It may seem obvious, but most play roulette to win money. Sure, roulette is an exciting and social game. But no one places their money on red if they’re not hoping to double it.
Now, roulette has more than 10 ways to win. However, your odds of winning and the payouts vary from one game to another. In this article, we’ll break down the best types of roulette and why you should try them out.
Let’s dive right in.
Double Ball Roulette (Evolution Gaming)
With most roulette bets, you predict where the small ball lands after the wheel stops spinning. Double ball roulette features two balls instead of one. That means you need to predict the outcome of each ball, although not in all cases.
You must predict the outcome of both balls if you place outside bets like red/black, high/low, or odd/even. If you bet on inside bets like straight numbers, though, you focus on just one ball.
What if the balls collide? Thanks to technology, the two balls in double ball roulette can never hit each other. Casinos use a special device made up of compressed air to throw the balls at different intervals.
Having to predict the outcome of two balls increases the risk of losing. But there’s a reason you should learn how to play double ball roulette for real money. The payouts are mouthwatering. Even money bets like red/black pay 3 to 1 instead of the standard 1 to 1 payout. Dozen bets payout 8:1 and not 2:1.
With inside bets, it all depends on whether you choose to predict one or both balls. One-ball predictions for single numbers pay 17 to 1 while two-ball predictions pay out 34 to 1.
The standard European roulette game pays 35 to 1 for single-number predictions. That means it’s the better choice to play for inside bets. By comparison, double ball roulette comes with a jackpot that pays 1300 to 1 if you predict that both balls will land on the same number.
Lightning Roulette (Evolution Gaming)
Lightning roulette is a visually-stunning, live casino game from Evolution—the same guys who created Double ball roulette. Lightning roulette works a lot like European roulette.
But it has an electrifying feature that highlights multipliers on specific numbers. If you bet on one of these lucky numbers, your payouts increase by 50x, 100x, 200x, 300x, 400x, or 500x.
To be clear, no one really knows which numbers will be struck by lightning until all bets are made. That means you place a single number bet. Then lightning strikes five random numbers.
If you wager on number 15, it gets a x500 multiplier and if you win, you get paid 500x your stake. Otherwise, the payout is 30 to 1. Additionally, payouts for all other roulette bets follow the standard European roulette payout table.
Should you play lightning roulette? At many casinos, lightning roulette operates like a game show. There’s a host, a giant LED wall, and hundreds of people streaming the show through their smartphones and laptops.
Owing to that backdrop, lightning roulette is a visually impressive game. Unfortunately, it’s a high-risk game. So, play the variant if you’re after a thrilling experience. Otherwise, stick to European roulette.
Multi-wheel Roulette (Microgaming)
Armed with a 97.3% payout, multi-wheel roulette is one of the best-paying roulette variants out there. It’s an RNG game, meaning it relies on computer software to determine who wins or loses.
As the name suggests, multi-wheel roulette is not your ordinary roulette game. It has eight wheels and you can bet on all of them. However, you can also bet on a few of them.
For example, you can bet on five wheels; $1 on red per wheel. If four wheels stop spinning on red, you will be paid for the four correct predictions and lose money for the fifth failed attempt.
Should you play this variant? Multi-wheel roulette is a unique game. But keep in mind it has higher betting limits than most roulette versions.
French Roulette (NetEnt)
This is no longer a secret. French roulette has the lowest house edge of any roulette variant. However, the low house edge only works if you place even money bets like odd/even, red/black, or high/low.
If you place an even money bet in French roulette, three things are like to happen:
- You Win
- You get a second chance
- You Lose
If you bet on high and the wheel stops on a number between 19 and 36, you win. Of course, the payout is 1 to 1. If you bet on the same outcome and the wheel stops on the number 0, you don’t lose. You get a second chance instead.
You get a do-over because French roulette is governed by two rules:
- En Prison: this rule imprisons your money if the wheel stops on zero. The casino then spins the wheel once more. If you win, you get your stake back. If lose, your stake is lost. If the wheel stops at zero again, the casino may give you another chance or treat it as a loss for you.
- La Partage: if you place an even money bet and the wheel stops at zero, the house gives you half of your stake back. Essentially, the casino does not take all your money like it’s the case for other roulette variants.
Mini Roulette (Playtech)
Put simple, mini roulette is a compressed version of European roulette. It features a small wheel with 13 numbers (0-12). Being a small version of roulette, mini roulette is pretty fast.
But does that mean you should play it? If you prefer to play games with low house edges, then you should avoid mini roulette. A single-number bet attracts a 7.89% house advantage. For comparison, European roulette has a 2.7% house edge while American roulette has a house advantage of 5.2%.
Despite the terrible house advantage, mini roulette pays you 11 to 1 for single-number bets. It pays 1:1 for even money bets and 2: 1 for columns and corners.