Silver Strike slots have a cult following, and fans of the machine report experiencing heart palpitations upon discovering the machines been removed from the casino floor at downtown’s Four Queens.

Four Queens is one of just two casinos (the other is Plaza) in Las Vegas with the slot that dispenses collectible tokens.

The good news is Four Queens will bring back the Silver Strike machines, although their return is veiled in secrecy.

If you thought we were kidding about Silver Strike machines having a cult following, please refer to “The Official Web Site of the Silver Strikers Club,” a Web site we’re pretty sure was designed on a manual typewriter.

If you have no idea what we’re talking about, here’s a video of us demonstrating a very sophisticated strategy for winning a Silver Strike token of your very own. It’s a strategy we call “pushing a button.”

Basically, if you hit the Silver Strike symbol, you get a token valued at $10. Some tokens have different values, but nobody’s ever actually gotten one of those.

Players can turn the tokens in for cash, or keep them. Casinos just hate when people take the tokens home. In the business, it’s called “breakage.” It’s like when collectors buy casino chips and don’t cash them in. It’s pure profit for the casino. Which would seem to contradict our earlier statement about casinos hating when people take tokens home. You must be new here. We invented sarcasm around the same time the Silver Strikers designed their Web site.

Anyway, this quirky game is a hoot, especially since many old-timey slots are incredibly boring and repetitious. Silver Strike changes things up a bit.

Basically, Silver Strike is to Four Queens and Plaza as Sigma Derby is  to The D. Long story.

Four Queens constantly refreshes the designs of its Silver Strike tokens, also known as “Silver Premium Tokens.” It sounds like a pain in the ass, frankly.

Restocking these machines is akin to when casinos used coin-operated slots. Casinos switched to TITO (ticket in, ticket out) vouchers to save costs, including having to compensate slot attendants for back injuries suffered from lugging around giant bags of coins. Seriously, it was bad.

Prior to the slot voucher era, $100 bags of nickels with 2,000 coins weighed 21 pounds. Quarters? The $500 bags had 2,000 quarters, weighing 25 pounds. Dollar bags (which doesn’t sound right) had $600 in coins and weighed 30 pounds. That’s the weight of nearly four human heads! For our fellow youths, that’s a reference to a movie called “Jerry Maguire,” released about three decades ago.

That said, Four Queens isn’t your typical casino. It’s a throwback, and staff know Silver Strike die-hards will keep coming back, not only gambling, but dining in their restaurants and staying in their hotel rooms.

As we said, Four Queens is being tight-lipped about what’s next for their collection of Silver Strike machines, but the bottom line is don’t freak out. We said that in the headline. If you were paying attention, you wouldn’t have had to read all these additional words.

We’ve been assured by Four Queens management we’ll get to break any Silver Strike news that arises, so check our site hourly for updates. Take that, Silver Strikers Club.

The post Silver Strike Slots Removed From Four Queens, Don’t Freak Out appeared first on Vital Vegas.

It’s a casino trend that could affect your financial wellbeing, so we’re all over it.

Some casinos are discreetly shortening the window of time before a TITO (ticket in, ticket out) voucher can be cashed. If your slot ticket expires, you could be SOL, and that would be FUBAR as a reminder of your Las Vegas YOLO experience.

In human English, you need to pay attention to TITO voucher expiration dates!

Traditionally, gamblers have been given 90 to 180 days (about six months) to redeem their slot tickets. These expiration dates aren’t exactly set in stone, as casinos often honor expired tickets, but it’s a gamble to go beyond the expiration date stated on the ticket.

Now, casinos are giving customers as little as 30 days to trade their vouchers for cash. We are not a math person, but that is as much as five months less time to turn in a slot ticket than in the past.

Such a short redemption period should be of concern, and not just because it feels a little sneaky. Who reads the small print on a slot ticket?

Players often leave town with their voucher, assuming they’ll just cash it on their next visit in three months.

If you wait three months to cash in a voucher at a casino with a 30-day redemption limit, your Las Vegas visit is going to cost much more than anticipated.

No, we have not compiled a comprehensive database of casino voucher expiration windows. We are a noted lazy person. However, we do know expiration windows vary widely. Our friends at Vegas Advantage did the leg work so we don’t have to.

As stated, most casinos have slot vouchers that expire in 180 days, including Casino Royale of all places. There’s no real rhyme or reason to how long a casino will give a player to get their cheddar, or whatever our fellow youths are calling money now. Clams should still be a thing. With all our modern technology, nobody has come up with a better word than “simoleons” for money.

Westgate tickets expire in 120 days.

A bunch of casinos have 60-day time limits, including

Slot vouchers at Wynn/Encore expire after 60 days, ditto Circus Circus, El Cortez, Ellis Island and Plaza.

Golden Nugget and Treasure Island slot tickets expire after a mere 30 days, along with off-Strip casinos like Rampart and Ojos Locos.

That’s as comprehensive as we get on short notice.

Why the shortened timeline?

We have no idea, but that will not keep us from pretending to be an expert about everything.

Slot vouchers are a liability for casinos, an outstanding “debt.” The sooner the casino can get that liability off its books, the happier the bean counters are.

Is shortening the redemption window a “trick” on the part of casinos? Not really. Yes, casinos get a piece of the action from uncashed slot tickets, but it’s not very much.

When a slot ticket is “abandoned,” the casino keeps 25% for administrative costs and the rest goes into Nevada’s General Fund for important things like education. Just kidding, we meant publicly subsidized sports stadiums.

More than $22 million a year in unclaimed vouchers might sound like a lot, but that’s a paltry $5.5 million kept by all the casinos in Nevada, and that’s spread out over 150 casinos in Las Vegas alone. Pocket change.

Speaking of change, the amount of money for unredeemed cash-out vouchers has climbed since most casinos stopped giving coins at redemption kiosks, under cover of the pandemic, of course. The truth is coins are a pain for casino operators, but don’t get us started.

