The United States is home to more than 1,500 casinos – more than any other country on the planet. From coast to coast, gamblers have a huge range of options for where to place their bets. To help us find the best casinos in the country, we recruited Lisa Robertson-Dziedzic, Editorial Director of Casino Player and Strictly Slots magazines, along with Tony Harrell, a travel agent specializing in casino travel, to nominate their 20 favorites.

  • Mohegan Sun
    Uncasville, Conn.

    One of two gambling destination resorts in Connecticut, Mohegan Sun features three casinos: Casino of the Earth, Casino of the Wind and Casino of the Sky. The three gaming floors between them boast a whopping 5,000 slot machines, 275 table games, 42 poker tables, a race book, two smoke-free areas and Sunrise Square, an area fashioned after an Asian market that offers traditional Asian table games like Sic Bo, Pai Gow Poker and Baccarat.
    Photo courtesy of Mohegan Sun

  • Caesars Palace Las Vegas
    Las Vegas

    A classic Las Vegas casino, Caesars Palace brings the gaming experience to an ancient Roman setting. Encompassing 85 acres on The Strip, Caesars pairs its unique atmosphere and comprehensive casino offerings with some of the best retail, dining and entertainment in the city.
    Photo courtesy of bwzenith

  • Pechanga Resort & Casino
    Temecula, Calif.

    Located in Southern California, Pechanga Resort & Casino houses a 200,000-square-foot casino floor where gamblers will find more than 4,000 slots, 130 table games, 11 restaurants, a 700-seat Bingo hall and coming in December 2017, a $285 million expansion.
    Photo courtesy of Pechanga Resort & Casino

  • L'Auberge Casino Resort
    Lake Charles, La.

    L'Auberge Casino Resort in Lake Charles, Louisiana sits only two hours from the Houston metro area, making it a convenient place to enjoy 70,000-square-feet of gaming space equipped with 70 table games and some 1,600 slots. The casino's High Limits Salon offers even more tables and slots with denominations up to $100, while its 2,100-square-foot, 24/7 poker room has six tables plus one semi-private high stakes table.
    Photo courtesy of L'Auberge Casino Resort

  • Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa
    Atlantic City

    The only nominee in Atlantic City, Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa at Renaissance Pointe opened its doors in 2003 as the first new hotel in over a decade. Today, the 2,000-room resort offers gamblers 3,475 slot machines, 250 table games and Atlantic City's largest poker room, all spread out over 161,000-square-feet of casino space. Restaurants by Bobby Flay and Wolfgang Puck headline the culinary lineup, while the 2,400-seat Borgata Event Center plays host to some of the world's biggest names in music.
    Photo courtesy of Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa

  • Peppermill Resort Spa Casino
    Reno

    Reno players will find one of the city's top casinos at the Peppermill Resort, where more than 1,500 slot and video poker machines and 48 table games await. The casino also features a keno lounge, luxurious poker room and a sports theater with 61 big-screen HDTVs.
    Photo courtesy of Preferred Hotels & Resorts

  • Foxwoods Resort Casino
    Mashantucket, Conn.

    One of two premier gaming resorts in Connecticut, Foxwoods Resort Casino offers 4,500 slot machines – ranging from penny games to $100 minimums – as well as 300 table games, high stakes Bingo at one of the world's largest Bingo halls, a race book with 50-foot digital projection screens and the largest poker room on the East Coast. Four unique hotel properties and over 30 restaurants make it easy to stay and play.
    Photo courtesy of Foxwoods Resort Casino

  • The Cromwell
    Las Vegas

    The 40,000-square-foot casino at The Cromwell in Las Vegas includes a selection of 440 slot machines (both classics and the latest and greatest), as well as 66 table games. High rollers can play at three tables in the high limits area or inside The Abbey, an exclusive reserved gaming area with three tables.
    Photo courtesy of The Cromwell Hotel

  • Hard Rock Hotel & Casino
    Sioux City, Iowa

    Gamblers at the award-winning Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Sioux City can choose from 835 slot and video poker machines (including penny slots and one of Iowa's first 3D machines) or 26 table games. Six restaurants and bars provide plenty of options for refueling between games.
    Photo courtesy of Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Sioux City

  • Red Rock Casino Resort & Spa
    Las Vegas

    Frequented by both locals and tourists, the Red Rock Casino Resort & Spa sits on 70 acres of land near the beautiful Red Rock Mountains in Summerlin, about 10 miles west of the Las Vegas Strip. The resort casino includes 3,000 slot and video poker machines, 60 table games, a race and sports book with a 96-foot video wall, a 20-table smoke-free poker room, 600-seat Bingo hall, a 20-seat Keno lounge and two private rooms for high-stakes gamers.
    Photo courtesy of Red Rock Casino Resort Spa

The Nevada Gaming Control Board found that in 2017 there were 38,434 slots in operation across 40 locations on the Las Vegas Strip. It was estimated that those machines generated revenues worth. Slot machines may appear to be a game of luck more than anything else, as the player merely has to spin the reels in order to play. There are no in-game decisions that improve or decrease the players odds of winning. However, there are several strategies that can help give you a better chance of Continue reading Top 5 Strategies for Slot Machines →. The company’s casinos have won many awards, including recent Las Vegas Review Journal's 'Best of Las Vegas” titles, including the 2017 Gold Best Paying Slots, Gold Best Locals Casino,.

For the past four weeks, USA TODAY 10Best readers have been voting for their favorites. It was a close finish, but in the end, Mohegan Sun came out on top, dethroning Pechanga Resort & Casino as the best in the U.S.

