Roulette has been a staple in brick-and-mortar casinos for a very long time, as the game has attracted gamblers from all over the world for generations. The wheel of destiny has a great combination of luck, skill, and excitement that keeps the players coming back again and again.
That immense popularity in brick-and-mortar casinos made adding roulette to online casinos a no-brainer, and there isn’t a major online casino that doesn’t have plenty of roulette options available for play. But, for whatever reason, some players are hesitant to give the game a try online.
As an online gaming expert, I am constantly asked the question, is online roulette rigged? Players want to play the game, but they are understandably concerned about the game being on the up and up. No gambler minds losing all that much, but every gambler hates to be cheated, so I can certainly understand why players ask if roulette is rigged online.
In this article, we are going to dive into the question of whether or not online roulette is rigged, so you have all of the information that you need to gamble responsibly online. With that, let’s jump right into it by once and for all answering the question, is online roulette rigged?
Is Online Roulette Rigged?
So, is online roulette rigged? The quick answer is no, it is not. Roulette isn’t rigged online for the same reason that the game isn’t rigged in person, the casino doesn’t need to rig the game to make their money!
Double zero roulette, by far the most common version of the game being played today, has a built-in house advantage of just over 5%. That means that for every $100 dollars that you bet on the wheel, the casino is going to hold $5. Now, that might not seem like a lot of money to you, but when you factor in the millions of wheel spins and hundreds of millions of dollars bet each year, that 5% house advantage really adds up.
All online casinos heavily value their reputations, as even a whisper of impropriety would close their doors immediately, as the competition is fierce. It would be silly for these online casinos to do anything that could even appear to be shady, as it would cost them millions of dollars.
I have spent my entire career as a casino operator, including managing some of the biggest table games pits in the world on the Las Vegas Strip, and as an industry expert, I can tell you that not only is roulette not rigged online, but the game is actually far better for the players online than in a live casino! Let’s take a look at why I think online roulette is actually a better bet than brick-and-mortar roulette.
Regulatory Oversight
For those of you out there that are still a bit skeptical about online roulette being rigged, this first topic we are going to discuss should go a long way toward easing your mind. In the US, all gaming is regulated by state gaming commissions.
They don’t want to bite the hand that feeds them, and instead of regulating the casinos, they spend most of their time collecting taxes and catching casino cheaters. Very little time is spent reviewing the casino’s games, and while most gamblers see these agencies as protection, all they are really doing is protecting the casino, not the players.
Online, it is a completely different dynamic, as the online regulatory bodies have exact records of every card dealt, dice thrown, and wheel spin. This allows them to have a very accurate view of the casino’s operations and if the games are holding too high, or isn’t operating at the appropriate levels, they can, and will, drop the hammer quickly on the casino.
Do online gaming commissions also look for cheaters and oversee taxes as well? Of course, they do. But the name of the game in the online gaming world is reputation and the regulatory bodies do everything that they can to ensure that their member casinos have perfect track records of success.
Game Selection
Online casinos are known for their huge selection of games and that is true with online roulette as well. In a typical Las Vegas Strip casino, you are going to find mostly double-zero roulette games, with the very rare single-zero wheels found in some high-limit pits. To make matters worse, these days, we are seeing more and more triple zero roulette games popping up and I wouldn’t at all be shocked if eventually, triple zero is the standard in brick-and-mortar casinos.
Adding the additional zero to the wheel skews the odds heavily in the favor of the casino and you should never play a triple zero game.
Online, you won’t be finding any triple zero games and you are going to find tons of options for single zero and double zero games with a wide array of side bet options as well. When you are playing online roulette, you’ll never have to settle for a triple zero wheel, and when it comes to the casino advantage on the game for a triple zero roulette, which is close to 8%, you are going to start questioning whether or not brick-and-mortar casinos are the ones that are rigged!
Lower Limits
We just talked about the awesome game selection that you are going to find online and unlike a brick-and-mortar casino, where you are only going to find decent games in the high-limit pit, online you are going to be able to play for lower limits that fit your bankroll. We all wish that we were high rollers, but at the end of the day, that just isn’t the case.
Having to spend $100 a spin just to play a roulette game that you actually have a shot at beating is uncalled for, and online, you will be able to play the game that you want, at limits that you can afford. Online casinos don’t have all of the overhead that a live casino has, so they can offer much lower limits, ensuring that there is a game available for any budget.
Faster Gameplay
The final reason that I prefer online roulette over traditional roulette is the pace of play. There is nothing more annoying than playing roulette and having to wait several minutes between spins.
Whether it is a slow dealer that takes forever paying out bets, new players buying in, or other players that are slow to make their wagers, brick-and-mortar roulette can be painfully slow at times. When you are playing online, not only is the game not rigged, but it is blazing fast!
Bets are paid instantly, the ball spins quickly, and you never have to wait for new players to join the table. When I am gambling, I am all about staying in action, and the speed of the play when playing online roulette is perfect for keeping the action hot and heavy!
Conclusion
Well, there you have it, folks! Not only is online roulette very clearly not rigged, but it is also actually a significantly better game than the game that you are going to find at your local casino. Whether it is the faster gameplay, better odds, lower limits, or the more accurate regulatory oversight, anyway that you slice it, online roulette is the better game!
Now that you know definitively that online roulette is not rigged, there is no better time to get in on the action than now! Thanks for reading and good luck playing online roulette!
