Big Six Wheel Game of Chance
Big Six wheel is a wheel game of chance that is legally played in licensed UK casinos since May 13th, 2002. This game is also known as the Big Six, and is a game of chance played with the help of large vertical spinning wheel.
The wheel itself is divided into equal segments (usually 52) separated by pins or spokes, each one representing some number. The dealer spins the wheel and as soon as it stops the winning segment is the one pointed by a pointer made of flexible piece of leather or rubber. This pointer rubs against the wheel making it slow down and stop. Players wager on symbols and if won – get the win according to the payouts and placed bet.
Variations:
The game is very popular nowadays and there are lots of variations that differ mostly by symbols on the wheel segments and by the payouts.
Money Wheel
Money Wheel is the most popular US version of the Big Six. The symbols on the wheel are money bills - $1, $2, $5, $10 and $20 and two extra symbols a casino logo and a joker, which both appear only once on the wheel. The bills payout according to the value of the bill, e.g. $1 pays 1 to 1, $2 pays 2 to 1, $20 pays 20 to 1. Special symbols payout either 40 or 45 to 1.
Casino advantage for this game is the highest in comparison to all the other casino games. US edge for $1 is 11.1% while on the joker it is over 24%. Australian version offers house edge of 7.69% for all bets with payouts 47:1, 23:1, 11:1, 5:1, 3:1 and 1:1.
Dice Wheel
The game is played with a wheel like the one on the picture. As you can see, each of the 54 segments has three dice with numbers. Triples (2-2-2; 4-4-4) and doubles like 2, 1, 1; 2, 2, 1; 4, 3, 3; 5, 4, 4; 6, 5, 5; and 6, 6, 3 appear four times each. Two combinations of 3, 2, 1; and 6, 5, 4 appear three times each.
Player bets on a single number and the dealer spins the wheel. The outcome of the wheel pays depending on how many times the number player bet on appears on the winning segment. One match pays 1 to 1; Double match pays 2 to 1 and triple match pays 3 to 1.
The outcome of the game produces following odds:
- 7 possible segments when only 1 die will match
- 4 possible segments when 2 dice will match
- 4 possible segments when 3 dice will match
Considering the payouts, this game provides the expected loss of 22.2%.
This game is very rarely seen in casinos, however it is often a part of carnival games at fund-raisers. There can be also a Big-Nine wheel with 5 dice on each segment.
UK, Australia and New Zealand Rules Comparison
Legal version of the game in UK, Australia and New Zealand provides a wheel is not less than 1.5 metres in diameter, with at least 52 segments with one of the 7 symbols.
Symbol | Segments | Odds | Payouts UK | House Odds UK | Payouts AUS & NZ | House Odds AUS & NZ |
A | 1 in 52 | 1.9% | 50 to 1 | 1.9% | 47 to 1 | 7.7% |
B | 1 in 52 | 1.9% | 50 to 1 | 1.9% | 47 to 1 | 7.7% |
C | 2 in 52 | 3.9% | 20 to 1 | 19.2% | 23 to 1 | 7.7% |
D | 4 in 52 | 7.7% | 10 to 1 | 15.4% | 11 to 1 | 7.7% |
E | 8 in 52 | 15.4% | 5 to 1 | 7.7% | 5 to 1 | 7.7% |
F | 12 in 52 | 23.1% | 3 to 1 | 7.7% | 3 to 1 | 7.7% |
G | 24 in 52 | 46.2% | 1 to 1 | 7.7% | 1 to 1 | 7.7% |
In the table above you can see various payouts, odds of winning and symbols (A-G) on UK, AUS and NZ game variations. The letters A-G stand for symbols on the segments.
