Slots Slot players: Does The Casino Matter?

My home base was Mirage for many years. I've done well there, but not always. First time I had a decent 3 night offer from Bellagio I switched. I have not done well the last few trips there. I realize it is gambling and you are not always going to come out ahead due to many factors. I was thinking of jumping ship and checking out what Cosmo might offer (thanks to this board). I'm going for a birthday trip and Bellagio offered some extras that convinced me to not change my venue.

Do you feel that all casinos on the strip have about the same rate of return? I plan mainly $1-$10 machines with some fun pennies when I'm in the mood. I play 90% where I stay. I also play BJ and craps but not enough to be noticed. I don't chase comps, just have a fun time. I just wonder if I could improve my odds by staying somewhere else.

What are your thoughts/experiences?

 

Granted one would have to play a lot to make a statement of fact as opposed to their perception.

With that said, I do tend to feel more lucky at one casino over another whether it be table games or slots.

 

I figure the winning and losing will pretty much take care of itself, you can't control it*. As such, I play where I like to stay and can get the best comps for my daily coin-in. Comped rooms are the biggest draw for me so I tend to play and stay at those places where I can get comped rooms. If you can average $5K coin-in per day, you can pretty much get regular comped nights at Wynn which IMO has the highest bar. I average about $3K coin-in and usually can get 3 comped nights at Palazzo which is my goal.

* I believe you can stretch your coin-in per day by sticking to older slots when you can find them (and they are getting hard to find on the Strip anymore). Older slots (pre 2009) generally aren't as tight as the new shiny ones. That's the only thing I do to 'increase my luck' (and slots are pure luck).

 

Player A stays at MB - but walks to Excalibur, MGM just because they have this uncanny "feeling" ...(skips Luxor) - as Player A has never won there.
Player B - plays at every casino while walking down the strip- runs our of the bankroll faster.

 

Some similarities - slot player here with some VP thrown in. Mirage has been our home base for some years now; used to split our stays between Bellagio and Mirage with occasional stays at MB, Wynn, and Venetian. Used to receive almost identical offers at Bellagio and Mirage (had a host at both places), but just could not win consistently at B and never felt like B was 'home'. Have always felt 'at home' at Mirage and enjoyed much better luck at Mirage, including hand pays, and really like our host there. While the slots at Mirage aren't always the newest, most of my favorites are there and I feel more comfortable there than anyplace else - probably cause I spend so much time there! We've been loyal to Mirage and on those occasions where we haven't given the same level of play, our host still comp'd extras for us based I believe on our history there.

You noted that you like to have a fun time without chasing comps and wondered if you could improve your odds elsewhere - here is the twist in my story - I say 'yes' and go for it. We recently stayed at Cosmo for the first time based on a very nice match offer from Kevin Sweet extended to VMB players - and we loved it - in fact we are returning for another stay at Cosmo in about a month, this time with friends who also talked us into staying at Aria for a couple of nights (1st stay at Aria) using our Mlife winter offer.

DH and I have a little heartburn over not staying at Mirage this trip but we liked so many things about Cosmo that we wanted to try it again.
Slots are very high on our list when choosing a place to stay, along with the 'vibe' on the casino floor and the interaction with staff. I guess we chase comps to some degree, as we like the comp'd room, FP, and RC's - but we've skipped many an offer at Wynn and Venetian because we don't enjoy the slots there as much and don't feel quite connected there - although we do stay from time to time in order to keep receiving offers as it's important to me have a 'plan B' in Vegas.

I'd say there is nothing to lose by trying other places, If it doesn't work out, you can always return to your home base. Who knows, it might turn out like that old cereal tv commercial where the older kid says to his little brother " try it, Mikey, you'll like it".

Not sure you will improve your winning odds, after all, slots are slots. But there are lots of slot stories out there by folks, myself included, who just seem to catch better luck at one casino over another. Wait for it - - - here come the naysayers who have all the stats to show that you can't win on slots especially with the strip having the worst odds - in the end, for me, I'm a believer in playing where I like and that good things come along when you are in your happy place - and damn the odds.

Best of luck to you and have a great birthday trip wherever you decide to stay!

 

I would be happy to be proven wrong, but I don't think it's possible to know what Las Vegas property gives the best slot returns. Nevada reports slot paybacks by area, not property. Nevada also lumps video poker in with regular slots. A quick Google search yielded the following link:

http://www.americancasinoguide.com/slot-machine-payback-statistics.html#Nevada

If you look at the data, penny and nickle slots on the Strip have a return very close to Downtown. Downtown has a significantly higher return on quarter and dollar slots. Boulder Strip and North Las Vegas are higher across the board. I would speculate that most of the difference in payout is due to video poker and that slot machines are pretty much the same everywhere.

 

There's no way to know comparatively, although you can know what Venetian/Palazzo's machines are set for because that's how they award Status Points.

But I wouldn't say it's a stretch to think that you could judge slot payouts by the paytables on VP and rules on table games at the same casino.

 

Forget the casinos, someone won $933,000 on a WOF slot at the airport last Friday. THAT'S where all you slot players should be playing

 

Was this at the D gates? I was watching some guy with 80 free spins around D40 and then I had to get on a plane.

 

When it comes to slots, yes, it does matter where you play. The strip is definitely "tighter" than locals joints, in my experience.

Caesars properties have tighter machines, but they give out comped rooms like it's water.
MGM properties never give me free rooms, but their machines give out money.

 

here is the story on the airport slot win

http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/flights/todayinthesky/2016/03/28/las-vegas-flier-hits-933080-jackpot-airport-slot-machine/82351206/

 

Thanks for the insights. Good to know if I stay on the strip I can be at any hotel and have roughly the same chance. Had 2 bad trips to the B and hoping 3rd one is a charm.

Interesting tidbit on the airport slots. I'm returning on my first ever red eye flight so may have some time to play in the airport. I normally take fairly early flights to get back to the east coast before they roll up the sidewalks. Now all I need is some of my bankroll left to hit it big on my way out.

 

To me, each strip casino is bad in one respect or another. There are some where I know I will never win but there are others where I feel luckier. I also can't dismiss the players card aspect. It's hard to devote a lot of time somewhere you won't get any real comps when another will shower you in offers.

 

Here's a PDF of historical holds by region. Unfortunately in Vegas they don't report by casino. The strip, as to be expected, has the highest holds. They have increased from 6.52% in 2004 to 7.77% (lucky!) last year. Downtown is better but above the state average. North Vegas and Boulder Highway is where you want to go in the Vegas area. http://gaming.unlv.edu/reports/nv_slot_hold.pdf

For the numbers geeks here's an interesting paper on the eveolution of slot holds from '92-'09 http://gaming.unlv.edu/papers/cgr_op01_schwartz.pdf