Live casino game shows: Crazy Time, Monopoly Live and the rest, by RTP

Live casino game shows return between about 90% and 96% of what you bet, and the number depends less on the game than on the bet you place inside it. In Crazy Time, the plain "1" returns the most, 96.08%, and the bonus bets everyone watches for return less. In Dream Catcher, the gap between the best and worst bet is almost six percentage points. Below: how each major show pays, the return of each bet, why the 10,000x moments are rare, and what happens to your money when you cover the whole wheel.

This piece covers game shows only. For live blackjack, roulette and baccarat tables, how studios work and how live games count towards bonus wagering, see our live dealer casino guide.

How a game show pays

Almost every show runs on the same engine: a big wheel, a host, and a bet on where the wheel stops. Number segments pay fixed odds, a "5" pays 5 to 1, a "10" pays 10 to 1. Bonus segments start a second round with its own multipliers. Many shows also add random multipliers before the spin.

The return of each bet (RTP) comes from two things: how many segments carry it, and how much it pays when it lands. Payouts are set so that every bet returns a bit less than you stake over time. Evolution, which makes every show below, publishes one headline RTP per game on its website and lists the per-bet figures in each game's help panel inside the casino lobby. Where we quote per-bet figures below, they come from independent calculations (named in each section) that match Evolution's headline numbers.

For a yardstick: a bet at a European roulette table returns 97.30%, as our online roulette guide explains. Every game show bet in this article returns less.

Crazy Time

The 54-segment wheel is split, per the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board's rules for the game, into 21 segments of 1, 13 of 2, 7 of 5, 4 of 10, 4 Coin Flip, 2 Cash Hunt, 2 Pachinko and 1 Crazy Time. That makes nine bonus segments out of 54, the "1 in 6" bonus chance Evolution quotes.

Before each spin, a Top Slot above the wheel picks one bet and one multiplier. If the two line up, that bet's payout is multiplied (Evolution lists a 50x maximum). The bonus rounds:

• Coin Flip: two multipliers, one per side of a coin; Evolution says it can pay up to 5,000x.
• Cash Hunt: you pick one of 108 hidden multipliers.
• Pachinko: a puck drops down a pegged wall; a "Double" landing doubles the board, up to a 10,000x cap.
• Crazy Time: a giant virtual wheel, up to 20,000x.

Evolution states the game's RTP as 96.08%, with a range of 94.41% to 96.08% across bets. CasinoScores' per-bet breakdown:

CasinoScores' Pachinko figure sits just under the 94.41% floor Evolution gives, so treat it as approximate. The pattern is the point: the further a bet is from the plain numbers, the less it returns.

One thing the table hides. Without the Top Slot, a $1 bet on "1" returns $2 on 21 spins out of 54, which is about 78 cents per dollar. The Top Slot and its occasional multiplier carry the rest of the 96.08%. You are paying, a little, for the chance of a multiplied hit.

Monopoly Live

Monopoly Live uses the same 54-segment idea. Evolution's page lists 48 number segments (1, 2, 5 and 10), 2 CHANCE segments, 3 "2 ROLLS" and 1 "4 ROLLS". CHANCE gives either a cash prize or a multiplier for the next spin. The ROLLS segments send Mr. Monopoly around a 3D board for at least two or four dice rolls, collecting prizes, with an extra roll on doubles.

CasinoScores puts the best bet at 96.23% and the range of house edges at 3.77% to 8.70%, so returns of 91.30% to 96.23% depending on the bet. Its per-number table did not reconcile with Evolution's segment layout, so we do not reproduce it. The same rule as Crazy Time applies: the low numbers return the most, the bonus bets less.

Monopoly Big Baller is a different game under the same brand: a bingo-style draw of 20 balls out of 60 onto 5x5 cards, with multipliers placed before the draw. Evolution's page gives no RTP for it.

Dream Catcher

The original money wheel, and the simplest. Evolution's page lists 54 segments: 52 numbered 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 or 40, plus a silver 2x and a gold 7x multiplier. Land on a multiplier and the wheel spins again with the multiplier applied; multipliers stack if they repeat. Per Wizard of Odds:

The 10 is the best bet on the wheel and the 5, right next to it, is one of the worst. The 40, the one that looks exciting, returns the least.

Funky Time

Evolution's newest big wheel has 64 segments, per CasinoScores: 28 of "1", 24 letter segments (8 each across the PLAY, FUNK and TIME groups), and 12 bonus segments split between Bar (6), Disco (3), Stayin' Alive (2) and VIP Disco (1). Evolution gives letters a 25 to 1 default payout before multipliers. Stayin' Alive climbs a 20-level ladder towards 10,000x.

Funky Time's spread is narrow. No bet is far below the others, and none beats 96%.

Lightning Roulette

Not a wheel-of-fortune show, but it sits in the same lobby section. It is a single-zero roulette wheel where one to five Lucky Numbers get a 50x to 500x multiplier each round. The cost: an unmultiplied straight-up win pays 29 to 1 instead of the usual 35 to 1. Evolution says all other bets (red/black, dozens, splits) pay as standard roulette, so they return the usual 97.30% on a single-zero wheel. Evolution's page gives no RTP for straight-ups; if you play numbers, check the help panel.

Why the top multipliers are rare

The headline figures, 10,000x and 20,000x, are maximums, not averages. In Crazy Time, the Crazy Time segment is 1 of 54, so it lands on about 1.9% of spins, roughly once every 54 spins on average and with no schedule. Reaching the top of that bonus then needs the best result inside it, and a Top Slot multiplier on the same segment on the same spin. Each step is a fraction of a fraction.

The shows are built so the near miss looks close. The wheel slows past the 500x segment, the puck brushes the Double slot. A near miss is a miss: the next spin has no memory of the last one, and the segment is just as rare after ten dry spins as after one.

Bet-spreading: what covering the wheel costs

Many players spread chips across several bets so that something lands on almost every spin. It feels safer. The maths says it changes how often you win, not how much you lose.

Take Crazy Time with $1 on each of the eight bets, $8 a spin. Your expected loss is the house edge of each bet added together: about 37 cents a spin, or 4.6% of what you stake. Put the same $8 on "1" alone and the expected loss is about 31 cents, 3.9%.

Covering everything also produces "wins" that lose money. When the wheel stops on 1, the most common result, your $1 on 1 returns $2 and the other $7 is gone: a $6 loss on a winning spin. Over 100 spins at $8, that is $800 staked, about $37 expected to go to the house, every single spin showing a win, and most of them leaving you behind.

Spreading is a valid way to make a session feel steadier. It is not a way to lower the cost. The only lever that lowers the cost is choosing the bets with the higher RTP, and staking less.

Before you play

• Check the help panel. Each show lists its per-bet RTP in the game. Casinos can carry different versions, so read the figure in the lobby you play in.
• Bonus wagering. Live games often count 0% or a low rate towards wagering. See our wagering requirements guide and the casino's bonus terms.
• Set a time limit. The shows are designed to keep you watching for the next bonus.

You must be 19 or older to gamble online (18 in Quebec and Manitoba). Free, confidential help for every province and territory we serve is on our responsible gambling page.