Online Roulette – A Guide for 2018

Posted by Harry Kane on Wednesday, February 7, 2018

When you think of classic casino games, your thoughts are immediately drawn to blackjack, slot machines and roulette. The latter is arguably the most iconic casino game of all, while it has also enjoyed one of the most successful transitions online.

So, even though online roulette has been overshadowed by the proliferation of virtual slots during the last decade, the formers’ combination of skill and opportunism continue to underpin its enduring popularity among both casual and more serious players. Along with blackjack, it remains a thinking gambler’s game that allows for the deployment of both skill and strategy.

In this article, we’ll take a closer look at online roulette, while offering some advice on how you can become a better and more successful player.

Roulette Through the Ages – A Brief History

Roulette is a fascinating game, and according to some it helped Las Vegas to earn the moniker of ‘Sin City’.

This is based on the composition of the classic roulette wheel, as adding up all of the numbers on the wheel (from one through 36) leads to the devilish total of 666. Actually, legend has it that the inventor of the original, single zero roulette wheel made a deal with the devil in order to obtain the secret formula for roulette success.

True or not, this adds a unique layer of mystique to a game that actually originated as a result of physics and innovation. In fact, the original roulette wheel was invented by the French physicist and mathematician Blaise Pascal at the turn of the 18th century, although this ground-breaking innovation came about by accident rather than design.

More specifically, the roulette wheel was born out of Pascal’s attempts to build the world’s first perpetual motion machine. This would be a contraption that could operate independently and without drawing energy with an external source, while it’s based on a principle that defies the basic laws of physics. His efforts failed, of course, but he can seek solace in the fact that the process created one of the most popular casino games of all time.

Both the wheel and the original iteration of roulette continued to evolve through the 1700s and the 1800s, with the number zero first being added in the middle of the 19th century. It was in 1842 that the modern, European roulette wheel was designed by Francois and Lois Blanc, as they built on Pascal’s original template on behalf of King Charles III of Monaco. Interestingly, this helped to popularise the game throughout Europe, as the integration of a zero improved the house edge from an operator perspective.

It certainly generated a huge amount of income for the principality of Monaco, while heralding the dawn of casino gambling in Monte Carlo.

Towards the end of the 1800s, the game went global as its made its way across the ocean to North America. It was here that the nations formative casinos decided to increase the house edge even further, by adding a double zero to the roulette wheel and creating a total of 37 numbers.

Although this iteration is less popular than the traditional, European iteration, both of these classic gaming patterns have provided inspiration for the contemporary range of online titles.

Basic Roulette Strategy – Getting to Grips with the Game

Given that online roulette games are based on classic and familiar patterns of play, it’s easier than you may think to get to grips with contemporary formats. After all, this exposes a number of universally applicable rules and strategies that can help to optimise your chances of winning, regardless of the precise game or platform that you choose to access online.

In terms of basic rules, players are required to correctly guess where the ball will land after each spin of the roulette wheel. The pace of online roulette has become increasingly authentic in recent times, meaning that you should expect to play an average of two spins per minute with the vast majority of games.

Once the wheel is in motion, you’ll have a limited time to place your wagers before the ball begins to drop and the outcome is revealed. Any bets that are placed after the ball has dropped will be invalid, so you’ll need to take time to adapt to the pace of your chosen game and be prepared to wager decisively if you’re to achieve your objectives.

The structure of the modern wheel means that there are numerous options available when placing your bets, making it easier to pre-empt outcomes and optimise your chances of winning in real-time. Aside from the individually numbered grooves, there are also an even split of odd, even, red and black numbers to help enhance the depth of gameplay.

In fact, there’s a wide and complex range of betting options in roulette, and these can typically be divided into two distinct categories. The first of these are risky, high-yield inside bets, while offering oppressive odds but potentially considerable gains. With inside betting, you’ll often wager on a single number at odds of either 35/1 to 37/1 (for European and American roulette respectively), while minimising your chances of winning to between 2.63% to 2.7%

Inside bets also include a number of complex combination wagers, referred to commonly as split, street and corner options. The split bet covers up to two numbers at once, paying out at odds of 17/1 and delivering a win probability of around 5.35%. Then comes the street bet, which allows you to wager on three numbers at slightly superior odds of 11/1 with an 8.11% chance of winning.

Beyond this, you can also place corner and first five wagers that cover four and five numbers respectively. The corner bet is one of the most popular bets on the game, playing out at tantalising odds of 8/1 and delivering a win probability of between 10.53% and 10.81%. The latter, five number bet offers odds of 6/1, but its important to note that this is rarely used and only available through games that are based on the rules of American roulette.