There was even a lawsuit about the irksome no-change practices of casinos. We have no idea how that ended up, but the threat of lawsuits had zero impact on Las Vegas casinos. You still have to shlep to the cage to get your 48 cents.

Anyway, the whole point is you should not assume your slot voucher will be good for six months, as it could be redeemable for as little as 30 days. If your slot expires, your money is potentially forfeit.

Ultimately, casinos don’t want to screw people out of money in an underhanded way. They prefer to do it in the old-fashioned way: Math. Casinos don’t need to scam anyone, every bet has a built-in mathematical advantage for the house. We try not to think about it.

If your voucher has expired, try a kiosk, but the machine might kick your ticket back out. Head to the cage and be nice to the cashier. If they won’t pay it, speak to a manager and be nice to them.

Your winnings are unlikely to break the bank (if you won more than $1,200, you were paid in cash, not via TITO voucher), and casinos like to keep customers happy so they keep coming back. Payment of expired TITO tickets is at the discretion of the casino, so like we said, be nice.

If your ticket is going to expire and you won’t get back to Vegas in time, you can often mail the voucher to the casino (along with a copy of your “valid government issued photo identification card”) and the casino will send you a check in a month or two.

Now, you know.

Leaving a casino with cash is very rude, by the way. It doesn’t not help our local economy, and if everyone left with money, Nevadans would have to start paying state income tax and nobody wants that.

The post Casinos Are Closing the Window for Slot Ticket Redemption appeared first on Vital Vegas.

Our friends at Fontainebleau are making some changes to their loyalty club. Shocker, not in a good way.

The struggling but drop-dead gorgeous resort sent Fontainebleau Rewards members an e-mail that started with the phrase, “For added simplicity and transparency…” It’s well known anything that follows that phrase tends to be bad news.

For example, “For added simplicity and transparency, while you only have a tumor in one testicle, we’re removing both, just to be on the safe side.”

Anyway, here’s the rest of the message from Fontainebleau: “For added simplicity and transparency, we are making some changes to Fontainebleau Rewards. Beginning on May 1, 2024, at 8 a.m., you will earn Play Points to accumulate as slot free credits based on the following calculation methods: Slots, 1 Play Point for every $5 of coin-in; Video poker, 1 Play Point for every $10 of coin-in.”

Free play is awesome, and one of the perks of loyalty. Casinos aren’t obligated to give players anything back, but free play is a way to keep guests returning again and again.

That said, it’s useful to compare the changes to the original calculation methods.

Previously, calculations were made thusly: Players earned two points for every $1 of rated play on both slots and video poker.

“Rated play,” according to the Fontainebleau Web site, “is determined by average bet, game type and length of play.” Also known as “theo,” or “theoretical” loss. Players tell us they previously earned a point for $4-5. So, it’s been a little fluid.

We are not a math person, but according to our calculations, the new program is roughly 900% worse for slots players and 1,900% worse for video poker players.

That’s right. For $1,000 of coin-in, video players get $1 in free play.

On the bright side, Fontainebleau assures, “The redemption value of Play Points will remain unchanged: 100 Play Points = $1 Slot Free Credit.”

So, the subtext.

It’s a little awkward.

This tightening of the belt means a couple of things.

It means Fontainebleau made a major miscalculation when it opened, namely that its loyalty club was “too generous.” This shouldn’t come as a huge surprise as Fontainebleau has never operated a casino before.

What it also means is the struggle is real, and Fontainebleau is making moves to try and bolster its revenue. That’s due to pressure from the top, Jeffrey Soffer,  Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Fontainebleau Development. Soffer, in turn, is getting pressure from Koch Industries, the folks who helped pay for the resort, in addition to a $2.2 billion construction loan.

The change in the loyalty club seems to be a painful but necessary adjustment, and it gives the appearance of increasing revenue (give back less for play, margins are higher). The problem is such loyalty club incentives are what build, well, loyalty. Perks and freebies are an integral part of casino marketing. Trimming down the perks is a short-term solution to a much bigger problem.

Multiple problems, really: Fontainebleau is in a challenging location (there’s no foot traffic), the company has no casino database to speak of, and also has no hotel partner (hotel partners come with massive marketing databases).

Along with the firing and resignations of a dozen top executives, Fontainebleau is getting a reality check, with few signs there’s a plan to overcome those seemingly insurmountable obstacles to success.

Hint: It’s not effective outdoor advertising, all due respect.

Advertising 101 QoD: If you saw this billboard, what would you think Fontainebleau is? pic.twitter.com/uV0sNLrWWi

— Vital Vegas (@VitalVegas) April 1, 2024

Fontainebleau recently hired a president, Maurice Wooden (formerly of Wynn Resorts), who is unlikely to be licensed by gaming regulators, and Fontainebleau has also been sued by Wynn Resorts for poaching.

The drama is glorious.

We are a huge fan of Fontainebleau, but have had little luck gambling there. The restaurants have been hit-and-miss. Don’s Prime, for example, is one of the best steakhouses in the world. Mother Wolf was a disappointment (destination bread, but the restaurant seems to give its pasta a gentle kiss of warm water, pushing the acceptable limits of “al dente”). We have about 87 restaurants left to try at Fontainebleau, so stay tuned.

Fontainebleau’s art is amazing, the bars are spectacular, as are the views from the resort’s south-facing rooms.

Fontainebleau appears to falling into the belt-tightening trap. Odd, given the fact it doesn’t have to start servicing its debt until mid-2025. (The first two interest payments were pre-paid.)

We will forever be grateful Fontainebleau opened after sitting unfinished for 16 or so years.

We’re rooting for Fontainebleau to slay. Cutting perks for players isn’t the way we’d recommend, but we are a layperson, so we’ll see how this plays out.

