The Slot Capital of the World

A layman's guide to the greatest place in the world for anyone who loves to play slot machines: Las Vegas, Nevada

These days, no matter where you may happen to live, it's a good bet there is a slot machine within reasonable driving distance. The spread of Native American casinos, riverboat gaming and the newest casino genre, the "racino", means that slot machines are now a form of recreation that can be found at hundreds of locations spread across the nation.

But for a true slot aficionado, there is still no place like Vegas.

Las Vegas was the first place in the nation where people could play slots legally (at least any machine placed after 1909, when slots were first made illegal in California). It is still the best. You may love the place you go to play slots, and there are many excellent choices, from Atlantic City to Connecticut to Mississippi to California. But for sheer variety of games, for the newest games in the business, for the best payback percentages, the best slot clubs, the best variety of casinos, and the greatest entertainment and collection of fun diversions surrounding the machines, repeat after me: There is no place like Vegas.

Las Vegas is, hands-down, the best place in the world to play the slots. Here, you will find every conceivable slot machine known to humankind. You will find the lowest house edge offered on slot machines to be found anywhere in the world. When you take a break from the machines, you will find more fun activities, more must-see attractions, more great restaurants, more fine hotels, more world-class entertainment-more of everything imaginable to please a gaming enthusiast-than you can find anywhere else on the planet.

If your notion of slot play is restricted to experiences exclusively outside of Las Vegas, you have not experienced all that slot play can offer. It's that simple. Many in the Vegas casino industry worried when other jurisdictions legalized slots. They worried when Atlantic City opened its casino industry. They worried when doors were swung open in Mississippi's dockside gaming halls, when Indian casinos proliferated, when riverboat casinos sprang up in the Midwest, and most recently, when California casinos began to multiply.

But no one is ever going to usurp the mantle Las Vegas holds, and will always hold, as the epicenter of the gaming industry, or of venues in which to play the slots. That's because all of the newer gaming jurisdictions have added gaming to their inherent identities as resort destinations. Vegas was created for gaming. It exists because of casino gaming, and casino gaming exists because of it. Vegas is the alpha and the omega of the casino industry. That's why it can never be topped as a place to play the slots, or any other casino game.

Gaming experts, many of whom write in these pages, often stress getting the best return on your investment-the highest payback percentages, the best cashback and comps-as the single most important factor in choosing a place to play. You will definitely find the places with the nation's best returns here, but choosing a place to play in Vegas goes way beyond that. Because it is the epicenter of gaming, Las Vegas offers so much more than great returns that one should take the entire resort experience into account when choosing a place to play. Megaresorts on the Strip may not have the best percentages, but they are still very good-and what these massive resorts may lack in the highest returns is easily made up in game variety, in service and amenities, and in must-see attractions.

Variety, moreover, goes far beyond the games themselves in Las Vegas. Your choice of a place to play should by no means be limited to one; you should choose something different every day you are in town. There is a mind-boggling variety of casino styles, from little roadhouse bars to classic sawdust joints to inviting, homey locals casinos to the cream of the elegant, high-end hotel casinos. Vegas is the one place that has it all, in casino resorts divided among several centers and neighborhoods, each with its own character. There is something to see, something to do, and something to enjoy from each of the types of casino centers making up the Las Vegas Valley; even attempting to record them here amounts to a monumental task. But we tackle that task with gusto, and, even though you may find something that we have left out-that's the beauty of the city; there's always a new discovery to be had-here are the basic requirements for you to get the most out of a trip to the Slot Capital of the World.

Where the Locals Play

Slots are the welcome sirens one hears when arriving in Las Vegas. You hear them as you walk up the jetway from your plane at McCarran International Airport, announcing in ringing bells, celebratory music and electronic sound effects that you have arrived: Welcome to Vegas.

The excitement will swell within you as you hear those sounds, but your best bet at this point is to contain your glee until you leave the airport. The Las Vegas airport slots are generally set up for "impulse play", programmed with low payback percentages to capitalize on people leaving the city with diminished bankrolls, who want to take one last crack at coming out ahead. There are a few marginally playable, dollar video poker games there, and some wide-area progressive slots if you want to go for the big payoff, but it's best to walk right by. The best dollar paytables there return maybe 92 or 94 percent-you can do much, much better in countless regular casinos in this town.