Outside bets typically pay out at odds of between 1/1 and 2/1, so they’re ideal for risk-averse or novice players who prefer to pursue frequent rather than lucrative wins. These include the aforementioned odd, even, red and black wagers, which increase your chances of winning to between 47.37% to 48.65%. Interestingly, this also enables you to extend your coverage to include half of the roulette wheel, creating a high probability that you’ll achieve regular, incremental gains.

Outside wagers also include dozen and column bets, which both enable you to cover 12 numbers simultaneously across the board. These relate to the structure of the traditional roulette betting grid which is often replicated online, while they payout at odds of 2/1 and deliver a win probability of between 31.58% and 32.48%.

Clearly, you’re betting strategy will be based on your playing style and prevailing appetite for risk, although favouring outside wagers lends itself to more successful gameplay over time. This is because the opportunistic nature of roulette makes it impossible to accurately predict the outcome of individual spins, and it’s a common gamblers’ fallacy to suggest that patterns can be identified in random number generation.

In this respect, structuring your wagers to cover as much of the roulette wheel as possible represents an excellent way of increasing your chances of winning, while this can also provide the biggest boost to your bankroll over a sustained period of time.

Your choice of wagers will ultimately define your strategy, with the game’s most renowned betting systems based on the deployment of either inside and outside bets. These systems are also classified as either progressive or negative progression strategies, which utilise a fixed betting unit value before multiplying these throughout the duration of your game. Progressive systems encourage you to increase your betting unit with every single win, while negative progression strategies require you to raise your stake after each loss.

Negative progression systems are slightly riskier and require you to start with a larger bankroll, while progressive alternatives make it easier to build wealth incrementally. As a novice player, however, it’s far better to focus on optimising your coverage of the roulette wheel and utilising a single betting unit throughout. This enables you to develop a basic understanding of the online game, before building a comprehensive and effective strategy that suits your outlook.

Choosing Your Game and Online Casino Platform

While this basic understanding of roulette and its available bets helps to lay the foundation for online success, it’s possible to enhance your prospects further with an informed choice of game and virtual casino platform.

The variable house edge associated with alternative versions of online roulette is an especially interesting consideration, as this can have a pivotal impact on your chances of winning. While the European iteration offers a competitive house edge of around 2.70%, for example, the double zero, American version has a corresponding house edge of 5.26%, creating a far more oppressive environment that lengthens your odds of success.

With this in mind, favouring European iterations of the game can empower you to win more frequently and make the most effective use of your bankroll. This is particularly true when you consider that there is an opportunity to reduce the house edge of European roulette to around 1.4% in the right circumstances, depending on your precise choice of roulette variation and its underlying rules.

More specifically, there are a number of selective rules that can enhance your chances of winning when playing roulette. Many of these are associated with original, French iteration of the game played during the 18th century, while there are a handful of online versions and casino platforms that continue to offer these to players.

The first is ‘La Partage’ rule, which lowers the house edge considerably to around 1.35%. Translating roughly into ‘the sharing and dividing’ rule, this instantaneously splits all even money bets into two in instances when the ball lands in the single zero pocket. At this point, half of your original wager is returned, and this can boost your bankroll considerable during an extended gaming session.

Next up is the lesser-spotted ‘en prison’ rule, which is a variant of la partage and also revolves around the single zero pocket. This provides an instant opportunity to recover your stake after the ball lands on zero, so long as your initial wager was placed on either evens or odds. Once the spin is completed, you’ll have the opportunity to leave your stake from the previous bet, and this will be returned if you win on the next turn. If not, the wager is forfeited, but in the meantime it offers an exceptional opportunity to boost your prospects.

There are further variations of this rule too, and in instances where you land two consecutive zeros you may be rewarded with a win!

Make no mistake; it’s the choice of roulette iteration that should take precedence and ultimately inform your selection of an online casino platform. This ensures that you access the platforms which host your favourite games, enabling you to enjoy gameplay that suits your philosophy, bankroll and level of experience.

Once you’ve identified a number of platforms that offer you access to your favourite games, you can begin to hone in on the value proposition of each site and their live promotional offers. Not only must virtual casinos be fully regulated and accredited, for example, but they should also have received a high volume of positive, independent reviews online.

In terms of promotional offers, it’s best to compare the market for lucrative deposit match offers that can reward you with a fixed amount of free gameplay. With no-deposit bonuses quickly becoming a thing of the past, deposit matches of between 100% and 400% are becoming more prevalent and can at least enable you benefit from a considerable increase in your starting capital. Always check the terms and conditions of each promotion, as it’s crucial that your chosen bonus can be applied to specific roulette iterations.

So there you have it; our detailed guide to getting started with online roulette in 2018. This information should help you to optimise your enjoyment of the game, while also increasing your chance of winning regularly and using your bankroll wisely!