Online French Roulette for US Players
French Roulette is considered one of the most rare forms of Roulette because of its 98.65 RTP%.
Gambling sites offering this lucrative roulette variation are hard to come by, as many prefer European or American roulette, which gives the house a more favorable edge.
French Roulette might be a little intimidating to play on the casino floor, as you have to call the bets in French, but it becomes much more manageable in its online counterpart.
In this guide, you’ll find which legit online casinos actually carry the game and read about the intricacies that make it stand out from the rest.
Best French Roulette Online Casino
Unlike European and American Roulette, French Roulette is rarely offered in online casinos.
This is a shame because, in my opinion, it’s not only the one that gives you the best average returns, but it’s also the most entertaining way to enjoy roulette due to the large number of betting options.
This game is only available for real money at very few sites. However, I found one trustworthy online casino that offers the game to US players.
Slots.LV is a sister site to the more established Bovada Casino. This group has been in the business for almost 20 years, and they have a solid reputation for fair gaming, good site navigation, and reliable payouts.
This version of online French Roulette is relatively new, and B-Gaming is the software developer behind it.
You can play the demo below for free and see for yourself if it’s worth it.
| Casino | French Roulette Bet Limits | Casino Review | Visit |
|---|---|---|---|
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French Roulette Bet Limits $1-$50 | Casino Review Review | Visit PLAY NOW |
How to Play French Roulette
French roulette follows the same basic rules as its European and American counterparts—place your bets on the table and the dealer will spin the wheel to see if the ball lands on your bet.
The biggest change is within the table, where sections will be labeled in French instead of English.
- Place bet on the table
- The croupier (dealer) spins the wheel
- The ball lands in one of the 37 wheel pockets
- The croupier pays out any winnings
French Roulette Rules and Bets
Many standard wagers in European Roulette are allowed in French Roulette.
In many ways, this is an enhancement of the traditional game. Unless you’re fluent in French, getting used to the terminology below might take some.
Keep reading to learn more about all the types of bets you can make while playing French Roulette.
La Partage
The La Partage rule only applies to even-money bets. Its premise is that if the ball falls on 0, the croupier must immediately divide all even-money bets.
Half of each stake is kept by the casino, and the other half is given to the player. This simple rule effectively reduces the house edge of even wagers to 1.35%.
En Prison
This rule is actually a variation of the latter. The dealer will place a marker by all even money bets to show they are En Prison when the ball falls on 0.
What this means is that the wager is kept in place for the next spin.
If you win, you get your wager back, and if the ball hits 0 again, the process repeats again. In other words, you have a chance of getting a full refund on your initial losing wager.
Announced Bets
One distinction in French Roulette is the ability to make what are called “announced bets.”
An announced bet is one in which you announce to the croupier that you’re making a type of wager by calling out voisins du zero, jeu zero, le tiers du cylindre, or some other announced bet.
Then, you immediately place your chips in the appropriate locations.
French Roulette is often referred to as “called bets.” This is not entirely accurate because a called bet is one in which you announce your intentions to the table but do not place chips.
In many jurisdictions, this is considered playing on credit and, therefore, illegal. In French Roulette, if you hear the term called bet, you’ll know it’s referring to announced bets.
Placing Chips
People might wonder why some of the announced bets contain the exact numbers they do.
For instance, while the “neighbors of zero” bet is an accurate term, the numbers do not straddle the zero equally because nine numbers are on one side of the 0, and seven are on the other.
The reason those particular numbers are used is because they make the most sense from the perspective of placing chips on the betting grid.
A certain economy of chips is maintained by placing those particular numbers in the bet.
When discussing these bets below, we mention placing a chip on a spot. This might mean only one chip or a multiple of that chip.
Thus, to increase your bet, you must put the same multiple of chips on each spot.
Voisins du Zero Bet
The “voisins du zero” or “neighbors of zero” bet includes the roulette wheel section surrounding the zero slot.
Seventeen different numbers are included: 22-18-29-7-28-12-35-3-26-0-32-15-19-4-21-2-25.
Nine different chips are needed to make the wager. To make this bet, you place two chips on 0-2-3, one chip on the 4-7 split, one on the 12-15 split, one on the 18-21 split, one on the 19-22 split, two on the 25-26-28-29 corner, and one on the 32-35 split.
If you make this bet in an online casino, you can use the software to make it in a single click.
Jeu Zero Bet
The “Jeu Zero” or “Zero Game” bet also takes a section of the roulette wheel and places a bet on all those numbers.
It’s a smaller 8-number bet on the numbers surrounding 0. In this case, the numbers are 12-35-3-26-0-32-15.
