Abstract:
A gaming wheel system is provided. The gaming wheel system comprises a roulette gaming wheel assembly having a static bowl and a wheel head rotatable within the static bowl and a plurality of ball pockets formed in the wheel head. The plurality of ball pockets are numbered from one (1) to forty (40) inclusive.

Description:
CLAIM OF PRIORITY 
       [0001]    This patent application claims priority under 35 USC 119 (e) (1) from U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62/127,031 filed Mar. 2, 2015, of common inventorship herewith entitled, “Gaming Wheel,” which is incorporated herein by reference as though the same were set forth in its entirety. 
     
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    The present invention pertains to the field of casino gaming, and more specifically to the field of roulette games. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0003]    The present day gaming industry includes all sorts of games offering betting opportunities. Roulette represents approximately five percent of gaming revenues and is a prominently positioned icon in casinos today. The game of roulette was introduced approximately three hundred years ago and has remained relatively unchanged since the seventeen hundreds. An early description of the roulette game in a French novel included the house pockets, stating that there were exactly two slots reserved for the bank from whence the game derives its sole mathematical advantage. It then goes on to describe the layout including two betting spaces that contain the bank&#39;s two numbers, zero and double zero. The Bank or the House numbers clear all bets other than those placed on these two numbers and the cleared bets go to the house. The roulette wheels in the late seventeen hundreds had red for the single zero and black for the double zero. In the late eighteen hundreds, the color green was selected for the zeros in roulette wheels to avoid confusion. By the middle nineteenth century, roulette spread all over Europe and America, becoming one of the most famous and most popular casino games. The single zero roulette wheel became the premier game in Monte Carlo and over the years was exported around the world, except in the United States where the double zero wheel had remained dominant. Associated with glamorous casinos, roulette often is called King of Casino Games. 
         [0004]    A typical roulette wheel includes a number ring bearing a circular array of numbered segments bearing numbers one through thirty six. In addition, the number ring typically includes a single zero and a double zero disposed at diametrically opposite locations on the number ring, or a single zero on its own. The numbers one through thirty six are not disposed in numerical order, but are typically disposed in a predetermined arrangement. The numbers disposed in a circular array in the number ring region of the wheel bear the alternating colors of red and black, with the exception of the single zero and double zero numbers which are colored green. A ring of pockets corresponding in number to the plurality of numbers of the circular number ring lies adjacent but radially inward of the number ring on the typical roulette wheel. In addition, a typical roulette wheel includes a circular inclined ball track that is disposed above and radially outwardly of the number ring. 
         [0005]    The prior art has put forth several designs for roulette games. Among these are: 
         [0006]    US Patent 2013/0310132 to Chi-Fat Au-Yeung describes a roulette gaming layout having a matrix of boxes which comprise four columns of twelve rows of boxes. The boxes in three adjacent columns are numbered one to thirty six consecutively across the rows, while the boxes in the fourth column are numbered to repeat the numbers in boxes in the column on the opposite side of the matrix. 
         [0007]    U.S. Pat. No. 8,517,384 to Anthony M. Carbonaro describes a roulette game based upon a wheel having multiple series of consecutive numbers. Each number is distinguished by a color, with a different quantity of colors repeating to provide a unique color and number combination for each position on the wheel. The selected colors represent the colors of a national flag such as red, white, and blue for the United States or red, white and green for Mexico. House profit is provided by payment of lower than actual odds, by the retention of a percentage of winning wagers or by designating one or more wheel positions as winning positions for the house. This system incorporates a progressive wagering system wherein retention of the house profit is waived for players who choose to place progressive wagers on consecutive plays of the wheel. 
         [0008]    US Patent 2004/0212150 to Marcel Huard, Real Berube, Jean-Pierre Bedrossian and Gagnono describes an enhanced casino game in which the principles of the standard Roulette game are applied to a standard deck of playing cards. The use of standard gaming tools for this improved game of roulette provides an enhanced experience for the player while bringing flexibility in the choice of the casino house income ratio for the casino management team. 
         [0009]    None of these prior art references describe the present invention. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0010]    It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved variation on the double zero wheel layout of a roulette game. 
         [0011]    The present invention is a gaming wheel system. The gaming wheel system comprises a roulette gaming wheel assembly having a static bowl and a wheel head rotatable within the static bowl and a plurality of ball pockets formed in the wheel head. The plurality of ball pockets are numbered from one (1) to forty (40) inclusive. 
         [0012]    In addition, the present invention includes a method for constructing a gaming wheel system. The method comprises providing a roulette gaming wheel assembly having a static bowl and a wheel head rotatable within the static bowl, forming a plurality of ball pockets in the wheel head, and numbering the plurality of ball pockets from one (1) to forty (40) inclusive. 
         [0013]    The present invention further includes a gaming wheel system comprising a roulette gaming wheel assembly having a static bowl and a wheel head rotatable within the static bowl and a plurality of ball pockets formed in the wheel head with the plurality of ball pockets divided into a four color system. A roulette gaming table is also provided having a plurality of play spaces positioned on the roulette gaming table with the plurality of play spaces divided into the same four color system of the ball pockets. The plurality of ball pockets are numbered from one (1) to forty (40) inclusive and the plurality of play spaces on the gaming table are numbered from one (1) to forty (40) inclusive, corresponding to the plurality of numbered ball pockets on the wheel head. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0014]      FIG. 1  is a top plan view illustrating a roulette gaming wheel assembly of a gaming wheel system constructed in accordance with the present invention showing the numbers of the roulette gaming wheel assembly. 
           [0015]      FIG. 2  is a perspective view illustrating a roulette gaming table of a gaming wheel system constructed in accordance with the present invention showing the improved numbering system. 
