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Bonus Spin Blackjack
Introduction
Bonus Spin Blackjack is a blackjack side bet with a prize wheel. The side bet is marketed by AGS. While there are versions for $1 and $5 bets for both blackjack and Spanish 21, this page shall address only the $5 blackjack version.
Rules
- The cost of the Bonus Spin side bet is $5. This is a "red light" bet, meaning the bet is placed on a red circle which lights up if a chip is placed on it. The dealer shall then remove all bets, but the lights remain on to indicate a bet was made.
- All wins are on a "for one" basis, meaning the original wager is not returned on a win.
- If the player gets at least one aces in the first two cards, other than a blackjack, he shall be paid $10, or 2 for 1 on his $5 bet.
- If the player gets a blackjack, he shall spin a prize wheel. The wheel is spun by pressing a button, which the dealer will let the player press.
- If any player gets a blackjack, all other players who made the Bonus Spin side bet shall be eligible for an Envy Bonus, according to the spin.
- As usual with prize wheels, the slices on the wheels are weighted, according to the table below.
- The jackpot shall be seeded with $10,000 and go up by 7% of money bet on the Bonus Spin.
The pay table and reel weightings are below. The top prize is the average progressive jackpot win.
Bonus Spin Blackjack Prize Wheel
| Win | Envy Bonus | Weighting |
|---|---|---|
| $40 | $0 | 16750 |
| $50 | $0 | 9000 |
| $60 | $0 | 4744 |
| $70 | $0 | 3000 |
| $75 | $0 | 2200 |
| $40 | $15 | 3400 |
| $200 | $50 | 675 |
| $250 | $0 | 100 |
| $750 | $0 | 50 |
| $500 | $100 | 75 |
| $5,000 | $0 | 5 |
| $24,000 | $0 | 1 |
| Total | 40000 |
Analysis
The following table shows my analysis of the prize wheel to the winner. This does not consider the Envy Bonuses. The large prize is the average the progressive jackpot will hit at. The lower right cell shows an expected win of $55.99.
Prize Wheel Analysis
| Win | Envy Bonus | Weighting | |
|---|---|---|---|
| $40 | 16750 | 0.418750 | 16.750000 |
| $50 | 9000 | 0.225000 | 11.250000 |
| $60 | 4744 | 0.118600 | 7.116000 |
| $70 | 3000 | 0.075000 | 5.250000 |
| $75 | 2200 | 0.055000 | 4.125000 |
| $40 | 3400 | 0.085000 | 3.400000 |
| $200 | 675 | 0.016875 | 3.375000 |
| $250 | 100 | 0.002500 | 0.625000 |
| $750 | 50 | 0.001250 | 0.937500 |
| $500 | 75 | 0.001875 | 0.937500 |
| $5,000 | 5 | 0.000125 | 0.625000 |
| $24,000 | 1 | 0.000025 | 0.600000 |
| Total | 1.000000 | 54.991000 |
The following table shows my analysis of the Envy bonus. The lower right cell shows an average Envy Bonus per player of $1.46.
Envy Bonus Analysis
| Win | Weighting | Probability | Return |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100 | 75 | 0.001875 | 0.187500 |
| 50 | 675 | 0.016875 | 0.843750 |
| 5 | 3400 | 0.085000 | 0.425000 |
| 0 | 35850 | 0.896250 | 0.000000 |
| Total | 40000 | 1.000000 | 1.456250 |
The following table shows my analysis of the entire bet, before considering the Envy Bonuses. The win for a blackjack is the average win, as shown above. The return is the ratio of the contribution to the bet amount of $5. The lower right cell shows an expected return of 72.36%.
Envy Bonus Analysis
| Event | Win | Combinations | Probability | Return |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blackjack | 54.991000 | 2304 | 0.047489 | 0.522299 |
| One or two aces | 10.000000 | 4884 | 0.100668 | 0.201336 |
| Zero aces | 0.000000 | 41328 | 0.851843 | 0.000000 |
| Total | 48516 | 1.000000 | 0.723635 |
As shown above, the average Envy Bonus win per blackjack is $2.306250. The probability of a blackjack is 0.047489. The expected return from the Envy Bonus per player is $2.306250 × 0.047489 / 5 = 0.021905. In other words, for every player at the table besides yourself who makes the Bonus Spin bet, the expected return goes up by 2.19%.
The final table shows the expected return according to the number of players making the Bonus Spin bet.
Return by Number of Players
| Players | Expected Return |
|---|---|
| 1 | 72.36% |
| 2 | 74.55% |
| 3 | 76.74% |
| 4 | 78.93% |
| 5 | 81.13% |
| 6 | 83.32% |
| 7 | 85.51% |
Progressive Version
I later heard of a progressive version. Like the fixed jackpot version above, the bet amount is $5, the player gets a wheel spin for a blackjack and $10 for at least one ace in the first two cards. Following are the following prizes and weights.
Envy Bonus Analysis
| Win | Envy Bonus | Combinations | Probability | Return |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jackpot | 1 | 0.000025 | ? | |
| $5,000 | 5 | 0.000125 | 0.625000 | |
| $500 | $100 | 75 | 0.001875 | 0.937500 |
| $750 | 50 | 0.001250 | 0.937500 | |
| $250 | 100 | 0.002500 | 0.625000 | |
| $200 | $50 | 675 | 0.016875 | 3.375000 |
| $50 | $5 | 3400 | 0.085000 | 4.250000 |
| $75 | 2200 | 0.055000 | 4.125000 | |
| $70 | 3000 | 0.075000 | 5.250000 | |
| $60 | 4744 | 0.118600 | 7.116000 | |
| $50 | 9000 | 0.225000 | 11.250000 | |
| $40 | 16750 | 0.418750 | 16.750000 | |
| Total | 40000 | 1.000000 | 62.861052 |
The meter reseed is $10,000 and the contribution rate is 7%.
The lower right cell shows the average win from the fixed pays in the wheel spin is $62.86. The return before considering the jackpot and envy bonuses is 76.61%. The value of the envy bonuses adds 1.38% per additional player (not counting yourself). The value of the jackpot is 2.37% per $100,000 in the jackpot. The jackpot will hit at an average of $304,802.08. The average return, not counting envy bonuses, is 79.84%. The breakeven meter is $1,153,901.67.
Links
YouTube video demonstrating Bonus Spin Blackjack.