French roulette is a variant of the classic European roulette game and the best version of roulette a player can enjoy, in terms of house edge and variety. With advanced betting options and the ability to reduce the casino’s edge from 2.7 per cent down to 1.35 per cent on even-money wagers, it’s a shame this format of the game is not hugely prevalent in Australian brick and mortar casinos, only reserved for high rollers if they want to play.
That’s why online roulette is your best bet if you are set on value and better player odds. While every casino, both land-based and online, is a business designed to always make the house a significant profit, online gambling websites have far less overheads to take care of than brick and mortar casinos, so such operators are inclined to offer a greater range of games with superior odds.
Open an account at any of the following Internet casinos to enjoy French roulette:
- Royal Vegas Casino
- G’day Casino
- Thrills Casino
- Casino-Mate
- Guts Casino
- 7 Sultans Casino
So what are the additional wagers a player can make in French roulette games? If you look at the racetrack displayed in the image, you’ll see that most of these types of bets are related to the positions of the numbers on the wheel. For example, the Viosins du Zéro wager includes the zero, nine numbers to the left of the zero and seven numbers to the right of the zero, so if the ball lands in the vicinity of the zero, you’re looking solid.
Red and black splits – as the name suggests, this bet covers either all the red splits (9/12, 16/19, 18/21 and 27/30) or black splits (8/11, 10/13, 17/20, 26/29 and 28/31) on the roulette table layout.
Viosins du Zéro – covers 17 numbers on the wheel between 22 and 25 (inclusive), and is set out like so: a total of nine chips (or multiples of nine), with two chips on the 0/2/3 street, one chip on the 4/7 split, one chip on the 12/15 split, one chip on the 18/21 split, one chip on the 19/22 split, two chips on the 25/26/28/29 corner and one chip on the 32/35 split.
Tiers du Cylindre – covers the 12 numbers positioned on the opposite side of the zero on the roulette wheel. A total of six chips (or multiple of six chips) are placed on the following splits: 5/8, 10/11, 13/16, 23/24, 27/30 and 33/26.
007 – The ‘007’ bet is more of a novelty wager which when placed, the pattern made on the roulette table layout resembles James Bond’s agent number, as displayed in the image. The wager covers 57 per cent of the board and includes split and straight-up bets.
Les Orphelins and Orphelins Plein – these bets cover the ‘orphan’ numbers not included in the above call bets. The numbers are 1, 6, 9, 14, 17, 20, 31 and 34. The Les Orphelins bet takes five chips (or multiples of five), and is set up with one chip on the 31/34, 17/20, 14/17, and 6/9 splits, and one chip on the number one. The Orphelins Plein wager takes eight chips (or multiples of eight), and places a straight-up wager on each of the ‘orphan’ numbers.
Jeu Zero – this wager covers the numbers closest to zero on the roulette wheel, including 12, 35, 3, 26, 0, 32 and 15. The bet takes four chips (on multiples of four) and are placed as follows: one chip on the 12/15, 0/3, and 32/35 splits, and one chip on 26.
Neighbours – a player can call out (or place, in online) a neighbours bet for a specific number. For example, a neighbours wager on the number 23 would include 23 and the number adjacent to 23 on the roulette wheel. How many numbers covered adjacent to 23 is up to the player, and typically ranges from one number on either side, up to eight numbers on either side. All bets are straight up bets.
Snake – the snake bet covers the numbers positioned in a ‘snake-like’ pattern on the roulette table layout. It includes straight-up wagers on the following numbers: 1, 5, 9, 12, 14, 16, 19, 23, 27, 30, 32 and 34.
Finales wagers (en Plein and A Cheval) – wagers which cover all the numbers ending in the same digit. A Filanles en Plein 5 wager would be four straight-up wagers on the numbers 5, 15, 25 and 35. A Filanles A Cheval bet includes splits and straight-up bets, depending on the layout of the numbers on the roulette table. A Filanles A Cheval 5 and 6 wager would include bets on the 5/6 split, 15 straight-up, 16 straight-up, the 25/26 split and the 35/36 split.
Number Combo – a wager which covers all the possible splits and corners attached to a number of your choosing (plus a straight-up wager on that number). For example, the adjacent image shows what a 23 number combo wager would look like (a great wager if you’re feeling particularly confident with one number).
These bets are available within several French and European roulette games at casino such as Thrills and Royal Vegas.La partage and en prison rules
An additional benefit to French roulette games are the player-friendly rules relating to even-money wagers (red/black, even/odd, high/low). If you place an even-money wager and the ball lands on zero, the la partage rule gives you back half of your wager.
Some games also include the en prison rule, so if the ball lands on zero, the player can choose to keep his or her even-money wager in play for the very next spin (imprisoning his or her bet). If on the next spin, the player’s wager is successful, the bet is returned to that player (no profit is made). If the bet is unsuccessful, the wager is lost. If zero is spun a second time, depending on the casino, the wager may be deemed a win, returned, considered a loss, halved and returned (la partage) or imprisoned again for the next spin.
These two additional rules reduce the house edge to 1.35 per cent, and for those using the Martingale roulette betting system, they can create a distinct player advantage.