28th Annual Loosest Slots Awards
Our report on the highest slot returns during an unprecedented year
By Frank Legato
The year 2020 was a calamity for businesses of all kinds, but the casino hospitality business took one of the biggest hits from the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent Great Shutdown. Casinos in most places were closed from two to three months, while some—in New York, Downtown Las Vegas and elsewhere—remained shuttered much longer.
Even after they’ve reopened, the slot floors have operated at severely reduced capacity, normally with at least every other machine deactivated to facilitate social distancing.
All of this affected the planning of this annual issue. Since 1994, the Loosest Slots Awards have been based on 12 months of data. The idea of “loosest slots” started with the monthly publishing of charts in Strictly Slots showing overall payback percentages offered by casinos. Shortly after our sister publication, Casino Player, debuted in 1988, the editors decided to gather all the “hold” data that commercial casinos were required to publicly report—that’s the percentage of wagers kept by the casino—and flip-flop the numbers to show the portion of all wagers that was returned to players as slot winnings, creating the “payback percentage.”
Casino Player published those numbers monthly, as did Strictly Slots beginning in 1998. The casinos resisted at first, but eventually used the “Loosest Slots” designation as a badge of honor. The only problem with the monthly charts was that they reported a narrow window of play. There would be months that high-end slot players killed the casinos, resulting in a payback percentage over 100 percent for the months in some high denominations.
Statisticians have found that a game on a casino floor reaches its true payback percentage in two to three months of play. Therefore, with the longest-closed casinos still logging six months of data, the average payback percentages are accurate. (The chart showing our Loosest Slots winners indicates how many months of play led to each average percentage.)
The numbers still boil down to a guide for players to the most generous casinos in the nation.
So, welcome to the 28th annual Loosest Slots Awards. As always, a few editor’s notes before we get to the winners:
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 Indian casinos are not subject to required reporting to their state regulatory agencies, many of those casinos—notably, in California—consider the statistics proprietary information, and do not report them publicly. Our apologies if your favorite casino is not included.
Next, we are only able to report the numbers that 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 six years ago.
Finally, the way the numbers are reported publicly 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.
And The Winners Are…
Reno still rules.
For the 14th year in a row, the loosest slots in the U.S. can be found in Reno, Nevada—home to the Silver Legacy, the Eldorado, the Atlantis, the Grand Sierra and, sadly with its last slot reports, the original Harrah’s, which closed permanently in March 2020 after 82 years.
The casinos of Reno collectively returned 94.53 percent of slot wagers to players last year, topping the nation. However, for the first time in memory, the No. 2 finisher for Loosest Slots is not one of Nevada’s other regions. It is South Dakota, with an average payback total of 93.89 percent.
The normal two-thirds of the Top 3 weren’t far behind, with the “Balance of Clark County”—the Clark County casinos outside of the Las Vegas Strip and Boulder Highway, such as the Orleans, the Red Rock and Green Valley Ranch—returning 93.83 percent of wagers to players, essentially a tie for second place. Right behind that was Mesquite at 93.77 percent.
The Loosest Slots on the East Coast can be found at Hialeah Park & Racing in Florida. Slots have been an important part of the rejuvenation of the historic South Florida racetrack and casino, which returned 93.71 percent of wagers to slot players last year. That return-to-player is nearly two points ahead of second place in the East—Foxwoods in Connecticut at 92.02 percent.
Connecticut casinos, by the way, remain very close in payback percentage, with Mohegan Sun only 0.18 percent behind Foxwoods.
Elsewhere, in Atlantic City, the top two casinos for Loosest Slots have not changed in three years—Harrah’s Resort at 91.8 percent, Borgata at 91.32 percent. Bally’s Atlantic City edged out last year’s third-place winner, Caesars Atlantic City, at 90.88 percent.
In Indiana, Prairie Meadows took the Loosest Slots crown, edging out last year’s winner Grand Falls. In the new Massachusetts market, Encore Boston Harbor (92.19 percent) edged out Plainridge Park and MGM Springfield. In Pennsylvania, Valley Forge Casino (90.57 percent) edged out last year’s winner Parx.
Repeat Loosest Slots Awards were won by Cripple Creek in Colorado (93.19 percent), Harrington Park in Delaware (91.86 percent), Lake Charles in Indiana (90.9 percent) and the Central Region in Mississippi (91.75 percent).
Our congratulations to all the Loosest Slots winners. As we emerge to full capacity when the current pandemic finally ends, our readers surely will remember you.
