Lucky Ball Roulette

Lucky Ball Roulette By Playtech Review

The Game in Short

Lucky Ball Roulette is European Roulette played with an extra bet option known as the “Fruity Bet”. To win this bet, the roulette ball must land on one of five selected numbers. These five numbers are chosen randomly on every game round and highlighted on the roulette table via a slot machine icon.

The payout for the Fruity Bet is different on each game round. It is determined by a classic slot machine that the game host spins before the winning number is determined. The payout can be either 3x, 5x, 20x, 50x, or 100x.

If a normal straight-up bet has been placed on one of the selected numbers, this will pay as it always does in European Roulette – 36x. Only the Fruity Bet is affected by the random payouts from the slot machine.

For those who aren’t already familiar with the rules of European Roulette, we recommend checking out our full guide on how to play and win in Roulette. However, here’s a quick overview:

• The game consists of a roulette wheel and a roulette table, each having 36 numbers.
• There are 14 different ways to place a bet which pay anywhere from 1x – 36x.
• Each bet type represents a single number or a combination of numbers.
• A ball is spun in the roulette wheel to determine the winning number.
• If a number you have bet on is selected, you are rewarded with the corresponding prize.

Payouts and Bet Types

Lucky Ball Roulette offers the same bet types and payouts as European Roulette, except for the added Fruity Bet that either pays 3x, 5x, 20x, 50x, or 100x. Here’s a full breakdown:

RTP

The RTP in Lucky Ball Roulette is 97.30% for all bets except for the fruity bet which has a lower RTP of 95.29%. To me, it is really disappointing to see that Playtech – the developer of the game – has decided to give the highlight feature a lower RTP than all other bets.

The only reason to play Lucky Ball Roulette over European Roulette is to place the fruity bet. However, with the lower RTP, I’m a bit put off, and not that enticed to actually play the game. I might be picky, but there are so many interesting roulette games to play these days. Therefore, it just doesn’t feel right to give away 2% equity like this.

Fun Factor

I think Lucky Ball Roulette is a fun game, but also nothing special. I appreciate that the fruity bet feature of it is unique as no other roulette game has a mechanic like this. To be fair, though, there are many similar variations of win multipliers being incorporated in roulette games, such as XXXTreme Lightning Roulette, Gold Vault Roulette, and Lucky 6 Roulette. But it’s not entirely the same.

The chance of winning 100x, as opposed to the maximum of 36x in traditional roulette, adds a bit of extra excitement. However, the potential payouts are still very low when compared to the aforementioned roulette variations where one can win 500x, 2,000x, and 2,088x. So, in that regard, I actually think the game falls short.

As I already mentioned, I also think it’s a huge drawback that the fruity bet has a significantly lower RTP than the traditional bets in the game. Now, an RTP of 95.29% isn’t bad when compared to live dealer games on a broader scale, as the RTP usually ranges from 95% – 97%. However, when the standard in Roulette is 97.30%, it really sucks.

All in all, I think this game is a bit of a flop from Playtech. They have a ton of awesome games in their portfolio so I know they can do better.

Strategies

In terms of strategies, there aren’t any great ones that can be used specifically for Lucky Ball Roulette. You can, of course, always apply old and popular ones such as Martingale, D’Alembert, Paroli, Labouchere, and Fibonacci.

However, none of these work for the fruity bet, but would have to be applied to the red/black, high/low, or odd/even bet. All of these strategies revolve around placing bets that pay 2x. They don’t really work if you don’t, which is why they can’t be used on the fruity bet.

Ironically, the best strategy in Lucky Ball Roulette is to avoid using the fruity bet feature that makes the game special. In the long run, you will win R2 more for every R100 wagered by placing any of the other bets instead of the fruity one.