Hints and Tips For Playing Big Wheel Six
Big Wheel Six is also known as The Big Six or the Wheel of Fortune. It is a popular unequal game of chance played worldwide. It is more commonly found in live casinos, but many online casinos offer the game.
The Big Wheel Six game is more popular in Las Vegas and Atlantic City casinos than anywhere else. This is because the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand venues adhere to strict rules that limit the house edge. For example, every Big Wheel Six outcome has a 7.69% house edge in Australia. However, the house edge for some Vegas editions is as high as 19.84%.
Big Wheel Six Rules
The simplicity of Big Wheel Six is what draws punters to the game. The wheel is divided into a number of equal segments. Pins or spokes separate these segments. The player or dealer spins the wheel, and a pointer determines the prize when the wheel stops spinning.
A typical Big Wheel Six has seven paying segments. These are usually $1, $2, $5, $10, $20, and two wilds. The money segments payout the sum shown, but the wilds award much larger prizes. Of course, the higher-value segments have a much lower chance of landing. The table below shows a traditional payout structure for Vegas games.
| Segment | Pays | Chance of winning |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1:1 | 44.44% |
| 2 | 2:1 | 27.78% |
| 5 | 5:1 | 12.96% |
| 10 | 10:1 | 7.41% |
| 20 | 20:1 | 3.7% |
| Wild #1 | 40:1 | 1.85% |
| Wild #2 | 40:1 | 1.85% |
This arrangement gives the game a house edge of 19.84%. It does not take a genius to figure out Big Wheel Six is one of the worst bets on the casino floor.
The Game in the United Kingdom and Australia
We mentioned earlier that Big Wheel Six is better in the United Kingdom and Australia. This is because regulators’ rules dictate a lower house edge for venues. Australian editions come on a wheel of at least 1.5 meters in diameter and have 52 segments. This is the payout structure for games in the UK and Australia.
| Symbol | No. Segment | Probability of winning | UK odds | UK edge | Aus oddsAus edge | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | 1 out of 52 | 1.9% | 50-to-1 | 1.9% | 47-to-1 | 7.7% |
| A | 1 out of 52 | 1.9% | 50-to-1 | 1.9% | 47-to-1 | 7.7% |
| A | 2 out of 52 | 3.9% | 20-to-1 | 19.2% | 23-to-1 | 7.7% |
| A | 4 out of 52 | 7.7% | 10-to-1 | 15.4% | 11-to-1 | 7.7% |
| A | 8 out of 52 | 15.4% | 5-to-1 | 7.7% | 5-to-1 | 7.7% |
| A | 12 out of 52 | 23.1% | 3-to-1 | 7.7% | 3-to-1 | 7.7% |
| A | 24 out of 52 | 46.2% | 1-to-1 | 7.7% | 1-to-1 | 7.7% |
Tips For Winning More From This Game
Big Wheel Six is a game of chance, which means there is zero skill on the player’s part. Players have only two choices: how much to bet and which of the seven bets to place. The game is slightly more complicated than a scratch card.
Your best bet is playing on British or Australian-governed wheels. These have the lowest house edge, which means you lose less. That is what the game is all about. Betting $10 per spin on an Aussie wheel sees you lose $0.77 of each bet. Fifty spins an hour costs you $38.50 per hour. Anyone who reads out online pokies reviews know we are not fans of machines with a 4% or higher edge.
Stick to short odds bets if you do play Big Wheel Six away from Australia. These also have the lowest edge for the house.
The game is fine for the occasionally punt, but there are better options out there for doing this. Would you play a pokie with a 92.3% Return to Player (RTP)? We hope the answer is a resounding no.
