Las Vegas- Which casinos on strip have the loosest/bestpaying slots?
 

Traveling to Vegas March 17-21st. Staying at Flamingo. Anyone have any input on the best paying slots in strip casinos? I know some casinos have tighter slots than others so I hope someone has some info to help. Thanks.

Years ago when we arrived in Las Vegas for the first time and were having dinner, we struck up a conversation with an LA couple who were Vegas regulars. We were staying at the Flamingo that time and they said that the Flamingo had the loosest slots in town. Sure enough, we went home with considerably more money that we arrived with, after paying cash for everything! Not long ago, I heard again that the Flamingo has the loosest slots. It used to be that the casinos posted their return rate on slots, but I don't see that any more.

The only time I ever won any real money playing slots was at the Flamingo.

None of the casinos pay ANYTHING these days, they have really tightened up! Spend your money on nice dinners or a good show instead. <BR>Have had a little luck at the Aladdin, they have some fun nickel games such as Scrabble, Jeopardy, Press Your Luck and Price is Right. <BR>The buffet (especially Sunday Brunch) is fabulous and never too long a wait.

The best slots are at the places the locals go. Some are reachable just off the Strip, such as The Palms, Rio, or The Orleans. The strip (as far as slots go) in general is very tight.

To add to what I said before, in those &quot;olden&quot; days, when the casinos posted their &quot;payback&quot; rates it was usually somewhere between 90 and 98%, meaning that 90 to 98% of all money that went into the slots went back out to customers -- of course a take for the house of even 2% of all the money circulating through slots in a day is enormous!! But it's been years since I've seen a casino post those payback figures. Someone told me that it is now closer to 50% -- what a difference! There is no doubt about it, slot machines are the major source of revenue for the casinos!!!

Paying back ony 50% would be illegal in Vegas, the house takes are limited by law. I think no machine can be less than 80% in Nevada or something close to that. Some gaming states allow 75% The gaming commission monitors payback by region and by macine. The averages in Vegas are:<BR><BR>All Slot Machines<BR>The Strip - 93.98%<BR>Downtown - 94.69%<BR>Boulder Strip - 95.58%<BR>N. Las Vegas - 96.05%<BR><BR>Generally, the cheaper the slots the worse the payback. Nickel slots average low 90's and dollar slots are mid to upper 90's.

I understand that the Stratosphere has some of the loosest slots. The following is right from their website:<BR><BR>&quot;We also offer the best odds on our slots, as well as clearly marked &quot;98% Return on Dollar Slots&quot; and &quot;100% Return on Quarter Video Poker&quot;.

The newest hotels are nice to look at but don't gamble there. Their payouts are not good since they are just beginning to pay off their debt for their new construction. In other words, don't gamble at Paris, the Venetian, Alladin, etc.<BR><BR>I've done best at the very small, older casinos around the stratosphere (non-glitzy and a bit dumpy looking).<BR><BR>Of course, gambling is gambling -- by the nature of the business you are meant to part with more money than they give you.<BR><BR>Good luck.

100% payout on video poker??? Something seems fishy here. Are there only two machines in the whole casino for video poker? Are you expected to purchase drinks, seats, air while you don't lose any money?<BR><BR>

ncgirl,<BR>Nothing fishy about this marketing program. It invites great number of players in, but just because you bet $100 and so did I, does not mean that you will walk away with your money. Maybe I will walk away with $200, which gives the casino rights to brag about a 100% return. The casino is also hoping that since I've won, I will continue on with different games, thinking that I can't loose that night. So it accomplishes 2 of the most important points for any marketing genius at a Vegas casino. Brings people in and hopefully even the winners in most cases will go home empty, but with stories to tell back at home.

Thanks for the response. Next time I'm in Las Vegas, I'll go there for a cheap night of gambling.

ncgirl,<BR>I'm not sure if you understand the concept. Assuming that $1,000,000 gets bet on the video poker games in a 24 hour period. It does not mean that you or most other people playing those machines will win anything or even get your money back. All that means is that they will pay-out the same million but to whom or how many different players, nobody knows. So don't assume you could sit there all day, drink for free and somehow walk away with the same amount of money. There will still be loosers, players that break even, or the few winners. Nothing changes that part of gambling.

The video poker 100% payback has some limitations:<BR><BR>1) It's only on Deuces Wild machines not Jacks or Better<BR>2) It must be a &quot;full pay&quot; machine. You have to look at the pay scale and know what to look for. 2 machines side by side may look identical but have radically different payouts<BR>3) You must play PERFECT on the game you are playing. It's not like slots where you just yank the crank. You have to know how to play every hand. There is a lot of skill involved.<BR>4) It assumes a payout over the LONG haul. This means that you will be expected to sacrifice some guaranteed hands in pursuit of the Royal Flush. Hitting the Royal is important in the calculation of the 100% payout. <BR><BR>The fact is there might be a handful of these machines and while the Strat won't win money, they won't lose either and chances are, people will play these machines who don't know perfect DW strategy so they won't really be paying out 100%.

