Roulette’s Touchdown Online Casino South Africa Side Bet

Hone your roulette skills at Springbok - try the touchdown side bet

There aren’t too many online casino South Africa casinos that offer the touchdown side bet. But studying the touchdown bet can be an interesting exercise to better understand the overall roulette game as well as to consider some options. Study the game here, because you never know....while we don't have the game today, we could be launching the game very soon, and it never hurts to be ready to kick off. 

Side Bets

Over the last 30 years, there have been more and more gaming options available at Vegas casinos. One of the reasons that the number of game opportunities has grown so much is that there are more side bets for the casino’s table games.

Casinos are always looking for new ways to spice up the gaming action and side bets offers the perfect solution. Side bets give players the opportunity to lay some optional wagers so they can continue to play the traditional games that they are accustomed to playing but simultaneously they can enjoy some extra fun.

The first game to feature side bets was blackjack. Blackjack gamers were able to try some different types of betting action including laying wagers on hands of varying values and betting on whether or not they could match hole cards with the dealer’s up card.

From there, side bets moved on to poker which also proved to be fertile ground for side betting action. Over the years, the casinos considered different ways to bring side bets to more games. One of the more unusual options has proven to be intriguing to roulette aficionados – roulette with a touchdown side bet.

Touchdown Bets for Roulette

Touchdown roulette is based on American football  and follows the gridiron that the American football game uses. Basically, the goal involves spinning your “team” down the field towards a touchdown. Roulette games that feature the touchdown side bet display two teams playing virtual football on a screen where each team tries to gain yards and reach the goal line. The sessions are four spins each.

After you place your wager, the ball will be tossed. If the ball lands in a green space (a “0” or a “00”) you activate the touchdown roulette side bet. You then choose “red” or “black. There are then 4 spins but you don’t place a wager on any of those additional spins.

During each spin, the ball is placed on the 50 yard line of the video football game. During each spin, your objective is to gain as many yard of forward progress as possible. The teams move forward on each spin.

The red football helmet symbolizes the red team’s end zone. You can see the red helmet on the left-hand side of the field. The black team’s black helmet is on the right side of the screen. The yardage system gives you

  1. 3 yards toward the red end zone for a spin that results in a red 1 through 10
  2. 3 yard toward the black end zone for a black 10 through 10
  3. 5 yards toward the red end zone for a red 11 through 20
  4. 5 yards toward the black end zone for a black 11 through 20
  5. 10 yards toward the red end zone for a red 21 through 30
  6. 10 yards toward the black end zone for a black 21 through 30
  7. 15 yards toward the red end zone for a red 31 through 36
  8. 15 yards toward the black end zone for a black 31 through 36

In effect, the wheel offers 5 chances for each team to move the ball 3 yards forward (2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 for the black team and 1, 3, 5 7 and 9 for the red team and five more chances for each team to move five yards up the field. There are a final five chances for each team to gain 10 yards for that last, big 15 yards.  

Since most possible combinations don’t add up to 50 yards, you won’t reach the end zone after every four-spins of the game. You’ll probably end going back and forth, battling for the field position, just as though you’re playing an actual football game.

The closer the ball is located to the black team’s end zone, the more the black bettors will win, based on the yardage that their gamed. And when the ball ends up closer to the red team’s goal line, a player who backed the red team will collect a payout. 

If, after 4 spins, the ball returns to the 50 yard line, the game ends in a tie and both red and black teams are awarded payouts. Payout odds can range from 1000 to one for a touchdown to between 250 to one and one to one for the various yardage options. The advantage of football roulette is that, even when you lose on the field, you still achieve an even money payout of 1 to one on your deposit. If you stalemate on a 50 yard tie, payouts for both teams are five to one.

Example

If you want an example of how this can work, check out an example of how the game progresses.

  1. Land on a green 0 or 00. The football side game will trigger.
  2. Choose your team (red or black). Say that you choose red.
  3. Spin your first football spin. If the ball lands on a red 17 (remember, you are team red) you can move 10 yards forward. Now, the ball sits on the 40-yard line.
  4. Spin your second spin. Now you get a black 7. That gives the opposing team a three-yard forward play. The football moves three yards backward from the 40-yard line and you find yourself on the 43rd yard line.
  5. Spin your third spin. The roulette ball lands in the red 32 which gives you a 15-yard forward move. That puts you on the 28-yard line, closest to your red end zone.
  6. Spin your forth and final spin. Now the ball lands in a black 3 so the other team gets a three-yard gain and you end the round with your ball on the 31 yard line. According to the pay table for that achievement, you receive a 25 to 1 payout.

House Edge and Probabilities

How do the probabilities shake out? Basically, it all comes down to whether or not you can land a 0 or a 00 and trigger the football side game.

  1. Odds are .06 that you’ll get a touchdown
  2. Odds are .08 that you’ll land a 1 through 10 yard line
  3. Odds are .13 that you’ll land a 11 through 20 yard line
  4. Odds are .24 that you’ll land a 21 through 30 yard line
  5. Odds are .21 that you’ll land a 31 through 40 yard line
  6. Odds are .09  that you’ll get to the 41 through 49 yard line
  7. Odds are .01 that you’ll get to the 50 yard line for a tie
  8. Odds are .025 that you’ll lose the game
  9. Odds are -0.94 that you won’t get the 0 or 00 that will allow you to trigger the game
  10. Total house edge for this game is 7.89 percent

Summary

The touchdown roulette side bet present players with a double edged sword (of sorts). You lose your wager on almost 95% of the spins, so you only get to play the game on approximately 1 in every 20 spins.

While the rewards make it worthwhile to give it a try, the odds of you even playing aren’t great. Therefore, you need to decide whether you’re making the side bet for entertainment purposes (in which case, since it’s such an exciting game, it’s worth the bet), or whether you’re going for the money, in which case, you might want to pass this option up and stick with the traditional roulette we offer here at Springbok.