And you won't have to drive very far from the airport to find those casinos. You won't even have to negotiate the often-harrowing traffic of the Las Vegas Strip. Because the best paytables-and the best payback percentages on regular slots-can be found in the growing network of neighborhoods surrounding the heart of the city.

If it's the highest payback percentages, the best cashback and the best promotions you seek from the slots, there's a popular saying among seasoned gamblers in Las Vegas: Play where the locals play. Locals casinos are designed for people who live in the area, so they compete for the local players by striving to give more back through the slots than their competitors-you will get the fairest gamble of any slot floors in the nation in the Vegas locals casinos.

This doesn't mean the locals casinos lack amenities or accommodations that appeal to the tourist. Because the owners of these places know that discerning slot players from across the country want to play in their resorts due to the higher returns, you will be able to stay in a fine hotel room (at comparatively bargain prices), eat in great restaurants and see great entertainment in locals spots. However, you will also encounter amenities it may be a bit harder to find in the big Strip megaresorts: movie theaters, bowling centers, fast-food outlets. In general, you will find self-contained, suburban entertainment centers in the locals haunts.

The closest locals havens to the airport are down on Boulder Highway, in the southeast corner of the city. Your must-see on what is known as the "Boulder Strip", Sam's Town.

Sam's Town Hotel & Gambling Hall invented the modern Las Vegas locals market. Boyd Gaming patriarch, Sam Boyd, opened Sam's Town in 1979 to expand his Las Vegas holdings beyond his Downtown California casino hotel. At the time, there was nothing on Boulder Highway besides the old Showboat casino and a lot of desert dust. Boyd invented Sam's to please the locals-which back then wanted anything and everything Western; their new casino was called Sam's Town Casino and Western Dance Hall. It was steeped in rustic Western charm, with the friendliest dealers in town, a relaxed atmosphere and a fair gamble for all.

That atmosphere and Western charm remain to this day, but nowadays, Sam's is a complete hotel-casino resort, with charming rooms surrounding a beautiful indoor atrium park. The Mystic Falls Indoor Park is a masterpiece of interior design, meticulously re-creating a nature preserve of trees and bubbling brooks leading up to a faux mountainside on which a free, laser light and music show periodically runs its course to the howling, animatronic, coyote climax.

In the casino, you will find some of the highest slot payback percentages and best video poker paytables in town, with great comps and cashback from one of the city's best slot clubs, Prime Rewards; along with some of the best casino bars and lounges in town, with live rock, blues, and of course, Country & Western music. For dining, don't miss Billy Bob's Steakhouse and Fellini's Italian restaurant. You won't be disappointed.

Traveling west on Boulder Highway from Sam's Town gets you to two other great locals casinos, Arizona Charlie's and Boulder Station. Check out either for great slot and video poker payback; check out the lounge at Arizona Charlie's to hear the Checkmates-fantastic Motown and R&B. Boulder Station is part of the chain that is one of the absolute masters at serving the locals-Station Casinos. Here, you will find a massive slot floor with all of the newest games in the business, and award-winning restaurants such as the Pasta Palace.

While you are in the southeastern part of Vegas, though, no locals tour is complete without a visit to Boulder Station's sister property, Sunset Station in Henderson. Sunset boasts one of the most beautiful interior designs of any Vegas locals spot, with a sea of slot machines worked into a design that communicates a Spanish village at sunset-outdoors, complete with a faux sky. Sunset has all the great amenities that make a locals casino feel like home: a movie theater, three shopping malls, a fast-food court including outlets like Fatburger, a cool nightclub called Club Madrid, and an amphitheater that hosts some great Baby-Boomer entertainment-acts like Eric Burdon and the "New Animals", Johnny Rivers, Peaches and Herb, and Michael McDonald.

But the best aspect of Sunset Station has to be the incredible variety on the slot floor. There is good video poker, but the main attraction is a collection of the newest multiline video slots in the business. When the major slot manufacturers introduce a new game, Sunset Station is almost always one of the first places they will install it. You typically will find slots at Sunset you will find nowhere else.

