Electric Tri-Wheel Gaming Wheel Network

Gaming Studio, Inc.

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Lotto Concept

The Minnesota Tri-Wheel® has been in play in Minnesota since 1987 and in North Dakota since 1992. In both states, the mechanical wheel is spun by hand and a winner is determined by which segment of the wheel the pointer, at the top, indicates when it stops spinning. The Tri-Wheel payouts are the same in both states. The way players indicate where and how much they wish to bet is quite different in the two states. In North Dakota, players sit around a table and place chips on sectors of a felt laydown. At the end of the night of play in North Dakota, the chip flow is reconciled with cash in the drop box and in the cash bank. This accounting is not nearly as comprehensive as in Minnesota. The biggest exposure to trouble with both North Dakota and Minnesota, is the hand spun wheel. The wheel itself can change balance characteristics daily with changes in the sites humidity. Then, there is the problem of intentionally spinning a wheel to a certain outcome. Wheels are great displays of random outcome - slowing with rising anticipation. However, they are also vulnerable in the hands of highly skilled spinners.

In Minnesota, players use chips to acquire as many serial numbered tickets as they wish to bet on the very next spin. They mark the back of the tickets with their unique number or other identifier and place the tickets in one or several of the more than 100 slots in a table associated with the numbers on the wheel. You can see such a table here. The tickets that are used in Minnesota need to be secured and recorded less players access them and begin to slip them onto the table. Once the wheel stops, all of the losing tickets are extracted from the associated slots in the table. They are ripped and discarded. The winning tickets are removed from the slots one at a time and marked as to how much they will be paid. The wheel operator pays, with chips, the wins and stores the winning tickets. At the end of the night of operation, a reconciliation report is prepared that accounts for all of the tickets sold, the chip flow, cash drop box and the cash bank. All should point to the same financial outcome. This process is terrifically labor intensive and the tickets themselves cost over 2¢ each for the organization to buy - not counting freight in.

We can solve several problems with electronic wheels coupled with more efficient and secure betting systems. This can be done while saving organizations money and providing greater regulatory oversight to both organizational management and jurisdictional regulatory officials. In Minnesota, electronic wheels are already authorized in statute; however, the ticketing system remains one of the most inefficient and expensive processes. Thus, without a correction of the ticketing system, the electronic wheels are unlikely to be affordable.

As the originator of the wheels with table games in Minnesota and North Dakota, Gaming Studio, Inc. would like to provide two styles of modern wheel games that are more secure, less expensive and more easily regulated. First, we would seek authorization that would allow for a passive electronic wheel network that would operate simulated spins every 4 or 5 minutes with the signals going from a jurisdictionally centralized server directing the same random outcome throughout the state. Players would load their betting choices, including amounts, onto the centralized server through a process of scanning either the paper form or the QR code on a mobile bet planning and selection device. Once a player has paid for their bets and the upload was complete, an on-site terminal printer would print their official paper ticket for as many spins as they chose to play. One paper ticket could replace literally a hundred tickets used now. Charitable gaming sites in small and rural towns would not need to have paid staff on-site to take the money and make the payouts. Every ticket would be known and every payout is directed by the on-site terminal for such tickets. Low volume locations can now participate.

Higher volume urban locations where the table games have become a social venue will see the advantage of our having established a central computer network for the passive spins. Electronic multi-touch table surfaces will have electronic wheels directly dedicated to each table that provides electronic spins on operator demand, not the every four or five minutes of wall non-table units. The digital surface table utilizes virtual tickets or chips reducing paper use over the existing table by better than 99%. The only paper consumed in the digital table is the cashout receipt that is taken to the jar cashier or someone designated to pay such receipts on the site. See more here.

To Legislators: Minnesota - we need the changes in ticket definitions and other factors that are tied to a ticket, given that one ticket could now be the equivalent of a hundred tickets. We would like to be able to place symbols on an electronic wheel, so long as those symbols are discernible. We also need to begin offering an upgrade to the very inefficient, expensive and cumbersome Tri-Wheel paddletable that Richardson designed back in 1986 and which has become prohibitively expensive to produce and operate. see legislative history and current proposed bill here.

