How to play Roulette online

Learn how to play roulette online with Bojoko. We can teach you all about roulette and how to play it online.

Roulette is a classic table game with a long history. It may be a common game, but not everyone knows how to play roulette or what the rules are. With our help, you can learn roulette rules and how to be good at the game.

You can discover roulette strategies, game variants that improve your chances, try out the game and find out how to be a good player. We provide you with all the information and teach you the secrets of online roulette.

What is roulette?

Roulette is a classic gambling game that is played on a table with red and black numbers, and a wheel and a ball that gives a random winning number each round. The game originated in France and has been around for centuries. It has been a popular choice amongst gamblers over the years, has multiple versions and has transitioned well to online gambling.

The point of the game is to guess where the ball will land on the roulette wheel and, thus, which number is the winner. You can bet the exact number or bet on groups. The more accurate you are, the more you win.

Roulette is a game of chance, and it is based purely on luck. There are some roulette strategies available and ways to improve your edge, but in the end, it is all about random outcomes.

How to play roulette?

Here are the steps of how a roulette game works.

The only action and decision you need to make is which sectors you are betting on.

You can bet on an exact number. Then, the odds of hitting it are small, but the payout is enormous. On the other end of the spectrum, you can bet on half of the numbers with just one chip. This time, the odds are good, but the payout is small.

Roulette is all about finding the right balance for you between high odds and high payout.

Roulette wheel

The roulette wheel is an iconic symbol of gambling. It has 37 sectors, 16 red numbers, 16 black numbers and one green zero for good measure.

The wheel is there to produce a random number for each round. The wheel itself spins, and the ball is spun in the opposite direction to increase the chance of a truly random outcome.

The numbers are not consecutive on the wheel, and there is no simple pattern on which are black and which are red. The only thing that is exact is that there are equal amounts of red and black numbers.

There are some roulette variants that alter the wheel. American roulette adds a second zero, and some mini roulettes operate with fewer numbers. You can also find a roulette variant which doesn't have a zero sector at all. These give the players perfectly fair odds, but they make up for that in payout cuts.

There are even weird tables that have three different zero sectors. These are oddities you should watch out for. Adding more numbers, especially ones that do not trigger group bets, is detrimental to the player.

Roulette table

The roulette table is the place where you and the other players place bets. The green felt with all the possible black and red numbers and group bets is iconic but may look a bit confusing at first. But don't worry; it is actually very simple when you get the hang of it.

There are 37 numbered sectors and multiple group bets of varying sizes. These special sectors cover different sets of numbers, so you can bet the way you like. The different betting zones are referred to as inside bets and outside bets, but these names have no significance to the game or its results.

Some tables have an additional racetrack table next to the regular table. These are just more betting options. Racetrack is set up in the same order as the roulette wheel allowing players to bet numbers that are next to each other.

With the racetrack available, you have the option to cover anything from 1 to 8, 10, 12 or 18 numbers with a single chip. If you combine bets, you can cover basically any amount you want.

Roulette bets

The table allows you to make roulette bets of varying sizes depending on what you like. You can be as exact as you want or go for a broad sweep. You just place your chips on those squares you want to bet on.

There are two types of bet categories, inside bets and outside bets. Inside bets are placed on the number squares, and outside bets are placed on the group bets on the outside rim. These are simply larger groups of numbers, like every number between 1 and 12 or every red square on the table. Outside bets are straightforward and just cover more ground.

Here is a guide on how you can place your chips on the numbers or make inside bets. As you can see, you can also bet between squares to cover even more numbers.

There is a single bet option for many combinations, and you can make multiple bets in one round. Betting between numbers or corners covers more ground but also drops the payouts.

Not sure if the ball will land on 11 or 14; you can bet between those numbers on the line and split the bet. If either one wins, you get paid 17:1 instead of 35:1 if you were to guess the exact number. Splitting bets pays out at the exact same rate as betting on both numbers individually.

Here are the bet options on a regular table and their payouts

Roulette rules

The basic rules of roulette are always the same across all variants:

• Make your bets by placing chips on felt
• The croupier or computer spins the roulette wheel and announces this random number
• All players who guessed the correct number in their bets win
• New round begins, players make new bets and a new number is called

The amount you win is dependent on the bets you make. The smaller and more accurate your guess was, the more you are paid. At the same time, the smaller your guess is, the likelier it is that you guess wrong.

The gameplay is very simple. The biggest difficulty in roulette is just figuring out all the different betting options you have. What makes this easier is that all bets pay relatively the same. You just have to find the right balance between accuracy and payout for yourself.

There are three common roulette variants, European, American and French roulette. They all play basically the same but have some small key differences.

European roulette rules

European roulette rules are the de facto rules, a common baseline, so to speak. It is the simplest form of roulette available today and a fine option for any player.

European roulette rules are made to be simple. They have taken out the complexities of French roulette and just held on to the basic rules.

All the bets that are available are visible on the felt, and landing on zero has no special significance, unlike in the French version. And unlike the American roulette, there is only one zero.

European roulette may have racetrack bets available, but not always. Some online versions have hidden them from the default view, but they can be accessed by clicking a button to show them.

American roulette rules

American roulette is a game people tend to avoid, and for a good reason. The American roulette rules are not favourable for the player.

