How to Play Live Roulette

You bet on where the ball will land. The dealer spins the wheel. That's the whole game.

Learning how to play live roulette takes about a minute. The rest is detail, but it's detail worth knowing, because some bets pay far more than others and some tables are better to sit at than others.

Below you'll find the rules, how to get your chips down without staring at the layout for ten minutes, and what every bet pays. Everything here is European roulette, the single zero version on most tables in the UK.

A real dealer, a real wheel and a real ball, filmed in a studio and streamed to your screen. You watch the spin happen rather than waiting for a number to appear.

You're joining a table that's already running, alongside other players from across the live casino. Nobody handles chips or touches the wheel except the dealer. Your bets go on by tapping the layout on screen, and the dealer settles the round in front of you.

Before you open a table, the tile in the lobby tells you plenty. The last few winning numbers, how many people are sat there, and the minimum stake. Worth a glance rather than opening five tables to find one that suits.

A European wheel has 37 pockets. Numbers 1 to 36, alternating red and black, plus a single green zero. The wheel turns one way, the ball goes the other, and wherever it drops is the result.

Next to it is the betting layout, which everyone just calls the table. It's a grid of all 37 numbers with extra boxes round the edge for the broader bets.

Spend a minute looking at the layout before your first spin. It looks busier than it is, and once you can see how the boxes map onto the numbers, the whole game opens up. Most tables also show a results history down one side, and some have a racetrack layout for the grouped bets that follow the order of numbers on the wheel rather than the grid.

Every round runs to the same four steps.

The betting window opens. A timer counts down on screen. Tap your chip value, then tap the layout to place bets, as many outcomes as you like in the same round. There's usually a repeat button for your last set of bets and one to double them.

The dealer calls no more bets. The timer runs out, the layout locks, and the wheel is already turning.

The ball settles. The winning number is called and marked on screen, and the losing chips clear away.

Bets are paid. Anything covering the winning number pays at fixed odds, then the next window opens.

Once the wheel is turning there's nothing to do but watch, which is why the game feels more relaxed than a night at a blackjack table. Your thinking is done the moment your chips are down.

The chat runs both ways, if you want it. The dealer sees your screen name and will answer if you say hello. Close the panel if you'd rather just play.

There are two families of bet at a live table. Inside bets go on specific numbers within the grid. Outside bets go on the boxes around it.

Inside bets cover fewer numbers and pay more. Outside bets cover more numbers and pay less.

Put £1 on a single number and it lands, you get £35 back plus your stake. Put £1 on red and it lands, you get £1 plus your stake. The even money bets land just under half the time, which is why most people start there.

Payout odds are worked out as though the wheel had 36 pockets. It has 37. That green zero is the entire house edge, and it's the reason a straight up number pays 35:1 rather than 36:1.

Land on zero and the outside bets all lose, unless you're sat at a French table.

The table you choose changes your odds more than any bet you place.

European has one zero and 37 pockets. The standard across UK live tables and the one to look for.

American adds a second green pocket, the double zero, taking it to 38. Given two otherwise identical tables, take the European every time.

French uses the same single zero wheel but adds La Partage, or sometimes En Prison. Land on zero and you get half your even money stake back rather than losing it outright. That makes a French table the best of the three when the rule is running.

Roulette is luck. No system changes the maths, and anyone selling a guaranteed way to beat it is lying to you. What you can do is choose better tables and manage what you spend.

Play single zero wherever you can. European or French over American, always. The lower edge means your money lasts longer.

Look for La Partage. A live table running it gives you the best deal on even money bets anywhere in the game.

Watch a round before you bet. Every studio lays its interface out slightly differently, and one spin spent working out where the repeat button is beats fumbling it while the timer runs down.

Ignore the results history. Those last twenty numbers on screen tell you nothing about the next spin. The wheel has no memory and neither should you.

Treat betting systems with suspicion. The Martingale, doubling your stake after every loss, sounds clever until you run the numbers. It doesn't touch the house edge and your stakes climb frighteningly quickly.

Set a budget before you start and stop when you reach it, whether you're up or down.

Have a look at the live roulette tables at Ladbrokes, and pick a wheel. Decide what you're happy to spend before you do.