Lightning Roulette: how the multipliers work and what they cost

Lightning Roulette is one of the most familiar games in any live casino lobby: a lightning strike before every spin and multipliers of up to 500x. It was launched by Evolution in April 2018. Evolution has run large live studios in Riga for years - in 2013 its Riga studios reached 100 live tables, the largest single-site operation of its kind in Europe at the time. Under the effects, the game is ordinary European roulette with one change to the payouts. This article explains that change and what it costs. The rules of roulette and the classic bets are on our roulette page.

How a round works

You place your bets, then one to five numbers are struck by lightning and given multipliers from 50x to 500x, and then the ball is spun.

1. Betting is open, as at any live table. All the usual inside and outside bets are available.

2. When betting closes, between one and five "Lucky Numbers" are struck, each with its own multiplier between 50x and 500x.

3. The ball is spun on a single-zero European wheel with 37 numbers.

4. If the ball lands on a Lucky Number and you have a straight-up bet on it, that bet is paid at the multiplier. All other bets are settled as usual.

These rules come from Evolution's game page.

Where the multipliers come from

A straight-up win on a number that was not struck pays 29:1, not the usual 35:1.

That is the whole trick. On a normal European table, a winning straight-up bet returns your stake plus 35 - 36 units in total. Over 37 spins you win on average once, so you get back 36 of every 37 units staked: a return of 97.30%, or a house edge of 2.70%.

In Lightning Roulette most winning straight-ups return only 30 units. The six units taken off every ordinary win go into a pot, which is paid out as the occasional 50x, 100x or 500x. The published return of a straight-up bet is 97.10%, slightly below the 97.30% of a regular table. So the multipliers do not add value - they move it. Many small wins become slightly smaller, and a few become very large.

Which bets get multipliers

Only straight-up bets on a single number. Splits, streets, corners, dozens, columns, red or black, odd or even - all of them pay the standard European payouts and return 97.30%, exactly as on a normal table.

• Straight up - 29:1, or 50x to 500x if the number was struck. Return 97.10% (house edge 2.90%).
• Every other bet - standard payout. Return 97.30% (house edge 2.70%).

If you only bet on colours or dozens, the lightning changes nothing for you except the show.

What it does to your results

The average price barely moves, but the shape of the results changes a lot. On a normal table, a straight-up win always pays 35:1. In Lightning Roulette, most straight-up wins pay 29:1 and only a few pay a multiplier. A session of straight-up bets therefore loses a little more often than on an ordinary table, with the occasional very large win. That is higher volatility: the same expected loss, spread more unevenly.

Struck numbers are not more likely to win. The lightning picks the numbers at random, the wheel does not know which ones were picked, and each number still comes up once in 37 spins on average. Following "hot" multiplier numbers or "cold" ones does not change anything. The same is true of betting systems: we tested the best-known ones in roulette strategies, tested, and none of them beats the zero.

Lightning Roulette or a regular table?

• For outside bets (red, black, dozens): Lightning Roulette costs the same as European roulette - 2.70%.
• For straight-up bets: Lightning Roulette costs a little more - 2.90% against 2.70% - in return for the chance of a multiplier.
• For even-money bets, the cheapest choice is French roulette with la partage: half the stake is returned when zero comes up, which cuts the edge on those bets to 1.35% (Wizard of Odds).
• American roulette with a double zero costs 5.26% on every bet and is the most expensive of all.

Evolution also offers other versions, such as XXXtreme Lightning Roulette, with different multipliers and payouts. Do not assume they work the same way: read the payouts in the game's info panel before you play. The game sits close to the live game shows - our article on live casino shows covers that side of the lobby.

Play within your limits

A multiplier of 500x is the image the game is built to sell, and it is what keeps players at the table. Decide your budget and a time limit before the first spin and use the limits in your casino account - our guide to responsible gambling tools shows where to set them. The responsible gambling page lists where to get help. All the casinos we review are on our all casinos page.