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Is Monopoly Live Rigged?

Published: Apr 17, 10:45 am

Developed by HASBRO and provided by the well-known and trusted software supplier Evolution Gaming, Monopoly Live is a popular, unique live casino game which is based on the much-loved classic board game. It’s a money wheel game which incorporates elements from the classic bored game and therefore provides players with plenty of excitement.

This article will focus on whether Monopoly Live is rigged or whether you can enjoy it knowing that this is a fair, safe game with a decent rate of return.
Without further ado, let’s find the answer to that question.

About Monopoly Live

Monopoly Live is an online, live variation of the much-loved board game. The aim of the game is simple. A game host spins the wheel and players guess which section the wheel is going to land on. A virtual Mr. Monopoly watches on the side-lines, ready to jump into action.

Players can bet the wheel will stop on a given number, or predict that the wheel will stop in a ‘chance’ section. ‘Chance’ sections mean instant wins and multipliers for the next spin.  There are also ‘2 rolls’ and ‘4 rolls’ sections. The ‘rolls’ sections activate an exciting bonus round, involving the virtual Mr. Monopoly and centred on his adventures.

When the bonus game starts, players see Mr. Monopoly as he makes his way around an augmented reality 3D board monopoly board collecting prizes, multipliers and random chance cards. The length of the walk depends on the rolls. Two rolls are made if the ‘2 rolls’ segment was landed on, four are taken if the ‘4 rolls’ segment initiated the bonus round. Rolling any doubles on the dice gives you another instant roll of the dice. Qualifying players are all the players who bet that the wheel would stop on that particular ‘rolls’ segment.

Great Monopoly-themed fun can be had by all. Monopoly Live is a unique and exhilarating experience that takes players on a roller coaster of emotions based on a variety of different variables, from spinning wheels, to dice and multipliers all themed in an incredible monopoly city backdrop.

Is Monopoly Live Rigged?

Now we come to the crux of this article. Is Monopoly Live rigged? The short answer is no. Many people have questioned whether this game is rigged because there only seems to be limited requirements of the live game hosts, such as ensuring the  wheel completes one full rotation. The concern with this then, is that game hosts that use particularly slow spins are able to determine, in short order where the wheel is likely to stop. In this way, it has been suggested that if a host wished to avoid the wheel landing on the ‘4 rolls’ segment let’s say, they could easily do so. But is this actually true? Not really.

We can tell by looking at the stats that this game is in fact, not controlled by specific dealer spins or any type of motorised wheel.  The statistics below are provided by our real-time monopoly live tracking system and serve to show that Monopoly Live is not actually rigged, despite what some believe. Lets have a closer look at the data we have collected over the past 30 days.

‣ The number 1 section was landed on 40.72% of the time.
‣ The number 2 section was landed on 28.25% of the time.
‣ The number 5 section was landed on 12.95% of the time.
‣ The number 10 section was landed on 7.37% of the time.
‣ The chance section was landed on 3.65% of the time.
‣ The 2 rolls section activated a bonus and was landed on 5.34% of the time
‣ The 4 rolls section activated a bonus round and was landed on 1.73% of the time

All these percentages fall within touching distance of the expected number of times a given section can be expected to be landed on, so the game is clearly not rigged. If players have any doubt, they should be reassured by the fact that this game has been deemed fair by the UK Gambling Commission, so they need have no fear that they are being subjected to an unfair gaming environment.

What is behind the wheel?

Many players have speculated that the wheel has some special motor or magnets placed behind the wheel so it can be controlled by a third party. Neil Walker, owner of Live Casino Comparer was lucky enough to take a visit to the Evolution studio and had this to say about what he saw behind the mysterious wheel;

I visited the studios in Riga and saw the original Dream Catcher Wheel and it's spare up close. The Monopoly Wheel is effectively the same but with different sections. Both are made by TCS John Huxley, who are major suppliers of Roulette Wheels to the casino industry. The wheel is held onto the supporting structure at the central hub. The wheel has a smooth back and I couldn't see any wires or anything that looked suspicious. The strop (flapper) is used to apply friction to the wheel to slow it down. If you notice, each segment on the wheel has a divider that the strop runs over. Each of these are cylindrical in design and have a stainless steel sleeve that is free to move, covering them; I guess on ball bearings. That is why we see the strop "settle" when the momentum of the wheel almost stops.
I didn't see anything whilst I was at the studios, in the control room or monitoring rooms, that would suggest there is "fixing" of any of the games I observed, including what's been built for Monopoly.

What about the YouTube videos?

We have seen several YouTube videos that claim that they portray this game has a devious side but all of the content we have seen can be explained. Monopoly Live uses a wide variety of technologically advanced systems and sometimes human mistakes can also occur. Lets focus in on some of the popular videos and try our best to explain what we think is occurring.

Wheel just goes around and around - This video became popular late last year and shows the Monopoly Wheel spinning around without stopping leading many players to believe that it as being controlled by a motor. What has actually happened is the flapper unit at the top of the wheel has broken. This flapper uses springs to give resistance when it passes over one of the pegs. With this resistance gone and due to the weight of the wheel it freely spins around and takes a lot longer to stop than normal.

Rolls round was skipped - Another popular video showed the wheel landing on a 4 rolls section only to have the section 10 awarded instead. This is simply a case of human error as when the wheel has landed the host has to press a button to enter which section landed into the system. This is why you see the host move to the podium after each completed spin. On this occasion the unlucky host has pressed the wrong button and the system has then paid out the bets based on thinking a 10 landed. Evolution was quick to rescue this problem and made sure all players were given an average 4 roll payout based on their bets and they also got to keep the winnings from the 10 section!

Flapper moves back a section - In one video we saw the flapper move into the 4 rolls section only to flip back out into the 1 section after it rebounded on the peg. This is due to the flapper. The flapper has 2 springs either side that add resistance as the wheel spins around. Each spring may wear and be replaced at different times causing the wheel to stop faster in one direction compared to another. Due to having different levels of resistance when the wheel bounces backwards the opposite spring does not have enough resistance to stop the flapper from moving into the other section. This is why we see the host spin the wheel in each direction, to try and keep the wear on the springs as equal as possible.

Conclusion

We have seen then, that Monopoly Live is not rigged and that players are not being scammed. There is simply no advantage for Evolution to manipulate their games when they already have a winning edge. They would never risk their brand integrity or the wrath of the UKGC when their games are already booming with popularity. You can rest assured that this online live casino game is fairly regulated.

Many players like to call a game rigged when they lose money as it gives them a feeling of acceptance about how they are feeling, however none of the evidence we have discovered would point to the game being run illegitimately. Be sure to check out the Monopoly Live Tracker to find more detailed statistics about your favourite casino game and much more besides!