- Appendices
- Slots Analysis
- Miscellaneous
Introduction
- This entry was posted in Gambling, Las Vegas, Slot Machines on July 19, 2016 by Scott Roeben. Post navigation ← Vital Vegas Podcast, Episode 21: Good Vibrations, EasyPlay App and Howard Hughes Riviera Demolition Update: Down to the Wire →.
- Until the software engineer won almost $40 million, the record for the largest slot payout in Las Vegas belonged to Cynthia Jay-Brennan. Jay-Brennan won almost $35 million playing a Megabucks.
- The Wynn Las Vegas casino and hotel on the Las Vegas Strip confirmed that the woman from Oahu, who has decided to remain anonymous, won a payout of $10,777,270.51 at around 9pm on Sunday 21 August.
On March 21, 2003, an anonymous 25-year-old software engineer stopped to play slots at the Excalibur in Las Vegas. He waged $100 on a Megabucks slot machine and won the largest slot winnings in. Slots located in the middle of Las Vegas often exceed 90% payout rates because gamblers can easily head to the competition if any one casino’s machines are too tight. The most recent annual report on casino revenue between 1 June 2015 and 31 May 2016 reports the following average payout rates for all slot machines across the state.
The following table ranks the Las Vegas casinos according to the looseness of their video display reeled nickel slot machines. The returns are based on a sampling of five different types of machines. The data collected goes back as far as October 2001 so the information is a bit dated.
Las Vegas 5 Cent Slot Survey
Rank | Casino | Average Return |
---|---|---|
1 | Palms | 93.42% |
2 | Gold Coast | 92.84% |
3 | Sahara | 92.81% |
4 (tie) | Bourbon Street | 92.63% |
4 (tie) | Imperial Palace | 92.63% |
4 (tie) | Slots a Fun | 92.63% |
7 | Key Largo | 92.60% |
8 | Western | 92.57% |
9 | Ellis Island | 92.56% |
10 | El Cortez | 92.56% |
11 | Orleans | 92.56% |
12 | Circus Circus | 92.56% |
13 | Gold Spike | 92.55% |
14 | Fitzgeralds | 92.54% |
15 | Fiesta - Rancho | 92.53% |
16 | Arizona Charlie's East | 92.51% |
17 | Barbary Coast | 92.50% |
18 | Terrible's | 92.49% |
19 | Arizona Charlie's | 92.49% |
20 | Hard Rock | 92.47% |
21 | Town Hall | 92.47% |
22 | Longhorn | 92.47% |
23 | Riviera | 92.23% |
24 | California | 92.14% |
25 | Lady Luck | 92.10% |
26 | Nevada Palace | 92.06% |
27 | Plaza | 91.94% |
28 | Luxor | 91.92% |
29 | Paris | 91.92% |
30 | San Remo | 91.88% |
31 | Excalibur | 91.84% |
32 | Palace Station | 91.84% |
33 | Ballys | 91.82% |
34 | Las Vegas Club | 91.76% |
35 | Four Queens | 91.75% |
36 | Texas Station | 91.71% |
37 | Casino Royale | 91.67% |
38 | Boulder Station | 91.55% |
39 | Aladdin | 91.5% |
40 | O'sheas | 91.48% |
41 | Hilton | 91.40% |
42 | Boardwalk | 91.28% |
43 | New York New York | 90.99% |
44 | Horseshoe | 90.96% |
45 | Sam's Town | 90.89% |
46 | Santa Fe Station | 90.87% |
47 | Flamingo | 90.86% |
48 | Golden Nugget | 90.85% |
49 | Stratosphere | 90.8% |
50 | Tropicana | 90.71% |
51 | Golden Gate | 90.64% |
52 | Silverton | 90.57% |
53 | Main Street Station | 90.56% |
54 | Westward Ho | 90.40% |
55 | Fremont | 90.37% |
56 | Castaways | 90.36% |
57 | Monte Carlo | 90.24% |
58 | Stardust | 89.97% |
59 | Frontier | 89.91% |
60 | MGM Grand | 89.81% |
61 | Harrahs | 89.32% |
62 | Treasure Island | 89.32% |
63 | Mirage | 89.3% |
64 | Caesars Palace | 89.05% |
65 | Mandalay Bay | 88.87% |
66 | Rio | 88.72% |
67 | La Bayou | 88.26% |
68 | Mermaids | 88.26% |
69 | Bellagio | 87.42% |
70 | Venetian | 86.66% |
71 | Airport | 85.02% |
Excluded Casinos
Eclipse casino no deposit bonus codes. The Suncoast and Rampart Casino in Summerlin do not allow playing slots and taking notes at the same time. I can not include any casino that prohibits the method in which I gather data.
Location Averages
The next table shows the average return by location.
