As discussed in an earlier article under new regulations to be introduced on 1st April 2019 the B2 category of games is dead in the water. There are a number of reasons; lack of playability by customers, high taxation and low income generation for the operator. The loss of cat B2 games could cause a massive displacement of players. In particular the low stake roulette players who enjoy the entertainment of the game but do not spend significant amounts will be unable to find their favourite games in the local betting shop. Will those players go online where stakes are unlimited? Will they start to play cat B3 games? Will they transfer their spend to other forms of gambling? Or will they stop gambling?
What can independent bookmakers and their gaming machines suppliers do to retain these players as customers of the local betting shop?
Is roulette feasible in cat B3
The most popular game in the B2 category is undoubtedly roulette. It appears logical to ask if it is feasible to offer roulette within the scope of cat B3 regulations.
There is nothing in the regulations, either current or after the 1st April revision, to restrict the type of games that can be made available. Therefore, roulette can be made available as a cat B3 game.
The question then is can a B3 version of roulette be entertaining for the player and the return commercially acceptable to the operator?
B3 roulette commercials
A B3 game can be played every 2.5 seconds which is 24 games per minute at a maximum stake of £2 per game. RTP for a B3 game of roulette is 97.3%. Hence the maximum loss per minute for B3 roulette is 24 x £2 = £48 less 97.3% RTP = £1.30
This is less than other B3 games which typically generate a maximum loss per minute of £4.80 but if players want to play roulette and not other B3 games then £1.30 is better than zero.
By way of comparison a loss rate of £1.30 per minute equates to a stake on current B2 roulette of £16 per game. i.e. 3 x £16 = £48 less 97.3% RTP = £1.30 Hence if entertaining cat B3 roulette games could be developed they would provide bookmakers with a commercially attractive alternative for those customers who presently play roulette at a stake of up to £16 per spin. It would also be reasonable to assume that a proportion of roulette players that presently stake above this figure would be inclined to reduce their stakes and play cat B3 roulette. Hence a significant proportion of the low stake roulette players could be retained as betting shop customers.
An interesting development could be the introduction of american ‘double zero’ roulette which has an RTP of 94.74%. This would increase the loss rate of a B3 roulette game to £2.52 per minute, the equivalent of a £31 stake in cat B2 roulette.
B3 roulette playability
One of the attractions of roulette for players is the ability to spread their chips across the board and cover numerous outcomes. This strategy de-risks the chance of the total loss of the stake. Most players appear to stake a large sum but by using a de-risking strategy they are playing to win, or lose, only a small fraction of that stake. Under cat B3 regulations only £2 can be staked per game – hence it is impossible to effectively de-risk game play unless chips are for a trivial amount. Winning or losing 20p per game is of little interest to most customers.
However, there is an option available to games designers which could enable a more enjoyable game play to be developed. Within any individual B3 game a feature can be added which uses the winnings from the original £2 stake to gamble further. Thus a game could present a gamble where the original £2 stake wins a larger amount, say £10 – £20, which is then used to play chips on a roulette board.
This is only one possible development, others could be rapid play roulette every 2.5 seconds at a £2 stake or different versions of roulette such as american roulette or 100 to 1 roulette.
Conclusion
Roulette will be different as a cat B3 game but there are lots of options for developers to provide a version of roulette within the B3 regulations that will prove attractive to the current smaller stake (say below £30) players.