Embodiments of the present invention are directed to systems and methods for operating a gaming wheel system including a steering wheel which may be a single-turn wheel (at most 360.degree. lock-to-lock) or a multi-turn wheel (more than 360.degree. lock-to-lock) to play a game which may be designed for a single-turn wheel (a legacy game) or a multi-turn wheel (a native game, irrespective of whether it takes advantage of the multi-turn capability or not). The system is configured to operate the gaming wheel system in one of four states. The first state is the single-turn, legacy mode state for operating either a single-turn wheel or a multi-turn wheel in the single-turn mode to play a legacy game. The second state is the multi-turn, legacy mode state for operating a multi-turn wheel in the multi-turn mode to play a legacy game. The third state is the single-turn, native mode state for operating either a single-turn wheel or a multi-turn wheel in the single-turn mode to play a native game. The fourth state is the multi-turn, native mode state for operating a multi-turn wheel in the multi-turn mode to play a native game.