About the game
With the rise of live dealer casinos, there has been a major shift from slot developers to the live casino market and it’s easy to see why: today’s iGaming industry is all about making the casino experience as realistic as possible and the future is to be found in live dealer casinos. Evolution was the very first provider that came up with live casino games which gives them a big advantage over other companies that were launched later on. Not only are the category: Evolution productions technically outstanding, the Swedes still manage to blow us away with their innovative concepts. Lightning Roulette is one of the best examples of a classic table game with a new twist. Who else would’ve thought of including lightning bolts in a roulette game but Evolution? Well, people loved it from the very beginning and so did we.
Where to play it
Our casino website tells you everything about casino games, live dealer games, and the best websites to play both of these game categories. We’ve only included the most popular casinos you’ll find online that offer both welcome bonuses and live dealer games like Lightning Roulette. Our current top list of casinos that offer Lightning Roulette are:
The rules
The game is actually based on the standard game of European Roulette, but comes with a nice twist. A multiplier has been added to the game. Each round, this multiplier is randomly linked to one to five numbers which gives you a chance of winning up to 500x your bet. The plein payouts are lower than we are used to with standard Roulette. This is done to compensate for the inclusion of these multipliers and leads to a 30:1 payout instead of 35:1. As Lightning Roulette is based on the rules of European roulette it still uses the standard roulette wheel, including 1 Zero. We recommend that novice players first go through the standard roulette rules to get a better understanding of the game while experienced players should be fine as soon as they take place at the Lightning Roulette table.
When thunder roars, don’t run
When the betting round has ended and all players have placed their bets, the game begins: the wheel will start to spin and 5 random numbers are hit by a lightning bolt. The numbers struck by lightning will all get a multiplier ranging between 50x, 100x, 200x, 300x, 400x or 500x. These one to five ‘lightning numbers’ are randomly picked by the Random Number Generator (RNG) which is activated by the live dealer in the game. The lightning numbers will be clearly shown to the player and the corresponding multiplier is also determined by the RNG. The live dealer will guide you through the rest of the game.
How to win
We highly enjoy live casinos and some of us would agree that roulette is probably the most entertaining game to play in any live dealer casino. One of the biggest advantages of roulette is that it’s fully random making sure you won’t have to think of anything else but winning. Nonetheless, there are some tips and tricks we want to share with you so that you can increase your return on investment:
1. Get the most out of our roulette bonuses
Despite the fact that roulette is one of the most popular casino games, it is often not valid for casino welcome bonuses. Table games and live dealer games like Lightning Roulette are excluded by a lot of casinos, which is what most experienced players will know by now. As we’re fully aware of the fact that this can be very frustrating, we have only included live dealer casinos on this page that work with bonuses that are at least partially valid for live casino games. All you’ll have to do is redeem your bonus and get the most out of your preferred casino’s welcome package. We’re just here to help.
2. Choose a comfortable budget
Before you start playing, you should already think of a budget you feel comfortable with, which basically means we’re talking about any amount you’re not afraid of losing. For some players this can be $10 and others wouldn’t care about losing $1,000. We’re all here to win, we know, but you should be fair about your chances of losing as well. Therefore: divide your budget over several rounds as you probably want to stick around for some rounds and enjoy the game’s action. The best way to do this is to work with a fixed rule that fits your bankroll. For example, only bet a maximum of 5% of your total budget per spin. Try to keep the percentage somewhere between 1% and 5%. You can start low and slowly work your way up to 5%.
Prepare for lower payouts
Waiting for that one hit wonder? Then you’ll need to bear in mind that you have to rely on a lucky number, which might be somewhat difficult if you’re impatient. As we mentioned before, you only get 30x your stake if you win a straight bet, so you need to be prepared for lower payouts in most cases. This is mainly done because Evolution didn’t want to increase the house edge. Instead of a higher house edge, Evolution decided to lower the standard payouts. This shouldn’t pose a big problem as the game does offer a lot of amazing wins.
Play with straight bets and red bets
Usually we don’t recommend placing straight bets at roulette. Of course it can lead to massive payouts, but your chance of winning is only 2%. This is quite different with Lightning Roulette. As 5 numbers are also chosen as lucky numbers, you have a much better chance of winning. We recommend combining a straight bet with a red bet to get the most out of the game. With some luck on your side, a lucky number will even pay out 500x the bet.
How to play
On the whole, we can say that the normal roulette strategies also apply to Lightning Roulette. The only big difference we can think of is that plein bets linked to a multiplier can turn out to be very interesting. For all other bets, players should use the basic roulette strategies as the game and the corresponding payouts are similar to those of European roulette.
1. Pick one of our recommended casinos
If you find a casino on our site that suits your needs, obviously. We do think you should be able to find an online casino that meets your needs as these are the very best options at the moment and we make sure to update the list when we find even better websites. Once you have found yourself a casino that you like, it’s time to register for an account. This is free and only requires you filling in a short registration form. Some casinos even let you start playing without creating an account (yourself). Nonetheless, let’s assume you’ll need to register for now. Make sure to verify your account via either email or telephone.
2. Make a deposit
Before you can join the Lightning Roulette table, you’ll first need to deposit your funds. This is quite easy and shouldn’t be very different from making a payment in a webshop. It’ll obviously depend on the payment method you prefer to use as e-wallets tend to be a lot easier than traditional banking solutions like credit cards or bank transfers. If you prefer e-wallets just as much as we do, your account balance should be instantly topped as wallet payments are immediately processed. This makes sure you can join the table straight away.
3. Play responsibly and enjoy
Once you’ve got some credits it’s time to join the table and shine yourself as well, although we’re all hoping Lightning Roulette will lighten up your day. You should’ve already thought of the game’s basic rules and the budget you want to play with, meaning that you’ll know what your maximum bet is going to be. Most variants of roulette are very straightforward in terms of rules to play and this surely holds for this game. We nonetheless encourage you to stick to a predefined budget whenever you make your first bet and to always play responsibly.
The features
A game about roulette naturally also involves a lot of entertainment. This is reflected in the promising lightning strikes and the multipliers you’ll hopefully encounter when playing Lighting Roulette. We consider this is a highly unique feature that pleases even the most experienced online casino enthusiasts. With each spin of the wheel, lightning can hit one to five numbers leading to massive payouts of 500x your bet, which you won’t see at a lot of other roulette games. The “Lightning” part definitely refers to a lot of excitement in this casino game. In terms of features we also want to add here that this game by Evolution has made it possible to combine classic roulette with auto roulette and both a Random Number Generator with live dealer without making it look funny. Although it’s considered a live dealer game it’s more of a hybrid game to us. Try to think of it as combining Superman and Spiderman and adding some bits of Batman and Robin as well.
RTP
Although the RTP percentage of 97,1% is slightly lower than with other versions of roulette, the game does have a higher payout. We’re pretty sure there are very few live roulette tables out there where you can win 50 to 500x your stake. You’ll just have to hope that the Roulette ball will land on a lucky number to make this happen, but as the game uses a RNG you never know this will be. And still, 97,1% is very high compared to other casino games.