Update (4/7/24): Since the publication of our story, we have been informed we are an idiot. According to Twitter follower Centerfield Nine, “Not necessarily worse. Before, on a reel slot holding 9%, you’d need $11.11 coin-in to generate $1 “rated play” (theo) and earn 2 pts. Now $10 coin-in earns 2 pts. On a 12% penny slot, yes, a little worse. Perfect 8/5 JOB holds 2.7% so $37 coin-in = $1 theo/2 pts, now, just $20.”

A commenter on our blog post says, “Based on coin-in is way more generous for customers than based on theo.”

Our response to these insights is, “Define simplicity.”

We would ask Fontainebleau to clarify the situation, but they stopped returning our calls. We would stop returning our calls, too.

The post Fontainebleau Quietly Kicks Gamblers in Nadular Region appeared first on Vital Vegas.

Just when we’d given up on Slots-A-Fun at Circus Circus, there’s a glimmer of hope. Not just for Circus Circus, but for all of Humanity.

Circus Circus recently moved all its coin-operated slot machines (the only remaining coin slots on The Strip) to Slots-A-Fun, an adjacent casino space where value is once again king.

Here’s what’s new at Slots-A-Fun, including a look at the $2 food deals harkening back to when Las Vegas had dirtier fingers, an abundance of cheap eats and table games minimums that didn’t require taking out a second mortgage.

Circus Circus gets a lot of guff, or as the kids call it, “shade.” It’s not new and shiny, and its family-friendly clientele makes the experience different than other casino-hotels. But that’s what makes it special, and wildly profitable.

Slots-A-Fun is adults only, just the way we like our Vegas.

The space is now full of coin-operated slots. The rarity of such machines, combined with a 97.4% payback on many machines, has made the coin slots area at Circus Circus a big draw for years. We wrote about the coin slot cult following awhile back.

Circus Circus clearly decided its long-neglected Slots-A-Fun needed a boost, and moving the coin machines to this area might just do the trick. The move was presumably also sparked by the opening of Fontainebleau across the street, but that’s unlikely to move the needle at Circus Circus.

Slots-A-Fun currently has 75 coin-operated machines, with another 25 on order. There are a dozen old-school video poker and keno machines, along with 39 machines that take TITO vouchers, but those will be phased out as new coin machines arrive. There are 12 video poker machines at the bar that don’t take coins.

Coin-operated slots were just one aspect of the Slots-A-Fun relaunch, however.

The Slots-A-Fun bar now offers several food and drink specials, at the price point of $2. We are not making this up.

Yes, we tried all the food, despite the fact we are not a shrimp person.

The shrimp cocktail presentation is actually clever, with the shrimp hovering over the sauce.

The shrimp seemed fresh and there were six.

The popcorn was easily the best value, as the bag was nearly a foot long. Or tall. Depending upon one’s orientation.

The hot dog has the most room for improvement, but we weren’t drinking. The $2 dog would definitely handle one’s Vegas-feuled drunchies. We trust the preparation process is being refined. The lone bartender not only serves drinks at the bar, and acts as the service bartender for all of Slots-A-Fun, but also makes the food.

Here’s a look at Slots-A-Fun. This video may answer some of your questions, including, “Do you script the narration of your videos?”

As you might suspect, people are still rude and hogging machines.

The coin slots may have relocated from Circus Circus proper to Slots-A-Fun, but dipshits hogging machines are a constant. pic.twitter.com/J85hEN1TAp

— Vital Vegas (@VitalVegas) March 10, 2024

We trust Slot-A-Fun will post the rules as it did when the coin machines were inside Circus Circus proper.

The fun at Slots-A-Fun doesn’t stop there, however.

Slots-A-Fun has table games again, including blackjack, roulette and an electronic craps table.

The craps table (real dice, but no chips, you bet through terminals) has a $10 minimum, uncommon for The Strip. Electronic craps tables aren’t exactly an authentic craps experience, but they have their benefits, beyond saving a casino money on labor.

Lots of longtime Vegas visitors have asked if Slots-A-Fun will bring back its craps table just inside the entrance, off the Las Vegas Strip. The answer is maybe. We trust increased demand and revenue will help drive that decision.

What else would you like to know?

Parking for Slots-A-Fun? Yes, parking is still free at Circus Circus, but self-parking is quite far away. During our most recent visit, we tried the surface parking lot outside the Circus Circus porte cochere. The lot accepts payment via Parking.com, and it was $6 for two hours. From that lot, Slots-a-Fun is just a few feet away, totally worth it and a great deal compared to other paid parking rates on The Strip.

You scan the thingy and pay online.

Will Slots-A-Fun keep its glorious carpeting? Yes.

Are we going to point out the pip gaffe in the Slots-A-Fun carpeting? Yes.

Are we going to point out that they got the other dice wrong, too? Yes.

Did we write a story about the dice pip problem? Yes.

We’ve been told Slots-A-Fun will have a DJ on Saturdays, so we know which day not to visit. Just a personal preference.

Overall, it’s awesome Circus Circus is reading the room and understands the desire for value is exploding with every price spike elsewhere on The Strip.

Circus Circus says in its news release, “With this strategic shift, Circus Circus reaffirms its dedication to honoring the essence of vintage Vegas while embracing innovation for the modern-day guest. The revitalized Slots-A-Fun area, alongside enticing promotional offerings, promises an unforgettable experience steeped in nostalgia and excitement.”

News releases gonna news release, but they aren’t wrong, and this direction is to be applauded and encouraged.

Off-Strip casinos have touted their throwback deals recently, including Downtown Grand (with their $2 hot dog and PBR deal) and Oyo ($1 blackjack), but the cost of doing business on The Strip is higher, so prices follow suit.

There’s nothing like a coin slot, in our humble opinion, for experiencing gambling the way Mother Nature intended. Two downtown casinos have coin slots (The Cal and El Cortez), but on The Strip, Circus Circus is the last casino standing.

The reaction to Slots-A-Fun’s new direction has been universally positive online, and the casino says business levels have been strong since the relaunch of the space.

