Roulette
5 Best “South African” Online Roulette Sites (May 2023)
There is probably no casino game better than roulette that creates a feeling of positive suspense. Perhaps the ultra-popular dice game Craps comes close, but the nature of the games are utterly dissimilar, making the thrill of playing roulette quite distinctive. If you would like to learn more about roulette, visit our How to Play Roulette guide.
The arrival of online gambling has helped popularize roulette in many countries where it was previously only a notion. Gambling has been legal for over 2 decades in South Africa, and as more online casinos access that market, roulette gaming is really taking off. After an extensive review, we have come up with five casino sites for South Africans that offer roulette.
How We Select the Top South African Roulette Sites
Before we recommend any gambling platforms, they undergo a thorough review from our pundits who determine if the site meets the necessary standards. The following are some of the criteria in question.
Credentials – Where, when, and by which organization an online casino is licensed speaks volumes about its status. Our reviewers ensured that each of the sites on this list has either a valid license or a seal of approval from an independent regulator.
Payments – The choice of banking options and the casino’s ability to process transactions easily, safely, and fast will make every player’s life a lot easier. This is why we were careful to search for casinos with diverse payment options and preferably without any withdrawal fees.
User Experience – User experience encompasses many different aspects that will make the player’s experience overall more enjoyable. In that sense, you’ll find all our selections easily accessible on mobile and desktop alike, providing timely and professional support, and offering other different services, like general beginner guides, or tips on how to play roulette and other popular casino games.
Security – Account and player safety were top priorities for our analysts. When you register with online casinos you’d expect your personal data, payment details and history, and privacy completely secure. And the operators in our list below wouldn’t have it any other way.
Top 6 South African Roulette Sites
In the following paragraphs, we’ll give interested players general information about our selected casinos and why they make good options for playing roulette. We’ll also discuss the different varieties of roulette, provided there is more than one version.
1. YesPlay
YesPlay was originally a Lucky Numbers lottery in South Africa that was founded in 2002. It launched an online casino and sportsbook in 2016, expanding its portfolio to include a vast array of casino games and fixed-odds betting markets for sports. However, the casino also provides a plethora of Lucky Number lotto games from all across the globe. YesPlay is based in the Western Cape and its target audience is punters from South Africa.
YesPlay features a top-range collection of casino games, you will find everything that you are looking for whether it's slots, table games including baccarat, blackjack, or roulette or live games. The slots are extremely well designed and are licensed from some of the top software providers in the world including Red Tiger, and NetEnt.
When it comes to roulette choose from live roulette, and American or European rules.
They are fully regulated, the parent company is SA Sportsbook (Pty) Ltd trading as YesPlay, a licensed betting operator as registered by the Western Cape Gambling and Racing Board with Bookmaker license: 10180204-010.
Read our YesPlay Review or visit YesPlay.
2. Bet.co.za
Bet.co.za was established in 2011 and is an online casino and sportsbook that provides an excellent array of fixed-odds sports bets and casino games.
There are over 30 live dealer games at Bet.co.za and they are all supplied by Evolution. Evolution is one of the top live dealer game developers, creating all sorts of fantastic casino games that are brought in HD. Bet.co.za offers players plenty of picks, from classic casino games such as Blackjack and Roulette to games such as Mega Ball, Crazy Time, Dreamcatcher and Fan Tan.
The slots are provided by developers such as Red Tiger and NetEnt. There are over 90 slots, which is not a massive range of games, but these are all carefully picked by the casino for their playability. Games such as Gonzo’s Quest Megaways, Cash Volt, Rainbow Jackpots Power lines, and Starburst are some of their biggest hits.
If you are into lotteries, then Bet.co.za is the place for you. It covers over 160 Lucky Numbers games from around the world, and the action is non-stop.
Its sportsbook covers 30 different types of sports and they are especially popular with soccer and cricket. They offer pulse bet, full and partial cash out, as well as offering a a solid in-play platform where you can bet live on Soccer, Tennis, Cricket and more.