Finally, Sunset Station joins all of the other Station Casinos properties in Vegas in offering what is one of the best slot club programs in town, the Boarding Pass. Players can go into any Station casino and earn points on their card that can be redeemed for comps at any other Station property, and earn cashback in the form of "Xtra Play Cash" that can be downloaded from the card right to the machine.
Station Casinos, in fact, is host to what have been found to be the most generous locals casinos not only in Vegas, but also in the nation. In the northwestern suburban area commonly known as North Las Vegas, you will find Texas Station, Fiesta Rancho and Santa Fe Station. These three properties-all owned by Station Casinos-have collectively registered the highest overall slot payback percentages in the nation for the past several years, as noted by our sister publication, Casino Player. All have friendly, inviting and fun atmospheres, great game selection and the very best video poker paytables, and all are hooked up to the Boarding Pass program. If you're looking for a good locals casino, the northwestern trio of Station properties is quite possibly your best bet in Vegas.

Not far from these properties is another great locals spot, Coast Casinos' Suncoast in the suburb of Summerlin. This Mediterranean-themed resort was a pioneer in coin-free slot play, opening in 2000 with nearly all of its slots equipped for ticket-in/ticket out, coin-free play (a big gamble for Coast Casinos at the time). Aside from that, there are over 2,000 slot and video poker machines offering some of the best payback percentages in town, and another great slot club, Club Denaro, with its easy-to-understand, straightforward cash-and-comp formula (4,000 points get you $10 in cash or $12 in comps).

As good as the locals spots in the southeastern and northwestern suburbs are, more of the best locals haunts can be found much closer to the heart of the city. Just a few blocks from the southern heart of the Strip on West Tropicana is the Orleans, another Coast Casinos property. On the outside is a mockup of New Orleans' French Quarter. On the inside, this Mardi Gras theme is continued, but more prevalent is a sea of the newest multiline video slots in the business and great video poker, including impressive inventories of 10/7 Double Bonus and 9/6 Double Double Bonus games. And because it is a Coast Casino, the slot club-Club Orleans-offers the same great cashback program as Suncoast, with lots of multiple-point day promotions and same-day cash.

From West Tropicana, take one of the South-North streets to West Flamingo, where you will find one of the greatest new properties to grace Vegas in some time-the Palms. This is sort of a hybrid-a high-end hotel with hip, tourist-friendly nightspots connected to a casino offering the high slot paybacks and video poker paytables sought out by the locals. Mix it all together and what you get is a must-visit property, a place where locals and tourists come together for one grand gaming experience.

On the slot floor, you will find a remarkable collection of the newest multiline video slots and some of the best video poker to be had in town. This locals-friendly gaming, though, is complemented by one of the best gourmet restaurants in town, Alizé - a world-class French Caribbean dining experience perched atop the property, with large windows offering a panoramic view of Vegas at night. Also on the top floors, you will find one of the greatest trendy nightclubs in town-the Ghostbar. Inside, the Ghostbar is sleek and sultry, with space-age design, soft lighting, hip furnishings and great martinis. But its best feature is the outdoor deck, offering one of the best postcard views of the Las Vegas Strip at night that you will find (along with a vertigo-inducing glass block located in one section of the floorboards offering a view of the ground hundreds of feet below).

Suffice it to say no Vegas trip is complete without a visit to the Palms.

Also on West Flamingo is the Rio, a festival of a casino hotel that is really more akin to a Strip resort than a locals casino. In addition to great game selection, the Rio offers novel entertainment like overhead processions of costumed carnival performers (Masquerade Show in the Sky), Penn & Teller in the showroom, and "Bevertainment", with cocktail servers doubling as performers. And don't miss the Voodoo Lounge, one of Vegas' hippest nightspots. The Rio is simply a fun place to play, stay or visit. As for the hotel rooms, they are all suites-it is one of the nicest places in town to stay, particularly if you get a suite facing the Strip; this is another example of a simply breathtaking nighttime view of Vegas neon beauty.