Returns by Region
Location | Average Return |
---|---|
Off strip | 92.07% |
Downtown | 91.66% |
Strip | 91.47% |
Total | 91.74% |
The above sign can be found across the street from the Palms. Although I did the study Anthony Curtis published it in the LasVegas Advisor, which is how it become well known. The'..' in the sign encompases quite a bit of information,which was conveniently left off the sign. Actually the study only says that the Palms had the lowest nickel video slotsof the casinos surveyed in Las Vegas. The small print at thebottom says, 'Independent study conducted between November2001-February 2002 on Austin Powers, Fortune Cookie, Reel'em In, and Wheel of Fortune games. They left off LeopardSpots, and the study began in October.
Observations
There seemed to be no truth behind slot placement myths. Machines on the end of a bank did no better on average than those in the middle. There was also no correlation between return and proximity to such things as the main door, table game pit, high traffic areas, and low traffic areas.
Most casinos were very consistent in their slot returns.If one nickel machine had a return of x% then all others like it also returned x%. However some casinos did mix up loose and tight machines, most notably Treasure Island and the California casinos.
Methodology
A kind and anonymous source provided me with par sheets for the games in question. The EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory) chip is what tells the machine the order of the symbols on the reel, in some cases how the stops are weighted, how much each winning combination pays, and any other pertinent information about how much the machine pays.It is up to the slot manager to select which EPROM chip to order according to the return percentage desired. On atypical game there might be about 8 different possible return percentages, ranging from about 85% to 98%.
Each of the different par sheets has five sets of distinct reels. On video display slots the stops are not weighted; in other words all stops are equally likely. The distribution of each symbol on each reel is what determines the theoretical return of the machine. For example a higher paying machine may have more of the higher paying symbols.
On the machine itself three consecutive symbols arevisible on five different reels. By comparing actualobservations of results to the par sheets it is possible todetermine which reels the machine uses, and thus which par sheet and which return. There are various three-symbol combinations that appear in at least one but not all par sheets. So if one of these combinations occurs on an actualmachine it narrows down the possible par sheets. By playingenough the player can narrow down the possible par sheets tojust one.
To help identify the unique combinations I wrote a computer program for each game, which had the exact reel order of all 5 reels of all the par sheets. The program then counted the number of par sheets with each possible three-symbol combination. If the number was greater than 0 and less than the maximum then that combination was identified along with the associated par sheets it belonged to.
It is then a matter of simply playing the game and comparing the outcomes to the list of partially unique combinations. It only takes about 5-10 plays per machine to narrow down the possibilities to just one par sheet.
The averages in the table are actually an average of averages. For each kind of machine at each casino I took an average return. Then I took the average of these averages over the five kinds of machines I tested for.
Slot Machine Definition
There is some confusion about what constitutes a 'slot machine' or 'slot.' My definition, and that of most gamblers, is a gambling machine with either actual spinning reels or video representations of the them.
Las Vegas Free Slots Games
People in the gaming business and regulators generally refer to a slot machine as any gambling machine, including reeled slots, video poker, video keno, video blackjack,etc. For purposes of statistics both casino managers and regulators combine all the electronic gambling machines together. For example, the Slot Chart in Casino Player magazine and reports by the Nevada Gaming Control Board do not isolate just reeled slots but consider all electronic games a 'slot.' Therefore my return percentages should not be expected to agree with those reported by the casinos or regulators. As far as I know mine is the only source to isolate just the return of reeled slots.
![Jackpots Jackpots](https://is4-ssl.mzstatic.com/image/thumb/Purple71/v4/99/1b/9a/991b9acb-f1d0-253a-4638-77e72dd9f77e/source/750x750bb.jpeg)
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Rob Feldheim for helping with the slot play and record keeping. Rob helped me with most of the casinos on the east side of town and part of downtown. I would also like to thank par Sheet Pete (not his real name)for providing the par sheets, without which this project would not have been possible.
Internal Links
Go to slot machine appendix3B (Jean/Primm slot returns).
Go to slot machine appendix 3D(Henderson slot returns).
Go to slot machine appendix 3E(Las Vegas quarter and dollar slot returns).
Go to slot machine appendix 3F(Montreal slot return).
Go back to slot machines.
Go to slot machine appendix 3D(Henderson slot returns).
Go to slot machine appendix 3E(Las Vegas quarter and dollar slot returns).
Go to slot machine appendix 3F(Montreal slot return).
Go back to slot machines.
External Links
The main-stream media has covered this study in depth. Here are links to some articles.
- Turning'em loose, an article that appeared in the Las VegasReview Journal on May 19, 2002, about the possible effectsof this study.
- One-Armed Bandit or Robin Hood?, an article by myself for Contingencies Magazine explaining the methodology, results, and weaknesses of the study.
