Why are online casinos running scared of French roulette?

In terms of the most popular online casino games, roulette is second only to slots. And while online casino happily offer players many variations on the classic roulette versions of the American and European roulette wheels, French roulette is notable by its absence from the vast majority of online casinos. In fact you may well never have heard of it.

There's a reason for its relative obscurity in the online gambling sector, despite the fact that it is very popular amongst experienced and high rolling players in real land based casinos. It has to do with the house edge and average expected returns. Here's how.

As you may know European roulette has a single green zero while American roulette has the green zero and a second green 'double zero'. This skews the fundamental even money nature of roulette slightly in favour of the house - take an apparently even money bet such as betting on black, the split on the wheel between red and black is just less than 50/50 because of the single green. In American roulette the house edge is even greater because there are now two greens.

The house edge in American roulette is 5.25%.  In European roulette the house edge is 2.70%.  But French roulette actually has an edge of only 1.35% for even money bets.  This is due to offering a bonus called 'La Partage', which means 'The share' whereby if the ball lands in the zero the money is split with the casino and player getting 50%.   This edge is deemed unacceptable by most online casino operators as it doesn't even cover their overheads.  

It begs the question though, why is a house edge of 1.35% (or less sometimes) tolerable to the  casinos in online slots and online blackjack but not in French roulette?

It is because blackjack and slots, and specifically video poker, combine elements of skill and luck whereas roulette is entirely based on luck.  This means the even money bet in French roulette of 1.35% house edge will always stay at 1.35%, but in the other games mentioned their nominally low house edge usually grows a fair bit depending on the skill of the player and to keep that house edge down a player has to play consistently perfect strategy.

Most players do not employ perfect strategies and so in real terms the house edge for casino games involving skill are much higher than the published amount.  So you can see that with a static unwavering house edge of 1.35%, it is not in the financial interests of the casinos to offer French roulette, much to the annoyance of seasoned roulette players.

Strategy guides for most online casino games are available on our site so you can hone your skills with them if you are looking to develop a perfect strategy.

We did manage to locate one online casino that offered French roulette and that is Ladbrokes casino. You can download their software and play for free with no deposit necessary if you want to try out French roulette and see how it differs from its American and European counterparts. And of course you can play for real if you want to take maximum advantage of that all time low house edge ;)

Where to play and where not to play

Presumably Ladbrokes can afford to offer French roulette and make a loss on it because they are such a huge company in the UK with hundreds of shops:

Ladbrokes casino

WARNING:  Ladbrokes is the only casino we have found that offers genuine French roulette with the 1.35% house edge.  We have found several others that claim to offer it, such as 32 Red and Spin Palace, but they do not have the 'La Partage' rule which means it is simply regular European roulette, brushed up with a 'French feel' or French betting terms.  If you find an online casino offering French roulette then please check the game description carefully to see if they offer the La Partage rule or not.