Ice Fishing in South Africa: The 53-Segment Wheel, Three Fishing Bonus Games, Up to 5,000x
Ice Fishing is a speed game show from Evolution, premiered at ICE Barcelona in January 2025 and launched in August 2025. You bet on where a virtual 53-segment money wheel will stop. Leaf 1 and Leaf 2 pay on the spot; Lil' Blues, Big Oranges and Huge Reds open a bonus game where a live host reels in a fish worth 3x to 500x before any boost. Evolution's rules put the return at 95.17% to 97.10% depending on the bet, and Evolution gives the top win as up to 5,000x.
On this page
What Ice Fishing looks like
Images: Evolution, official game page (games.evolution.com); Our still from Evolution's official promo video (games.evolution.com).
How Ice Fishing works
Evolution calls Ice Fishing a speed game show, and both its game page and its rules describe "a virtual 53-segment money wheel": virtual is Evolution's own word. You bet on where the wheel will stop, on one bet spot or several.
The rules divide the 53 segments among five bet spots: Leaf 1 covers 23, Leaf 2 another 23, Lil' Blues 4, Big Oranges 2 and Huge Reds one. A Leaf result pays at once; a bonus segment opens the bonus game of the same name. All Bonuses is a shortcut that places "your selected bet amount on each of the three Bonus game bet spots", so a R1 chip there puts R3 on the table.
After betting closes, the wheel spins and a flapper shows the winning segment. Everyone can watch a bonus game, but only players "who have placed a bet on the corresponding Bonus game bet spot can participate and win", so a Leaf bet does not get you into the fishing.
Ice Fishing bets: segments, payouts and RTP 📊
As Evolution's rules for the live game give them. The bonus bets' RTP is before the table's payout cap.
| Bet | Segments of 53 | A win brings | RTP |
|---|---|---|---|
| Leaf 1 | 23 | 1:1 at once, up to 9:1 with a multiplier | 97.10% |
| Leaf 2 | 23 | 1:1 at once, up to 9:1 with a multiplier | 97.10% |
| Lil' Blues | 4 | The Lil' Blues bonus game, fish from 3x to 100x | 95.69% |
| Big Oranges | 2 | The Big Oranges bonus game, fish from 4x to 200x | 95.60% |
| Huge Reds | 1 | The Huge Reds bonus game, fish from 10x to 500x | 95.17% |
How the Ice Fishing multipliers work
Evolution places the multipliers after the bets close: "Once the betting time is over, multipliers of up to 10x may be applied to random wheel segments." You cannot bet on a boost you have already seen.
On Leaf segments the game page lists 3x, 4x, 5x, 7x or 10x. The rules' example: a 10x on a Leaf 1 segment, "which usually has a payout of 1:1", makes it 9:1. Our sums: R10 on Leaf 1 wins R10 at 1:1 and R90 at 9:1.
On bonus segments the page lists 2x to 8x or 10x, one value for every segment of that bonus type. It works through the fish: in the rules' words, "all multipliers attached to the fish are multiplied by the awarded multiplier" before the host starts reeling.
The launch announcement links the top figure to these boosts, which "carry through into the bonus rounds" and add "a max win potential of up to 5,000x". Our arithmetic from the rules gives the same number: the top Huge Reds fish, 500x, times the top bonus multiplier, 10x.
The three fishing bonus games 🎁
A bonus game moves the round to an Arctic scene full of fish, each with a multiplier: 3x to 100x in Lil' Blues, 4x to 200x in Big Oranges and 10x to 500x in Huge Reds. The bigger the fish in the name, the higher the floor and the top, and the fewer segments lead there.
The host reels in one fish slowly, its multiplier growing as more of it shows, until the final value appears out of the water. Then, in the rules' words, "your bet will be multiplied by the multiplier value of the caught fish", boost included. No fish on Evolution's lists is below 3x, so a bet in a bonus game is paid something; the ranges show how high a catch can go, not how likely it is.
What each Ice Fishing bet returns
Leaf 1 and Leaf 2 return 97.10%, "the optimal theoretical Return to Player" in the words of Evolution's rules. The bonus bets return less, and the rarer the segment, the lower the figure: 95.69% on Lil' Blues (four segments), 95.60% on Big Oranges (two) and 95.17% on Huge Reds (one). All Bonuses, being three bonus bets, has no line of its own.