American roulette is based on the European variant. But instead of adding something good, the designers added a second zero sector, the double zero.

This choice was made in the early years of American gambling. The casino operators were not happy with the low house edge and decided to add the second zero to increase it. For some reason, American players preferred this, and the European Roulette variant basically disappeared for a good while.

Today, American Roulette tables are common in the US and generally have lower table limits to entice players.

French roulette rules

French roulette rules are the best rules for the player. If you can pick any roulette, always pick French.

Like European roulette, the wheel only has one zero. What makes French roulette unique are the La Partage and En Prison rules. Depending on the table, you get one of them.

Both of these are a way of giving players something back if the ball lands on zero. La partage pays half of your bet straight away, and En Prison pays you all if you win on the next round.

No matter which option is on that particular table, both are beneficial for the player.

Racetrack bets are more commonly available on French roulette tables. These bets are just additional options and have the same relative odds as regular bets.

How to play online roulette

To play online roulette, you need to pick a casino, sign up, deposit and start playing.

Online roulette doesn't differ from table roulette when it comes to the rules. The differences are mainly in the user experience and how things are set up.

But first, let's tackle the online part. To start gambling online, you need to do the following:

That's it; now you can start playing roulette online.

As you are the only player at the virtual online table, you don't have any time limits. You can take all the time in the world to make your bets.

Speaking of making bets, online roulette makes this easy. Just pick the chips size you want to use and then start placing them on the felt. With no other players around, it is easy to see which chips are yours and reaching things across the table is easy.

When you are ready, click the button to start up the roulette wheel. The computer will start the round and pick a random number each time. It will also automatically pay you any wins and clear the table of chips.

How to play live roulette online

To play live roulette online is simple and just slightly different than regular online roulette. Live roulette is easy to learn and feels more akin to brick-and-mortar roulette, as you are not the only player anymore.

Live casino tables are operated by human croupiers with computers doing all the work on the felt.

You can pick a site you want to play on from a wide list of options. Check the live casino sites UK players have available and choose one that you like.

Live roulette works just like any other online roulette. Pick the size of your chip and place the bets you want. Now, instead of starting the wheel manually, you just wait for the timer to finish, and the round is played out.

The human croupier will spin the wheel, and the computer will then do everything else. All winners are paid out instantaneously, and a new countdown timer will start for the next round.

Even though a virtual table might have a huge number of players sitting on it, their bets are not visible to you.

Practise playing roulette

You can practise playing roulette online before you put any money down. This way, you know what to do before you go and play.

We have built a tool for just that. This is your practise companion that will help you learn roulette.

Learning the ins and outs, seeing how the game plays and what different decisions lead to makes you a better player. Try out every possible bet and see where you end up with each gives you good experience.

You can familiarise yourself with the different bets, experiment with combination bets and learn bankroll management. All of these are useful things to know before playing for real.

How to improve your chances in online roulette

You can improve your chances in online roulette by following these steps.

Roulette is still gambling, and the house has the edge. Nothing is guaranteed, and there are no 100% sure-fire ways of coming on top, but knowing what you are doing is better than just throwing chips around.

Choose your game carefully

This is the best way to improve your chances.

Online roulette is full of options, but some of them are just not good ones. Choose your roulette table carefully and make sure it has the best odds. The bigger the house edge, the likelier it is that you lose, even if the game looks fun.

First, always prefer French roulette and never choose American. This is an easy choice, as one is mathematically better for the player than the other. European is a good compromise, but it shouldn't be your number one option.

The more unique and cool special features a game has, the likelier it is that it's bad for you. Increasing the payout of that one rare occasion decreases the payout of those wins you normally would get. And always check the RTP, or the house edge.

Use roulette bonuses

Bonuses are an online casino speciality. The idea behind bonuses is to draw in new players and keep the old customers coming back. Simple marketing, nothing more. But, if you are clever, you can use these to your advantage.

Start with extra funds, get free rounds or even get 10% back of all your losses. Each of them may seem small on their own, but in the long run, they will add up. Especially those bonuses that give you little something every time you play.

You can check out the different roulette bonuses that are available for Brits. With their help, you can gain more edge over the casino.

Betting systems

Using betting systems is a good way to get acquainted with roulette betting. Fair warning: betting systems are not a way to always win. There are no 100% guaranteed systems, but understanding them can be helpful.

The idea here is to learn the value of each bet and how alternating your bet sizes in different situations can be useful. Maybe moving to a large set and increasing your bet could be useful here, or dropping the bet size down and pinpointing your bets helps there. It's all about bankroll management.

Martingale, D'Alembert, Fibonacci, Labouchère, Oscar's Grind and Kanzen are interesting strategies to study, but all of them will fail in the long run. For them to work perfectly, you would need an endless supply of money and a casino without any bet limits. These things just aren't realistic.

Set yourself limits

This is more of a way to make sure bad days won't become horrible days. Roulette is gambling, and in gambling, you are going to have bad streaks and lose money. If you set limits and stick to them, the streak is over, and you don't become reckless.

The problem is that when a player loses, they will start doubling down and bet even more to break even. This is a downward spiral that leads to more losses.

By setting yourself a session limit and stopping when you reach it is a way to break this cycle and start fresh on another day.

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