Betfair Penny Roulette
1p Roulette or penny roulette is possible on the internet. No land casino would ever entertain the idea of paying a croupier to spin the ball for 1p bets. Online though, a machine spins the ball so the casino doesn’t have to pay anyone to do it.
Playing roulette for 1p is a step up from the free play games. Not much of a step up but still its more entertaining than playing for free. You could probably play all day and still only lose a fiver or so if you stuck to even money penny bets.
There are not many places on the internet where you can do this though. Casinos still have costs, such as banking fees which have to be paid. Someone playing penny roulette will still incur some cost.
Betfair Penny Roulette Play
One of the things that Betfair does very well, like many of the sportsbook operators, is mobile. Head to their mobile casino and you’ll find a big range of games for smaller screens including Premium European, Penny Roulette and the newer Age of the Gods roulette plus all of the live dealer games from Playtech and Evolution. Penny Roulette is a single zero roulette game that can be played from just 1p per spin. To start a game round, choose a betting position and place your wager - then wait to see the result. At the end of the turn, winning bets will be paid, and the game will start over.
Fortunately, Playtech have released a penny roulette game so many more casinos offer 1p roulette nowadays. The game is the same at all the casinos so best off choosing the place with the best reputation which is Bet365.
Play roulette at Bet365 for 1p a spin.
New Casino customers only. Deposit min. £10. Applies to first deposit to Casino only. Max. bonus £100. 20x wagering (game weighting, table coverage and max. bet rules apply) on deposit and bonus to make the bonus balance withdrawable. Time limits and T&Cs apply.The table below shows you the returns on roulette when you play for one penny. Even with a single number coming in, you will only win 35p plus 1p stake back.
| Return including stake | |
| Straight up bet (also called a Single Number bet) This is based upon guessing which number, from 0 to 36, the roulette ball will land on. 35:1 payout. | 36p |
| Split bet (Upwards and Sideways, also called a Double or Two Number bet) A bet on two numbers next to each other on the roulette table. 17:1 payout. | 18p |
| Street bet (also called a Three on a Row or Three Number bet) A bet on any three numbers in a row on the roulette table. 11:1 payout. | 12p |
| Square bet (also known as a Box of Four or Four Number bet) A bet on a block of four numbers on the roulette table. 8:1 payout. | 9p |
| Five Number bet (also known as a Box of Five bet) A bet on five numbers, comprising 00, 0, 1, 2 and 3 on the roulette table. 6:1 payout. | 7p |
| Six Number bet (also called a Box of Six bet) A bet on a group of six numbers on the roulette table, which covers two rows of three. 5:1 payout. | 6p |
| Outside bets An Outside bet is when you choose one of the betting options from the outside area of the roulette table – i.e. red, first 12. | |
| Dozen bet Bet on the ball landing on a number within one of the three rows on the roulette table. 2:1 payout. | 3p |
| Column bet Bet on the ball landing on a number within one of the three columns on the roulette table. 2:1 payout. | 3p |
| Even-Money bet Bet on the ball landing on a number from one half of the roulette table. Either Red or Black numbers, Odds or Evens, 1-18 (lo) or 19-36 (hi). 1:1 payout. . | 2p |
Betfair Penny Roulette Games
Play now roulette for 1p.One of the games that we really miss, is the No Zero Roulette game that Betfair Casino used to have in it’s No Zero Lounge. You can still play No Zero Blackjack and No Zero Baccarat, I believe, but the roulette game (which didn’t have a zero pocket, and didn’t have a house edge) was quietly retired in 2013.
Actually Betfair called this game “Zero Roulette” and claimed it paid out true odds on every spin.
To be fair, this game was a bit of a puzzle to us anyway. It seemed a bit counter intuitive for a casino to offer a roulette game with no zero pocket (after all, this is where the casino gets its House Edge.)
Betfair Casino
Get an exclusive £500 match (200% extra) here. They don’t offer No Zero Roulette anymore, but they have the next best thing: French Roulette with La Partage Rule.
Think about it- if you play a red or black bet, or any even money payout bet for that matter, you are paid out 1:1 or even money on the bet. You might think that your odds are 50/50, but in fact you have a 18/37 or 48.6% chance of winning. That’s because in a normal European roulette wheel, there is a single zero pocket. If the ball drops in there, you lose the bet. If you like playing a roulette system like the Martingale, a no zero wheel is advantageous because you are less likely to experience long runs of losses.
American wheels have 2 zero pockets, so the house edge is even bigger.
So how did Betfair make any money with the no zero roulette wheel? Well, maybe they didn’t, and that’s why they discontinued it.
We have searched high and low for an alternative, but haven’t been able to find one.
Why Did Betfair Offer a No Zero Roulette Wheel?
We suspect that this was a promotional tool to get people trying their casino- a bit like a loss leader in a Supermarket. Once they had enticed players on the no zero game, they could try and persuade them to play on the standard European wheels. The single zero wheel had quite a few restrictions on it in terms of maximum betting amounts, and wagering restrictions (any play on zero roulette didn’t count towards your play-through requirements for the bonus offers). They had a maximum win amount allowed on the game, as well, so you could win but you couldn’t win huge.
Even so, we miss this game! It was a great way of illustrating exactly what the house edge is on standard roulette, and why it’s there.
So What’s the next best thing?
Betfair Penny Roulette Slots
OK- so you can’t get the house edge down to zero anymore, so what’s the next best thing? Well, you can minimise the house edge by playing European Roulette instead of American Roulette. That will get you down to 2.6% (versus 5.2%).
And if you play French Roulette at Betfair, they play La Partage Rule, which means you get half of your bet back on an even money bet (like odd/even for example) if the ball drops in to the zero pocket. You can find most varieties in our roulette games section.
It’s not No Zero Roulette, but it’s the next best thing. This gets you down to a house edge of around 1.3%, which is comparable to many variants of blackjack- a game that is widely known to have the best odds in the casino.