           [0016]      FIG. 3  is a perspective view illustrating the roulette gaming wheel assembly and the roulette gaming table of the gaming wheel system constructed in accordance with the present invention containing the improved numbering system. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0017]    The present invention, hereinafter referred to as the Gaming Wheel System, indicated generally at  10 , is an improved roulette numbering system and layout. The Gaming Wheel System  10  of the present invention adds more player choice of bets which increases a player&#39;s winning chances and playing excitement. 
         [0018]    The Gaming Wheel System  10  of the present invention includes a roulette gaming wheel assembly  12 . The gaming wheel assembly  12  preferably consists of two basic parts which are a static bowl  14  and a wheel head  16  which rotates completely within the static bowl  14 . The bowl  14  is preferably produced of solid wood with plastic elements or plastic coverings although constructing the bowl  14  from other materials is within the scope of the present invention. The static bowl  14  includes the ball track, the lower ball track apron with or without special ball deflectors, and a spindle  18  for supporting the rotating wheel head  16 . The roulette wheel head  16  is settled into the bowl  14  in such a way that it fits with the upper and lower ball tracks. The outer edge of the wheel head  16  contains the colored numbers  19  and ball pockets  20  for a roulette ball to land on. The central part of the wheel head  16 , preferably having a conical shape, is called the cone and it is used to direct the ball into the ball pockets  20 . A turret is a decorative component which hides the height adjuster can also be provided. 
         [0019]    The Gaming Wheel System  10  of the present invention further includes a roulette gaming table  22  allowing a roulette player a variety of betting options. Placing inside bets is either selecting the exact number of the ball pocket  20  the ball will land in, or a small range of pockets based on their proximity on the layout. Players wishing to bet on the ‘outside’ will select bets on larger positional groupings of ball pockets  20 , the pocket color, or whether the winning number is odd or even. The payout odds for each type of bet are based on its probability. 
         [0020]    The Gaming Wheel System  10  of the present invention can impose minimum and maximum bets, and these rules usually apply separately for all of a player&#39;s inside and outside bets for each spin. For inside bets, separate roulette table chips of various colors can be used to distinguish players at the table. Players can continue to place bets as the ball spins around the wheel until the dealer announces no more bets. 
         [0021]    The gaming wheel assembly  12  of the Gaming Wheel System  10  of the present invention eliminates zero and double zero (as provided in a conventional roulette wheel) and adds four numbers to the original thirty six numbers in a conventional roulette wheel. Added to the wheel head are four additional spaces of thirty-seven (37), thirty-eight (38), thirty-nine (39), and forty (40). The numbering addition creates four sets of ten numbers from approximately one (1) to ten (10), eleven (11) to twenty (20), twenty-one (21) to thirty (30), and thirty-one (31) to forty (40) allowing bets on these groups of numbers. 
         [0022]    Instead of the two color system red and black found in conventional roulette games, the wheel head  16  of the gaming wheel assembly  12  of the Gaming Wheel System  10  of the present invention contains a four color system of red, yellow, black and green allowing bets on a particular color or colors. The numbers from one (1) to forty (40) preferably alternate between small and big, even and odd, and preferably red, yellow, black, and green. It should be noted that while the Gaming Wheel System  10  has been described as having a four color system with particular colors, it is within the scope of the present invention for the Gaming Wheel System  10  to have more than a four color system and/or different colors. 
         [0023]    Additionally, similar to the gaming wheel assembly  12 , the roulette table  22  of the Gaming Wheel System  10  of the present invention also eliminates zero and double zero and adds four additional numbered spaces: thirty seven (37), thirty eight (38), thirty nine (39), and forty (40). Each of the numbered betting spaces  24  on the gaming table  22  is colored one of the four colors corresponding to the color of the numbered ball pocket  20  on the gaming wheel head  16 . 
         [0024]    As illustrated, the Gaming Wheel System  10  of the present invention adds the color gray or silver to the four color system of yellow, black, green, and red of the numbered betting spaces  24 . In this embodiment, yellow includes  1 ,  5 ,  9 ,  12 ,  16 ,  23 ,  27 ,  34 , and  38 ; black includes numbers  2 ,  6 ,  13 ,  17 ,  24 ,  28 ,  31 ,  35 , and  39 ; green includes numbers  3 ,  7 ,  14 ,  18 ,  21 ,  25 ,  29 ,  32 , and  36 ; red includes numbers  4 ,  8 ,  11 ,  15 ,  19 ,  22 ,  26 ,  33 , and  37 ; and gray or silver includes numbers  10 ,  20 ,  30 , and  40 . 
         [0025]    The Gaming Wheel System  10  poses no jeopardy for a casino operator towards house winnings. The Gaming Wheel System  10  is a variation of the double zero wheel layout. Most importantly, the present invention eliminates zero and double zero places that provide a board clearing, house advantage. Both the number and color additions provide a player with more betting options and opportunities for winning. 
         [0026]    Originally configured for use in professional casinos, the Gaming Wheel System  10  of the present invention is an adjunct game to traditional roulette. The Gaming Wheel System  10  is an innovative game that also is effectively functional and enjoyable in venues such as carnivals, charity gaming and home entertainment. The Gaming Wheel System  10  provides players with more betting options, more excitement and better chances of winning. The gaming industry and the professionals are ensured that the profit margins of the present invention continue to deliver to house expectations. 
         [0027]    Although this invention has been described with respect to specific embodiments, it is not intended to be limited thereto and various modifications which will become apparent to the person of ordinary skill in the art are intended to fall within the spirit and scope of the invention as described herein taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the appended claim.