Perhaps the biggest advantage of French roulette is the increased odds it offers to the players. French roulette odds are higher due to the fact that French roulette wheel features lower number of the colored pockets representing numbers - 37 (numbers 1 to 36 plus a single slot for zero) instead of the 38 in American roulette (36 plus '0' and '00').

Rules to reduce house edge

French roulette odds basically resemble the European roulette odds as far as both variants of roulette games feature the same number of the pockets on the wheel, and the construction of the wheel is quite the same in both roulette variations. The house edge for both French and European roulette makes only about 2.7% (just compare it to the 5.26% in the American roulette game!).

To decrease the house edge even more, French roulette rules introduce two highly advantageous additional rules: La Partage and En Prison. These rules that increase the French roulette odds significantly concern even money bets and come into effect if zero is the outcome of the spin. With these rules applied, the house edge is reduced to about 1.35%.

• According to the La Partage rule, the player is able to get back 50% of his or her even money bet in case the result of the spin is zero.
• En Prison rule allows the player to postpone the even money bet for the next spin of the wheel. If the next player's bet wins, he or she gets back the initial bet, otherwise all money is lost.

French roulette betting possibilities

The player is able to make all sorts of bets in French roulette. These are the common inside and outside bets and also additional call or announced bets made on certain combinations of numbers specific for French roulette wheel.

Inside bets are made either on a single number or on groups of numbers depending on their placement on the roulette table layout.

• Straight bet on a single number pays out at 35 to 1 (zero is not taken into consideration, otherwise French roulette odds would make 36 to 1).
• Split bet on two numbers placed next to each other on the layout is paid at 17 to 1.
• Street bet (three-number bet) pays out 11 to 1.
• Corner bet (four numbers) pays out 8 to 1.
• Line bet on 6 numbers pays out 5 to 1.

Outside bets are bets on larger groups of numbers:

• Even money bets - Black-Red, Odd-Even, Low (numbers 1 to 18)-High (numbers 19 to 36) paid at 1 to 1
• Columns (Colonnes) (each of the three vertical rows of numbers on the layout) and Dozens (Douzaines) (1st, 2nd and 3rd 12 numbers) paid at 2 to 1.