New Zealand has online gambling laws similar to those in Australia, Canada and India. Local governments do not license online casinos. However, citizens can play roulette and other gambling games through offshore casinos.
Why choose roulette over blackjack or poker? Roulette is a fast-paced game of chance. You don’t need skills or experience to win this game. And guess what? You can win up to 500x your stake in lightning roulette.
All you need is to choose one of the online roulette sites in New Zealand featured here. Ensure you choose a casino with live roulette from Evolution — it’s the software developer behind lightning roulette.
European Roulette
European roulette is the most popular roulette version online. It features a black and red colored wheel with numbers ranging from 0-36. It has one zero number pocket, its most distinctive feature.
Because of its one zero slot, European roulette is sometimes known as single zero roulette. It has a house edge of 2.7%, making it one of the best roulette variants to play in New Zealand.
Like many roulette games, European roulette has multiple bet types:
- Straight Number
- Black/Red
- Odd/Even
- High/Low
- Street Bet (1,2,3)
- Dozen Bets
Regardless of the bet type you choose, European roulette offers better odds than the next roulette game:
American Roulette
American roulette differs from European roulette in one way. It has an extra slot: Double Zero. Instead of 37 slots, it has 38 slots — numbers 1 to 36, 0 and 00. The presence of an extra slot means American roulette has a higher house edge compared to European roulette.
More specifically, American roulette has a 5.2% house edge. For the uninitiated, a big house edge reduces your chances of winning.
So, why play American roulette when you can play European roulette? If you get a generous bonus to play American roulette, go ahead and give it a chance. But when it’s your money on the line, always choose European roulette. It offers higher odds with all bet types.
French Roulette
French roulette is arguably the best form of roulette. Here’s why. It has two unique rules:
- La Partage
- En Prison
La Partage rule dictates that you get half of your stake back if you place a bet and the wheel stops at zero. There’s a catch, though. This rule applies in even money bets like odds or even, black or red and high or low.
En Prison also works if you place a 50/50 bet type. But instead of getting half of your money back, you get a second bet if the wheel stops at zero. Let’s say you bet on black and the roulette wheel’s marker stops at zero. The croupier will spin the wheel again using your original stake.
In other words, En Prison imprisons your stake after the roulette wheel stops at zero. If the croupier spins the wheel again and the market stops at zero again, it might be treated as a win, loss or “en prison” depending on the casino.
Because of its two unique rules, French roulette has a house edge of 1.35%. This makes it the best-paying online roulette in New Zealand. Beware, though — not many casinos offer the game.
Lightning Roulette
This article has already introduced lightning roulette earlier on. It’s a relatively new version of roulette created by software developer Evolution. In many ways, the game resembles European roulette.
It has 37 totals on its wheel. Numbers 1 through 36 are colored black or red. Then it has a zero number pocket colored green.
Lightning roulette operates like a game show. It has a host, a colorful wheel and an LED wall where the host displays roulette numbers. Players then choose whether to place regular roulette bets or to try their luck through Lucky Numbers.
When the game starts, the digital wall simulates a lightning by striking five random numbers. It then adds multipliers to these numbers: 50x, 100x, 200x, 300x, 500x and 500x.
Let’s say you risked your money on number 17. Then the digital wall added a 500x multiplier to your number. And after the wheel stopped spinning, it landed on number 17. You’ll get paid 500x your stake.
You can always choose not to participate in the game show. However, the payout for non-multiplier straight number predictions is 30 to 1. It is lower than the 35 to 1 paid out by European and American roulette.
Mini Roulette
Mini roulette is exactly what it sounds like. It is a mini version of European roulette. It has 13 number pockets numbered 0 to 12. Contrary to popular belief, the small nature of mini roulette doesn’t help lower its house edge.
Quite the contrary, mini roulette has a house advantage of 7.89%. It also pays straight bets at 11 to 1. This ranks it much lower than both European and American roulette. Should you play it?
Similar to French roulette, some online casinos have a La Partage rule in mini roulette. This rule lowers the house edge to 3.85%, which is better than American roulette.
Keep in mind, though, La Partage applies to even money bets and the wheel stops at zero.
Multi Wheel Roulette
Multi-wheel roulette is a straightforward game. You choose a roulette bet that is applied on 2-8 wheels. A croupier then spins the wheels. When the wheels stop spinning, you get paid for every wheel that stopped spinning at the number you had predicted.
Let’s say you place five bets on red (five wheels). Of the five wheels, three wheels stop spinning at red slots. You’ll get paid for the three winning bets. This is how multi-wheel roulette works.
Why should you choose multi-wheel roulette? If you want to increase your chances of winning, this is a great roulette game to play.
Your Turn
If you live in New Zealand and love roulette, your best bet is to play the game through an offshore online casino. Which roulette game should you play? As described above, French and European roulette games offer the best odds.
