LOOSEST SLOT AWARDS
Our 31st annual survey reveals the casinos that are the most generous with slot returns
By Frank Legato
Ever since slot machines overtook table games as the No. 1 gambling attraction in casinos during the 1980s, slot players have looked at publications like this one to answer one question:
Where’s the best place to play the slots? More specifically: What casinos give me the best chance to win at the slots?
Our sister publication and precursor to this magazine, Casino Player, sought to answer that question not long after its 1988 founding. Its editors latched onto the fact that casinos—in those days, they were only in Nevada and Atlantic City—were required to publicly report their “hold percentage” on slot machines.
This was the percentage of all slot wagers that the casinos kept as revenue. It was also known as “slot win,” a term that particularly annoyed some slot players, since it implied they were the losers.
What Player did was to flip-flop those percentages into numbers that could be embraced by players: payback. Early versions of the charts still found on the back pages of Casino Player and Strictly Slots identified the “payback percentage” implied by the “win” numbers reported by the casinos. These days, the popular term to reflect payback percentages is “return to player,” or RTP. Players not only in casinos but those playing online on cell phones still seek out those numbers constantly.
Eventually, players themselves began to refer to slots with high RTP as “loose,” and the stingier slots as “tight.” By 1994, Casino Player had embraced the “loose” adjective, and that year, the magazine published its first “Loosest Slots Awards.”
Casinos were initially opposed to their revenue numbers being blasted from the rooftops, but they soon realized the marketing value of a “Loosest Slots” designation, and before long, drivers began seeing phrases like “Loosest Slots in Atlantic City!” on billboards. Loose slots became a badge of honor.
Strictly Slots having established itself as the central place for slot information, a few years ago, we transferred the Loosest Slots survey from Player to this publication.
So, welcome to our annual survey identifying those casinos that return the most to their players.
For players, the beauty of this survey comes down to two things— objectivity and sample size. These are objective awards because they are based on historical statistics. They are not the “theoretical” payback percentages the slot suppliers publish based on computer simulations. They reflect what actual casinos gave back to actual players.
Secondly, they are based on an entire year of those statistics. Numbers for a single month can be very misleading, since a burst of luck among players in high-end rooms can skew the overall numbers. (Some months, you’ll even find RTP exceeding 100 percent in the higher denominations.) Twelve months of numbers provide a reliable sample.
Those statistics, presented here, will tell you with accuracy which casinos or casino regions are the most player-friendly. This report is based on hold/payback statistics logged over the 2024 calendar year. Before we get to the winners, we always like to provide answers to the most-frequently asked questions about our report.
First of all, not all casinos are included in this report. We are restricted to reporting on the statistics that are publicly available, and for the most part, that includes all commercial casinos and many of the largest Native American casinos. Because many Indian casinos are not required to report payback percentages to state regulatory agencies, some tribal casinos consider the statistics proprietary information, and do not report them publicly.
For instance, three years ago, the state of Illinois stopped publicly reporting slot percentages. This is why Illinois casinos are no longer included in the report.
Our apologies if your favorite casino is not included.
Next, we are only able to report the numbers as they are reported by the casinos. That is why you will not find denominations broken out in many locations—such as New Jersey, where regulators stopped reporting separate denominations nine years ago.
Finally, the way the numbers are reported publicly also is the reason video poker paybacks are not broken out in this report. No jurisdiction reports separate numbers for slots and video poker. However, you’ll find that the casinos with the highest overall paybacks consistently offer the highest-returning pay schedules on video poker.
Drumroll, Please…
For the fourth year running, the award for Loosest Slots in the U.S. goes to Nassau OTB at Resorts World New York City in Queens. This year, its 1,000 machines returned 96.94 percent of wagers to players—a little less than last year, but still towering over the rest of the industry.
And for the third year in a row, the second- through fifth-loosest slots in the nation are in Nevada. Reno once again lands the award for Loosest Slots in Nevada, returning 94.59 percent—two-tenths of a percentage point ahead of last year’s total. Just behind that at 94.18 percent is the Boulder Strip, home to casinos including Sam’s Town and Arizona Charlie’s.
Mesquite repeats with the third-highest payback in Nevada and the nation, its 94.13 percent topping last year’s RTP.
Elsewhere, in Atlantic City, the top two casinos are identical with the last two surveys, with Harrah’s offering the loosest slots in town at 91. 65 percent and Borgata at 91.03 percent. Even the percentages themselves are nearly identical to last year. For No. 3, it’s been a close race between Ocean Resort and Hard Rock Atlantic City the past few years. This year, it’s Hard Rock, at 90.7 percent.
In other highlights, Cripple Creek has the Loosest Slots award for Colorado six years running. The dedication of the town’s two casinos to loose slots was verified by the takeover of Johnny Nolon’s Casino and Colorado Grande Casino by Rocky Mountain Gaming, a partnership of Michael Gaughan III and former Coast Casinos executive David Ross. Rocky Mountain Gaming received the Strictly Slots Loose Slots certification early this year.
The reason is the philosophy of Gaughan and Ross of offering a fair gamble to slot patrons. As proven by the Loosest Slots awards, that has extended to the actual results.
In Connecticut, Foxwoods again edges Mohegan Sun for the Loosest Slots crown, 91.9 percent to 91.75 percent.
In Indiana, Horseshoe Indianapolis wins its fifth straight Loosest Slots crown, returning 90.49 percent. In Missouri, Hollywood Casino unseats Ameristar St. Charles, last year’s winner at 91.06 percent.
In Louisiana, Baton Rouge edges two-year winner Lake Charles by the tiniest of margins, 91.61 percent to 90.56 percent.
In Pennsylvania, Wind Creek Bethlehem again repeats its crown with 91.35 percent— nearly identical to its mark the past two years. In Ohio, Hollywood Columbus three-peats, its 92.65 percent return again edging out Hard Rock Cincinnati, at 92.57 percent, by less than a point.
Our congratulations to the Loosest Slots winners. You’ve proven that you care about giving your players a fair shake.
