Wheel of Fortune Online Slots in Canada Deliver Million-Dollar Jackpots

Posted on: September 20, 2022, 11:59h. 

Last updated on: November 18, 2022, 07:09h.

Devin O'Connor @CasinoorgDevinO Read More

Expertise: Asia Pacific Gaming, Commercial Gaming, Legislation, Politics.

Wheel of Fortune online slots in Canada delivered life-changing wins to two players last month.

International Game Technology (IGT) revealed yesterday that its Wheel of Fortune online slots hit twice for more than CA$1 million in August.

Wheel of Fortune Powerbucks titles can only be found in Canada. IGT says in 2016, Powerbucks became the world’s first omnichannel progressive game that pooled jackpots by linking physical brick-and-mortar gaming machines with online slots.

The two seven-figure Powerbucks hits in August followed two million-dollar wins in July. On July 25, a Powerbucks player won CA$1,263,743 playing Wheel of Fortune Latin Getaways online in Ontario. Four days later, another Powerbucks gambler grabbed a CA$1,032,361 win on a Wheel Exotic Far East game online in British Columbia.

Since IGT debuted Powerbucks in Canada, the titles have minted more than 1,100 millionaires.

Wheel Keeps Spinning

Reaching more than 25 million television viewers a week, Wheel of Fortune continues to be one of North America’s most popular syndicated television programs. The game show has been a mainstay on casino floors across the US and Canada for decades.

IGT acquired the licensing rights to the Wheel brand for slot machines in 1996. The gaming manufacturer says Wheel slot titles have paid out more than $3.4 billion in jackpots over the past 26 years. The company then developed roughly 200 versions of Wheel of Fortune slot machine games. Wheel is considered among the most successful slot brands of all time.

The largest Powerbucks Wheel of Fortune jackpot to date came in May 2020. That’s when a player won CA$2.2 million gambling online at the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation’s iGaming website.

The record was nearly broken in March 2022 when a player at Casino Nanaimo in British Columbia won CA$2,129,070 on a Powerbucks Wheel spin. Casino Nanaimo is operated by the Great Canadian Gaming Corporation.

Wheel Future

Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! are part of the daily evening routine for millions of Americans. Jeopardy! underwent a major change with the 2020 passing of longtime host Alex Trebek, and Wheel could soon be set for an overhaul of its own.

Pat Sajak has hosted Wheel since 1981, but the 75-year-old said recently that his days in the role are numbered.

Years go by fast. We’re getting near the end. It’s been a long time,” Sajak told Entertainment Tonight last week. “We’re not going to do this for another 40 years.

“In most television shows by this time, you would have said, ‘That’s probably enough.” But this show will not die,” Sajak continued. “It appears I may go before the show.”

The odds of Wheel, both the television show and the slot machines, living on for years to come are strong regardless of Sajak’s involvement.