They are fully regulated, the parent company is Betcoza Online (RF) (Pty) Ltd trading as Bet.co.za. They are licenced and regulated by the Western Cape Gambling & Racing Board. Registration Number: 2010/005430/07.
Read our Bet.co.za Review or visit Bet.co.za
3. Fafabet Casino
Fafabet is a South African online casino and sportsbook that has a lot to offer. It is a proudly local company that was launched in 2022 and is a player favorite amongst South Africans.
The slots and video poker at Fafabet are supplied by Pragmatic Play and AGT. These include everything from classic slots to arcade games that have more complex gameplay and of course to classic variants of video poker. The content provided by Pragmatic Play includes some of the most popular slots such as Gates of Olympus, Big Bass Bonanza, Mustang Gold, Buffalo King Megaways, and more.
They feature multiple variants of all popular table games, including live versions of baccarat, blackjack, and multiple versions of roulette.
Fafabet is licenced by the Western Cape Gambling and Racing Board. This makes it 100% safe for players and punters alike. The company also works with the South African Responsible Gaming Foundation to help raise awareness for gambling addiction and offers deposit limits and self-exclusion tools to help players control how much they spend.
Read our Fafabet Casino Review or visit Fafabet Casino.
4. Betshezi
Players and punters can enjoy a great range of casino titles and sports betting opportunities at Betshezi. This South African operator was launched in 2022 and is regulated by the Western Cape Gambling and Racing Board, and is based in Cape Town. Betshezi may be relatively new to the industry, but it has already garnered a lot of attention for its fantastic games and sports coverage.
Betshezi’s live dealer games are certainly its main attraction. The casino provides games from CreedRoomz and Vision Casino, which include all the major casino games such as Roulette, Blackjack, Poker, and Baccarat. There are numerous versions of these games that may have slight changes in the rules or special side bets, such as FreeBet Blackjack, Richie Roulette, Super 6 Baccarat, Bet on Poker, and more. Betshezi includes Dragon Tiger, Keno, Sic Bo, and various Lotto-styled live dealer games.
Betshezi has a handful of instant games and lotto-styled games. These titles have free demos which players can try before playing with real money. Be sure to check out Keno, Striker, Blast, Talisman and Power Ball
Read our Betshezi Review or visit Betshezi.
5. Playa Bets
Established in 1990, this is an established sports book that offers multiple betting shops in KZN and the Western Cape and they offer a mobile betting platform. Playa Bets is considered South Africa’s one stop betting destination for retail and online customer’s country wide.
They are backed by a highly experienced management team which have been registered bookmakers in Mpumalanga, the Eastern Cape, Western Cape and Kwa-Zulu Natal.
Playa Bets offers a unique world class product to local players across South Africa. With over 12000 live sporting betting events, 378000+ live betting markets and over 1 million Sports Betting opportunities every month, Playa Bets customers will always be in the action.
Playabets MP (Pty) Ltd trading at playabets.co.za is licensed by the by the Mpumalanga Economic Regulator under license number 9-2-1-09689.
Conclusion
Each of the casinos listed offers at least a couple of roulette tables, with some providing dozens of variants of the game. The great thing is that roulette tables, except live dealers, are free to play at any casino just for fun. You can do this to either take the edge off or expand your knowledge of the game and pick up new strategies.
Can You Play Free Roulette?
Yes, all of the casinos that we recommend offer the option to play roulette for free. Select your chips, place your bets and click spin. You can then practice playing until you are ready to play for real money.
What Are the Odds of Winning at Roulette?
The odds vary slightly based on the type of roulette game that is played. European roulette has slightly better odds than American roulette. The betting odds in American roulette of hitting a single number with a straight-up bet are 37 to 1, since there are 38 numbers (1 to 36, plus 0 and 00). However, the house only pays out 35 to 1 on winning bets.
The odds in European roulette are slightly better since there is no 00 on the board. (1 to 36, plus 0)
The house edge is with the 0 and 00, as these numbers cannot be won by the player.
