Gambling is an activity that humankind invented millennia ago, and it likely ranks as one of the oldest forms of entertainment. In the past, it has had somewhat of a taboo nature, mainly due to the prevalence of religion around the globe, whose most expressions frowned upon people betting. Yet, today, wagering fun has managed to find a place in most people’s lives, evidenced by statistics showing that around 26% of the world’s population gambles and the worldwide gambling market now boasts a size of $702.45 billion.
When it comes to luck-based games, casino products dominate this landscape. And one of the best-known and revered options from this batch is roulette, a game that many believe got invented in the 18th century by French mathematician Blaise Pascal. The belief is that this former child prodigy, born in Clermont-Ferrand, came up with it while seeking to develop a perpetual motion machine.
The list of French gambling games is not long, but this enticing country on the west side of the Old Continent, famous for its wines, gourmet food, and fashion, technically gave birth to multiple casino classics. It is the place of origin of Faro, the descendent of poker, and Vingt-et-un, the predecessor of blackjack, plus baccarat. However, concerning casino gaming, roulette is the pick that is most associated with France, even though it has Italian roots, deriving from Biribi.
Wheel betting action gained a foothold in France in the late 1700s when the rules for its standard version got established. On account of its French genesis, the game’s lexicon has remained rich in phrases from the language of love. Hence, below, readers can check an extensive list of roulette terms. These are ones that can improve their understanding of this perceived romantic system of communication and give others the perception that they are, in fact, experienced roulette gamblers.
French Betting Terms
Unfortunately, the list of bets one can make in any roulette game is not extensive enough for their memorization to get categorized as an even modest French class. That said, multiple phrases have remained in the game from back yonder France, giving newbies to the language a unique vocabulary enhancement.
First, we kick off the inventory by stating that the person organizing the wheel betting gets traditionally referred to as the croupier. In North America, he gets called the dealer. Both words mean the employee that oversees play at roulette tables. Initially, this term meant a person that stood behind a gambler with wads of cash ready to back him up in sessions financially. Thus, the origin of the title croupier is from croupe. Meaning – riding behind on horseback. But, its connotation changed over time.
Regarding betting phrases, roulette utilizes carr for a corner wager, cheval for a split one, colonne for a column bet, and en plein for a straight-up gamble.
Orphelins is something that gamblers will probably hear only in European casinos and means betting on a specific group of numbers in a section. These are neighbors on the wheel. Tiers du cylindre is something that is also often only called out in UK, Italian, French, and Spanish venues. It is a wager on a specific batch of numbers that can get classified as paired neighbors on a roulette board layout. Voisins du Zero customarily gets used when a gambler chooses a section of numbers adjacent to zero, and Sixainne is French for a six-line bet.
La Partage & En Prison
La partage and en prison are rules that are the distinctive features of most French roulette tables. That is a variant found in distinct gaming establishments, primarily throughout Europe and at online casinos. Though, concerning the latter, it is chiefly available in the RNG (random number generator) format.
French roulette also implements a wheel with thirty-seven-numbered pockets and a green/zero one. The board layout here is similar to the European variant, as it has twelve rows of three numbers in a grid, with the figures alternating red and black.
The la partage stipulation means that when a gambler places an even-money bet, and the little white ball lands on zero, he gets half his stake back. La partage can get translated into – to divide. En prison, meaning – in prison, is a French roulette condition that provides players a re-spin of sorts. Instead of getting half their stake back when the ball lands in the zero position, their bet will remain in place for an extra spin, where they have a chance to get a refund.
The French roulette layout has four different even-money spots that bear French names. Manque (1-18), meaning failure, gets used because the ball has not managed to pass eighteen.
Passe – pass, because it has passed eighteen. Impair, translated to odd numbers, and pair, referring to even-numbered positions.
That, along with the subheading above, is about the French roulette lexicon one needs to know before playing this version. One that many believe is the classiest casino game of all.
Roulette Variations to Consider
As mentioned above, the regular iteration of roulette is the one that populates most European locales, featuring only one green pocket, from which comes its house edge of 2.7% on even-money wagers. The one that populates American venues has two green/zero positions and, naturally, has a house advantage of 5.26%.
Due to the la partage and en prison rules, the casino’s upper hand in the French variant is half the one in the European version, making it the most lucrative roulette game on the market. Sadly, it is hard to find it at brick-and-mortar gambling properties. Therefore, it is wise to seek it out online.
