The question concerned slots, but I'll throw this in regarding table minimums. Just got back from 3 nights Bellagio and 3 nights Wynn. Yes, BFF and I are Strip snobs. Sorry.
Anyway, I was surprised to see quite a few BJ tables with $10 minimums at both places. Tables were slow (not that many open) at both casinos.
Candy
Originally posted by: O2bnVegas
The question concerned slots, but I'll throw this in regarding table minimums. Just got back from 3 nights Bellagio and 3 nights Wynn. Yes, BFF and I are Strip snobs. Sorry.
Anyway, I was surprised to see quite a few BJ tables with $10 minimums at both places. Tables were slow (not that many open) at both casinos.
Candy
6:5 though, right? Were the games six deck, eight decks, or continuous shufflers (which would be in increasing order of lousy)? Hit or stand on soft 17? Double after splits?
I'm curious as to what the locals' casinos are doing---it's been easy in the past to find a decent $10 3:2 double deck game. The crap they offer on the Strip isn't worth playing.
BTW, if you're on the Strip and you're jonesing for blackjack, you can take a shuttle over to the Orleans or the Gold Coast and play their games at only about 1/4 of the house advantage on the Strip, with $10 minimums. In fact, in the past, I've seen one pit at each place with $5 3:2 games.
Let's say you plan to play three hours at the $10 minimum. Off-Strip: 3:2, 0.5% house edge with perfect Basic Strategy. Strip: 6:5, 2% edge with perfect Basic Strategy. $1800 total action, based on 60 hands/hour. You lose $36 on the Strip and $9 off-Strip.
Strip snobbery is costly :) And of course, those numbers are if you bet table minimums. Bet $25 a hand, and those numbers go up to a $90 loss versus a $22.50 loss.
I personally can't stomach betting $20, getting a blackjack, and having the chintzy stinking house pay me $24 instead of the $30 I'm entitled to. As far as I'm concerned, they can stick that 6:5 payoff where the sun don't shine.
Mark your calendar - for once, I agree with Kevin. I used to play a fair amount of Blackjack but now only play where the game is 3:2 and @ $5 or $10. Only a person who hates money plays 6:5 Blackjack.
I highly doubt slot machines are being tightened. I also dont think there is a big difference between playing slots on the strip vs downtown...or at the locals joints. SLot machines pretty much are universally put at 90-93% payback. The reason you see better machine paybacks downtown and off strip is due to video poker schedules which get combined with the slot paybacks for reporting purposes.
I've had cold spells on slots at EL COrtez...and big hits on slots at Cosmopolitan and even the airport. And vice versa.
Originally posted by: PJ Stroh
I highly doubt slot machines are being tightened. I also dont think there is a big difference between playing slots on the strip vs downtown...or at the locals joints. SLot machines pretty much are universally put at 90-93% payback. The reason you see better machine paybacks downtown and off strip is due to video poker schedules which get combined with the slot paybacks for reporting purposes.
I've had cold spells on slots at EL COrtez...and big hits on slots at Cosmopolitan and even the airport. And vice versa.
PJ, even the worst VP schedules return 96% (or so), and if you look on a casino floor, slots always greatly outnumber VP machines (more so on the Strip; less so in locals' casinos), so I doubt that VP returns skew the overall slot return percentage very much. That alone can't account for the huge difference in reported payback.
Or to put it another way, since every single game for which we know the exact payback percentage (craps; BJ; VP; etc.) is worse on the Strip, why wouldn't slot paybacks be worse, too? Would the Fromaggio or the Can't Wynn have developed a benevolent soft spot for slot players?
Originally posted by: Kevin Lewis
PJ, even the worst VP schedules return 96% (or so), and if you look on a casino floor, slots always greatly outnumber VP machines (more so on the Strip; less so in locals' casinos), so I doubt that VP returns skew the overall slot return percentage very much. That alone can't account for the huge difference in reported payback.
Or to put it another way, since every single game for which we know the exact payback percentage (craps; BJ; VP; etc.) is worse on the Strip, why wouldn't slot paybacks be worse, too? Would the Fromaggio or the Can't Wynn have developed a benevolent soft spot for slot players?
I would love to hear from a legitimate casino manager on this topic. Nobody on this board is in the know.
I do think the VP can skew the slots drastically because thats primarily what locals play. Go into the Skyline, any of the Stations casinos and even EL Cortez. For every person playing a slot machine there are 3 people playing video poker. Thats not the case at strip casinos which are full of tourists dumping money into the Batman slot.
I opine tightening slot machines scares people away. If there is a perception slots are losse people will keep playing them even though the payback % is still terrible.
This information is a little dated, by from the American Casino Guide:
Slot Return by Denomination / Region
When choosing where to do your slot gambling, you may want to keep in mind the following slot payback percentages for Nevada's fiscal year beginning July 1, 2018, and ending June 30, 2019:
1¢ Slot Machines
The Strip - 88.33%
Downtown - 88.96%
Boulder Strip - 90.53%
N. Las Vegas - 90.79%
5¢ Slot Machines
The Strip - 91.96%
Downtown - 93.32%
Boulder Strip - 96.30%
N. Las Vegas - 95.24%
25¢ Slot Machines
The Strip - 89.34%
Downtown - 93.91%
Boulder Strip - 95.77%
N. Las Vegas - 96.27%
$1 Slot Machines
The Strip - 92.34%
Downtown - 94.12%
Boulder Strip - 95.49%
N. Las Vegas - 95.62%
$1 Megabucks Machines
The Strip - 87.31%
Downtown - 86.40%
Boulder Strip - 87.61%
N. Las Vegas - 86.98%
All Slot Machines
The Strip - 91.84%
Downtown - 92.22%
Boulder Strip - 94.26%
N. Las Vegas - 93.34%
