There
is probably not a casino in America where you
won’t find the Wheel of Fortune, also known as
the Big Wheel or Big Six, prominently displayed
and brightly lit for all to see. While it is not
one of the major casino games such as blackjack,
craps or roulette, it does have its allure and
it has found a permanent place in the casino scheme
of things. You can always find some people willing
to play it and, even though it doesn’t get terrific
action, it is still a money maker for the casinos,
and that’s why they keep it.
Its
allure is very much like the allure of a slot
machine. Because the Wheel of Fortune requires
no knowledge of strategy or odds and percentages
(indeed, anyone with the knowledge of odds and
percentages would steer a clear course far away
from this particular game) it is simplicity itself;
you just plunk your money down on one of the various
dollar amounts or symbols, watch the wheel spin,
and then you hope and, if you are religious, pray
that it lands where you wanted.
The
Wheel of Fortune has a rich history - for its
owners, not its players. While games like craps,
roulette and blackjack can be traced to the earliest
days of man’s existence and to serious pursuits
(to ascertain the will of the gods, to predict
the future, etc.), the Wheel of Fortune has always
been somewhat frivolous and can be traced to the
carnivals and sideshows that made their serpentine
way across Europe and America in the 1700s to
the mid 1900s. These carnivals consisted of rides
(animal then mechanical), freak shows with such
entertainment as bearded ladies, giants, pin heads,
midgets, lizard men, Siamese twins, feral men
and wild women, and games - often gaffed games
[gaffed means rigged] that set up and then plucked
the unwary pigeons whose attention they had attracted.
One
such game was the Wheel of Fortune. Despite the
fact that carnivals never paid off the players’
wagers at anything close to the true odds of the
bets, the carnival barkers still cheated by putting
a pedal under the betting layout so that the dealer
could stop the wheel on the number he wanted.
In this way, the dealer could lure a sucker in
by allowing him to win a few little bets and then
clobbering him when he started to put up some
serious money. Or, the dealer could allow the
wheel to stop just short of the suckers bets,
often shouting, “Oooo! Look how close you
came. You’re about to get lucky!”
The
casino version of the Wheel of Fortune is not
rigged in such an underhanded way but rather it
rigged legally because it pays back winning wagers
at less than true odds, much, much less in fact.
Some of the very worst house edges can be found
at it, anywhere from 11 percent to 24 percent.
Ouch! Yet, people play it - “Ooooo! Look
how close you came! Is someone about to get lucky?”
Answer:
Not if he plays it for any length of time!
So
how is the wheel set up and how is the game played?
The
wheel is usually six feet in diameter and stands
upright. It is divided into nine sections with
each section containing six sub-sections. The
six sub-sections are the reason why some casinos
call the game Big Six. In all, there are 54 distinct
outcomes (sometimes called “landing posts”)
possible (9 x 6 = 54), each designated by a given
denomination of paper money; be it a one, two,
five, 10 or 20 dollar bill. However, two posts
on opposite sides of the wheel have special markings,
sometimes a star, a joker, a casino logo or the
like, and these offer the highest payouts - and
the highest house edges
When
you approach the wheel, you will notice a glass-covered
counter in the front that has the same bills and
symbols as are on the wheel. You make your wager
by placing your money or chips on the bill or
symbol of your choice. The wheel is then spun
and where it lands (usually the casino bank account!)
determines your payoff. If you bet on the one-dollar
bill, you are paid one dollar for every dollar
you wagered. (You bet $10, you win $10.) If it
lands on the five-dollar bill, you are paid five
dollars for every dollar you wager. (You bet $10,
you win $50.) Simple.
Unfortunately,
the very best bet at most Wheels of Fortune, the
$1 bill, hits only 24 times out of 54 possible
decisions. That means you lose five times for
every four wins, yet, the casino will only pay
$4 for a $4 wager, not $5, as the true odds indicate,
resulting in an 11 percent edge for the house.
Yikes! That’s for Las Vegas and most other
casinos in America. However, in Atlantic City,
the $1 only hits 23 times out of 54, for a house
edge of almost 15 percent. Double yikes!
The
following chart explains the total number of possible
decisions for each “landing post or bill,”
the payoff, and the casino edge. Since the Las
Vegas Wheel of Fortune is the norm, Atlantic City
is in parenthesis.
Symbol
Total # Payoff Casino Edge
$1
24 (AC: 23) 1:1 11.1% (AC: 14.8%)
$2
15 2:1 16.6%
$5
7 (AC: 8) 5:1 22.2% (AC: 11.1)
$10
4 10:1 18.5%
$20
2 20:1 22.2%
joker
1 40:1 (AC: 45:1) 24% (AC: 14.8%)
symbol
1 40:1 (AC: 45:1) 24% (AC: 14.8%)
As
you can clearly see, with the Wheel of Fortune,
or Wheel of Misfortune, all the bets are bad,
badder, baddest and puke producing. However, like
any form of wagering, there are better “bad”
bets and worse “bad” bets. If, for
some unaccountable reason, you are compelled to
place a wager on the Wheel of Fortune (like say
a deranged criminal is threatening to pop you
if you don’t bet the wheel), and you are
in Atlantic City, put your money on the $5. If
you are in Vegas, put your money on the $1. If
you are sane, then go to another game.
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