Lightning Roulette: How It Works, Payouts, RTP and Lucky Numbers

Lightning Roulette is Evolution’s live roulette with a random multiplier layer. The wheel and the table are ordinary European single-zero roulette, but on every spin between one and five Lucky Numbers are struck by lightning and given a multiplier of 50x to 500x. A straight-up bet on a Lucky Number that wins is paid at that multiplier. To pay for the multipliers, a straight-up that is not on a Lucky Number pays 29:1 instead of the usual 35:1. Every other bet pays exactly as in standard roulette. This guide shows how a round works, the full payout table, what each bet costs and how often a lucky hit actually lands.

How Lightning Roulette works

1. Place your bets on the usual European layout: numbers 0 to 36, splits, streets, corners, lines, dozens, columns, red/black, odd/even and high/low.
2. Betting closes and lightning strikes. A random number generator picks one to five Lucky Numbers and gives each a multiplier between 50x and 500x. They are drawn after betting closes, so you cannot see them before you bet.
3. The dealer spins the ball on a standard 37-pocket wheel.
4. Bets are settled. A straight-up on the winning number pays its multiplier if the number was struck, and 29:1 if it was not. All other bets are paid at normal roulette odds, whether or not lightning hit their numbers.

Lightning Roulette payouts

Only straight-up bets are touched by the lightning. A split or a corner that covers a Lucky Number still pays 17:1 or 8:1.

Lightning Roulette RTP: what each bet costs

Every bet except the straight-up returns 97.30%, the same as European roulette, because those bets are paid exactly as on a normal table. The straight-up returns 97.10%, so it costs 0.20 points more than on a standard table, and the way that return is made up is very different:

• Paid at 29:1, a straight-up returns 30 units for 1 on one spin in 37, which is 81.08% of the stake.
• The other 16.02 points of its 97.10% come from the rare spins where your number wins and has been struck by lightning.

On a standard table the same bet returns 97.30% from the 35:1 payout alone. In Lightning Roulette you give up part of every ordinary win in exchange for occasional much larger ones. Evolution does not publish how often each multiplier is chosen, which is why the calculation stops at the two figures above.

How often does a lucky hit land?

For a single straight-up bet to hit a multiplier, two things have to happen on the same spin: the ball has to land on your number (1 in 37), and your number has to be one of the Lucky Numbers. With one Lucky Number on the board that is 1 in 1,369 spins; with five, it is about 1 in 274. On most spins a straight-up either loses or pays 29:1.

Is there a Lightning Roulette strategy?

No bet selection changes the odds. The Lucky Numbers are drawn at random after betting closes, and the wheel has no memory, so numbers that were struck recently are no more or less likely to come up or to be struck again. What you can choose is the shape of your risk:

• Outside and inside bets other than straight-ups cost exactly what they cost at a normal European table, 2.70%, and the lightning has no effect on them.
• Straight-ups cost slightly more, 2.90%, and swap steady 35:1 wins for 29:1 wins plus a small chance of a 50x to 500x payout.
• Covering many numbers with straight-ups does not raise the return: every straight-up has the same 97.10% RTP, so ten of them return 97.10% of the total stake on average, just as one does.

Other versions: XXXtreme and First Person

XXXtreme Lightning Roulette raises the top multiplier to 2,000x and lowers the unmultiplied straight-up payout to 19:1, so ordinary wins are smaller still and the big ones larger. First Person Lightning Roulette is the digital version without a live dealer, played at your own pace. Pragmatic Play’s Mega Roulette works on the same idea. Our live roulette guide covers the rest of the lobby, and our roulette guide explains the wheel and the standard bets in full.

Where to play Lightning Roulette

Lightning Roulette is carried by most casinos with an Evolution live lobby. BC.GAME has it in its game-show tab together with XXXtreme Lightning Roulette, Lightning Dice, Lightning Baccarat and Lightning Blackjack. The rules screen at the table shows the multiplier range and payouts for the version you are playing.

Play responsibly

Lightning Roulette is for players aged 18 and over. Every bet on the table has a house edge, and the multipliers are rare. Set a budget before you play and stop when it is spent.