- Play by the rules and the one-armed bandits will still win. Boston Globe article about slot machines, in which my Las Vegas survey is mentioned and my advice quoted. (cache)
Written by: Michael Shackleford
What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas—unless you happen to win a huge cash payout while gambling. The odds that you’ll win $5.00 or $10.00 while playing the slot machines are quite good. The odds of hitting a multimillion-dollar jackpot at a Vegas casino—well, if you accomplish that, then we’ll be hitting the Vegas strip with you next time.
They may be rare, but mega-million jackpots in Vegas do happen. Most recently, in November 2014, a man turned $20.00 into $14.28 million when he hit the progressive jackpot playing a Megabucks slot machine at Rampart Casino. The Megabucks machine is linked to 157 casinos throughout Nevada.
If you’re hoping lightning strikes twice, you may want to visit the following casinos on your next trip to Las Vegas:
Top Las Vegas Payouts
5. Rampart Casino
The unidentified Vegas resident who won the cool $14.0 million at Rampart was visiting the casino with an out-of-town friend one day. The man played the Megabucks slot machine for all of five minutes before hitting the jackpot! The money, he said, would be donated to various charities and his church.
The 50,000-square-foot Rampart Casino1 is located in the JW Marriott Las Vegas Resort & Spa. It boasts nearly 1,300 slots, video poker, and keno machines. The Summerlin Room High Limit area features games that range from $1.00 to $10.00 denominations and the 300-seat Bingo Room is conveniently located next to the Rampart Buffet. With 50 lush acres, JW Marriott Las Vegas is considered to be the first off-the-strip luxury resort in Las Vegas. The 548 guestrooms offer mountain, garden, city, or golf-course views, and are equipped with high-speed Internet access, rainfall showerheads, and jetted tubs.2
If that’s not enough, the JW Marriott has a day spa. Spa Aquae has 36 treatment rooms, an outdoor hydrotherapy circuit pool, a whirlpool, a steam room and sauna, a hot and cold plunge, and cascading waterfall showers. It also has a state-of-the-art fitness center and offers daily yoga sessions.3
4. Bally’s
Seventy-four-year-old Johanna Huendl was on her way to breakfast at Bally’s when she decided to take a seat at the Megabuck machine. She put in about $170.00 and won the jackpot. Initially she misread the machine and was overjoyed to see she would be taking home $2.0 million. But she was wrong; she won $22.62 million.4
Located on the Vegas strip, Bally’s Las Vegas features more than 2,800 extra-sized guestrooms (450 square feet each) and a number of penthouses ranging from 2,567 square feet to 3,425 square feet. Guests at Bally’s can also enjoy the 13,000-square-foot spa, salon, Olympic-sized pools with palm trees, private cabanas, and a whirlpool, fine dining, shows, and shopping.5 At 67,000 square feet, the casino at Bally’s has countless slot and video poker machines, more than 65 Las Vegas table games (casino blackjack, craps, roulette, baccarat, and pai gow), a poker room, a 24-hour Keno parlor, and a stadium-style race and sports book.
3. Palace Station
Did you know that one of the largest, progressive slot machine payouts in history happened at Palace Station? Back in 1998, a retired flight attendant fed $300.00 into a Megabucks machine and walked away with a staggering $27.5 million.
Located just a few minutes off Las Vegas Boulevard, Palace Station is known as the locals’ favorite place to stay and play! Williams interactive slots. Palace Station has a 1,000-room hotel, fitness center, pool, and salon, along with bars, lounges, and fine dining.6
The Palace Station casino has more than 100,000 square feet of gaming space and the perfect mix of slots and table games.7 The casino has more than 1,600 slot/video poker machines, 45 table games (blackjack, pai gow poker, pai gow tiles, “Ultimate Texas Hold’em,” craps, roulette, and baccarat), a 307-seat bingo hall, a 20-seat keno lounge, and a 230-seat race and a sports book featuring 44 screens.
2. Wynn Las Vegas & Encore Resort
On January 26, 2000, Cynthia Jay-Brennan, a Las Vegas cocktail waitress, won $34.9 million after investing $27.00 on a Megabucks machine at the Desert Inn. Naturally, the casino set her up in one of its top suites and offered her champagne and caviar.8
Unfortunately, the Desert Inn suffered the fate of many of the older casinos in Las Vegas: it was imploded. Today, Wynn Las Vega and Encore Resort now sit on the land where Desert Inn once stood. If you’re superstitious, you might want to try the casino at Wynn or Encore.
