French Roulette Losing Popularity
February 17th, 2011 | Published in Inrodution
The most popular games at an online casino are always reported. However, popularity is subjective and depends on who you are asking. French Roulette is a highly popular game among online gamblers, but is not popular with online gaming operators. As a result, many online casinos do not or no longer offer French Roulette but continue to provide user’s access to American and European Roulette. Those that do offer French Roulette only provide a single game.
The Numbers
All roulette players are aware of the three variants of roulette and their related house edges. American Roulette boasts a house edge of 5.26 percent while European Roulette has an edge of 2.70 percent. French Roulette claims a house edge of only 1.35 percent on even money wagers and 2.70 percent for all other bets. Online gaming operators argue the 1.35 percent is much too low for them to cover costs and therefore do not offer it on their site.
The Player’s Argument
The argument for players is that all online casinos offer various blackjack and video poker variants with house edge less than 1 percent. This is significantly lower than all roulette variants. Why is there are problem with French Roulette then?
The Operators Argument
The reason lies with the actual gameplay of each contest. Roulette is a game built on luck alone. Any player that posts an even-money bet in French Roulette will receive an average return of 98.65 percent over the long term. Therefore, the casino will never make more than $1.35 for every $100 placed on an even-money bet.
On the other hand, the game of blackjack entails luck and skill. For example, if a specific blackjack variant boasts a house edge of 0.5 percent and the player bets will perfect skill, he will have a return of 99.5 percent over the long term. However, most players do not wager with perfect skill, therefore, there is much more variance. As the skill level decreases so does the average return. Bad blackjack players can end with a return of less than 90 percent.
While the house edge of blackjack may be less than 1 percent with perfect skill, it is more realistic to estimate the house will acquire $3 for every $100 wagered based on the average player. However, there is much less variance with French Roulette and therefore players betting even-money will see a return of 98.65 percent. Therefore, it does not make financial sense for online gaming sites to offer French Roulette.

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