Lightning Roulette is one of the most acclaimed live dealer roulette variants. It’s the brainchild of live casino software pioneers Evolution, who have supplied this game to many online casinos recommended for Indian iGamers.
This Lightning Roulette how to play guide will explore the basic rules, the tweaks to the Lightning Roulette payout structure and the tricks and strategies you may wish to consider at the Lightning Roulette tables.
How to Play Lightning Roulette
Lightning Roulette rules differ to most classic roulette games, but the wheel is essentially a European Roulette wheel. That’s because it’s a single-zero wheel, which helps to minimise the house edge of the game from the word go.
The stand-out feature in Lightning Roulette is the potential for up to five numbers to be hand-picked at random per game to become ‘Lucky Numbers’. These numbers are ‘struck’ by lightning with magnified win multipliers compared with standard straight-up multipliers worth 35:1. Lucky Number multipliers can start from 50:1 and rise to as high as 500:1.
To counterbalance the potential for increased win multipliers, Evolution has tweaked the payout size of winning straight-up bets that aren’t Lucky Numbers, reducing them from 35:1 to 30:1.
All other bet types at the Lightning Roulette table pay out in accordance with the standard European Roulette structure.
The Lucky Numbers are applied once the live dealer calls ‘no more bets’. This makes it impossible to predict with any certainty which straight-up numbers will become Lucky Numbers for the upcoming spin.
However, it does add to the theatre of live roulette, with the prospect of your chosen straight-up wagers having a potential payout of 500x your initial stake instead of 30x.
Lightning Roulette Tricks & Tips
First and foremost, it’s important to note that there’s no way for knowing when a number will be selected as a ‘Lucky Number’ or how many Lucky Numbers there will be in each game.
It’s consequently hard to develop a consistent Lightning Roulette strategy, although there is one potential option you may wish to consider – betting on every individual number as a straight-up bet.
Covering every single number on the roulette table will cost you approximately 37 units of your stake. At the very least, you will win 30 units per spin, if the winning number isn’t a Lucky Number.
Therefore, you’re potentially risking a loss of six or seven units per spin in the hope of landing a winning straight-up bet with the maximum 500x multiplier applied.
As the main feature of Lightning Roulette is the Lucky Numbers for straight-up bets only, it’s hard to use any other popular roulette system or strategy like Martingale or Fibonacci to try and maximise your betting bankroll.
By covering all 37 numbers with straight-up bets, at least you’re giving yourself a chance of landing a Lucky Number, but just make sure to size your stake per number accordingly to give your bankroll the maximum number of chances to be struck with a Lucky Number.
What is the Lightning Roulette Payout?
It’s a good idea to keep this table of Lightning Roulette payout options by your side, just so you know the potential win multipliers that can appear during any random game:
Bet type | Payout |
Non-multiplied straight bets | 30:1 |
‘Lucky Numbers’ | 50:1, 100:1, 200:1, 300:1, 400:1 or 500:1 |
Row & split bets | 17:1 |
Street bets | 11:1 |
Corner bets | 8:1 |
Top Line or basket bets | 8:1 |
Double street bets | 5:1 |
Column and dozen bets | 2:1 |
Red/black, odd/even, 1-18/19-36 bets | 1:1 |
Where to Play Lightning Roulette in India
There are many fair and reputable online casinos for Indians to choose from to play live dealer games like Lightning Roulette. At Lucky Dice, we make it our mission to demonstrate the safest and most secure sites for you to play and have fun. The best live casinos are licensed and regulated by either the UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) or the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA).
NetBet is a prime example of a live casino that’s MGA-licensed. It is also well-established in the global iGaming marketplace, giving you peace of mind from the moment you create an account. Other recommended operators licensed by the UKGC and MGA include Lucky Niki.
Lightning Roulette FAQs
Is it possible to beat the game of Lightning Roulette?
As with all other types of live roulette games, it’s impossible to ‘beat’ Lightning Roulette over the long term. That’s because all live roulette tables have an inbuilt house edge, which is the margin the online casino makes for every bet you place.
In Lightning Roulette, the house edge is 2.90%, which is quite competitive compared with other table game variants.
What connection do I need to play live Lightning Roulette?
Most Lightning Roulette tables from Evolution are streamed in high-definition (HD) quality broadcasts. This means you’ll often need a 4G mobile connection at a minimum to stream and play Lightning Roulette on the go.
A reliable fibre broadband connection is also recommended to get the best Lightning Roulette experience for Indians playing at home.
Is live casino Lightning Roulette better than classic Roulette?
It’s difficult to say whether one roulette version is better than another. The key to choosing Lightning Roulette over games like American and European Roulette is the ability to land a massive Lightning Roulette payout on straight-up bets on individual numbers.
Unlike classic Roulette, where you can only win 35/1, it’s possible to get a 500/1 payout here. The house edge in Lightning Roulette is almost the same as European Roulette at 2.90%.
Are the Lightning Roulette odds manipulated?
You’ll be pleased to learn that live casino Lightning Roulette tables are never rigged. The numbers hit by lighting for magnified multipliers are chosen entirely at random before every game.
The random number generators (RNGs) for these games are independently verified and tested to prove their fairness and transparency.