Question of the Day - 31 May 2025

Pachinko machines are a type of mechanical arcade game popular in Japan. They're sort of a vertical pinball machine, in which the player launches small steel balls into the top of the machine and the balls bounce around the playing field filled with pins, levers, cups, and other obstacles on their way down to holes or pockets at the bottom. Depending on which holes the balls land in, the player wins more balls as a payout. 

Pachinko and their cousin pachislot (more like a standard slot machine that incorporates a "skill-stop" element) parlors provide an unofficial gambling option in Japan, where gambling is strictly prohibited. As a workaround to the anti-gambling, pachinko parlors pay out winnings in prizes. Nearby and often affiliated exchange centers purchase the prizes for cash. Then the exchange sells the prizes back to the parlor. 

As for pachinko machines in Las Vegas, we've never seen, heard of, or read about any on casino floors. We couldn't find any reliable information on whether they're legal in Nevada, though some sources claim they're not illegal, given Nevada's extremely permissive gaming laws and regulations. In fact, in recent years, companies like Sega Sammy Holdings have explored introducing pachislot-style machines into the Nevada market. The legalization of skill-based games in Nevada opened the door for this possibility.

We did find a few scattered references to their presence in Las Vegas, but certainly not in casinos. We don't recall seeing it, but one report mentioned a pachinko machine in the Excalibur arcade in the 1990s that dispensed tickets. We also found one obscure and unconfirmed reference to at least one of these machines in the Asian-themed Red Dragon casino at Hoover Dam Lodge, but couldn't get any confirmation. Those are the only reports of these games showing up in southern Nevada.