Circus Circus is one of our favorite casinos on The Strip, and now we have another reason to love the place. (Especially since there are no kids at Slots-A-Fun.)

If you want fine dining or elegance or a dress code, Slots-A-Fun isn’t the place for you. If you want to visit the Las Vegas you fell in love with, this is about as close as you’re likely to get without going downtown. Fact that’s anything but fun: Slots are now tighter downtown than on The Strip.

It’s time to get grimy again, and thanks for the memories, Circus Circus.

The post Slots-A-Fun at Circus Circus is Bringing Value Back appeared first on Vital Vegas.

Granted, that headline makes this story sound like a much bigger deal than it is. Do you know the Internet at all?

It’s true. For more than a year, we’ve been trying to find the source of a strange sound in casinos. A whistle.

It’s possible we are the only person excited to have unraveled this enigma wrapped in a curiosity hidden behind a cloak of WTF, but, trust us, this isn’t the first time we’ve done something to satisfy ourself, so let’s dive in!

What is this “whistle” of which we spake a few sentences ago?

Well, if you play slot machines in casinos, you may have heard it. It’s sort of a flipped version of the infamous “wolf whistle,” which has fallen out of fashion because it’s seen as cat-calling and disrespectful to women.

The whistle we’re talking about is often used to beckon. “Look over here,” the whistle suggests, with the ultimate goal in the context of a casino floor being “come over here and play me.”

The whistle sound plays when the machine is idle, in other words, when it isn’t being played—which is why a player at the machine might never hear it—for a given period of time. Good luck figuring out what that interval is.

Lots of slot machines spontaneously break into song to get the attention of players, but this is the only machine we’ve found that uses both musical interludes and this very specific whistle.

Enough teasing.

The whistle comes from one of our favorite games, Pinball.

Why did it take two years for us to figure out the source of this ingenious marketing tool?

For starters, the machine’s sound system actually “throws” the sound, making it tough to sort out exactly which slot it’s coming from. That sounds counter-intuitive. Why add a sound meant to draw players to a certain machine, but then make it challenging to associate that sound with any particular machine?

Maybe the point is to get a player looking in the general direction of the machine, and letting the popular Pinball brand do the rest. It’s an Easter egg just for Pinball fans.

The whistle doesn’t seem to have any regularity to it. It just randomly happens.

The brief but distinct whistle is easily lost in the din of a casino, especially given the introduction of new, and increasingly loud, machines that never seem to STFU.

Lookin at you, Fu Dai Lian Lian Panda.

Top contender for “Most Annoying Slot of 2023.” #stfu pic.twitter.com/tlmO1F4Ar9

— Vital Vegas (@VitalVegas) March 21, 2023

We first noticed the Pinball whistle in The D’s high limit slot room, and proceeded to chase the sound around for a couple of hours, never sorting out its origin with any degree of certainty.

Over time, we’d hear the whistle in various casinos, and we’d sit patiently trying to trace the sound effect to its source, but we failed, over and over. This strange pursuit saved us a lot of money, as it provided a break from gambling, but it was frustrating as well.

We finally cracked the case at Red Rock Resort.

We love casinos and casino culture, so our obsession extends to how machines are made and why they are able to cast such a spell over players.

There’s a lot of science that goes into designing slot machines, much of which goes unnoticed by recreational gamblers.

Visuals and sound effects combine to make slots irresistible. Some of these techniques exploit psychology and neuroscience. Critics aren’t thrilled about that aspect of slot development, but they need to lighten up and have more sex. Then again, that’s our solution to pretty much any complex problem, so take our advice with a grain of salt.

Anyway, we love the Pinball whistle! It may have even overtaken Buffalo’s red-tailed hawk as our favorite slot machine sound effect.

Fun fact: Slot machines have hacks to stop their idle machine musical outbursts. Here’s one for Top Dollar.

Today’s slot hack we just learned after, oh, 20 years of gambling in Vegas casinos. pic.twitter.com/lMNNPSkVeo

— Vital Vegas (@VitalVegas) September 21, 2020

In most cases, though, slot machine sounds make the games more exciting and help celebrate wins (whether the spin is a win or not—your brain experiences losses the same way as wins if there’s enough hoopla). For those of us who play certain machines regularly, the sound effects are cues so engrained in our brains, we could play the machine with our eyes closed, based upon the sounds alone.

If you’ve ever thought someone might be whistling at you in a casino, it’s true, but it’s not a someone, it’s a something. And that something would like it if you’d sit down and played one of the best machines in the casino, Pinball!

We wrote to IGT, the maker of Pinball, to hear their thoughts on this clever whistle sound effect. The folks at IGT are awesome, so we’ll follow-up with their reply when we hear back. We hope there’s some sexy industry jargon for such sound effects or other attention-getting ear magnets.

Slot designers continue to find ways to draw us in and keep us playing. We adore Pinball, and now we love it even more because the whistle makes it seem like we’re alluring and desirable, despite all the evidence to the contrary.

Case closed, and we are always happy to answer questions you didn’t realize needed answering.

Update (3/7/24): We should’ve said “solved-ish.” We heard back from IGT, and the company said, “The whistle that you heard is not a part of IGT’s Pinball game, but is likely an attract sound employed by the operator in the slot interface.”

The post Year-Long Investigation Solves Whistling Slot Machine Mystery appeared first on Vital Vegas.

The Holy Grail of slot jackpots, Megabucks, has hit yet again, this time for $12.2 million.

The latest jackpot hit at Excalibur on the Las Vegas Strip.

The lucky bastard who won the $12 million was playing a Megabucks Triple Red Hot 7s Multipliers slot.

Inside baseball: The biggest clue to knowing when Megabucks hits is seeing the progressive reset to $10 million.

The win at Excalibur actually happened back in October, but the slot maker, IGT, just got around to making it official-official.

Megabucks hit at Excalibur and almost nobody’s talking about it. https://t.co/asuCvYNBlA

— Vital Vegas (@VitalVegas) October 21, 2023

A couple from California won a $10.1 million on a Megabucks Gold Forge machine at Aria in August 2023.