The Heart of Vegas

Once you've experienced the Rio, you're ready for the absolute required tour in any Vegas slot excursion-the Las Vegas Strip. The Strip, with its colorful neon beacons, its fantasy movie-set buildings, its breathtaking entertainment spectacles, and its alternatingly exquisite and gaudy palaces of chance, defines Vegas as the one gaming destination that is like no other place on the planet. The Strip is where modern Vegas began-it is where Bugsy Siegel first got the notion that the gritty gambler's haven that started in Downtown Las Vegas could be transformed into something that would draw entertainment-seekers from around the world. It is where the Rat Pack defined Vegas entertainment; where Sinatra, Liberace, Elvis and Wayne Newton successively earned the title of "King;" where Steve Wynn created the concept of the modern megaresort with the Mirage.

Even if you want to frequent only casinos offering the highest returns and best comps and cashback-which are invariably found at the locals casinos-you cannot, you must not, visit Las Vegas without experiencing those four miles of Las Vegas Boulevard known as the Strip. The Strip is the heart and soul of Vegas. It is why we come here from all corners of the globe. The Strip is Las Vegas.

To do the Strip right, start at the South. Head up Sunset Road from the airport and turn right on Las Vegas Boulevard to drive past the famous "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign. Shortly thereafter, the "Fabulous" begins in earnest. On the west side of the street, two of the newer additions to the Strip greet you, and the first is a required stop that actually has no casino. The Four Seasons Hotel Las Vegas is one of the most graceful architectural beauties on the Strip, sporting the elegant look of a grand 19th-century luxury hotel and including two of the best restaurants in town: the upscale, clublike Charlie Palmer Steak Restaurant (try the signature potato side-dishes) and the Verandah, a beautiful restaurant styled as a Spanish mansion overlooking the property's swimming pool and lush tropical gardens.

Next door is the first required casino stop on the Strip-Mandalay Bay. Rarely will you find more must-see attractions under one roof than at Mandalay. For instance, the "Bay" part of the resort's name is played to the hilt with an actual sand beach around a giant wave pool, and a "Shark Reef" where one can walk through a glass tunnel to be surrounded by swimming sharks and various other aquatic life. On the perimeter of the casino is a cavernous walkway leading to some of the greatest nightspots in town. There is Red Square, with its Soviet Russia motif and its giant decapitated statue of Lenin out front, its menu of a hundred flavored martinis, and a cooler where one can schedule time to don a coat and drink Russian vodka as it was meant to be taken-in the cold.

Other required stops at Mandalay include ultrahip nightclubs such as 3950 and Rumjungle, and one of the coolest entertainment venues on the Strip, the House of Blues, where concerts by blues legends ranging from B.B. King to Buddy Guy are accompanied by the upstairs Foundation Room, and its terrace offering what is arguably the best view of the Las Vegas Strip at night.

All of these great offerings surround a huge casino that is one of the very best spots for the pure slot player. As Sunset Station is possibly the most popular for the launch of new slot games among locals casinos, Mandalay Bay is one of the places on the Strip where new games are likely to appear first. The variety on the slot floor is remarkable, and is rivaled by only a few of the other high-profile Strip resorts.

Next to Mandalay Bay is its sister property, the pyramid-shaped Luxor. This is another must-see attraction, particularly at night, when the pyramid's exterior light show comes alive, outlining the pyramid shape of the hotel and sending lasers beaming into the nighttime sky. It is one of the signatures of the modern Vegas skyline, and leads one to a cluster of properties that defines the southern end of the Strip-the intersection of Las Vegas Boulevard and Tropicana Avenue, often called the "New Four Corners" (we'll get to the old Four Corners later) for its quartet of signature megaresorts, Tropicana, MGM Grand, New York - New York and Excalibur.

This intersection is where the fantasy world of Las Vegas tourism begins. Excalibur, a replica of a medieval castle, was one of the early movie-set themes in town, and it is still one of the best. Tropicana, steeped in the history of the Strip, today offers some of the very best slot club promotions in the city (check out the tic-tac-toe-playing chickens).

