learn how to win at roulette

How to play Roulette Online

Looking for a fun place to play online casino roulette and to learn basic strategies for winning at roulette? Come check out Bovada's roulette guide!

Spin to Win Roulette with this Guide

Like blackjack, roulette is generally regarded as a French invention. Now, hundreds of years since the first ball was dropped into the first spinning wheel for betting, Bovada has one of the Internet’s hottest live roulette platforms.

Here you can play online casino roulette, betting however you like right from the comfort of your own home. In this guide to winning at online roulette, we’ll cover the basics of how to play as well as inside bets, odds, strategy, systems, and other helpful tips.

By the end of this article, you’ll be ready to get started with roulette online betting. Let’s drop in!

Spin to Win Roulette with this Guide

How to Play

In basic online casino roulette (American version) at Bovada, there are 38 numbered “stops” on the roulette wheel where a ball could land and come to rest. The numbers are 1-36 (colored red or black), along with 0 and 00.

To start live roulette, the wheel is spun and then a ball is rolled along an outer track in the opposite direction. Eventually, it loses speed, bounces along, and falls into one of the stops or “pockets” labeled with a particular number.

There’s quite a few ways to approach roulette online betting. You can bet on a single number, which has high risk, but which offers a correspondingly higher real money payout (35:1 for American Roulette). Or, you can bet on a third of the pack for a 2:1 payout. You can also simply bet on red or black, or even or odd for a 1:1 profit, if you’re correct. Lastly, you can bet number combinations of varying sizes.

Inside Bets

Inside bets at a roulette online betting game are bets made using the inside section of the table. You know, the one with all the numbers on it? Outside bets, on the other hand, are those that surround these numbers (odd, even, red, black, 1-12, top row, etc.).

There’s a few different ways to play inside bets during live roulette at Bovada. The most basic is to bet a number straight up. When you’re tired of waiting for a particular number to hit at a casino, you can start straddling lines and betting multiple numbers at a time.

When you bet two numbers by putting a chip across the line that divides them, it’s called a “split” bet.

A corner bet has your chip at the corner of four numbers, betting on all of them at once.

There’s a lot of ways to lay down chips during online casino roulette at Bovada!

Inside Roulette Bets

Roulette Odds

The odds you get in roulette online betting at Bovada depend on which version you’re playing. Here’s a breakdown:

Bet Type Payout European American

Column 2 to 1 32.40% 31.6%

Dozen 2 to 1 32.40% 31.6%

Even/odd 1 to 1 48.60% 47.4%

Colors 1 to 1 48.60% 47.4%

Single num. 35 to 1 2.70% 2.60%

Two nums. 17 to 1 5.4% 5.3%

Three nums. 11 to 1 8.1% 7.9%

Four nums. 8 to 1 10.8% 10.5%

Five nums. 6 to 1 13.5% 13.2%

Six nums. 5 to 1 16.2% 15.8%

As you can see, the biggest and best bonus payouts for live roulette at Bovada come from the rarer events. In contrast, likelier events that are easy to hit at the casino have smaller real money payouts.

Basic Strategy

The best basic roulette strategy at an online casino revolves around one point: bankroll management. If you have a large bankroll, you can increase or decrease your bets as you see fit and have fun. If your bankroll is smaller, it will take discipline to avoid riskier bets when things aren’t going your way.

Basic roulette strategy also includes betting on likelier outcomes (e.g. odd/even, red/black, the upper half of the numbers, etc.) when you’re in need of a win, and hitting up riskier bets (e.g. corners, or even a straight up number) when you’re flush and can afford to take a chance going after a big real money payday at our online casino.

Most people like to run a more formal roulette betting system once they’ve had a little fun betting by their gut and gambling at the casino.

Roulette Betting Systems

The most popular online casino roulette betting system is known as the Martingale. Each time you lose, you double the money in your bet. Eventually, you will win again and recoup what you’ve wagered. You will run into the issue of table limits, though! This strategy gets out of hand fast when you’re on a losing streak. Be careful not to get busted out. A Grand Martingale uses this same strategy, but adds a little money to the bet each time in addition to the doubling.

The Paroli live roulette betting system doesn’t require so much money to follow. Instead of doubling after a loss at the casino, you double after a win. After three wins in a row, you go back to the beginning.

A D’Alembert roulette betting system takes things even more slowly. You increase your bet by one after a loss and decrease it by one after a win. The goal is to reduce the impact of swings.

Speaking of which, the Fibonacci roulette betting system might be the most conservative (and intellectual-sounding) roulette betting system at the casino. It uses the Fibonacci sequence: 1 – 1 – 2 – 3 – 5 – 8 – 13 – 21 – 34 – 55 – 89 (etc.) where each number is the sum of the two before it. Here you only advance in the sequence when you win. If your first bet at Bovada is 1, you go to 2 when you win, then 3, then 5. If you lose, you start again at one. It’s far less aggressive than the all or nothing Martingale approach to roulette online betting.

Quick Tips

Be careful when you place your bet down, one of the best online roulette practices is to ensure that it’s on the spot you want. At Bovada, online casino roulette uses virtual chips, so you need to double check your betting accuracy.

Outside of some limited Martingale betting, don’t chase losses. This can quickly lead to busting out. If you’re getting heated, step away from the casino and come back when you can play with a cool head.

Stick to your bankroll rules. Bet what you can safely bet, and save the rest. Better to play and have fun within your limits than to run through your money and be forced to sit out of your next planned session of live roulette.

Ok, so that’s roulette in a nutshell. Head over to the table games section at the casino at Bovada and sort by “Roulette” on the drop down menu to choose your favorite variation!