To licensed charitable organizations, we thank your trade association, Allied Charities of Minnesota (ACM) for their endorsement of the pending legislation. Electronic paddle wheels were authorized in 2012 and we hope that passage of this legislation with modifications to paddle tickets and the paddle table will actually allow us to act on that authorization - presenting our electronic wheel games.

To Licensed Distributors: If you are interested in participating we would welcome working with you, especially those who help us win authorization.

Thank You Allied Charities of Minnesota for making our legislation a priority in 2019

A needed upgrade to wheel games in Minnesota.

Hope you enjoy our new editions to our past wheel games........

Minnesota

Bets for the coming spin are not accepted after this time.

Sequential spin number for this day.

The three columns show the past winning numbers in the order of last on top. The fourth column (right) shows where it applied to odd or even.

These black disks with the red H in the center indicate “House Numbers” for purposes of “Odd” and “Even.” In other words, both “Odd” and “Even” wagers lose when a number whose segment contains the red “H” wins.

Every 4 or 5 minutes the wheel goes into a simulated spin

When the wheel stops, the winning segment will be illuminated as shown above for Blue 23, Yellow 10 and Orange 6.

Electric Tri-Wheel Network - Ancillary Betting Display

The betting display is meant to be of a similar size as the main display above. It hangs on the wall of the bar providing everyone with a view of how others are betting in that bar. We are trying to provide some of the same social sense of how the game is going that people sitting around a table get. In addition to seeing where other players are betting, you can see how many other players are in play. The numbers on the chips are dollars, rounded up to the next whole dollar. As the wheel spins, all of the possible winning locations, except for the multi-ring combos will light up as the wheel passes each segment on the wheel. By doing this we provide a bit of a light show but more importantly players get another image of how their wagers may be coming close - or not - to winning. The display is showing results for Blue 23, Yellow 10 and Orange 6.

Sequential spin number for this day.

Bets for the coming spin are not accepted after this time.

Payout multiple is posted for each of the bets.

Total Amount won on this site from last spin.

Chip images indicate where players are betting on the next spin, rounded up to the next whole dollar.

Indication of quantity of players based on quantity of tickets scanned in valid for the next spin.

This area shows the ring combinations that players are betting.

Players find the form on the left in stands on their cocktail table or at the bar. They darken the exact numbers they wish to play. Darken either “Odd” or “Even” and then darken how many units they wish to wager on "odd" or "even." Players liking the long-shot of multi-ring combinations, write the exact numbers in each box associated with a ring they wish to wager in combination with a number from another ring. They then darken the quantity of units 1-3.

In the case of the example on the left, they have chosen to bet 3 Blue Ring numbers, 3 Yellow Ring numbers and 3 Orange Ring numbers for 10 exact numbers. They have "hedged" their choices with 10 units of Even and then gone for the long shot on a triple combination betting that the number 2 will come up in Blue, Yellow and Orange -- for the large payoff multiple. But, what are these bets worth? How much do they all cost? Read on Working with Units next.

Working with Units

The Parlor Tri-Wheel® uses a dynamic pricing system for wagering. By this we mean, you determine the value of each unit wagered by dividing the total quantity of units bet per spin into how much you chose to bet per spin. Let’s say that you pick the selections above: 9 exact numbers, “Even” for 10 units and one Multi-Ring Combination for 1 unit1. You have selected in total 20 units. You wrote $3 for “Amount per spin." $3.00 divided by 20 units selected = 15¢ per unit. Therefore, the payoff for hitting an exact number in Blue is 36 x 15¢ = $5.40. The payoff for hitting 10 units of "Even" is 2 x .15¢ x 10 units = $3.00. The payoff is calculated by the terminal when the ticket is scanned in for collection.

If you wished to bet $1 on each unit, you would have to commit $20 per spin. The beauty of the dynamic pricing is that players can have a whole lot of fun staying within their risk appetite. We could say, with the use of the electronic network, it no longer has to be one price fits all.

Official Electric Tri-Wheel Ticket

Derived from scanning paper or mobile device Player Selection Forms

Players give the above Player Selection Form and payment to a runner or clerk who will have it scanned. Note, when they scan it and notice that there is something written in the Multi-Ring Combination area, the operator may have to manually enter those numbers. Once entered, the official ticket (to the left) is printed and given to the player with their selection form.