New York - New York must be seen to be truly appreciated, its façade featuring scaled-down versions of New York City landmarks from the Chrysler Building to the Statue of Liberty, and a Coney Island-style roller coaster snaking around its top. Inside, the casino is a cluster of replica Gotham street scenes that offer an unmistakable urban flavor in the middle of the desert. New York dining also is replicated-don't miss Gallagher's steakhouse, for one. It is an amazing place, not only for the movie-set theme, but for its collection of slots-this is another of the launch points for countless new slot machines; the best new multiline video games and wide-area progressives typically call New York - New York their first home.

Across the street, not to be outdone in amazing the patron, is MGM Grand. First, the MGM's casino is one of the world's largest; if you've never walked through the doors, the sheer size and variety of games will elicit a gasp. Naturally, you will find just about any type of slot game your heart desires on this massive gaming floor. But the MGM is a required stop more for entertainment than gaming. They call it the "City of Entertainment", and the moniker is eminently appropriate. From its re-creation of New York's legendary Studio 54 dance club to the Grand Garden arena, home to the top headliners in the business, and world-championship boxing, MGM is one of the premier entertainment venues in the nation. While the Garden plays host to megaconcerts by acts ranging from the Eagles to Cher to the Dixie Chicks, the more intimate, 740-seat Hollywood Theatre offers a more close-up look at headliners of similar stature-George Carlin, Tom Jones and David Copperfield are only a few of the most recent headliners.

Traveling north on Las Vegas Boulevard brings one to the heart of the Strip megaresort district, and more must-see attractions: Monte Carlo, an elegant hotel and world-class casino, is home to master magician Lance Burton, a permanent fixture on the Vegas entertainment scene. North of that on the east side, the Flamingo, Imperial Palace, Harrah's and the Venetian follow sister properties Paris Las Vegas and Bally's. On the west side is the cream of Vegas resorts-Bellagio, Caesars Palace, Mirage and Treasure Island.

All of these properties have huge collections of the very latest multiline video slots, along with video poker that is generally just so-so. But the games are not why you must visit these places. You must visit because they are wonders of architecture and home to some of the best entertainment, hotel rooms and restaurants in the nation. You must visit Paris Las Vegas to see the scaled-down Eiffel Tower, not to mention painstaking re-creations of the Paris Opera House, the Louvre, the Arc de Triomphe and the Hotel de Ville.

And if you visit one French restaurant on your Vegas trip, you should make it Mon Ami Gabi at Paris. Not only will you experience the finest French cuisine in town, you'll have the opportunity to sit at a sidewalk table directly across from another of Las Vegas' many free wonders, the Fountains at Bellagio.

The Fountains are an incredible display of dancing water and light fronting what is quite possibly the best overall hotel casino in Las Vegas. Bellagio, styled by casino mogul Steve Wynn to replicate a village in Italy's Tuscan region, is the class of the Strip, from its rooms to its beautiful gaming floor to the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art (currently home to an exhibit of celebrity portraits by Andy Warhol). Bellagio also is home to O, the Cirque du Soleil ode to the world of theater that is perhaps the best production show in Vegas; and Picasso, voted by Casino Player readers as the best gourmet restaurant in Las Vegas.

If you are at Bellagio, you are in the heart of Vegas must-see territory. Next door is the legendary Caesars Palace, the pioneer of themed resorts whose Roman theme plays as effectively today as when the hotel first opened in 1966. One should visit Caesars Palace not only for the casino and the rooms-still some of the Strip's most luxurious-but for the magnificent Forum Shops, a themed collection of upscale retail establishments that is the highest-grossing shopping mall in the nation. North of that on the same side of the Strip are the sister properties, Mirage and Treasure Island, the two places that ushered in the age of the megaresort in Vegas. One cannot do the Strip without viewing the free attractions of the remarkable volcano in front of the Mirage or the pyrotechnic spectacle of the pirate-ship battle at Treasure Island. At Mirage, you'll find the legendary Siegfried & Roy, as well as comedian and impressionist Danny Gans; at Treasure Island, the star attraction is the Cirque du Soleil extravaganza Mystere.

