The short version
- European roulette costs 2.70% on every bet. La partage cuts that to 1.35% on even-money bets.
- When zero hits, you get half your even-money stake back instead of losing all of it.
- En prison is a different mechanism with the same result. Both are worth seeking out by name.
There are three roulette wheels in general circulation and they are priced very differently.
American roulette has a zero and a double zero. House edge: 5.26%. There is no reason to play it if either alternative is available.
European roulette has a single zero. House edge: 2.70% on every bet on the layout.
French roulette uses the same single-zero wheel, but adds a rule that applies to the even-money bets — red/black, odd/even, high/low. That rule is called la partage, and it takes the edge on those bets down to 1.35%.
What la partage does
On a normal single-zero wheel, a €10 bet on red loses entirely when the zero comes up.
Under la partage — literally "the sharing" — the zero splits the bet. You lose half and get half back. Your €10 becomes €5 rather than nothing.
The zero comes up one spin in thirty-seven. Recovering half your stake on those spins is worth exactly half of the total house edge, which is why 2.70% becomes 1.35%.
The rule applies only to the even-money bets. Straight-up numbers, splits, corners, columns and dozens still lose outright to the zero and still cost 2.70%.
En prison: the same idea, differently staged
Some tables use en prison instead. When zero hits, your even-money bet is not lost — it is locked in place for one more spin. Win that spin and you get your original stake back with no winnings; lose it and the bet is gone.
Mathematically this works out to the same 1.35%, assuming the table lets you take half back instead if you prefer. It simply takes longer and feels more dramatic.
What the difference is worth
At €1 a spin and 50 spins an hour — a realistic pace for a live wheel:
- American roulette: about €2.63 an hour
- European roulette: about €1.35 an hour
- French roulette, even-money bets: about €0.68 an hour
A €50 bankroll lasts roughly 19 hours on an American wheel and roughly 74 hours on French even-money bets. Identical game, identical ball, identical experience.
Finding it
French roulette is labelled as such in most online casino lobbies, usually with the layout in French — Pair/Impair, Rouge/Noir, Manque/Passe. Live dealer sections often carry it under names like French Roulette Gold or Roulette Française.
Where a table is not labelled French, the rule is still sometimes present. Open the game info panel and look for "la partage" or "en prison" in the rules text. If neither appears, the even-money bets cost the standard 2.70%.
The catch worth naming
La partage only rewards you for making even-money bets. If what you enjoy about roulette is covering numbers and corners and chasing a 35:1 payout, the rule gives you nothing and a French table costs you exactly what a European one does.
That is fine — those bets have their own appeal, and the 2.70% is the same across the layout. But if red/black is how you play anyway, playing it on a French table rather than a European one is free money, and playing it on an American wheel is throwing away four times the cost for no reason at all.
