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Online Roulette Guide

Roulette has made its name as one of the most popular casino games you’ll find around the world, as it’s easy to learn and usually offers some high payouts to players. It’s a game with different variations to play that players in Pennsylvania can now find at the land casinos and online casinos. 

While the most common versions you’ll most likely find online in PA are American and European Roulette, the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board has also given the go-ahead to allow other games like Three Wheel Roulette, Roulette Royal, and Double Ball Roulette. Seeing as the chances of winning at the popular casino game is determined by the wheel and house edge, we’ve broken down each variation, the basic rules, and where you can play online in our PA roulette guide. 

How to Play Roulette 

Playing online roulette in PA is fairly simple and follows the same rules regardless of the variation you’re playing but since you’re playing online, the computer is determining your outcome instead of the wheel you’d normally find at the brick and mortars. 

Bets are placed on the numbered slots, red or black (colour of slots), and a group of numbers. At random, a ball is placed inside the wheel that spins and places the ball in a slot which determines the winning wager. The only difference from roulette at a land-based venue VS. online is the interface used to represent the wheel and ball, which still looks extremely similar. 

Out of the four online casinos in Pennsylvania right now, players will be happy to see many variations of roulette, including American and European, offered by all four.  

American Roulette vs. European Roulette 

While the two variants are mostly the same, the thing that differentiates them has a huge impact on the house edge and return to player. Basically, the house edge is the advantage the casino has and RTP is what the game will pay back out to players. 

American 

• Played with a wheel made up of 38 slots. 
• Features a green zero and a green double zero. 
• House edge is 5.26 percent at PA online casinos, with an RTP of 94.74 percent. 

European

• Played with a wheel made up of 37 slots. 
• Features just a single green zero. 
• House edge is 2.7 percent at PA online casinos, with an RTP of 97.3 percent. 

Seeing as European has a lower house edge and only one zero slot, we recommend seeking out that version when playing at a PA online casino. American roulette has worse odds and should be avoided if possible. 

Roulette Payouts 

There are a lot of potential betting options that come with online roulette, but can be categorized as outside and inside bets. Outside bets are placed on specific numbers or colours “outside” the number on the table (depending on the variation of roulette you are playing), while inside bets refer to what's wagered on “inside” the wheel and tend to win less often. 

Inside Bet Payouts

While odds for winning are much lower with an inside bet, the reward is much greater than an outside bet. 

• Straight-up is a single number bet and pays off 35 to 1. 
• Street bet takes care of three numbers in a chosen row and pays out 11 to 1. 
• A split bet is a wager on two numbers that are next to each other and pays out 17:1. 
• A five-number bet can only be made once and pays out 6 to 1. It applies to the number 0, 00, 1, 2, and 3, and we do not recommend making this bet. 
• A corner bet is just what it sounds like as you bet on a corner of four numbers, and it pays out 8 to 1. 
• The six-number bet pays out 5 to 1 and covers two lines of numbers that must be attached. 

Outside Bet Payouts 

Fingers crossed the ball doesn’t land on 0 or you’ll lose all outside bets! 

• Even or Odd pays out 1 to 1 and depends if you bet on an even or odd number. 
• Black or Red depends on the colour wagered on and pays out 1 to 1. 
• High or Low pays 1 to 1, 1-18 is a low bet and 19-36 is a high bet. 
• Dozens pay 2 to 1 and are broken down into 3 bets; 1-12 as the first dozen, 13-24 as the second, and 25-36 as the third dozen. 
• Columns is the bet that is won by having the ball land in a number found in your column and pays 2 to 1. 

Online Roulette Strategy 

Many online casino games, like Blackjack, have strategy players will try and adapt to tip the odds in their favour but with online roulette, you may as well throw any strategy out the window. The PGCB regulates all online casinos in PA and intensely tests all the games that launch which ensures the safety and fairness of each game. This means that when playing roulette online at a Pennsylvania casino, the outcome of the wheel is random and makes it impossible for players to try and track any sort of patterns or results. 

The only “strategy” that is recommended in PA is to stay away from American Roulette as much as you can! 

Play Roulette Online

It’s been an exciting time as we’ve seen three casinos in the state of PA roll out online platforms and each of them offers roulette! While the game libraries aren’t huge yet, we are expecting many more games to launch soon including more roulette variations and Live Dealer games.  

Hollywood Casino

The first casino to launch online in PA did not disappoint as it came out with the biggest online slot library so far and a good variety of roulette games to choose from. Players can find European, American, and a French version of roulette with more expected to launch before the end of 2019.

Parx Casino

Parx launched its online casino platform a few days after Hollywood and with it came American and European roulette. Table games are slacking when it comes to the game libraries at PA online casinos right now, but at least they are featuring the basics. 

SugarHouse PA Casino

SugarHouse has made its name in New Jersey and recently has moved into Pennsylvania as the third casino to launch in the state this year. NetEnt has supplied SugarHouse with three variations of roulette for its PA site which include French, American, and European.

PokerStars Casino

PokerStars is the newest casino on the block, launching an online casino the first week of November 2019. We expect many more games to be added over time, but right now players in PA have a version of European roulette they can play at PokerStars.