Online Roulette Rules
Online roulette is a simple game to play in essence. The game is played using a simulated roulette wheel, which is split into 37 or 38 numbers depending on the game variation. In all roulette games there is 18 red and 18 black numbers along with a green 0, while some roulette wheels also have another green 00 slot.
The players bet on the game at a table next to the wheel, with fields available for each of the numbers, along with various other fields that signify different bets a player can make. For instance, players can bet whether the ball will fall into red or black number, or into one of the three thirds of the numbers.
Once you place your bets in the online roulette game, you will simply click the spin button and the wheel will start spinning, with a ball inside it. Once the ball stops in one of the slots, you will be paid if your bet included the number. If not, you will continue to bet on the next number and so on. The point of the game in short is to guess which number will come next, without any real information, which makes it a true game of chance.
Online Roulette Odds
The online roulette table is split into fields for each of the available numbers as well as outside fields where players can bet the color of the next number, the third of half of the next number etc. The players can make either inside or outside bets as they choose.
Inside bets are the best with lower odds of winning and higher payouts. Examples of inside bets include betting a number Straight Up, which pays 35/1, betting s Split of two numbers which pays 17.5/1, a Street bet which includes three numbers in one row, a Corner bet which includes four joint numbers etc.
The outside bets cover a larger number of fields at once and normally pay out relatively low. For instance, a player can bet if the next number will be red or black which pays 2/1 or whether the number will be between 1 and 18 or between 19 and 36, which also pays 2/1. You can also bet odd or even, or bet a certain column of the board, and all of these are considered outside bets.
Whether you are placing inside or outside bets, the casino will always maintain an edge. The casino edge basically comes from the fact that the wheel includes a 0 and sometimes a 00 slot, while the payouts are made as if those are not on the wheel. For instance, when you bet a number straight up and win, you will be awarded 35/1, when there is actually 37 numbers instead of 36, if we include the 0. The house edge goes up even more when there is a 00 slot present.
This edge comes out to about 2.7% house edge when there is one zero on the wheel and about 5.25% when there is a double zero as well. This makes roulette one of the more player friendly games, but still one that takes its fair share away from the players in the long run. In the short run, however, online roulette can make players rich quickly and has done so on many occasions.
Roulette Strategy
Being probably the most popular online gambling game, there is a whole host of strategies developed for the game of roulette. Popular strategies such as Martingale System, Fibonacci System and Labouchere System have all been used by players to attempt to beat the casinos, but the fact is that not one of these systems actually gives the players an edge against the house.
Betting systems do however increase your chances of winning in the short term and give you a pretty good chance of winning a little money while having a ton of fun, but usually carry a huge risk of ruin which inevitably turns into reality at some point.
Let us have a look at some popular strategies and betting systems for the game of online roulette.
Martingale and Reverse Martingale System
The Martingale System is one of the most popular betting systems in the world. The system includes making a bet, usually a 2/1 type of bet such as red/black or odd/even to start with. If you lose, you place the bet on the same option, only double the stake. If you lose again, you double the bet again etc.
The way the system works is that you will always be up your initial betting unit once you finally hit, no matter when it happens. For instance, if you bet 1 unit to start with, your progression would be 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32… If you were to win at 32, you would be paid 64 units, while your total bets would amount to 1+2+4+8+16+32=63, which means you win your initial betting unit.
The Martingale System works like a charm, until it doesn’t. For starters, all casinos, including online casino, have a betting limit. It would take an extremely small starting wager to get you to place enough bets to avoid a very realistic risk of ruin. What’s more, streaks of 8 or more red, black, odd or even numbers are not that uncommon and when they do happen, the player has to stake an enormous amount to continue playing. For instance, if your initial bet was $1, after just 8 misses you would need to bet $256 on your next bet and after just two more misses, the bet would go up to $2048 to win just $1.
Reverse Martingale System uses a positive progression instead of the negative one of the original Martingale System. This system includes doubling your bet after you win instead of after you lose and riding a winning streak for a preset amount. For instance, when you win a red/black bet, you will bet the same color again, doubling the bet and keep going several times until you win an amount you decided to stop at. At this time, you go back to your initial bet and restart the process.
Fibonacci and Reverse Fibonacci System
Fibonacci system is based on a mathematical system called Fibonacci progression. The progression calculates the next member of the progression by adding up the previous two numbers, for instance 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89….
When you are betting roulette using Fibonacci system, you will keep with this progression, betting red/black or odd/even until you win. Some simple calculation tells you that after a while you will actually be losing money even when you do hit your number, but this is where Fibonacci system gets interesting. Instead of going back to one unit like you would with Martingale, you will simply move down two steps and bet that amount. At the end of the line, when you are back to 1 bet, you will be winning one unit every time.