On the east side is more must-see stuff in the heart of the Strip: the Flamingo, site of the first Strip resort. (Check out the plaque honoring Ben Siegel in the pool area, in the spot where the infamous mobster placed his original suite.) The Mardi Gras carnival theme of Harrah's center-Strip property. The auto collection at Imperial Palace, one of the best cheap thrills on the Strip. And definitely, definitely, do not leave this area without experiencing the Venetian, one of the true architectural triumphs of the Strip, not only for its intricate replicas of the buildings and canals of Venice, but for its museum-quality interior design and gorgeous split-level suites.

Farther north you will find the grand old Strip hotels, including the Riviera and the newly refurbished Aladdin and Sahara on the east side; and New Frontier, Circus Circus and Stardust on the west. It all leads up to the last must-see on the Strip, the Stratosphere Tower and Casino. Inside the Stratosphere casino you will find the best payback percentages on the Strip, but the real attractions are on the top of the tallest freestanding structure in town. No Vegas trip is complete without a visit to the Top of the World restaurant, which rotates slowly while you eat to give you a 360-degree, panoramic view of Las Vegas; or the thrill of the view from the tower's observation deck. For the stronger constitution, the thrill rides-the "High Roller" coaster and the "Big Shot" gravity ride atop the needle-offer an adrenaline rush like no other in town.

Before we leave the Strip area, two other nearby casinos must be visited: On the north end of Paradise Road, the Las Vegas Hilton has an attraction called the Star Trek Experience that is a must for anyone who is even a casual Trekkie. On the south end of Paradise, the Hard Rock Casino Hotel offers the greatest collection of rock and roll memorabilia anywhere, along with a hip casino and some of the best rock shows in town at its show venue, The Joint. Don't miss either of these places before you head on north to the quintessential Vegas neighborhood-Downtown.

Where It All Began

Before there was a Flamingo, before there were fountains or volcanoes or pirate-ship battles or anything else one may associate with modern Las Vegas, there was Glitter Gulch.

Downtown Las Vegas is where it all began; it is where Vegas pioneers like Benny Binion and Sam Boyd first set up shop in what were known as "sawdust joints", open-front, Western-style casinos adorned with the most garish displays of neon and lighting anyone had ever seen. Downtown is where the popular conception of Vegas glitter was born, with the "Vegas Vic" neon cowboy, the glittering Golden Nugget marquee, and other sensory onslaughts of neon display providing the backdrop for countless film and photo representations of what Vegas was all about.

Downtown is home to the original quartet of resorts known as the "Four Corners"-Four Queens, Binion's Horseshoe, Fremont and Golden Nugget, surrounding the intersection of Fremont Street and Casino Center Boulevard-as well as legendary casinos from old Vegas including Sam Boyd's California Hotel, the Golden Gate, Lady Luck, the Pioneer Club and Fitzgeralds. For the Vegas traditionalist, these casinos still offer the classic atmosphere many consider as what a casino ought to be: dark, smoky, with great games, low limits, high payback percentages... a true gambler's paradise.

These days, though, the legendary gambling halls of Downtown Las Vegas serve as centerpieces to yet another must-see attraction for the gaming capital-the Fremont Street Experience. Several years ago, the Downtown casinos got together with the city of Las Vegas to transform the four-block-square, Downtown casino center into what is now known as the Fremont Street Experience. The grand old casinos now open to a pedestrian mall topped by a $70 million canopy that beams a light and sound show over visitors that must be seen to be believed. From soaring jets to fireworks displays, the two million lights in the computerized display dazzle pedestrians as they walk among the most legendary casinos in Vegas.

There is certainly much more to the Las Vegas Valley than we have highlighted here, and as we said earlier, the thrill of Vegas lies in discovery. There always are new projects in the works, particularly in the suburbs, as the Vegas locals market continues an unabated expansion to serve the growing local population. (The newest is yet another Station casino, Green Valley Ranch.) Chances are, every time you go to Vegas, you will see something you have not seen before.

And no matter where you go in this town, you will find slot machines-more slot machines than any other place on Earth. It is the slot player's Nirvana.

To sum things up one more time for the slot and video poker enthusiast, all together now: There is no place like Vegas.