How to Play Roulette - Rules & Beginner’s Guide

Playing roulette is one of the most popular activities at online betting sites, but how does roulette work? We’re going to take a ‘roulette for dummies’ approach, guiding you through everything you need to know.

Whether you’ve got questions about the rules of American roulette, how to play roulette at home, or just the best way to play roulette    for beginners, we’ve got the answers. Keep reading to find out all you need to know about the roulette game rules.

Understanding the Roulette Wheel and Table

The first step to understanding how to play online roulette is learning about the roulette wheel itself. There are three slightly different variants when it comes to how to play the roulette wheel, let’s take a look at them.

American Roulette

First up is American roulette, this variant has 36 red and black numbered slots, as well as a single green single zero slot, and a green double zero slot. The American roulette rules say that you can only bet on red or black slots, meaning if the ball lands in a zero slot, the house keeps the bets.

European Roulette

The European roulette wheel also has 36 red and black numbered slots, but just one green single zero slot. Like American roulette, you can only wager on the ball landing on the red and black slots, if the ball lands on the zero, the house keeps the bets.

French Roulette

French roulette is the least common variant and it’s almost exactly the same as European roulette. There are two key differences in how French roulette works. For either to happen, the ball needs to land on the single zero square, then:

●    If you’ve made an outside bet, the ‘la partage’ rule gives you half of your stake back.
●    If you’ve made an outside bet, you can choose to use the ‘en prison’ rule to use the same stake again, for the same bet, on the next turn.

How to Play Roulette

Learning how to play roulette at a casino, or online is the next step! Let’s take a step-by-step approach.

1.    Choose your game. If you’re at a casino then there might only be a couple of wheels, but online you’ll have all possible options available to you.
2.    Place your bets. You can choose any of the bet types that we mentioned above. At an online casino, you click to make your choice. At a land-based casino, you place your chips on the selection on the table that corresponds to your bet.
3.    Watch and collect. Once all bets are placed, the croupier will spin the wheel and if you’re successful, you’ll collect your money/chips.

Tips for Beginners

Below are some tips to help you through your first few roulette games!

●    Choose European or French roulette where possible for the lowest house edge.
●    Consider using a strategy like the D’Alembert or Fibonacci strategy to give your game structure.
●    Only bet with money that you can afford. You can set limits in your online account preferences.
●    Always make use of the ‘en prison’ rule if it is available