I’m often asked by website visitors and friends about playing roulette online, and whether I prefer it to being in a live casino.
My answer to that used to be mixed – but now I choose online over physical roulette almost every time.
One of the biggest positives when playing live is of course the atmosphere. There’s nothing quite like sitting down at a table and chatting away to people as you play.
As Roulette long-term isn’t an +EV game like every casino game – you do want to get a lot of fun out of it when you play. So that’s one of the biggest positives of playing the game in a land-based casino.
If I had to choose one or the other though? I would go with online roulette. Honestly other than atmosphere, I cannot think of any reason I would play physical roulette anymore.
Let me give 5 major reasons as to why I would choose online roulette over physical roulette:
#1: I Can Always Play A Game
If you reside in Las Vegas, you’re going to have no problem finding a game of roulette. But what if, like me, you live in a city with one casino which has limited floor space?
Well, then you’re going to be restricted. They only have so many tables and so many table games that people want to play. Blackjack, Craps etc. So that means there aren’t as many roulette tables available.
There have been many times when I have gone to a casino, only to discover that all of the roulette tables are full.
There’s also the issue of overcrowding. I mean I’m not someone who has issues in large crowds or anything – but I just hate the feeling of being jammed at a roulette table with the maximum amount of people there.
With online play there is no overcrowding. There are no waitlists. Do you want to play? You can play at any time, no problem.
#2: The Variety of Games
If I want to play roulette at a casino, I’m going to have two options: American Roulette or European Roulette.
The only difference you will find with these games is the betting limits.
Compare that to the selection of online roulette games.
I can play a game like Age of the Gods Bonus Roulette, which is a slot machine/roulette crossover. I can play Common Draw Roulette which is a classic variation on Roulette. Or I can play themed versions of Roulette such as European Football Roulette>
The possibilities literally feel endless.
#3: Live Dealers
I mentioned above that one thing online misses is the atmosphere. While it’s not the same thing – live dealer casinos are such a big thing these days with so many options available.
When you bring up a Live Dealer lobby, you will see a wide variety of live dealer casinos available so you can pick and choose the live dealer. The technology behind this has gotten so impressive over the last few years.
All the live dealer games also have a chat option. Unfortunately, I do find that the chat option isn’t used often enough by people. That sort of thing would really add to the atmosphere – the ability to even create avatars, that sort of thing.
But there’s no question that live dealer casino games are an excellent replacement for physical casinos.
#4: Unique Features
The nice thing about online casinos is all of the unique features that the casino games offer beyond just the game of Roulette.
As an example – one live dealer game I was playing earlier has a “Lucky Dip” feature where you click the button, choose “Lucky 5, 6,7 or 8” and then it will do bets on 5, 6, 7 or 8 random numbers for you.
I love that sort of thing as it means you don’t get tied to bets. Also if you are someone who likes to place the same bets every time then many of these casinos also have a “Bet Creator” feature where it ties your favourite bets to your account – so you can go in and play it any time.
As someone who likes to place bets on all of his family’s birthdays – this is a big help knowing I don’t have to click each number every time I log in.
#5: Statistics & Trends
Past numbers on a Roulette wheel mean nothing. We know that – yet we still factor it into our bets don’t we?
With a land-based casino, you’ll get the last 10 numbers and that’s it.
With an online casino, they cover full historic data and they have icons that show numbers that are “hot” and numbers that are “cold”.
They will let you know data such as the number of times it has hit black or red, odd or even, etc while at the table, and so much more.
Like I said – this all really means nothing, but it’s nice to bet with some sort of reasoning, and online casinos really give you a lot of options for creating your own “betting system”.
Summary:
Honestly for me, the only benefit to physical casinos for roulette over online is the atmosphere, and being around other people. At the moment, that can’t be matched.
But there are so many other reasons for me that make online better. I’ve even started getting on zoom calls with friends while playing at the same table and that helps add to the atmosphere a lot more.
It’s at the point where I honestly think I would turn down a friend’s invitation to hit up the local casino and suggest we play online instead, over video chat.