How Do the La Partage and En Prison Rules Work in Roulette?

The house edge on roulette is relatively low anyway if you are playing European roulette; it’s just 2.70%. However, the La Partage and En Prison rules reduce this edge even further making the game much more rewarding for players.

You won’t find these rules available on all games, which makes sense considering that they benefit the player more than the casino, but where you do find them you should be aware that they only apply to even money bets, so those that pay out at 1:1. These bets include red or black, odd or even, and 1-18 or 19-36.

Both of these rules come into play when the ball lands on the zero and there are even money bets in play, but they both work slightly differently. Oh, and if you haven’t already figured it out yet, La Partage is French for ‘the divide’ and En Prison translates as ‘in prison’.

What is the La Partage Rule?

There is a clue in the name here.

The La Partage rule comes into play when a player has made an even money bet and the ball lands on zero. Without the La Partage rule this would simply be a loss and the player’s stake would be forfeit, but with the rule in play the stake is instead cut in half.

The house keeps one half and the other half goes back to the player, limiting the loss and making a huge difference to the house edge, cutting it in half to just 1.35%.

Over the long term this makes a huge difference to the player’s bank roll.

Remember though that this doesn’t apply to any other kind of bet on the table. Any splits, straight ups, corners, rows, or anything else will be lost if the ball lands on the zero.

What is the En Prison Rule?

There is an even bigger clue in the name for this one.

You are less likely to find the En Prison rule in play than the La Partage rule but it is probably the more beneficial of the two if you find yourself with that choice. Alternatively, some games allow the player to choose the En Prison rule over the La Partage rule, but again, this is rarer to see.

To benefit from the En Prison rule you need the same set of circumstances to occur – an even money bet placed and the ball to land on zero. Instead of getting half of your stake back though, it is held in place, or ‘in prison’.

There it will stay until the next spin of the wheel, at which point the outcome of your bet will be decided. If the second spin of the wheel lands in your favour then your stake is returned but you win nothing; if the second spin of the wheel does not land in your favour then your stake is lost.

In effect then, this can be seen as an ‘extra life’ for your even money bets. Again, it will not apply to any other bet type.

As an example, if you bet £5 on red but the ball lands on black then your bet would be in prison. The wheel would spin on the next game and if it landed on red this time then you would get your £5 back.

Questions About the La Partage and En Prison Rules

There are one or two points that may need underlining or clarifying on this subject: