We can be really honest with each other when it comes to roulette. The fascination about this game is just endless. It may always be about that tiny little ball that seems to pick out one pocket or another every time you play. But the tension, the excitement, the supposedly secure strategies and the agony if things don’t go to play are always there as well.

Occasionally you may also ask yourself whether these games are actually fair. We also sometimes play and think that this particular game is designed for us to lose. But it is clearly not the case - and we give you the reasons why here.

Should you play American or European Roulette?

One thing that helps you a great deal when judging these games is to know the major differences between the main versions. Generally, there are the European versions of roulette, including French Roulette. They have numbers from 1 to 36 in red and black, as well as a 0 in green. The 0 belongs to the dealer, while the other numbers lead to wins for the players. All they need to do to win is to bet on the right numbers. French Roulette has the particularity that all the calls come in French. This is where the characteristic calls like “Rien ne va plus!” come from initially.

The other major version of roulette is American Roulette. In this version of the game you have numbers from 1 to 36 as well, but not just one green pocket with the 0. An additional pocket, the 00, brings the dealer into a more favourable position. He has two fields that work in his favour instead of just one. Therefore the house edge in the American game is slightly higher compared to the European or French Roulette. In both versions of the game, the payout structure is exactly the same however. It is just the probability of winning that is slightly higher in the more traditional European variations of Roulette.

What are casinos doing to keep the games fair?

They do a lot, because if they would not do anything in this area, they may just simply lose their licences. Casino licences are bound to very strict requirements, and the fairness of every single game is a very important point there. For roulette video games, there must be random number generators (RNG) that are officially rated and regularly audited. The algorithms need to be absolutely foul-proof to make sure the outcome of the game is completely random at all times. As soon as games become predictable, players will notice this and start to take advantage from it. This is where a casino can start to lose out badly.

For live games, where roulette is obviously also a crowd favourite, casinos have to be even more careful. But they are doing a great job at it. It may sound crazy, but the casinos actually pay people just to sit there and watch proceedings. This extra person besides the dealer has a very important task on hand of course. He or she has to supervise every single motion in the room where the live casino games get filmed. This is to make sure that the dealer can not assist in any dark matters during the games. Wheels in live casino rooms are checked for flaws the same way as in land-based casinos.

What is the role of the licencing authorities

You may or may not have read a lot about licences for online casinos. Indeed, they are a big deal in the grand scheme of things here. But not only the casinos or the respective operators have to obtain and maintain licences to be counted as safe. The same goes for the developers who at the end of the day also need to be trusted to the fullest. Would anyone like to play a game where they know from the start that they actually have no chance of winning? Probably not, and therefore such business is also ruled out by the many licencees who provide casinos and developers with their documents. Unfortunately there will always be some businesses, where those who are in charge think that they can get away with certain amounts of cheating. This not only applies to players who mostly get identified swiftly and then get kicked out of the casinos. Casino operators sometimes think that trying to obtain a share of the market just means diverting money their way. This is not how a casino and the games that you can play there should work. Think of more positive values like entertainment, fun, atmosphere and so on. These should be what you are thinking about when somebody asks you about life in an online casino.

What else can you look at?

Before you choose one game in a casino, you may look and see whether there are many other versions of roulette available. If a casino only offers you one option to play roulette, this may just be a token game, without any sense of fairness or quality. It may just be there to show the customers that roulette is also available. Also, that way nobody could actually say that the casino’s portfolio of games was not complete. But that of course is cheating on the customers. If casinos want to offer a game, they should offer their customers proper quality and not just some random game to plug a hole.

Shoud you be a more experienced player already, you can of course look out for some more sophisticated details as well. One example could be the betting options, where a game could offer you a large span of amounts or just a very narrow window. This could be decisive if you want to apply certain strategies where you need to vary or increase your betting amounts to be successful. One example is the Martingale strategy. There you increase your betting amount all the time as long as you are not successful. A game with a low minimum bet and a rather high maximum bet would be to your advantage there.

What is the most important criteria to look for?

This of course is completely up to you. We can only give you advice, but you will have to make the decisions. Some players are not willing to take risks at all, so they will stay away from anything they don’t know anyway. Maybe they are not made to be gamblers at all. But others love a bit of a challenge. One thing that can be said for certain is that your own safety is paramount. Data exchanges and financial transactions should be protected to the maximum. This means that any roulette game you play in any casino online should be officially licenced by a reputable licencing authority.

From there on, it is about your personal choices. If you are happy with a token game, just go out there and play. If you are looking for something really special, your choice of an online casino may be a bit more difficult. Not that you would not find your destination at all, but you may have to look at more than one website in this case. Of course there are many interesting offers out there. One thing you should definitely try is a live casino with roulette. And while you are getting started on it, why not try one where you can join in with Virtual Reality?