Please view the following chart:
| Bet Type | Bets | Odds & Payouts | Win Probability in % | ||||
| European | French | American | European | French | American | ||
| Inside | Straight Up | 35:1 | 35 to 1 | 35:1 | 2.70 | 2.70 | 2.60 |
| Inside | Split | 17:1 | 17 to 1 | 17:1 | 5.40 | 5.40 | 5.30 |
| Inside | Street | 11:1 | 11 to 1 | 11:1 | 8.10 | 8.10 | 7.90 |
| Inside | Corner | 8:1 | 8 to 1 | 8:1 | 10.80 | 10.80 | 10.50 |
| Inside | Basket | - | - | 6:1 | - | - | 13.2 |
| Inside | Line | 5:1 | 5 to 1 | 5:1 | 16.2 | 16.2 | 15.8 |
| Outside | Red/Black | 1:1 | 1 to 1 | 1:1 | 48.65 | 48.65 | 47.37 |
| Outside | Even/Odd | 1:1 | 1 to 1 | 1:1 | 48.65 | 48.65 | 47.37 |
| Outside | High/Low | 1:1 | 1 to 1 | 1:1 | 46.65 | 46.65 | 47.37 |
| Outside | Column | 2:1 | 2 to 1 | 2:1 | 32.40 | 32.40 | 31.60 |
| Outside | Dozen | 2:1 | 2 to 1 | 2:1 | 32.40 | 32.40 | 31.60 |
What Are Some of the Best Roulette Strategies?
There are multiple different strategies that are popular with players who are trying to improve their odds of winning.
We go into details into the different strategies here:
What Is a Called Bet?
Called bets only apply to European and French roulette.
These are the types of available called bets:
Neighbors of Zero - A bet on all 17 numbers near to the green zero.
Thirds of the Wheel - A bet on 12 numbers which are found adjacent to the neighbors of zero.
Zero Game - A bet on seven numbers near to the green zero.
The Orphans - A bet on any of the numbers which are not covered by the other called bets.
The Neighbors - A bet on 5 adjacent numbers
The Finals - A bet on the last digit (e.g. 5 would be a bet on 5, 15, 25, 35)
What Is an Outside Bet?
An outside bet is when you are not betting on a specific number, but instead choose to bet on odd or even, red or black, 1-18, or 1-36. These bets while they are lower risk, they still offer the house an edge due to the 0 and 00 on the board.
What Is a Straight Bet?
A straight bet is the simplest type of bet to understand in roulette. It is simply choosing a number (for example: 7), if the ball lands on the number then the player wins with the payout calculated as 35:1.
How Much Can You Win at Roulette?
Roulette is all about statistics, the payout for selection the correct number the ball lands on is 35 to 1.
That being stated there is a house edge due to the 0 and 00. The odds of winning are actually 2.6% for American roulette, and slightly better odds of 2.7% with European roulette.
What’s the Difference Between American Roulette & European Roulette?
The odds are slightly better for the player with European roulette.
American roulette has both a 0 and a 00.
European roulette only has a 0.
If the ball lands on either the 0 or 00, the house automatically wins. This means it is in the players best interest to play European roulette.
To learn more visit our advanced guide that compares American vs European Roulette.
What's the Difference Between French Roulette & European Roulette?
The real difference between the two games lies at the table, specifically, in the French table. The table boxes that correspond to the pockets in the wheel are all in red. Furthermore, the words and numbers in the French table are in French, while the European version uses English. Of course, this is not too big of an issue, especially since most resources were published with translations for the words and numbers that the French roulette table has to offer.
The French version has its own advantages, however, such as the use of th e La Partage rule. Basically, this is the rule that allows the players to use the even money bet. Essentially, what this means is that players who choose to play with this rule will get half of the amount they bet if the ball falls in the pocket with the zero.
To learn more visit our French Roulette Vs. European Roulette guide.