We provided some recommendations about how they could blow it in Las Vegas.

🤩 ANOTHER HUGE MEGABUCKS™ JACKPOT! 🤩 One lucky player from California became the latest Megabucks™ millionaire with this life-changing win from a $5 bet at @AriaLV! The player won $10.1 MILLION playing Megabucks™ Gold Forge™ Slots. #IGT #jackpots #HowWeVegas pic.twitter.com/2w0PAZMgU6

— IGT Jackpots (@IGTJackpots) August 10, 2023

Jesus C. (no relation) won $10.5 million with a $3 bet at the Cannery casino in July 2023.

That time, it was on a Megabucks Double Diamond Deluxe machine.

🤩 ANOTHER HUGE MEGABUCKS™ JACKPOT 🤩

Jesus C. became the latest Megabucks™ millionaire with this life-changing win from a $3 bet at @CanneryCasino! Jesus took home nearly $10.5 MILLION playing IGT’s Megabucks™ Double Diamond Deluxe™ Slots. 🎉 pic.twitter.com/3VQFfKYgPG

— IGT Jackpots (@IGTJackpots) July 14, 2023

The fourth hit in Nevada was a $14 million jackpot at the Atlantis casino in Reno. Which isn’t Las Vegas, so it doesn’t really count. Reno is like Las Vegas, but after the lights come up in the club, if you get our drift.

LARGEST JACKPOT OF THE YEAR 🤩 A player at @AtlantisReno won over 14 MILLION playing IGT’s Megabucks™ Mega Vault™ Video Slots. This life-changing jackpot was won on a $10 bet. Help us congratulate this player! 🎉 What would you do if you won? #IGT #jackpots #videoslots #slots pic.twitter.com/noOhzNhoGy

— IGT Jackpots (@IGTJackpots) April 4, 2023

There are lots of fun, interesting facts about winning a Megabucks jackpot, which means we won’t be sharing them here.

Mostly, when people win jackpots, we get to talk about how it all works. Interesting, but not fun.

First, Megabucks winners don’t tip. There are lots of reasons for this, and by “reasons,” of course, we mean “excuses.” All the excuses are lame. We kept a running tally of all the tips on million-plus jackpots, but it was so disheartening, we quit keeping track.

Second, yes, the IRS do take a bite. The government keeps about 27% right off the top. The rest varies by state, and whether the winner chooses a lump sum payment up front or an annuity. Hint: Everyone takes the lump sum.

Third, the technical term for Megabucks and similar slots with big jackpots connected across multiple locations is “Wide Area Progressives,” or WAPs.

Finally, casinos don’t pay these big progressive jackpots, the slot manufacturer does. In the case of Megabucks, it’s IGT. Which is why it can take hours to process the paperwork.

Still, Megabucks jackpots can be life-changing, and they are the quintessential gambler’s fantasy that keeps the economic engine of Las Vegas humming.

We are not a historian, but it feels like Megabucks is hitting far more frequently than it did in years past.

That could either mean IGT has set the machines to pay out more frequently (nope), or people are playing more (yep).

Nevada casinos have had 30 straight months of billion-dollar-plus gaming revenue, despite Las Vegas having fewer visitors. Which means the people visiting are playing more.

The more money gambled (called “coin-in” or “dollar-in”), the faster progressive jackpots grow and the better the chances of big jackpots hitting.

More frequent jackpots also means they aren’t as big as they might be. In 2003, a 23-year-old from L.A. hit the town’s biggest Megabucks jackpot, $39.7 million.

More recently, jackpots have been in the $10-14 million range.

Nobody’s complaining.

We are a video poker fan, and often play low volatility games like Top Dollar or Pinball, but still can’t resist occasionally trying a Hail Mary pull or two on a Megabucks machine.

Machines with big progressives don’t have the best return to player (“RTP”), but it’s not really about that. Like the lottery, it’s about the dream. And the dream gets an injection of steroids every time Megabucks hits.

Here’s hoping the next big hit is yours. And possibly ours. But mostly that first thing.

The post Megabucks Hits for Fourth Time in Nevada in 2023 appeared first on Vital Vegas.

If you needed further proof the off-Strip Ellis Island is wired differently, you’ll want to check out its new high limit room.

We are declaring it the “Smallest High Limit Room in the World,” until proven otherwise.

The new high limit slot room has nine machines, and it’s absolutely adorable.

We were invited to the high limit room opening to make the honorary first bet in the space. Our ass was promptly handed to us, but there were cupcakes, so there’s that.

Leading up to the opening of the high limit room, we made several suggestions for naming the space. Our favorite was “Petit Salon a Haute Limite.” Basically, a fancy way of saying “teeny high limit salon.” We also suggested “Vital Vegas Memorial High Limit Slot Salon and Broom Closet.”

They went with “High Limit.” Hey, whatever works.

Here’s an exhaustive walk-through of the new Ellis Island immersive high limit slot parlor experience. Don’t blink.

Ellis Island is a smaller casino, so space is at a premium. The casino doesn’t have a huge number of whales, as it’s more known for value than high-rolling gamblers. Big players often demand amenities Ellis Island simply doesn’t have. There’s no steakhouse or show or spa or pool. There’s great BBQ and karaoke, and they only have the latter because they refuse to take our advice.

We love Ellis Island, and it loves us back.

On certain days, if you acquire 50 players club points, you get cookies. Just about every visit, the players club gives us a free sandwich at Via Focaccia. The free play flows generously, the drinks and food are dirt cheap and parking remains free.

There has been a cavalcade of new high limit room openings or re-openings (renovations) in Las Vegas recently. We just hit a new space at Aria (the casino has two high limit slot rooms now), Harrah’s has a gorgeous new high limit lounge (a phrase we never imagined we’d be typing) and there are several others we won’t be sharing here because that would involve “remembering where they are” or possibly even “research.” Not happening.

