Before addressing ‘the how’, let me quickly touch on ‘the what’ for those unfamiliar with the concept of live casino gambling.

Live roulette is the term commonly used to refer to roulette played online over via a real time video stream. You watch live video of the game as it happens (somewhere in a real casino or dealer studio) and place bets on your PC. The roulette wheel is real – generally from on of the same manufacturers that supply the big land-based casinos, and of course are the croupiers or dealers (real that is). It is this real aspect that makes it so different to RNG online roulette where images and outcomes are all software generated.

Aside from a couple of exceptions, the game offered at most live casinos will be single zero (European and/or French) roulette rather than the American (double zero) version of the game. Odds and payouts are the typically the same as what you will find in traditional casinos and clearly set out or accessible from the game interface.

So on to the how; and it’s pretty simple. All you really need is a computer, a reasonably fast internet connection, an account with one of the growing number of live casinos, and most important, some interest in the game of roulette (otherwise why bother?)

Connection speed is important because when you play live roulette, you are receiving a real-time video stream of the game which required reasonable bandwidth. The slower the connection the lower the video quality…to the point where freeze frames and interrupted viewing make the game more an exercise in frustration than a game of roulette. At high speeds, the video is clear, smooth and you can be forgiven for thinking you are sitting at a casino roulette table as you chat to the dealer. At anything above 1Mbps you’ll get a pretty solid video stream across most of the platform providers/casinos out there.

Opening an account at a live casino is pretty simple and the casino will guide you through their registration and account funding procedures pretty painlessly. One thing to be aware of here though is that laws with regard to online casino gambling differ markedly from one country to the next and casinos will have different policies on which players they accept. Most live casinos won’t accept US players for example, due to the currently in place UIGEA restrictions.

Aside from the above, all you need is an interest in the game itself.

By Milton Shaw
Milton Shaw writes for a number of gambling related portals including Livedealer.org which reviews various live roulette options at its live roulette page.