ATLANTIC CITY
2020 YEAR END
TOTAL AVERAGE
HARRAH’S 91.80***
BORGATA 91.32***
BALLY’S 90.88***
Colorado
2020 YEAR END
1-CENT AVERAGE
CRIPPLE CREEK 91.59 **
CENTRAL CITY 90.60 **
BLACK HAWK 89.86 **
5-CENT
CENTRAL CITY 94.55 **
BLACK HAWK 93.39 **
CRIPPLE CREEK 91.90 **
25-CENT
CRIPPLE CREEK 94.62 **
CENTRAL CITY 94.12 **
BLACK HAWK 91.99 **
50-CENT
BLACK HAWK 94.28 **
CRIPPLE CREEK 92.66 **
CENTRAL CITY –
$1
CENTRAL CITY 94.51 **
CRIPPLE CREEK 94.30 **
BLACK HAWK 93.42 **
$5
CRIPPLE CREEK 94.13 **
BLACK HAWK 93.71 **
CENTRAL CITY 92.85 *****
Multi-denominational
CRIPPLE CREEK 94.83**
BLACK HAWK 94.14**
CENTRAL CITY 93.88**
TOTAL
CRIPPLE CREEK 93.19**
BLACK HAWK 92.30**
CENTRAL CITY 92.22**
CONNECTICUT
2020 YEAR END
1-CENT AVERAGE
FOXWOODS 90.12*
MOHEGAN SUN 88.20*
2-CENT
FOXWOODS 90.44*
MOHEGAN SUN –
5-CENT
FOXWOODS 85.12*
MOHEGAN SUN 79.76*
25-CENT
MOHEGAN SUN 84.75*
FOXWOODS 83.54*
50-CENT
FOXWOODS 93.27****
MOHEGAN SUN 90.58*
$1
FOXWOODS 93.06*
MOHEGAN SUN 92.41*
$2
MOHEGAN SUN 95.04*
FOXWOODS 93.52*
$5
MOHEGAN SUN 94.67*
FOXWOODS 93.37*
$10
MOHEGAN SUN 97.19*
FOXWOODS 96.63*
$25
FOXWOODS 95.47*
MOHEGAN SUN 94.92*
$100
MOHEGAN SUN 95.14*
FOXWOODS 93.04*
Multi-denominational
MOHEGAN SUN 93.50*
FOXWOODS 93.40*
TOTAL
FOXWOODS 92.02*
MOHEGAN SUN 91.84*
DELAWARE
2020 YEAR END
TOTAL AVERAGE
HARRINGTON 91.86**
DELAWARE PARK 91.83**
DOVER DOWNS 91.80**
FLORIDA
2020 YEAR END
TOTAL AVERAGE
HIALEAH PARK 93.71**
FLAGLER DOG TRACK & MAGIC CITY 93.44**
MIAMI JAI-ALAI 92.36**
INDIANA
2020 YEAR END
TOTAL AVERAGE
HORSESHOE SOUTHERN INDIANA 90.19*
TROPICANA 90.09*
MAJESTIC STAR II 90.07*
IOWA
2020 YEAR END
1-CENT AVERAGE
GRAND FALLS 90.25**
PRAIRIE MEADOWS 89.87**
WILD ROSE – CLINTON 89.75**
5-CENT
DIAMOND JO – DUBUQUE 94.78**
LAKESIDE 94.72**
PRAIRIE MEADOWS 94.54**
25-CENT
AMERISTAR II 94.97**
DIAMOND JO – WORTH 94.50**
PRAIRIE MEADOWS 94.20**
$1
PRAIRIE MEADOWS 94.44**
RHYTHM CITY 93.99**
Q CASINO 93.83**
$2
RHYTHM CITY 94.87**
AMERISTAR II 94.17**
ISLE CASINO HOTEL WATERLOO 93.77**
$5
WILD ROSE – JEFFERSON 96.79**
CASINO QUEEN – MARQUETTE 96.02**
RHYTHM CITY 95.97**
$10
WILD ROSE – JEFFERSON 96.27**
PRAIRIE MEADOWS 94.76**
RHYTHM CITY 93.30**
$25
GRAND FALLS 94.27**
RHYTHM CITY 94.15**
HORSESHOE COUNCIL BLUFFS 93.71**
$100
AMERISTAR II 103.82**
PRAIRIE MEADOWS 96.29**
HORSESHOE COUNCIL BLUFFS 88.31**
Other
LAKESIDE 95.40**
HARD ROCK 94.86**
WILD ROSE – JEFFERSON 94.50**
Total
PRAIRIE MEADOWS 91.59**
GRAND FALLS 90.73**
WILD ROSE – JEFFERSON 90.59**
LOUISIANA
2020 YEAR END
1-CENT AVERAGE
SHREVEPORT/BOSSIER 88.98***
NEW ORLEANS 88.96***
BATON ROUGE 88.90***
2-CENT
SHREVEPORT/BOSSIER 90.40***
NEW ORLEANS 89.83 ***
LAKE CHARLES 87.37 ***
