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.

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%.

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%.

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

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.

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.

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