What are the Best Online Casino Roulette Games?

The lure of roulette

Roulette is one of the most fun casino games you can play. There is something about that steel ball spinning around which makes gamblers feel that they can will that little ball to stop on the spot of your choice that feeds your inner psyche. After all, everyone has a little bit of intuition that they are somewhat psychic.

And unlike games such as blackjack or Caribbean poker where there is a dealer involved, once the croupier starts that wheel spinning, there is no human to get involved till the end result is decided: psychologically it’s just you and that tiny steel ball. Who will win?

The Three Main Forms of Roulette

Most gamblers are aware of two forms of roulette, American Roulette and European Roulette.
The layout of these two games are almost 100 percent the same, with 36 numbers from one to 36, and side bets of red and black, odd and even, 1st 12, second 12, third twelve, choosing 1 to 18, 19-36, or one of the three rows of numbers.

The difference is that there is a single zero added to European Roulette and two zeros with American roulette.

Anyone with any sense knows that having two zeros tilts the house edge further to the casino, but if you have a choice, by all means, play at an online casino that offers European roulette betting a single chip on a number gives the casino only a house edge of 2.6 percent, while the house advantage for American Roulette is 5.3 percent.

There is a third version of roulette, very rarely allowed at online casinos called French roulette.

In the French version of roulette, you win the same amount of money, $35 if you bet on a single number, but say you bet on number 7 to win, and instead, the ball lands on any other number, such as 1, 2, 3 or all the other single numbers, then you lose your bet as normal.

However, if the bet is on a single number such as 7 and the ball lands on zero, then you lose only half your bet.

At the same time, if you bet on a side bet such as red or black, and zero comes up, you don’t lose your bet but rather it goes into prison. Whether you lose a side bet or not depends upon the next spin of the wheel rather than automatically losing.

Obviously, French roulette is much more favorable which is why you will rarely find it in an online casino.
Other forms of roulette available

One of the most common is multiple ball roulette. As many as three balls may be rolled at once.

This may seem like great fun, and it can be exciting with more balls to play, but trust us, when it comes to the odds, multiple ball roulette is not fantastic. In fact, the house edge of duo ball roulette approaches as high as 16.3 percent, which makes it a terrible game indeed.

Another form of roulette is multiple wheel roulette. As many as 6 wheels may be in play at the same time for this type of roulette. Click here and view the best roulette sites.

Microgaming and Playtech are the two main designers of multiple-wheel roulette and it can be quite exciting. Let’s say number 19 is your lucky number. With multiple wheels, you can bet 19 as many wheels as are playing, typically 6 but sometimes 8.

Hit 19 on a single wheel and you win $35 dollars. Hit it twice, and you can win $70, Hit it 6 times and you can walk away (if you have the luck and the discipline) with
$210 on a total $6 dollar bet.

There’s good news and bad news when playing multiple-wheel roulette. The good news is that the house odds remain the same whether it is one, two, 6, or 8 wheels.

Now the bad news

If you were advised that you would lose every single time you play roulette, then you’d never play it, and the same goes for any other game the casino offers.

But the house edge operates over thousands of spins on the wheel or in the case of blackjack, thousands of hands.

Because this is so, it’s entirely possible that you will win at any game of chance.
Even the worst games in online casinos, which are likely to be low-value slots, can be beaten if you get lucky and then quit while you’re ahead.

The bad news then for multiple wheel roulette is that while the house edge can be as low as 2.6 percent for European rules roulette with one zero, by playing more you are likely to fit in statistically with the losers.

So play with caution as you are betting more

Another type of roulette is Mini-roulette. In mini-roulette, there are only 13 numbers, 1 through 12, and zero.

Since there are fewer numbers, the odds of zero coming up if you bet a single bet on any number 1 through 13 are higher.

However, the advantage is that when betting on side bets, then they go into prison if the ball lands on zero. Overall, with the prison side bet rules, the overall house edge is higher than with European roulette but better than American roulette at 3.5 percent.

Consequently, it’s not a bad game to play, you just have to learn the new rules.

Finally, there are various forms of rapid roulette where you have just 25 seconds to bet.
Again, this can be quite enticing to those who are thriving on a roulette high, but while the house advantage remains the same, rapid roulette encourages those who are gambling to perhaps play long after they should quit if they are on a losing streak, and again, the more you play, the closer you achieve the odds of being at least a small perpetual loser.

So which form of roulette should you play?

Personally, we like to keep things simple and play European roulette. The odds are favorable, and you are in control. Mini-roulette is also okay, but you have to adjust to the new playoff rules.