These figures are "without the max payout cap applied". For players betting the maximum, whose wins can run into the payout cap listed under Bet Limits, the rules list 95.15%, 95.00% and 94.55% on the three bonus bets. Our sums in rand: over a very long run, R1,000 on Leaf bets comes back as about R971 on average, and R1,000 on Huge Reds as about R952.
A speed game show, and what short rounds do to a budget
At launch Evolution's chief product officer, Todd Haushalter, said the studio had long wanted to create a speed game show and spoke of an audience that "craves faster, more instantly gratifying formats", likening the trend to "the rising preference for TikTok-style shorts over long-form video". The swift part is the main game; in a bonus game the host reels the catch in slowly.
Short rounds mean more rounds an hour at the same stake, each with a house edge of 2.90% on a Leaf bet and 4.83% on Huge Reds (100% minus Evolution's RTP, our sum). No staking pattern changes that: doubling after a loss, covering every spot or backing a segment boosted last round does not beat the house edge.
Ice Fishing RTP and volatility 📊
Evolution gives Ice Fishing's return to player as 95.17% - 97.10% depending on the bet.
Top payout: 5000x.
Paying for Ice Fishing in rand
Ice Fishing is in the lobby at 8 operators we list: all of them take cash vouchers and cards; 7 take Ozow; 4 take Capitec Pay.
The smallest first deposit for Ice Fishing among them is R5, at Interbet.
Ice Fishing winnings are paid by EFT to an account in your own name, after FICA.
Get FICA done first · How to deposit in rand · Every payment method
Is Ice Fishing legal in South Africa? 📜
Ice Fishing is a live dealer game, which licensed bookmakers carry under their provincial betting licences.
All 8 operators we list for Ice Fishing hold a South African provincial licence.
Before you play with real money ⚠️
Set your Ice Fishing budget and a deposit limit before the first round, not after a losing one. If it stops being fun, the South African Responsible Gambling Foundation helpline is free on 0800 006 008.
Pros, cons and verdict ⚖️
- Leaf bets return 97.10%, the best figure in the game
- Multipliers land after betting closes, so there is nothing to time
- No bonus fish is worth less than 3x
- Evolution's rules give the segments, payouts and RTP of every bet
- Bonus bets return less: 95.17% on Huge Reds, 94.55% at the maximum bet
- A win above the table's payout cap is cut to the cap
- Short rounds put more bets through an hour
- A Yggdrasil slot has Ice Fishing in its name too: check the studio on the tile
Ice Fishing is Evolution's money wheel made quick: a virtual wheel, a live host for the fishing and multipliers set only after the bets are in. Its rules show the trade-off plainly: Leaf bets return 97.10% and pay up to 9:1, while the fishing returns less but its fish reach 500x before a boost. Choose it for the fishing rounds, with a set number of rounds and a set stake.
Ice Fishing FAQ ❓
What is the maximum win in Ice Fishing?
Evolution gives it as up to 5,000x the bet, on its game page and in its launch announcement: R5,000 for R1. Our arithmetic from its rules gives the same figure, the 500x top Huge Reds fish times the top 10x bonus multiplier. The table's payout cap still applies.
Do I take part in a bonus game I did not bet on?
No. All players can watch a bonus game, but only those with a bet on the corresponding bonus spot take part and win, Evolution's game page says. All Bonuses puts your chip on all three bonus spots, so it plays whichever bonus game comes up.
Is the Ice Fishing wheel a real wheel?
No, by Evolution's own word: its game page and its rules call it "a virtual 53-segment money wheel". The live part Evolution names is the host, "a live game host casting for multiplier-laden fish in icy waters" in its ICE Barcelona preview.
What do Leaf 1 and Leaf 2 pay?
1:1, straight away, when the wheel stops on your Leaf, and up to 9:1 with a random multiplier, by Evolution's payout table. Each Leaf covers 23 of the 53 segments and returns 97.10%, the best RTP in the game.
Is Ice Fishing the same game as 4 Fantastic Vikings Go Ice Fishing?
No. That is a video slot from Yggdrasil, released on 27 November 2025 according to Yggdrasil's own game page. Check the studio name on the tile before you open it.
Where to play Ice Fishing in South Africa
Licensed South African operators we have found carrying Ice Fishing, each with its licence and our score, and the date where we saw the game in the lobby ourselves. Ordered by that score. How we score Offers checked September 2026.
Also carrying Ice Fishing. Bonus, payment and payout terms for each are on its review.