To Patrick, those 98% payback machines are still around, they're just off the strip unfortunately. Coast Casinos pay back pretty well and have a good rewards program. Suncoast in NW LV, The Orleans, Gold Coast, &amp; the Barbary Coast.

Loki,<BR>Your last statement is wrong. Regardless if people know or don't know how to play the machines, in order for a casino to claim they're paying out 100%, they have to pay out 100%. The person that doesn't know all the rules may not win anything, but whoever wins will win enough to cover the 100% claim.

11 people walk into a casino. The first 10 each lose $10 in a machine, and the 11th person wins $100. The casino claims that the machine paid back 100 percent. But ten people lost money and one person won money. Get it? Most people lose. <BR><BR>The winner usually goes and plays his $100 winnings in other machines and loses it. When this happens, all 11 people are losers!

AAF,<BR><BR>What if no one knows the rules? What if every player drops every card and draws 5 every time? VP machines don't use a RNG the way a slot machine does which sets the payout, they use a pay scale, but it still depends on what the human pushing the buttons does.<BR><BR>What they must do is take all the losses and put them into a bonus pool to pay out with the royal so therefore the royal is not a fixed payout, it would be x:1 + bonus fund (based on other player losses). Then, what if the players have a good run? Can the royal pay less than a fixed x:1?<BR><BR>Regardless, the best VP machine I've seen is a Deuces Wild that pays 20 on a 4 of a kind.<BR><BR>Good point about the 100% claim, it can't be what I'd consider a standard machine for them to be able to make that statement. Anyone know what kind of machines these are that the Strat makes that claim on? They have 6 &quot;100%&quot; machines according to their website.

1. Slot machines are a bad proposition. In fact, they are the biggest money makers for all the casinos. That is why you will see more slot machines than all the card games/tables combined. However, I do enjoy playing them from time to time and can only encourage you to always bet the maximum amount. <BR>

I've always had better luck downtown than on the strip. <BR>For local flavor and inexpensive craps try the El Cortez downtown.<BR>A little on the worn out side but interesting!!

Thanks, everyone, for all of the help and info. I will still probabaly stay on the Strip, but hope I may get a chance to go to one of the outlaying casinos. I have done a bit more research and found some recommendations for decent slot play on the strip at Bally's, Barbary Coast, Flamingo, and Westward Ho.

We are not serious gamblers and our one and only trip to LV was end of Jan. We were so busy taking everything in we didn't gamble much. We would put a quarter or 2 in a machine here and there. Hubby never got the first return, but I was luckier. Almost every machine I tried, I got something back. My luckiest was at Stardust. I tried 4 machines and 3 of them returned $92. A man sitting next to me had just won $800 at a $1 slot. Another trip may be another casino. Overall, we spent $45 in quarters and came home $166 richer. Only exception was the huge Mandalay Bay slot where I spent $2 (mininum bet) and won $30.

Ill tell you the facts on slots, The old machines had gears witch they used a plug to block the jackpot from hitting. Now days the new machines are all controlled by ONE computer. The slots pay by a percentage out depending on there overhead. I know for a fact a friend that retired from a casino. He told me if they want you to win a jackpot you will win. Watch out for new casinos they have the overhead. Someone has to pay for there casino and it might ass will be you.

uh, 10 years too late for this tidbit of advice (??)

We also know that hotel casinos are making their biggest amounts of money on high stakes table games and that many of the really high rollers at those tables are from China.

<i>Regardless if people know or don't know how to play the machines, in order for a casino to claim they're paying out 100%, they have to pay out 100%.</i>

Nonsense. Video poker doesn't work that way. The odds are on your theoretical odds of winning based upon the pay table and an optimal strategy, which is the only thing that matters. Nevada law requires that video poker operate using random cards from a virtual deck. In other words, your odds are the same as if you were dealing yourself. They can't adjust the deal to change the odds or ensure that the actual payout is 100%.

Indeed, some video poker pay tables can theoretically pay out more than 100%.

<i>Anyone know what kind of machines these are that the Strat makes that claim on? They have 6 "100%" machines according to their website.</i>

Just look at the pay table. There used to be a site called Wizard of Odds run by an actuary that calculated the pay tables and published the full-pay tables and other variants. Not sure it still exists. Wikipedia has some limited pay tables on it.

<i>We also know that hotel casinos are making their biggest amounts of money on high stakes table games and that many of the really high rollers at those tables are from China.</i>

Nonsense. Slots account for more than half of revenues at Vegas casinos (from gaming - non-gaming revenue is more important). They are where the money is. Dealing cards takes too much time. Indeed, it is a desire to reduce the time between hands, not an attempt to stop card counters that has led to automatic shuffle machines.

You cannot win
from a slut machine
:D