How to play roulette online step by step
Wondering how to play roulette online?
It’s easy. Roulette is a game of chance with only a tiny bit of skill involved (in terms of strategy). Here’s how to play roulette:
- Register at a casino from our list
- Make your first deposit
- Find a roulette table – you can go for the classic or choose exotics
- Place your bets and wait for the ball to land in a pocket
- Won something? Congrats! Choose a payment method to withdraw those wins
See? Playing roulette online is easy if you stick to these steps. Follow our roulette guide and you won’t have trouble spinning the wheel.
The objective of roulette
Many new players will wonder how to play the roulette game. If this is your first time, there are some basics you’ll need to learn.
Roulette is a game of chance. The wheel contains 37 numbers that alternate between red and black pockets. There’s also a single or double-zero wheel that provides the house edge. The double zeros are found in American roulette.
The game starts when you’ve placed your bets. At that point, the dealer will announce “No more bets” and spin the wheel. If you’re lucky, the ball will land in the pocket you’ve bet on and you’ll win. If you’re not, well, better luck on the next spin.
The betting interface
Playing roulette online is pretty easy and a far better experience than playing in land-based casinos. We all spend a lot of time on our handheld devices nowadays, and online roulette games are optimized for touch screens.
You can easily place chips in the designated area with a touch and place bets in a second. Cool functions such as the chatbox enhance the experience. If you’re irritated by the sounds, you can mute them at a click of a button.
Oh, and online roulette offers functions such as hot and cold numbers and history of bets. That’s something you don’t get in a Macau or Vegas joint.
Understanding the roulette wheel
To be honest, everyone’s seen a roulette wheel at least once. The legendary wheel contains 37 numbers ranging from 0 to 36. The pockets are either red or black (green for the 0).
Traditionally, the wheel sits at the center of the layout and the numbers appear in a non-consecutive order. Each pair of odd numbers are followed by a set of evens.
Here’s the number sequence on a roulette wheel:
0-32-15-19-4-21-2-25-17-34-6-27-13-36-11-30-8-23-10-5-24-16-33-1-20-14-31-9-22-18-29-7-28-12-35-3-26
What does the roulette croupier do?
A live roulette croupier has the purpose of spinning the wheel in one direction and the ball in the opposite direction.
In live roulette games, the dealer essentially hosts the game and can talk to players via direct sound.
Of course, the croupier’s role is to announce winners or losers. In short, a live croupier does everything a “normal” croupier does in a real casino.
All live dealers are trained professionals who know their way around roulette, so there shouldn’t be a question about their competence.
Roulette Rules
The rules of roulette are pretty simple. All you need to do is pick a bet from the layout and splash the cash.
Since there’s not a lot of skill involved, you’re left to wait for the ball to spin and land in a pocket.
- The house advantage of European and French roulette is 2.70%. In American roulette, that’s doubled to 5.26%.
- You can place inside and outside bets. The table layout makes it easy to notice which is which.
- Red/black, odd/even, and high/low numbers offer a lower payout, but you’re more likely to hit them.
- Individual number bets pay 35:1.
- When playing roulette online, always go for European due to the lower house edge.
How to play roulette with strategy
Although it’s a game of luck, you can use roulette strategies to raise your chances of winning at roulette. Systems such as Martingale or Fibonacci may help you win a few rounds, but you shouldn’t rely on them too much.
The Martingale system is an appropriate strategy for beginners. If you keep your bets small, you should be able to learn roulette with ease.
However, the problem with all strategies is that none guarantees a win. Plus, you might lose a lot before you even get to a win.
The Roulette Bets
As mentioned, you can place inside and outside bets on roulette. The inside bets are laid out on the inside section of the layout, while the outside are pretty self-explanatory.
Betting on the inside means placing bets on a single number or a series of numbers (up to six). These roulette bets have the largest payouts.
When you bet on outside bets, you’re betting on groups of numbers with a lower payout, but you have greater chances to win.
Depositing and Withdrawing
To play roulette online, you must first register at a casino and make a deposit. This can be done via numerous payments methods such as credit cards and e-wallets.
Both deposits and withdrawals are handled via your profile page.
In some live casinos, though, all transactions can be made at the table. This type of in-game deposits are great and much easier for new players to complete.
Just go through our list and you’ll find a casino that support in-game deposits.
Play for free first
Before you play for real money, you can play roulette for free first. You can find a plethora of RNG roulette tables at our recommended online casinos that will allow you to play for free.
Once you learn the basics of roulette, you can move on to playing with real money at live dealer roulette tables. Both work the same with one key difference – RNG tables are controlled by a computer, while live dealer tables are hosted by a real human dealer.
Which roulette games does LCG recommend?
With so many roulette games on offer, it’s hard to recommend a specific one. If we had to pick, it would be one of the games listed below:
- Double Ball Roulette – an exciting variant of roulette, this one doubles the balls and the fun. With two balls in play, your chances of winning are doubled.
- Lightning Roulette – a live dealer variant by Evolution Gaming, Lightning Roulette is the best live roulette table of them all. If you’re lucky for lightning to strike at the selected numbers, you’re looking at a prize worth 2,500 times your stake.