The Reverse Fibonacci system plays out the same way the Reverse Martingale does, with players increasing their bets when they win according to the progression. The Reverse Fibonacci is a system that will actually require you to win a lot more bets than you lose and is basically a flawed system that is very unlikely to win anything and we don’t recommend using it.
The real reason people play Fibonacci system and Reverse Fibonacci system is to avoid variance and reduce their risk of ruin significantly against Martingale. With the reduced risk of ruin also comes the reduced win rate, which simply makes Martingale a more sound system overall.
Labouchere Roulette System
Labouchere system is a popular cancellation system that can be applied to any gambling activity, but is most commonly used with roulette. The system is meant to help a player win a pre-determined amount of money, no more no less. Here is an example of how it works.
Let us say we want to win $1.000. We will break this up into units of $100, which means we want to win 10 units in total. We will break this number into smaller numbers like this:
1 2 3 2 2
The way we will bet is by adding up the first and the last number in the sequence, in this case 1 and 2 and bet the amount of units we come up with, in this case 3, meaning $300. If we win, we will cross those two numbers of the sequence, making it look like this:
2 3 2
We will continue playing in this manner until all numbers are gone. In an ideal scenario, we will bet $400 (2 + 2 Units) on the next bet and win and $300 (3 units) on the next bet and win, winning $300 + $300 + $400 = $1.000 in total, as we wanted to in the first place.
If we end up losing a bet, we will add the total number of units we lost on a bet to the end of the sequence. So for instance if we lost our second bet in the above example, our sequence would now look like this:
2 3 2 4
We would now keep going the same way until we reach our goal. Labouchere system is one that can quickly lead to big winnings, but also cause players to have to place enormous bets at times. If you have the bankroll for it though and you make sure you stay within the betting limits the entire time, you will likely make the amount you decided you want to win.
D’Alembert Roulette System
Another roulette system based on a mathematical progression, but a much flatter one than Martingale System. D’Alembert system simply has you betting one unit more than the previous bet, in a very simple progression, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6…. The system is meant to be played until you run into a winning streak and win big, at which point you will go back to 1 unit.
All of these, and many other systems for playing online roulette, exist to make playing the game easier and increase your chance of winning in the short run. If you are looking for some quick cash, using these systems at one of the Canadian friendly casinos is a great way to get it without much risk. What’s even more, if you take advantage of the large CAD bonuses on offer, you will be extremely likely to win big fast.
Top Online Roulette Tips
The game of online roulette is one of fine edges, where your decisions will greatly impact how you do in the end. Here are a few tips to keep in mind when playing online roulette that will help you win and keep from going bust:
- Manage your bankroll: It is easy to jump into the game and start betting big, but the more you bet, the bigger the chance of going broke. Remember to keep a sound bankroll management and have a sufficient number of bets in your balance to prevent from going broke before you can win.
- Play lower variance variations: Roulette comes in multiple variations and especially online it is easy to choose the wheel you play. Try low variance games such as French Roulette rather than super high variance ones like American Roulette, to increase your chances of coming out on top.
- Use the bonuses: All online casino sites offer welcome bonuses and many other promotions that will significantly boost your bankroll. Use these bonuses to your advantage and increase your balance before you even start playing.
- Use the systems: If you are after some quick wins, you can always use one of the systems presented in this guide to get there. Pick a system, get very good at it and keep at it until you have won the amount of money you had in mind. It should not be too difficult.
- Outside betting: Making outside bets is much lower variance than making inside bets. Betting a straight up number to come can be really difficult to hit, while outside bets will give you more consistent small wins. Keep this in mind before you go chasing that one “favourite” number.
Online Roulette Variations
There are many types of roulette that will be available to you in the world of online casino and there is no reason to play one that you are not comfortable with. Games such as French Roulette, European Roulette and American Roulette have been around for decades and with the internet they have become increasingly available to all players, from the comforts of their homes.
For each of these variations, we have prepared a separate guide, so make sure you check them out, learn about the different variations and pick out the one you feel most comfortable with.
Conclusion: Jump into Action
Online roulette is one of the most widespread online casino games, with dozens of variations and hundreds of casinos spreading the game. With just a few simple tricks, a good strategy and some smart betting, a player can win quite a bit in a short time-span when playing online roulette, which is why so many people just love the game.
If you are feeling intrigued by the game, make sure you check out some of its many variations at one of our recommended casinos. Download the casinos, register an account and make use of the huge bonuses on offer, which will give you a significant bankroll boost before you even start playing.
Remember to keep our strategies in mind and make smart bets and best of luck at the tables.
