What is Live Roulette and How to Play

As you may (or may not!) know, roulette is a very popular casino game where a small ball is thrown into a revolving roulette wheel with numbers and coloured slots. Before the wheel starts turning, punters place their bets on numbers, trying to predict where the ball will eventually stop.

There are several betting options with roulette and the game has many variants, and in this quick guide we are going to cover the basics of live roulette and how to play.

American Roulette

In American Roulette, there is an extra 0 on the board in addition to all the other numbers. This slightly reduces your chances of winning, however, it also works to ensure higher profits.

In American roulette, everyone plays with their own colour chips, for which you tell the croupier in advance what their playing value is. When playing online live roulette, however, there is no need to tell the croupier what colour your chips are; they can see this, and the system automates everything.

Different Types of Live Roulette

There are several different types of live roulette you will find at online casinos. Some have them all, some have only one or two. It depends entirely on the online casino in question.

The three most popular types of live roulette are Classic, American, and French. However, it is not uncommon to see other types of roulette in addition to these, too.

Classic Live Roulette

Classic live roulette is the most popular type of roulette game. Classic roulette is also known as European Roulette and involves a roulette wheel where you can place bets on numbers one through 36 that are coloured red and black. There is also a green zero on the wheel.

There is a roulette wheel and a playing field on which you place your bets. If the ball drops onto the number or chance that you have chosen, you win the related profit, starting from the same amount (X1) as your bet.

French Roulette

One of the oldest forms of casino roulette is French Roulette. It is regarded by many people as the ‘Queen’ of casino games. Just like with European Roulette, there is only a single zero, however, French Roulette differs in that you have fewer betting options. The playing field looks slightly different and there is no neighbouring game.

Roulette Betting Options

If you can’t get to a real casino but still want to play against other people, live roulette may be the best option for you—it gives you the best of both worlds.

Playing roulette couldn’t be easier, either. There is no skill involved; the game is very much a case of random chance.

Once you have placed your bet on a chosen number and colour, the game will begin. The dealer then spins the wheel and rolls a small ball on it in the opposite direction. When the wheel and ball come to their natural stops, the number and colour where it lands are the winners.

Betting options when playing roulette are varied and range from the least risky to the most risky.

Many people will bet on red or black, however, there is a whole range of inside bets that offer higher possible winnings due to the slimmer odds. Inside bets are placed on the inner field of the table. Let’s take a look at the different types of inside bet available:

• Straight — Where a bet is made on a single number by placing a chip on a number;
• Neighbours — Where a bet is placed in the middle of two numbers on the line;
• Street — Where a bet is placed on a horizontal line of three numbers;
• Corner — Where a bet is placed on a corner of four numbers in a square; and
• Six — Where a bet is placed on six adjacent numbers all at once.

There are a number of outside bets available, too. These are more common bets placed on the boxes around the inner field. Examples are dozen bets (betting on 12 numbers in three back-to-back rows) or high or low bets between one and 18 and 19 and 36.

Inside bets return more money as they have lower odds of coming through whereas outside bets return less money.