Payoffs are made after scanning the official ticket and having the computer calculate the winnings.

Mobile Device Bet Selection Planning Form does not waste a whole lot of paper that might be used for gaming or might as likely be used for notes at the bar table.
Mobile Device Form allows players to plan their bet strategies off-site, save them and bring them on-site for scanning and purchase of an official ticket.
Mobile Device Form is a clearer and more accurate way of transmitting players intention. No character reading - everything is picked up by the scannable QR code (that block of odd shapes in the lower left of the ticket and on the right side of the mobile device "order screen."
Mobile Device has many player enhancements available, including player record/budget, ability to communicate with other players on site, more complete set of past performance, etc.

Showing a small phone edition of the mobile device Bet Planning and Selection Form. Tablet size editions will also be available.

Stored Bets

Lets say four of you meet at a bar once a month to play the Electric Tri-Wheel Network. Your custom is for each of you to throw $20 in the pot. Since you have been doing this for a few months, you have saved bet configurations that you have used before. Each configuration has information with regard for where you bet, how much you bet and how many spins you buy in a row. Thus, you can go to "Stored Bets" and call up the past configuration you might wish to use. You can even modify that configuration with a tweak here and there. You don't have to go through the entire process of making bet selections.

Members

This is a premium service, meaning you pay extra, that provides additional information on past win data and greater information on the locations hosting the Pig Wheel. It also will provide a record of the wins and losses that have occurred from your play. Lastly, it aims to provide veiled messaging service among players. By veiled, I mean that you are anonymous until you make a big effort not to be. You can check on people you may have played with in the past.

Exit App

Get me out of here fast.

Table View

Takes you to the betting layout that is quite like the top of a wagering table. See below.

Wheel View

Takes you to the wheel view screen to begin picking new choices to bet on.

Home Screen

Combo Bet

Selecting the winning number in each of the three rings is like the trifacta of Tri-Wheel. This screen allows you to pick a number in two or three rings that you believe could win in the next spin. The "combo" comes from the bet being a combination of winning numbers in more than one ring of the Tri-Wheel in the same spin event.

Wheel View

This screen allows you to make bets on exact numbers in each of the three rings and on "Odd" and "Even" - remember, "odd" and "even" applies only to the blue ring numbers. Bets on the alpha lines as provided on the Table View can not be initiated from this screen; however, you can increase the units bet or delete the bet altogether from this screen. So too, multi-ring combination bets can't be initiated from this screen; however, units can be increased, decreased and the bet can be eliminated on this screen. The line bets and combo bets you have made using other screens will show up on this screen - you just can't originate them from this screen.

Exit App

Get me out of here fast.

Combo - Multi Ring

This button will take you to the screen dedicated to bets that a number winning on one rings will at the same time match a number winning in one or two rings.

Remove

Tap here and the next chip you tap will be gone - no matter how many units on it.

Total Units Bet: 25

This is saying that the player has 25 units bet totally at this time. You can't see all the bets on the wheel given that some will be line bets of multiple numbers and "Edd" or "Even."

Buy

Touching this area takes the player to the unit value screen below.

This symbol is found on four numbers, two "odd" and two "even" in the blue 40# ring. Should one of these designated numbers win, all "odd" and "even" bets lose.

Table View

Takes you to the screen below that looks like a table layout. This screen allows for line bet initiation as well as direct number and "odd" and "even" bets.

"Odd" and "Even"

Bet that an "odd" or an

Undo Last

Walks back previous bets one tap at a time. It is meant to be more slow and deliberate than "remove" button.

Chips

Each tap on a wheel segment produces a chip. More taps on the chip increase the units allocated to chips.

Line Bets

These are bets that have been initiated in table view, each composed of several numbers. Only the unit value can be changed or deletion of such bets can happen in this screen.

Combo Bets

These are bets that a number in one ring will win at the same time as another number or two in other rings will win. Only the unit value can be changed or deletion of such bets can happen in this screen.

Table-like View

This screen is called "table view" because it plays on a visual metaphor of the table top layout used for wagering. In fact, this is pretty much the same as our Tri-Wheel® table in North Dakota. This screen allows you to initiate all bets except multi-ring combinations. Tap as many times as the units you wish to bet, where you wish to bet. I believe all of the components have been explained above. I would only add that if you were to bet on blue "B," you would be betting that one of the 10 numbers to the right of "B" would win. Similarly, if you were to bet on yellow "F," you would be betting that 5, 6, 7 or 8 would win in the yellow ring.