In some places, this wager is expanded into the “zero spiel naca”, a 5-chip bet which includes an additional 1-chip straight up bet on 19.
To make this wager, you need 4 chips. One chip goes on the 0-3 split, the 12-15 split, and the 32-35 split.
Also, you place one straight-up bet on the number 26.
Le Tiers du Cylindre Bet
The “Le Tiers du Cylindre” or “third of the wheel” bet covers another large section of the roulette wheel.
In this case, the third of the wheel is a 13-number bet (a bit more than 1/3rd). The numbers range from 27 to 33 on the wheel and include 27-13-36-11-30-8-23-10-5-24-16-33.
Six chips are needed to make this bet, with one chip each placed on the splits between the 5 and 8, the 10 and 11, the 13 and 16, the 23 and 24, the 27 and 30, and the 33 and 36.
In South Africa, the “Tiers du Cylindre” bet is called the “small series” or “series 5-8”.
Orphelins Bets
The “orphelins” or “orphans” bet comprise the remaining numbers on the roulette wheel.
These represent the numbers furthest from the zero pocket, or at least outside le tiers and voisins bets.
One is a small section of three numbers (17-34-6), while the other is a section of five numbers (1-20-14-31-9).
To make the orphans bet, you’ll need five chips. One chip is a straight-up bet on 1.
The other four chips are placed on the splits between 6 and 9, 14 and 17, 17 and 20, and 31 and 34.
“And the Neighbors” Bet
Another common way to wager is to make a neighbors bet.
This is a 3-number sequence of a number plus the number on either side of that number.
It is announced as “X and the neighbors” to the croupier. If you wanted to make a 0-neighbors bet, you would say “0 and the neighbors”.
If you wanted to make a 27-neighbors bet, you would say “27 and the neighbors”. These are placed in a combination. You might say “1, 9, 14, and the neighbors,” meaning you want to bet the neighbors of the 1, the 9, and the 14.
Finals Bet
Yet another common wager is a Finals Bet. This means a set of numbers with the same final number in common: 1-11-21-31 or 4-14-24-34. In the first case, the bet is called “Final 1”. In the second bet, the wager is called “Final 4”. Final bets for 7, 8, and 9 are only 3-chip bets.
Some casinos allow split-final bets, so a player making a split-final 4-7 would place chips on the dividing line between the 4-7, 14-17, and 24-27 (and a singles bet on 34).
Full Complete Bets and Maximum Bets
One final type of wager is allowable: the full-complete bet.
The full complete bet is used by high rollers to max out the bet limits on a table. When this happens, the full-complete bet is called “the maximum”.
This stacks bets on a particular number by allowing all the possible bets one can make.
If you wagered “20 to the maximum”, you would make 12 different bets containing the number 20.
Every single permutation of bet allowed would include a 20.
40 chips would be placed on the table to complete the maximum bet. In doing so, you would max out the bet limits for that particular number. If the ball landed on the “20” slot, you would receive a huge windfall.
French Roulette Strategy
Since this is a game of chance, no strategy is used because no skill is required.
You face a house edge of 1.35%. No betting pattern or chip placement is going to change those odds. Mathematics is mathematics. Probability is weighted against a French Roulette player; that is the price of entertainment.
When you look at it in the wider sense, the strategy is picking the game that gives you the best odds, and when it comes to roulette, this is it.
No other variation will give you better returns.
Compare it with other games like slots, where a good house edge is 4-5%, and you’re talking about more than doubling the casino’s advantage.
However, there are a couple of tips and best practices you can always follow.
- Activate the La Partage Rule: This rule (if available) allows you to have insurance on your bets if the ball happens to land on 0, giving you half of your bet back. This rule is responsible for the low house edge.
- Don’t fall for gambler fallacies: Statistically, there are no “hot numbers”. All numbers on the wheels have the same odds of falling and no prior spins influence the current one.
- Budget and stick to your bankroll: A very low house edge can be a double-edged sword as it might make you fall into a false sense of complacency or, worse, a pattern of chasing losses. Set a budget and stick to it; if you happen to lose this money, walk away.
Online Free Demo
See for yourself what all the fuss is about by playing French Roulette as you would at an online casino.
My Thoughts on French Roulette
As mentioned above, this is my favorite roulette variation by a mile.
Not only are you treated to improved potential returns, but the game is so idiosyncratically French that it lends it a whole unique character and aura.
Casinos hate losing money, and the biggest downside you’ll find beyond learning bet names in the language of love is finding where you can actually play the variation for real money.
Luckily, a few online casinos have a digital version, and if you happen to come across a table on a casino floor, please indulge.
