Online Roulette
Roulette is arguably the most popular and famous casino game of them all. It’s said to have been originally played as early as 1796 but here in the 21st century we have many new weird and wonderful versions of the game. We will explore the various types of roulette and also your betting options/payouts when playing.
Betting Options
Red/Black
Choosing to bet on either Red or Black will cover 18 numbers on the Roulette wheel. The payout from this bet is 1 to 1 which means a £1 stake will give a return of £2 (£1 of which is profit).
A bet on Red will cover the red numbers and a bet on Black will cover the black numbers. Zero is not included in either of these bets.
Odd/Even
Choosing to bet on either Odd or Even will cover 18 numbers on the Roulette wheel. The payout from this bet is 1 to 1 which means a £1 stake will give a return of £2 (£1 of which is profit).
A bet on Odd will cover the odd numbers (1, 3, 5 etc.) and a bet on Even will cover the even numbers (2, 4, 6 etc.). Zero is not included in either of these bets.
Low (1-18)/High (19-36)
Choosing to bet on either Low or High will cover 18 numbers on the Roulette wheel. The payout from this bet is 1 to 1 which means a £1 stake will give a return of £2 (£1 of which is profit).
A bet on Low will cover the low numbers (1-18) and a bet on High will cover the high numbers (19-36).
Dozen (1-12/13-24/25-36)
Choosing to bet on a Dozen will cover 12 numbers on the Roulette wheel. The payout from this bet is 2 to 1 which means a £1 stake will give a return of £3 (£2 of which is profit).
There are three different Dozen bets you can make – 1st 12 (1-12), 2nd 12 (13-24) and 3rd 12 (25-36).
Column
Choosing to bet on a Column will cover 12 numbers on the Roulette wheel. The payout from this bet is 2 to 1 which means a £1 stake will give a return of £3 (£2 of which is profit).
There are three different Column bets you can make and they will cover all numbers in a straight row as shown below.
Six Line
Choosing to bet on a Six Line will cover 6 numbers on the Roulette wheel. The payout from this bet is 5 to 1 which means a £1 stake will give a return of £6 (£5 of which is profit).
Corner
Choosing to bet on a Corner will cover 4 numbers on the Roulette wheel. The payout from this bet is 8 to 1 which means a £1 stake will give a return of £9 (£8 of which is profit).
Street
Choosing to bet on a Corner will cover 3 numbers on the Roulette wheel. The payout from this bet is 11 to 1 which means a £1 stake will give a return of £12 (£11 of which is profit).
Split
Choosing to bet on a Split will cover 2 numbers on the Roulette wheel. The payout from this bet is 17 to 1 which means a £1 stake will give a return of £18 (£17 of which is profit).
Straight Up
Betting on 1 number of the Roulette wheel is known as a Straight Up bet. The payout from this bet is 35 to 1 which means a £1 stake will give a return of £36 (£35 of which is profit).
Betting Options Table
You can find a table summary below of the various standard Roulette betting options. This covers how many numbers they involve, their payouts and also the chance of winning.
| Bet | Numbers Covered | Payout | £1 Stake Profit | Probability (Single Zero) | Probability (Double Zero) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Red/Black | 18 | 1 to 1 | £1 | 48.65% | 47.37% |
| Odd/Even | 18 | 1 to 1 | £1 | 48.65% | 47.37% |
| Low (1-18)/High (19-36) | 18 | 1 to 1 | £1 | 48.65% | 47.37% |
| Dozen (1-12/13-24/25-36) | 12 | 2 to 1 | £2 | 32.43% | 31.58% |
| Column | 12 | 2 to 1 | £2 | 32.43% | 31.58% |
| Six Line | 6 | 5 to 1 | £5 | 16.22% | 15.79% |
| Corner | 4 | 8 to 1 | £8 | 10.81% | 10.53% |
| Street | 3 | 11 to 1 | £11 | 8.11% | 7.89% |
| Split | 2 | 17 to 1 | £17 | 5.41% | 5.26% |
| Straight Up | 1 | 35 to 1 | £35 | 2.70% | 2.63% |
Roulette Variants
Roulette doesn’t always just come in the 36 number + zero format you may be used to. There are many weird and wonderful variants of the game and each one has its own betting options, rules and differing house edges. Below you can find out more about some of the most popular versions of Roulette.
