
Online Roulette Tournaments
Online roulette tournaments are an excellent way for players to mix up their gameplay. Instead of playing against the house, tournaments are played between players. Roulette tournaments are extremely rare in land-based casinos, but you can find them in Vegas. Tournaments allow you to test your composure and you win and lose against fellow players.
