The difference between French, European and American roulette explained
ROULETTE is an incredibly popular casino game. Even if you aren’t sure of all the rules, you probably have a good idea of how the game works.
“Roulette” comes from the French for “little wheel”.
The game has lots of potential origin stories, from being first played in Ancient China to being invented by Blaise Pascal.
The most likely true origin story is that the game derived in France in the early 18th century.
The first known use of the name “roulette” was in Bordeaux in 1716.
The game grew in popularity, despite being banned for nearly a century in French between 1836 and 1933.
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As with many games, different version have popped up ever since, with sites like Sun Bingo, Fabulous Bingo and Sun Vegas, offering a host of roulette games to play.
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However, despite the bonuses and extra features of these games, there are really only three main versions of roulette: French, European and American.
Do you know the difference between them?
Here’s how to tell them apart.
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What the differences between French roulette, European roulette and American roulette?
If you’re playing online and are not sure whether you’d like to play French, European or American roulette, or, if you want to impress people by being able to identify which version is being played, here’s what you need to know.
- Wheels
The wheel is essential to all forms of roulette. This is the open, circular, spinning wheel which has slots (“pockets”) with painted numbers inside.
In all forms of roulette, the ball is spun around the inside edge of the wheel (either by the croupier or computer generated for online games).
The game is completed (aside from settling bets) when the balls lands to sit within one of the pockets.
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Zero vs double zero
How many number pockets there are depends on which roulette format you are playing.
In French roulette and European roulette, there are 36 pockets numbered 1 to 36 (in red or black) and a green zero.
This means that there are 37 possible outcomes.
In American roulette, there is a green zero AND a green double zero.
As there is one more potential pocket for the ball to land in, there are 38 potential outcomes.
Number positions
Another difference is that while French and European roulette use the same number placements on the wheel, this is different to the number sequence used on American roulette wheels.
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- Tables
In a live game, this is the physical table upon which you’ll find the “layout” (the printed numbers and betting options on green cloth where players place their chips), the wheel and the racetrack.
A racetrack with all of the wheel’s numbers, in the same order as they appear on the wheel, is drawn onto the roulette table.
It’s positioned to be easily accessible to the croupier.
Online players get to look at the racetrack more closely and interact with it for themselves.
Number of zeros
With online games, the layout may be more prominent and central, with the wheel appearing above the layout.
The layout has all the potential betting options displayed.
That means that on French and European tables, there is one green zero.
However, on American boards, there are the options for zero and double zero.
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Language on the board
If you’re betting single, adjacent or small groups of numbers, you’re making an “inside bet”.
If you’re betting on an outcome with a large group of numbers, you’re making an “outside bet”.
You can tell if you’re playing on a French roulette table, as the outside betting options will appear in French.
“Manque” comes from the French verb “to fail”. It refers to betting on all numbers from 1 to 18 (as the outcome of the ball spin has failed to reach over 18).
“Passe” means “pass”. It refers to betting on all numbers from 19 to 36 (the ball spin has successfully passed the midway number).
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“Impair” refers to betting on all possible odd numbers.
“Pair” refers to betting on all possible even numbers.
The symbol for betting on black or red is almost universally a black diamond and a red diamond.
You may also see “P12”, “M12” and “D12” where column bets are placed.
These stand for “premiere douzaine”, “moyenne douzaine” and “dernier douzaine” – that’s first, middle or last dozen, respectively.
Betting boxes placement
Another sneaky way to tell the boards apart is where the outside bets boxes are placed.
If the top of the inside bets box is left clear, it’s an American or European table.
If there are betting boxes above the inside bets box, you’re playing on a French table.
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- Bets
As discussed above, you can make inside bets and outside bets.
However, there are a few additional options. Their availability is determined by which roulette format you’re playing.
Called bets
Called bets might also be referred to as “call bets” or “announced bets”.
They are specific betting groups that players cannot place themselves, but instead the croupier will place for players.
The croupier can use the racetrack to check the number order and place called bets.
One such bet is the “neighbours bet”. All forms of roulette allow the neighbours bet.
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That means betting on a number and its two neighbour numbers to its left and right (ie, five numbers in total).
Things differentiate when it comes to the additional called bets.
French and European roulette will let you make extra called bets (sometimes called the “French bets”):
- Tiers Du Cylindre (commonly just “Tiers”) – this is a six-chip bet that covers the 12 numbers that appear from 27 to 33 on the wheel.
- Les Voisins De Zero (“Zero’s Neighbours”) – this is a nine-chip bet the covers the 17 numbers that appear from 22 to 25 on the wheel. In the middle of this number group is zero, so it’s zero and zero’s neighbours.
- Jeu Zero (“Zero Game”) – this is a smaller version of Les Voisins De Zero, as it’s a four-chip bet. It covers the seven numbers that appear from 12 to 25 on the wheel.
- Les Orphelins (“The Orphans”) – this is, essentially, what’s left over. It's eight numbers that are split into two groups (the numbers from 1 to 9 and the numbers from 6 to 17). This is usually a five-chip bet.
American roulette tables traditionally do not offer the French bets.
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La Partage or En Prison rule
Another element to French roulette that neither European nor American roulette traditional use is the La Partage or En Prison rule.
If you have placed an even money bet (that’s red/black, odd/even and 1-18/19-36) and the ball lands on zero, you don’t necessarily lose your bet.
If the La Partage rule is in place, you’ll lose half your bet to the house, but get to keep the other half.
If the En Prison rule is in place, your bet stays on the table and is carried over to the next spin.
In the unlikely situation of a zero spinning in on the next spin (which is a 0.073% chance), the casino or online gaming site will have its own rule to decide what happens to the bets.
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- Never chase their losses
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