European Roulette
European Roulette is probably the most common form of Roulette and the one most people will be used to playing. It has 37 different numbers you can bet on (including zero) and only one zero on the wheel. The house edge of European Roulette is 2.7% which means that on average each £100 you play on the game you will theoretically lose £2.70 to the house. Of course that’s just a long term average and not what happens every time you play.
French Roulette
This format of Roulette is almost identical to European Roulette apart from one special rule. The “La Partage Rule” is only applicable when placing even money bets (bets that pay out 1 to 1 like Red, Black, Odd or Even) but it means that you’ll get half of your stake amount back if the ball lands on zero (instead of losing your full stake).
This halves the house edge from 2.7% to 1.35% making French Roulette the ideal variant of Roulette to play if you have the choice.
American Roulette
American Roulette is another standard style of Roulette game. There are numbers 1 to 36 as usual but now there are two zeros on the wheel instead of just one. This is the obvious reason why American Roulette is sometimes called Double Zero Roulette.
The extra zero almost doubles the house edge from 2.7% to 5.26% making American Roulette a poor choice to play compared to European or French Roulette.
Multi Wheel Roulette
The name reveals all with Multi Wheel Roulette. It’s your standard game of Roulette (usually European Roulette) but with an option to select more than one wheel. After you’ve placed your bets, multiple wheels will spin at the same time where you’re hoping for your selection to come up as a winner on any or all of the wheels.
The amount of wheels doesn’t affect the house edge. If you’re playing a multi wheel version of European Roulette then the house edge is still 2.7%.
101 Roulette
This is essentially a bigger wheel version of Roulette. There are 100 numbers that you can bet on as well as a zero, spade, heart, diamond and club option. The spade, heart, diamond and club are equivalent to extra zeroes on the wheel. You can think of this as a five zero Roulette.
The house edge in 101 Roulette can range from a huge 14.29% to a much more sensible 3.81% depending on what you place your bets on. Betting on a Straight Up single number gives the house an edge of 3.81% and a bet on Red would give the house a 4.76% edge. You can see that overall you’re giving up some value to the house when playing 101 Roulette over a game with a standard Roulette format.
Pinball Roulette
The betting options available to you in Pinball Roulette are the same as European Roulette – you can bet on Red/Black, Odd/Even, Columns, Dozens, etc. The difference comes once you’re finished with your bets and begin playing. Instead of a ball spinning round a wheel you have a fun game where a ball whizzes around a pinball machine and then lands in a number slot.
An additional twist comes if you have a winning play. You can choose to gamble your winnings in the bonus round where the pinball will again be released. To win you need the ball to hit various multiplier bumpers and then land in the winning slot. If the ball fails to hit any multipliers or falls in to a losing slot then you will lose your bet and the bonus round is over. You can win up to 10 times your bet amount in the bonus round.
The house edge of Pinball Roulette is your usual 2.7% which makes it a fun variant to play without giving up an extra edge to the casino.
Spread Bet Roulette
You can play Spread Bet Roulette identically to European Roulette by betting on the familiar options if you like. What makes this style of Roulette different though is the 7 spread betting options. The winning number is decided by totalling the results from both the normal Roulette wheel and also an inner golden wheel (e.g. one wheel lands on 6, the other lands on 25 – the total is 31). The spread bet options are as follows:
0-1 : Pays 400 to 1. House edge is 6.72%.
2-11 : Pays 15 to 1. House edge is 6.94%.
12-18 : Pays 10 to 1. House edge is 4.6%.
19-33 : Pays 2 to 1. House edge is 5.84%.
34-54 : Pays 1 to 1. House edge is 6.5%.
55-67 : Pays 7 to 1. House edge is 3.43%.
68-72 : Pays 80 to 1. House edge is 5.84%.