The new high limit room is just one of the new offerings at Ellis Island.

The casino recently unveiled some fancy new restrooms. Yes, some of the pips on the wallpaper are awkward (4 and 3 can’t sit side-by-side), so we definitely aren’t going to mention it. After this. Probably.

Ellis Island’s fancy new restrooms debut tomorrow (the casino bar is moving to where the temporary ones are, the former brewery), and they look great, so we are not going to make it awkward by pointing out the pips. pic.twitter.com/A9enUkarM1

— Vital Vegas (@VitalVegas) April 21, 2023

At the high limit room opening, there were balloons, including one shaped like a die. The pips on the balloon were also awkward.

We are also not going to mention the pips on another piece of artwork at Ellis Island.

But this isn’t about our OCD, this is about the new high limit room at Ellis Island! (Read more about the Las Vegas dice pip problem.)

The biggest bet you can make is $250, so get right on that!

There was a handpay within five minutes of the opening of the new high limit room, a friend of ours and the boyfriend of one of the Ellis sisters. No bitterness here whatsoever.

Ellis Island is one of our top three places to play in Las Vegas, and while we don’t suspect we’ll play in high limit too often (there’s just the one Top Dollar machine), we’re glad Ellis Island keeps changing things up.

Rumor has it the casino’s center bar will be moving into the former brewery space, so that’s something to look forward to. Here’s a security breach to tide you over.

Also new at Ellis Island is their “fast pay” system, called “Keys to Credit.” Your host can sign you up—you provide your drivers license and social security number up front—that way, when you hit handpays, you can just enter your code and keep playing. It’s a fairly common system in Las Vegas casinos, under various names, but Ellis Island recently entered the fray.

Big thanks for Ellis Island for inviting us to make the first bet in their new high limit room!

Ellis Island is a unique Vegas casino with a throwback feel, some of the lowest table minimums in town and more colorful characters per square inch than any casino on or around The Strip. See you there.

The post Ellis Island Opens Most Adorable High Limit Room, Ever appeared first on Vital Vegas.

The casino tends to be The Man. The Man has math on its side, and over time, you could actually lose money. We know, shocker.

But we’ve got a fun slot “hack” that could get you a big win with some spare change on your TITO voucher you might otherwise toss.

Mind you, this trick is something they don’t want you to know about. Not, The Man, they don’t care. It’s your fellow slot players who don’t want you to know this. So, naturally, we’re sharing it.

As we’ve shared before, casino TITO (ticket in, ticket out) voucher machines frequently don’t dispense coins now. Most still give vouchers instead of your change. They round down, and you have to trek to the cage to get your change. If you’re playing on a penny machine, you may just cash out for a voucher with a few cents on it.

You can often find these tickets with a few cents on them near kiosks or just sitting on slot machines, left behind by players who have better things to do with their precious time in Las Vegas than schlepping to a casino cashier.

Here’s a way to put those pennies to good use!

On certain slot machines, that ticket can get you a high limit spin, and high limit spins (even just one) can result in a significant windfall, even a handpay.

If you visit a Lightning Link  slot machine, preferably in high limit (the higher the denomination the better for this hack), just insert your ticket.

Then select the highest denomination you can and the max bet.

On some high limit machines, that spin can cost a lot, but it won’t cost you any more than the ticket you put into the machine. It’s worth nothing this trick works with cash, too, so you can put a dollar bill in and take your chances. It’s just more fun with a TITO voucher with a few cents left on it.

When you try a spin at this high limit spin, the machine realizes you don’t have enough for a spin and offers up a feature called the “Lucky Chance Spin.”

On Dragon Link (photo at the top of our story), a message says, “Your remaining credits are less than your current bet. Choose a dragon to bet your remaining credits for a chance to win one game at your current bet.” The options differ based upon the theme of the machine, but select “Choose dragon/bolt (lightning bolt), or whatever.”

That’s right, in an attempt to squeeze every penny out of players, this feature gives a player a chance to win a spin at the full bet amount, no matter what credits remain on the machine!

If you hit it, you get a high limit spin and a high limit spin can result in a substantial win.

Here’s what it looks like on Dragon Link. Remember, we only put 50 cents into the machine, but the bet (if we’d won) would’ve been at the $50 level. Basically, you’re getting a shot at a high limit spin for next to nothing.

We’ve tried this fun hack upwards of three times, and haven’t hit the lucky spin yet, but we’re going to keep trying.

The power of this feature is amplified on the highest limit machines, of course, as one spin can be worth hundreds of dollars.

So, why is there concern about word of this hack getting out into the world?

Presumably, people think it’s a secret or a glitch that, once exposed, will be nixed by casinos.

Um, no. This feature is a way to keep players from walking away from the machine when they don’t have enough credits for a max bet. Slot makers are very good at math, and you can bet they’re not paying out more than they take in.

The main concern on the casino side is probably one of players (such as resource-challenged indigent individuals) “silver mining” for tickets to use for this game’s special feature. The term “silver mining” was used when coins were used in slot machines, and people would go machine-to-machine looking for credits left on the machine or coins overlooked in the coin tray.

Casinos would also prefer guests not play abandoned TITO tickets. There’s no nefarious reason (casinos keep 25% of the value of abandoned TITO tickets, Nevada’s general fund gets the rest), but it’s technically against the rules to wager found money. It’s unlikely a casino would go after somebody for betting a found ticket for a few cents, but the practice is discouraged overall.

It’s pretty obvious this feature is intended for use by a gambler who’s been on the machine awhile, and is down to their last few credits, but it also works for a one-off attempt.

Over a long session of play, if you’re bouncing around to several different slot machines throughout the day and evening, you could easily end up with a handful of tickets with a few cents on each, and this hack is a way to take one last shot at glory before calling it a night.

We don’t really know the odds of these lucky spins hitting, but we trust they are smallish. However remote the odds, this is still a chance to stick it to The Man.