Wynn Las Vegas is an iconic, curved high-rise on the Las Vegas Strip with 2,716 rooms ranging in size from 640 square feet to villas at 7,000 square feet. Together with the adjacent Encore Resort, the entire Wynn resort complex has a total of 4,750 rooms, making it the world’s sixth-largest hotel.9
Wynn Las Vegas has a 223,000-square-foot convention center, 76,000 square feet of retail space, a spa, a salon, a pool, and an 111,000-square-foot casino. If you like to golf, Wynn Resorts also has the only golf club on the Strip. The 18-hole, 7,193-yard, par-72 golf course was designed by world-famous architect Tom Fazio and resort owner Steve Wynn.
Encore Resort features a 2,034-room hotel that is ranked as one of the top 100 hotels in the world on the 2015 Gold List. Encore also has a 74,000-square-foot casino, 27,000 square feet of retail space, a spa and salon, five restaurants, seven bars, and a nightclub.
1. Excalibur
Best Of Las Vegas 2016
Back in March 2003, a 25-year-old software engineer from Las Angeles won $39.7 million after putting $100.00 in the Megabucks slot machine at Excalibur. The winner, who wished to remain anonymous, beat odds at the time of one in 16.7 million to take home the largest jackpot in Las Vegas history.10
![Las Las](https://is4-ssl.mzstatic.com/image/thumb/Purple71/v4/ba/b4/34/bab434b2-7e69-9dd9-622d-b396f075d6fa/source/750x750bb.jpeg)
Excalibur isn’t just a name—it’s a way of life. On the south end of the Las Vegas Strip, Excalibur is a Camelot-themed resort linked to neighbouring New York-New York and Tropicana resorts by overhead pedestrian bridges.11
The hotel has 4,008 rooms, ranging from contemporary to guest suites. Amenities include shopping, four luxurious pools (including one for guests 18 years of age and older), a 13,000-square-foot spa, a fitness center, and, of course, the Canterbury Wedding Chapel.
The 100,000-square-foot gaming area consists of both table games and over 1,400 slot machines, including the ever-popular Megabucks progressive jackpot slot machine. The casino also has a poker room, keno, and pari-mutuel betting.12
So, what happens if lightning does happen to strike twice and you win big?
RMS Is the Easiest, Fastest Way to Get Your Money Back!
In the United States, winnings of more than $1,200 from slots (or other forms of gambling, including poker, pari-mutuel, and sports betting) are considered taxable income and are subject to a 30% withholding tax. If you win $2,500 on the slots in Las Vegas, you’ll walk out with just $1,750. The IRS gets to keep the rest.
If you’ve been to Las Vegas and had 30% of your gambling winnings withheld by the IRS, Refund Management Services (RMS) can help you reclaim a portion or all of your taxable winnings.
Founded by a Canadian Chartered Accountant in 1998, RMS is the most reliable and experienced gaming and casino tax refund provider for non-U.S. residents. Only RMS has the One Simple StepTM process; our Customer Service Agents take care of the rest. Your refund cheque gets mailed out to you as soon as your refund is approved. We’ve never been refused an eligible refund. Contact us today!
Sources:
1. “Where the Locals Play in Summerlin,” Rampart Casino at The Resort at Summerlin web site; https://www.theresortatsummerlin.com/gaming/index.php, last accessed May 1, 2015.
2. JW Marriott Las Vegas Resort & Spa web site; http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/lasjw-jw-marriott-las-vegas-resort-and-spa/, last accessed May 1, 2015.
3. Spa Aquae web site; http://spaaquaelv.com/, last accessed May 1, 2015.
4. “$22.6 Million Megabucks Hits at Bally’s Las Vegas,” IGT web site; http://www.igt.com/company-information/news-room/news-releases?NewsID=650269,
last accessed May 1, 2015.
last accessed May 1, 2015.
5. Caesars web site; https://www.caesars.com/ballys-las-vegas, last accessed May 1, 2015.
6. Palace Station web site; https://palacestation.sclv.com/, last accessed May 1, 2015.
7. “Boarding Pass Players Club,” Palace Station web site; https://palacestation.sclv.com/Gaming.aspx, last accessed May 1, 2015.
8. Macy, R., “Woman plays $27, wins $34.9 million,” Las Vegas Sun web site, January 27, 2000; http://lasvegassun.com/news/2000/jan/27/woman-plays-27-wins-349-million/.
9. Wynn Las Vegas web site; http://wynnlasvegas.com/, last accessed May 1, 2015.
10. Norman, R.J., “Record jackpot claimed by Calif. engineer,” Las Vegas Sun web site, March 4, 2003; http://lasvegassun.com/news/2003/mar/24/record-jackpot-claimed-by-calif-engineer/?history.
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11. Excalibur web site; http://www.excalibur.com/, last accessed May 1, 2015.
Las Vegas Slot Jackpots
12. Excalibur casino web site; http://www.excalibur.com/casino/, last accessed May 1, 2015.