So, you’ve played a few rounds at the roulette table before – but what about Lightning Roulette?
Lightning Roulette is a live dealer game designed by the experts at Evolution Gaming, and it has quickly become a staple of many online casinos’ live lounges. Check out Tonybet’s Lightning Roulette to feel the first-hand excitement of this live game.
Evolution designed Lightning Roulette to add an extra twist or two to what is easily one of the most iconic casino games both online and offline. But how does it work in practice? How do you play Lightning Roulette, and are there strategies that people frequently use?
Let’s dive in with a comprehensive look at Lightning Roulette from Evolution Gaming.
Lightning Roulette numbers and multipliers
Lightning Roulette takes the traditional European roulette wheel and table and adds Lucky Numbers and Lucky Payouts. Lucky Payouts are multipliers – meaning that this version of the Vegas classic aims to raise the stakes and the prize sizes at the same time.
Lightning Roulette randomly allocates between one and five different Lucky Numbers after all bets are taken at the table. If the ball lands on a number deemed to be ‘Lucky’ and a player has placed a straight bet on it, they win an additional prize.
This is where Lucky Payouts come in. For every Lucky Number, there is a Payout boost worth between 50x, or 50:1, and 500x, or 500:1, the stake that a winning player puts down.
This means that on top of the odds the player expected from their straight bet, they get an extra prize. However, there’s no way for them to know whether or not their numbers will be Lucky before they place a bet. This is randomly decided after all bets are taken, and up to five numbers have a chance of winning that extra prize boost.
Gameplay and betting options
To benefit from Lucky Numbers and Lucky Payouts in Lightning Roulette, players need to place straight bets on specific numbers. This means, for example, that you’d place a bet on 11, hoping that it not only gets picked as a Lucky Number, but that the ball also lands on it!
Standard straight bets in Lightning Roulette pay a set rate of 29:1 or 29x, but other types of bet follow the patterns you’d expect in traditional games of roulette.
Therefore, the table remains the same for the most part! You can choose to bet on corners, splits, streets – you decide. The game offers a virtual table for you to analyse and place chips onto, though the dealer is real and connects to players through a videolink.
So, let’s say you’re joining the Lightning Roulette table while browsing Tonybet. As you enter the live game, you’ll usually see that there’s a round underway. Wait until the spin ends and a winner is declared, and then start placing your chips on the virtual table.
Roulette tables are split into different betting zones, and the table used in Lightning Roulette, as mentioned, is no different in this regard. Remember, however, that if you want a chance of winning on a Lucky Number and a Lucky Payout, you need to place a bet on a straight number. So, pick any of the numbers on the grid, and wait for the dealer to close bets.
Once the dealer closes all bets, between one and five lucky numbers are chosen at random. If one of these is the number or numbers you’ve chosen, and if the ball lands on it, you’ll win an expanded prize determined by a randomly chosen Lucky Payout.
Wait for the wheel to stop spinning and the dealer will announce the winning number and, if it’s a Lucky Number, how much players’ bets are multiplied by.
There’s a chance that there might not be any Lucky Numbers or Lucky Payouts for some time! It is all a matter of luck and chance.
Strategies for Lightning Roulette
Generally, I don’t advocate for using any kind of special strategy or shortcut for casino games, simply because they don’t normally work in practice, and you can end up wasting your money if you don’t take particular care with how you spend your bankroll!
However, there are a few different ways that you can navigate the game to help it align with your own playing style and tastes:
- Take things slowly. Yes, Lightning Roulette is very similar to the original game we all know and love, but don’t be too tempted by the bigger prizes on offer. Set yourself clear upper and lower limits at which you’ll walk away.
- Don’t chase wins or losses. If your numbers never seem to get picked as ‘Lucky’, it’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking ‘maybe next time’. As this is a game of chance, there’s never going to be a guarantee that your numbers will come up Lucky – so avoid chasing wins and losses wherever possible.
- Pick multiple numbers, if you have the bankroll to do so. Some experts suggest even covering all of the numbers on the Lightning Roulette table – but this is a large expense for what might be a very small payout. Instead, budget carefully for a few of your favourite numbers and, again, walk away when you hit a healthy limit you can afford.
- Try not to use popular betting strategies. This isn’t just because they can be unreliable, but also because some of the most-used strategies, such as the Martingale, are developed with outside bets in mind, and aren’t developed around straight betting. As you know by now, Lightning Roulette is all about straight bets, especially if you want a shot at the Lucky Number prizes.
- Try to split your bets if you can. That is, if you have set yourself a bet amount that you intend to use on a specific number, try reducing that amount and splitting it between two. The more numbers you bet on, the greater chance you have of winning. However, why spend more than you can afford?
These are just a few strategic ideas from someone who has played Lightning Roulette and has seen mixed success over the years! Different people have different ways of playing the game, but remember, no one strategy or play style is 100% guaranteed to win prizes.
The best possible advice I could give you as a new Lightning Roulette player is to take your time and get to know the game. As a live game, you can even watch a few rounds unfold before placing any bets. That way, you can get a feel for how the Lucky Numbers system works before using any real money.
Thankfully, Lightning Roulette is a fairly simple game to get used to, and Evolution’s dealers are always friendly and energetic – meaning that it shouldn’t take you long to get a feel for the game.
Comparing Lightning Roulette to traditional roulette
Both traditional roulette and Lightning Roulette follow the same general rules of the game. The bets are split into different zones and columns, and while you can only access the Lucky Numbers and Lucky Payouts through straight bets, you can still bet on other markets if you wish.
Lightning Roulette works on a traditional European roulette system, which means that there are 37 numbers in total and there is only one zero. American-style roulette games have two zero spaces – the 0 and the 00.
The main difference between Lightning Roulette and traditional roulette is, of course, the Lucky Number system. This adds an extra layer of gameplay to the classic table, but at the same time, doesn’t overcomplicate the original rules. In fact, if you already know how to play traditional roulette, you probably won’t need to do much to acclimatise to the Lightning version.
Live versions of roulette are fairly similar in terms of hosting style. As roulette is quite fast paced, so is the Lightning variant – though despite having the word ‘Lightning’ in its name, this game can actually take a little longer because of the extra prizes available!
You can also play both traditional and Lightning Roulette from mobile devices, meaning that there’s no need to tie yourself to a desktop PC or laptop to start playing. You can also play roulette in all forms through the Tonybet app if you prefer not to use mobile versions of casino websites!
Lightning Roulette at Tonybet
At Tonybet, we have a range of live casino tables from some of the biggest and most trusted developers in the iGaming industry. Evolution Gaming is absolutely top tier when it comes to live table streams, which is why we’re always pleased to introduce new players to its games.
Lightning Roulette is available for you to play now from our live casino catalogue. Remember, you can also play the game from your phone or tablet – and it’s easy to explore other live games through the Tonybet app.
Remember, take your time to explore Lightning Roulette on your terms and with a careful bankroll management strategy. If you need any help with responsible gambling, reach out to the Tonybet team for guidance and support.