Trying for this special feature has very little downside and lots of potential upside. You’re here to play, so play on, player, and let us know if you have any success.

Update (2/21/23): Our friend and slot maven Brian Christopher provided some additional insight into this bet. It appears your chances of hitting this Lucky Chance Spin improves with larger bets (still shy of the full bet).

The post Slot Hack: You Could Win Big With Your Leftover Change appeared first on Vital Vegas.

Wheel of Fortune is one of the most popular and successful slot machines of all time, and here’s another reason why: A guest at Bellagio won $3.3 million on a Wheel of Fortune Triple Gold Gold Spin machine.

The exact win was $3,257,825.87.

The over-under on how much was tipped is zero dollars. Don’t get us started.

The winner of the big-ass jackpot has chosen to remain anonymous so far, probably due to the fact they want to avoid having distant cousins emerge from the woodwork to ask for money.

The win was shared by Bellagio (on Feb. 5, 2023, the jackpot was hit on Feb. 4) and the slot manufacturer, IGT, with no additional information such as the denomination played or whether the player had a cardiac arrest or not.

🎉 WOW! A player at the @Bellagio won a $3,257,830 progressive jackpot playing Wheel of Fortune Triple Gold Gold Spin Slots! Help us congratulate this lucky winner! pic.twitter.com/MUSeoLaBan

— IGT Jackpots (@IGTJackpots) February 13, 2023

This is one of the biggest slot jackpots at a Las Vegas casino in recent memory, and easily the biggest of 2023 so far.

Most of the slot jackpots we’ve tracked recently are in the $1 million to $1.2 million range.

As we’ve shared, the exhilaration of winning a massive jackpot can take a turn once the paperwork starts.

When a progressive jackpot hits, the casino contacts the slot maker, the company verifies the win and players get to deal with taxes (27% in federal taxes are withheld right off the top) and making a decision between receiving a lump sum (the jackpot minus future interest) or payments over time (an annuity). Most people take the lump sum.

The casino doesn’t pay big progressive slot jackpots, the slot manufacturer does.

The player then decides whether they want to participate in publicity about the jackpot. In the case of the winner at Bellagio, the answer appears to have been “nope.”

It’s a lot more fun when the winner takes part! The photos often show a mildly annoyed gambler who doesn’t look all that thrilled at the prospect of sitting around for four hours to fill out paperwork. Often, the photo features a giant check. In some winner photos, the check is held in front of the winner’s face.

Whatever the scenario, big wins are what keep the Las Vegas dream alive.

For most people, $3.3 million is life-changing money, even after taxes.

Congrats to the winner, or as multimillion-dollar slot jackpot winners are known in the parlance of the industry, “lucky bastards.”

Want to explore more stories? Read about US gambling here:

• Best US Real Money casinos
• Best US Sweepstake Casinos

You can also learn about online gambling in Canada here:

• Online Casinos Canada
• Online Casinos Ontario
• Best Paying Online Casinos
• Online Casino Bonuses
• Online Casino Games

The post Player Hits $3.3 Million Jackpot at Bellagio appeared first on Vital Vegas.

A new slot machine cleverly helps gamblers avoid triggering IRS reporting headaches when they hit a “taxable” jackpot.

The game: Double Jackpot Blazing 7s With Quick Hit (High Limit Edition). Say that three times fast.

Once you see why this machine is so ingenious, you’ll wonder how its manufacturer, Light & Wonder (formerly Scientific Games), is getting away with it.

A twist: This slot machine is especially popular with visitors from Canada. We’ll tell you why. Let’s go.

Here’s some background, in case this all sounds like Greek.

In U.S. casinos, when a player hits a jackpot of $1,200 or more, they are paid by hand (called a, wait for it, “handpay”). The player provides I.D. and the casino reports the win to the IRS via a W-2G form.

The bottom line is the whole process is a pain in the ass, both for casinos and players.

The $1,200 threshold has been in place since 1977, and there have been endless attempts to raise the threshold to $5,000. (Accounting for inflation, that number should be closer to $6,000.)

The reporting process gets even more complicated for international visitors, such as those from Canada. Canadians who win jackpots get a third of their winnings withheld, right off the top, despite the fact that in Canada, gambling winnings aren’t considered a taxable form of income. Because Canada is smart.

Anyway, the whole W-2G experience is a burden on players (interruptions in play, the government knows their business) and casinos (red tape and staffing costs), which is what makes this new slot machine so crafty.

The Double Jackpot Blazing 7s With Quick Hit slot has a bonus round that’s unlike other games.

If you hit the bonus, you get a number of wheel spins for big bucks.

The thing is, in this game, the spins cost you. The cost is one credit (the denominations on the games we played were $5, $10 and $25).

That means you’re wagering on each spin. This is important.

Also important is the fact the wheel contains a number of amounts you can win on each spin, but there’s a space where you lose.

That’s right, the prize wheel has a losing space, and the player gets zero dollars about once out of every 999 spins. Here’s the wheel, and our red arrow points to the space where, on that particular spin, to quote Willy Wonka, “You win nothing. Good day, sir!” We’re pretty sure the 1-to-999 ratio isn’t to scale.

What these creative features do is make every spin independent. And the most the player will win on an individual spin is $1,000, under the IRS tax reporting threshold.

Even if the player gets five spins, and the total won is $5,000, there’s no W-2G, because they won five separate prizes (each spin required a wager and could potentially lose) of $1,000.

At the $25 level ($50 a spin), a player could win 25 spins, with a total win of $25,000 (25 wins of $1,000) and they’d never see a slot attendant or W-2G.

The mind reels. (We’ll wait.)

Now, you can start to see why Canadians are lining up at this game. Sure, they can submit paperwork to get their withheld winnings back, but it can take up to a year to see their money. Avoiding that whole bureaucratic maze is a big plus for our friends to the north.