5-CENT
LAKE CHARLES 93.51***
NEW ORLEANS 93.41***
SHREVEPORT/BOSSIER 92.27***
25-CENT
LAKE CHARLES 92.70***
BATON ROUGE 92.68***
NEW ORLEANS 91.91***
50-CENT
BATON ROUGE 94.54***
NEW ORLEANS 92.77***
LAKE CHARLES 92.62***
$1
BATON ROUGE 93.51***
NEW ORLEANS 92.94***
SHREVEPORT/BOSSIER 92.72***
$2
SHREVEPORT/BOSSIER 95.71***
BATON ROUGE 93.21***
LAKE CHARLES 93.19***
$5
BATON ROUGE 93.94***
LAKE CHARLES 93.54***
NEW ORLEANS 93.11***
$10
BATON ROUGE 94.86***
SHREVEPORT/BOSSIER 92.71***
LAKE CHARLES 91.89***
$25
BATON ROUGE 96.77***
LAKE CHARLES 92.88***
NEW ORLEANS 92.18***
$100
SHREVEPORT/BOSSIER 95.69***
BATON ROUGE 93.34***
LAKE CHARLES 91.41***
TOTAL
LAKE CHARLES 90.90***
SHREVEPORT/BOSSIER 90.64***
BATON ROUGE 90.32***
MAINE
2020 YEAR END
TOTAL AVERAGE
OXFORD 91.25***
HOLLYWOOD 90.26***
MASSACHUSETTS
2020 YEAR END
TOTAL AVERAGE
ENCORE BOSTON HARBOR 92.19***
MGM SPRINGFIELD 91.76***
PLAINRIDGE PARK 92.47****
MISSISSIPPI
2020 YEAR END
1-CENT AVERAGE
COASTAL REGION 90.85*
CENTRAL REGION 90.83*
NORTH RIVER REGION 90.30*
5-CENT
CENTRAL REGION 95.37*
COASTAL REGION 94.59*
NORTH RIVER REGION 91.15*
25-CENT
CENTRAL REGION 95.01*
COASTAL REGION 94.12*
NORTH RIVER REGION 91.12*
50-CENT
CENTRAL REGION 93.93*
COASTAL REGION 93.37*
NORTH RIVER REGION 91.06*
$1
CENTRAL REGION 93.74*
COASTAL REGION 92.80*
NORTH RIVER REGION 92.14*
$5
CENTRAL REGION 95.53*
NORTH RIVER REGION 93.63*
COASTAL REGION 92.65*
$10
CENTRAL REGION 95.79*
NORTH RIVER REGION 94.08*
COASTAL REGION 92.84*
$25
NORTH RIVER REGION 93.73*
COASTAL REGION 92.27*
$100
COASTAL REGION 95.08*
NORTH RIVER REGION 92.55*
OTHER
COASTAL REGION 95.08*
NORTH RIVER REGION 94.15*
TOTAL
CENTRAL REGION 91.75*
NORTH RIVER REGION 91.74*
COASTAL REGION 91.65*
NEVADA
2020 YEAR END
1-CENT AVERAGE
RENO 93.03**
LAKE TAHOE 90.89**
MESQUITE 90.27**
5-CENT
MESQUITE 95.97**
RENO 95.71**
BOULDER STRIP 95.65**
25-CENT
NORTH LAS VEGAS 96.05**
BOULDER STRIP 94.73**
BALANCE OF COUNTY 94.56**
$1
RENO 95.32**
MESQUITE 94.44**
BALANCE OF COUNTY 94.25**
$5
RENO 95.12**
LAUGHLIN 94.59**
LAS VEGAS STRIP 94.57**
$25
RENO 98.32**
LAS VEGAS STRIP 95.41**
DOWNTOWN LAS VEGAS 94.17******
Multi-denomination
RENO 95.36**
LAKE TAHOE 95.29***
BALANCE OF COUNTY 95.10**
Total
RENO 94.53**
BALANCE OF COUNTY 93.83**
MESQUITE 93.77***
NEW YORK
2020 YEAR END
TOTAL AVERAGE
TIOGA DOWNS 91.72*****
RESORTS WORLD CATSKILLS 90.91*****
RIVERS 90.70*****
OHIO
2020 YEAR END
TOTAL AVERAGE
JACK CLEVELAND 92.32**
HOLLYWOOD COLUMBUS 92.21**
HARD ROCK CINCINNATI 91.94**
PENNYSLVANIA
2020 YEAR END
TOTAL AVERAGE
VALLEY FORGE 90.57**
PARX 90.47**
THE MEADOWS 90.17**
SOUTH DAKOTA
2020 YEAR END
TOTAL AVERAGE
5-CENT 94.81*
$25 93.64*
$5 93.24*