Combo Multi-Ring View

This screen is dedicated to selecting a number in one ring that you bet could win at the very same time as one or two numbers in the other rings. These combination bets provide the highest payout and also have the most remote probability of occurring. See the payout schedule.

Ring Selection

The player selects which rings they wish to play in combination by tapping the colored buttons. Note, a ring not taken is greyed out.

Number Selection

The player selects the numbers they wish for each of the selected rings by scrolling until the one they like is centered in the window.

Payout Multiplier

For the two rings selected, the payout maximum is 200x the value of the unit wagered.

Units Bet

On this combo, the player selects how many units they wish to bet by tapping this area for each unit desired. Depending on the jurisdiction, there is likely to be a limit placed on the value of combo bets in order to regulate payout exposure.

Confirm Selections

Touch this button to confirm the rings, numbers and units selected. Once this button is hit, the combination shows up on the right (brown box) and the ring buttons will go blank ready for another selection.

Combo Tally

This shows the combinations that have been confirmed as ready.

Combination Multi-Ring

Paytable

Shown as multiples of the value of a unit.

Exact Number, Odd & Even, Line

Paytable

Shown as multiples of the value of a unit.

Note on Payouts - Paytable

The paytables above have been modified over the pre-2016 schedule in that the top end prizes have been reduced in favor of spreading more of the payout to consolations. We brought the top end down to $500 and brought the prize for catching one yellow-ring number from $2 to $4 and catching a blue number paying $8. This is consistent with our philosophy of neighborhood gaming being entertainment and not wishing to lead players into believing they can income-play or salvage-play (recover from past losses with one long-odds lucky strike). We like players who play often and responsibly. And, we are enthusiastic about our new pay table actually bringing better value to multi-ring wagers. Hope you agree.......

Unit Value & Ticket Pricing Screen

This screen summarizes all of the player's choices by categories and the quantity of units bet in each category. Here, the player decides how much they wish to bet per spin. At that time, the value of the units is determined but dividing the amount bet per spin by the total quantity of units selected. In the case below, the player determined that they would like to spend $10 per spin. Therefore, the 25 units selected is automatically divided into $10 to produce a per unit value of 40¢. The player wants this to apply to 10 consecutive spins. Therefore, the player knows that the ticket price will be $100. [Note: with an average payout of 90%, the player is buying a fair amount of play over 10 spins for, a total, on average spend of $10. The player still has a chance to go back into the betting screens to make changes - until they touch "Buy" and the order screen is generated. Note too, that the player has the ability to save the bet configuration at this point prior to generating an order screen. So, if they are off premise devising their bet, they can save it for recall when they are on the site prepared to have it scanned into producing an official ticket.

Order Screen

All previous selections are now captured in the QR code (the funny square to the right of the screen) and ready to be scanned. The player can save the selections being scanned, exit the application or return to the Home Screen to start over. Once scanned, the terminal printer produces the official ticket shown previously on this page. Again, the use of the mobile devices does not mean that the games are played from a mobile device, only that players can use mobile devices to plan and save their bet selections.

Electric Tri-Wheel® Network Configuration

Attributes of Electronic Tri-Wheel® Network

Random performance every spin = secure
Greater participation without requiring players to sit at a designated and dedicated table = social
Automated accounting and reporting = efficient & secure
Very low transactional costs = more profitable as volume rises
Clearer and easier method for multi-ring betting = tansactional speed & accuracy
Computer calculated prize payouts = accuracy
Ability of players to view where other players are betting = interesting
Slower resolution speed (4 - 5 minutes) = responsible
Data on past spins = nerd neat
Display of quantity of other players on same site = social
Ability to plan bet strategy off site to bring on site = engaging
Ability to save bet configurations = simple
Ability to store record of wins and losses = responsible
Multi-ring combination wagering strategies = fun
Ability to know what the cash bank should be in real or near real time = secure, efficient and regulation-friendly

New Electronic Tri-Wheel Network by Gaming Studio, Inc.