When we first heard about this slot machine, we were dubious, to say the least. The IRS isn’t shy about wanting its piece of the pie.

Here’s the screen that lays it all out.

Somehow, this slot made it through the many regulatory hoops required to get a game approved, including by the Nevada Gaming Control Board and Nevada Gaming Commission.

The games we played were at Circa, The D and Golden Gate (all with a common owner), so we inquired about if they were concerned the game might get canceled once The Powers That Be realize it’s sidestepping the tax reporting process.

We were told customers love the game (understandably), and if it should go sideways at some point, the cabinets can be re-programmed to host other games. The game has proven so popular, these three casinos are boosting their original three machines by an additional dozen.

All the machines sit in the high limit rooms at their respective casinos at Circa, The D and Golden Gate, downtown.

Here are the pay tables for the $10 and $25 denominations.

While the bonus aspect is the big draw of Double Jackpot Blazing 7s With Quick Hit, like other games, you have to get the bonus to take advantage of the benefits we’ve discussed.

We played all the machines and had, as it’s known in gaming industry parlance, “our ass handed to us.” It was brutal.

High limit is called “high limit” for a reason. We blew through our gambling budget quickly, and never saw that magical assembly of “Quick Hit” symbols (you need three on the screen to get the spin bonus).

We had a few instances of two symbols (which pays $125 on at the $5 denomination), but never three.

We will, however, try again.

It’s worth noting not all the machines had the option of a $5 denomination. The configuration can be variable denominations ($5, $10 and $25) or one ($10). The machine at Circa had variable denominations, the ones at The D and Golden Gate were set at a fixed $10 denomination.

The payouts are good at one credit, but to have a chance at the high limit spins, it takes two credits. In Vegas, it’s go big or go home. Or, occasionally, go big and go home. Either way, it’s fun as hell.

An item of note: If you hit a straight-up jackpot (three “Quick Hit” symbols on the payline, for $50,000, $100,000 or $250,000, depending upon the denomination), you have to jump through the usual IRS hoops, of course.

We should also mention: The taxable reporting process done by casinos is required by the IRS, but players are technically obligated to claim all their gambling winnings on their taxes, whether there’s been a W-2G filed or not. Every slot player does this, definitely. Just like table games players do. Yeah, we went there.

As for the future of Double Jackpot Blazing 7s With Quick Hit (High Limit Edition), we’re curious if its creative way of skirting the irksome tax paperwork process will be revisited by regulators, or if it could mean other slot makers will seize the opportunity and build similar crowd-pleasing features into their games.

We trust hitting that high limit bonus feature is a genuine thrill. Even if you hit the $0 spot (once every 999 spins), you aren’t really losing anything. And the whole time you’re racking up credits, you get to skip the machine locking up while you wait for a handpay. High rollers will often hit a taxable win and jump to another machine, where they’ll hit another handpay and so on. It’s just more evidence the threshold needs to change. Drop a line to your legislator.

While we can’t afford to play high limit slots for very long, they are fun because when you hit, the wins can really move the needle.

We tell visitors to save some of their gambling allowance to try high limit machines (we call it playing an “uncomfortable denomination”) for a few spins (or hands in video poker). Machines feel looser (better payback percentages and higher jackpot frequencies) at higher denominations, and getting a handpay is a time-honored Las Vegas experience enjoyed by many visitors. Just not Canadians.

If you try Double Jackpot Blazing 7s With Quick Hit (High Limit Edition), let us know what you think, and enjoy your W-2G-free windfall. Please give some back to support our local economy and tip your cocktail server generously, thanks.

We look forward to sharing the high limit spin experience soon, just as soon as we rest and rehydrate following our recent wallet hemorrhage chasing those damn Quick Hit symbols.

Good luck!

Update (1/15/23): As further proof we’re living in The Matrix, we returned to do exactly what we said we’d do. We hit the bonus feature and snagged $10,000, no W-2G procedure! Boom.

Hitting the bonus was as thrilling as advertised.

There were some asterisks involved, though.

We won the $10,000 at Golden Gate, and when we cashed out, there was a “Call Attendant” message and the machine locked up as it would with a traditional taxable handpay. Photo below.

As we are a noted expert on this particular machine, having written a story about it (the one you just skimmed through, rude) just 48 hours earlier, we asked to speak to a manager. It turns out TITO (ticket-in, ticket-out) vouchers at Golden Gate can’t pay more than $3,000. Each casino determines that TITO maximum, and at another casino, Circa for example, we’d have gotten a TITO voucher for the entire amount and gone about our business.

Our attendant hadn’t actually seen a jackpot winner on this machine, so it’s possible others don’t know about it (several casino executives came by and we got to mansplain the whole thing as we waited for our money). The machine is that new and that unique.

Should you play this game and win a big jackpot, just make sure the attendant knows what’s up, and that they shouldn’t be issuing a W-2G.

It’s worth noting, if you win and cash out more than $10,000, yet another reporting mechanism kicks in, the Currency Transaction Report (CTR). It’s not just banks that are obligated to report financial transactions of $10,000 or more (they’re after money launderers and drug dealers). Here’s more. Millions of such former are filed, so it’s no W-2G.

As mentioned previously, these machines are high volatility machines. That means there are stretches of time when you’re not winning $10,000. That said, after we stepped away from our winning machine, another player hit the bonus feature for about $10,000, just as we had. We are definitely not bitter we walked away from this machine when we did. Definitely.

We’re glad we gave this machine another try! We dumped some money back in at Circa and The D, and never saw the big bonus again. This game is definitely going on our “uncomfortable donation” list of machines to revisit when we’re playing with the casino’s money or want to see if Lady Luck might smile upon us again.

Want to explore more stories? Read about US gambling here:

• Best US Real Money casinos
• Best US Sweepstake Casinos

You can also learn about online gambling in Canada here:

• Online Casinos Canada
• Online Casinos Ontario
• Best Paying Online Casinos
• Online Casino Bonuses
• Online Casino Games

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