Popular Types of Online Roulette Games

Although long limited to bricks-and-mortar casinos, roulette is a table game that has since expanded in availability to the online sphere. There, the variety of roulette games has blossomed, not least because the range of games is no longer limited by the physical space of traditional casinos.

The number of online casinos has grown too, although we have fortunately compared leading online casinos to ensure that your online experience stays impressive. So, at which of these casinos should you play which form of roulette - and what should you know before you start playing?

American Roulette

This is one of the two most popular types of roulette, the other being European roulette. In American roulette, the roulette wheel includes the numbers 1-38, 0 and 00. The inclusion of 00 is a point of difference between the American and European forms of roulette, and it greatly adds to the former's house edge, which is 5.26%; the same figure in European roulette is 2.7%.

As such, triumphing in American roulette is trickier. However, should you actually taste victory, the payouts can be larger. With American roulette, you play by placing bets on red or black spaces or even columns. While betting on entire columns of numbers would pay out 2/1 your money, the payout would be 35/1 if you betted on just one number.

While roulette beginners might ease themselves in more gently with European roulette, American roulette remains very popular online.

Where to Play American Roulette?:

There's much to like, as you can see from our review - and both American roulette and, for veteran players, premium American roulette are available to sample at the site.

European Roulette

European Roulette has much in common with its American counterpart, including the red and black spaces on which bets can be placed. However, with the omission of American roulette's 00 number, there are more generous odds.

For this reason, roulette novices may favour European roulette. You might also be attracted to European roulette if you anticipate regularly playing online roulette over a long period and hope to continue reliably picking up winnings in that time.

To play, you would - as with other types of roulette - bet on which number the ball will land once the roulette wheel has been spun. However, while many people are attracted to playing European roulette due to its relatively decent odds, this does reduce the value of payouts.

Where to Play European Roulette?:

The version of European roulette offered at Casumo, which we have reviewed, is a graphically and aurally impressive NetEnt product that we would recommend without hesitation.

French Roulette

This is very much akin to European roulette, such as with the inclusion of just one 0. However, there are two differences to take into account. One is French roulette's "La Partage" rule, whereby only half of your bet would be forfeited if the ball settled on 0.

There is also the "En Prison" rule. With this, should the ball rest on 0 after your bet has been on even or odds, you can recoup your bet. The dealer will place a marker on your bet to put it in "prison". Then, if you win with the following spin, you will win back that previous bet.

Due to these rules, the house edge goes from 2.7% to 1.35%. Therefore, you could find it a "safer" choice of roulette, although you should remember to read up on those extra rules before going ahead.

Where to Play French Roulette?:

NetEnt's slick approach to European roulette is also present in its French roulette game, which you can play at Casumo.

	Includes 00	House Edge	Special Rules
American Roulette	Yes	5.26%
European Roulette	No	2.7%
French Roulette	No	1.35%	La Partage, En Prison

3D Roulette

Playing 3D roulette is probably the closest that online gamblers can get to feeling like they are playing at a physical casino... unless they are playing live roulette, a subject to which we will return.

With 3D roulette, software and graphics beautifully bring to life the grid and – in 3D – the spinning table. You can see a virtual ball as it runs along the wheel and finally meets its resting place. There are also authentic sounds that add further to the atmosphere.

Playtech provides a form of 3D roulette that is based on European roulette, making the game attractive for European roulette fans who want a further graphical sheen to proceedings.

Where to Play 3D Roulette?: 

Betfair is a good place to start with 3D roulette. This casino has a standard version of it and, for once you are more experienced in 3D roulette, a premium flavour.

Club Roulette

Club roulette might initially seem to have a lot in common with live roulette. For example, there's the option to select a dealer before you play - and you can actually see the dealer spinning the wheel when the game is underway. However, the clue about club roulette's difference is in the name...

With club roulette, there's a strong focus on the social side of the game. To this end, players have new, innovative ways of interacting with each other when they play. Each player can have their own avatar to add to what can feel very much like a Facebook version of roulette.

Where to Play Club Roulette?:

Betfair is our recommendation for club roulette players.

Live Roulette

Here, virtual balls and computerised Random Number Generators are completely done away with. Instead, you get a live video feed of an actual dealer sat spinning a ball at a real table. Therefore, live roulette recreates much of the atmosphere of a physical casino.

This situation is ideal if you can't visit a physical casino for one reason or another, but still want the human element of one. It's even possible to chat to the dealer - we have a particularly fond memory of one passing comment on a rather quirky username we had chosen for the casino.

Where to Play Live Roulette?:

32Red has an impressively broad array of live roulette versions - including Live Speed Roulette, Live Double Ball Roulette and Live French Roulette. We detail many other merits of 32Red in our review of the site.

Mini Roulette

So-called as its numbers are only 0-12, mini roulette is – unsurprisingly – a greatly simplified form of roulette. The chips are placed on a grid comprising four rows each including three numbers, although there also remain many of the typical outside bets.

The simplicity of mini roulette is a powerful draw for roulette beginners; in fact, the game was originally designed for people who found more traditional roulette hard to grasp. Furthermore, it takes just seconds for results to be settled, resulting in a fast-flowing game.

Where to Play Mini Roulette?:

Relatively few sites offer mini roulette, but Betfair provides a great platform.

Roulette Pro

It's easy to be confused by the name "Roulette Pro", so it's worth emphasising that this game uses a wheel with a layout matching the European one. However, with Roulette Pro, you also have access to what could be called – for the sake of simplicity – “French bets”.

During play, those bets are highlighted in a right-hand diagram. The bet “Voisins du Zero” lets you cover 17 numbers with nine currency units, while “Tier” would cover the wheel's third approximately beside the zero. An “Orphans” bet covers the wheel's two sections that the other two bets exclude.

Roulette Pro is – aptly, given its name – suitable for professional roulette players, given the added complexity that the French bets can throw in.

Where to Play Roulette Pro?:

Fans of Roulette Pro are well-supplied at Betfair, which offers both the main game and Premium Roulette Pro – one for the more advanced players, we reckon. There are many other types of online roulette besides those mentioned above, as well as many different types of roulette bets. You can enjoy exploring the options after signing up to one of the leading online casinos for roulette, for which we provide ratings and reviews right here at Top 10 Best Online Casinos.