The top 10 winners in the category Best U.S. Casino are as follows:

  1. Mohegan Sun - Uncasville, Conn.
  2. Caesars Palace Las Vegas Hotel & Casino - Las Vegas
  3. Pechanga Resort & Casino - Temecula, Calif.
  4. L'Auberge Casino Resort - Lake Charles, La.
  5. Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa - Atlantic City
  6. Peppermill Resort Spa Casino - Reno
  7. Foxwoods Resort Casino - Mashantucket, Conn.
  8. The Cromwell Hotel - Las Vegas
  9. Hard Rock Hotel & Casino - Sioux City, Iowa
  10. Red Rock Casino Resort & Spa - Las Vegas

Congratulations to all these winning casinos!

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The Experts

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Tony Harrell

Tony Harrell, travel consultant and owner of Read More

Best slot machines in vegas 2017 shows

Tony Harrell, travel consultant and owner of Abundant Travel, plans customized vacations for plus-size clients and customers of any size. He is a certified destination expert for Las Vegas and New Orleans as well as Canada. He feels that while Las Vegas is the obvious American mecca for gambling and other entertainment, there are other destinations across the country that are worth the trip.

Tony Harrell

Tony Harrell, travel consultant and owner of Abundant Travel, plans customized vacations for plus-size clients and customers of any size. He is a certified destination expert for Las Vegas and New Orleans as well as Canada. He feels that while Las Vegas is the obvious American mecca for gambling and other entertainment, there are other destinations across the country that are worth the trip.

Lisa Robertson-Dziedzic

Lisa Robertson-Dziedzic is the Publisher of Casino... Read More

Lisa Robertson-Dziedzic is the Publisher of Casino Player magazine and Strictly Slots magazine. Now in its 32nd year, Casino Player has thrived as America’s most popular gambling magazine. Over the decades, millions of gamblers have enjoyed and benefited from Casino Player’s gaming strategies, as well as its ever-changing lifestyle stories. In 1994, Lisa launched its sister publication, Strictly Slots, the nation’s only magazine written exclusively for slots and video poker players. Lisa is an accomplished director specializing in the gaming industry and has more than 35 years of publishing experience.

Lisa Robertson-Dziedzic

Lisa Robertson-Dziedzic is the Publisher of Casino Player magazine and Strictly Slots magazine. Now in its 32nd year, Casino Player has thrived as America’s most popular gambling magazine. Over the decades, millions of gamblers have enjoyed and benefited from Casino Player’s gaming strategies, as well as its ever-changing lifestyle stories. In 1994, Lisa launched its sister publication, Strictly Slots, the nation’s only magazine written exclusively for slots and video poker players. Lisa is an accomplished director specializing in the gaming industry and has more than 35 years of publishing experience.

Ever since the 1980s, casinos have discovered that they make more profits off their slot machines than they do from their table games. This is just as true of online casinos as it is of land-based gambling halls. In Las Vegas, where free drinks and loyalty rewards have long been used as inducements for slot play, the latest promotional craze is bragging about payback rates. Where are the biggest jackpots being hit? Who can offer the best slot machine odds?

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If you listen to Las Vegas locals, they say never play the slots at casinos that line Las Vegas Boulevard. “Strictly for tourists,” they will tell you. Then, they’ll point downtown where many of the city’s oldest casinos are grouped within easy walking distance from one another and add, “The best payouts are along Fremont Street.”

But what do the actual numbers say? Is Vegas street wisdom to be believed? And what to make of claims made by casinos themselves? Who really has the loosest slots in town?

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Downtown vs. the Strip

Overall, slots generate nearly 60% of Nevada’s annual gaming revenues and almost twice as much as table games. The Nevada Gaming Control Board breaks down its Las Vegas slot statistics in two major tourist areas: downtown and the Strip. Additionally, there is a large locals market, which reports of gaming revenue classify as the Boulder Strip and North Las Vegas areas.

In the full fiscal year between July 1, 2011 and June 30, 2012, the payback percentages for all slots in Clark County were 93.51%. By area, the downtown paid back 93.47% and the Strip returned 92.62%, so there is a certain ring of truth to the locals’ claim. However, what goes unsaid is that North Las Vegas slots returned 93.91% and the Boulder Strip slots paid back 94.76%, so the best advice is to avoid the tourist areas and play where the locals play.

Compared to fiscal 2011, all of the areas except the Boulder Strip showed a slight reduction in paybacks in 2012. Slots located along Boulder Highway paid out exactly the same year on year; they include the machines of such popular casinos as Sam’s Town, Arizona Charlie’s, and Boulder Station, to name a few.

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Odds by Slot Type

The Gaming Control Board statistics also indicate which slots pay out the best in order of the denomination of credit played. In fiscal 2012, Megabucks progressive slots showed the worst payback percentage overall, just 87.16%. However, the appeal of a massive jackpot obviously outweighs the poor odds during hard economic times, as Megabucks revenues rose 59% versus fiscal 2011—the biggest gain among all types of slots.

At the other end of the spectrum, the very best payback percentages came from high roller slots. Those accepting denominations of $5, $25 and $100 returned 94.67%, 96.52% and 96.30%, respectively—proving once again that it takes money to make money.

For those whose champagne tastes come with beer budgets, the most fruitful games are on the nickel and quarter slots, which also include video poker machines of those denominations. Fully 94.48% of all 25¢ wagers were returned in fiscal 2012. Coming in right behind were nickel slots, paying back 94.40%.

Many slot players enjoy multi-denomination slots, which were a reasonably good bet in 2012 with a 94.65% payback rate. Meanwhile, dollar machines were not bad performers, yielding a 94.42% return of the cash invested. Much less favorable to players were penny machines, returning just 89.33%—the worst bet other than Megabucks.

What About Other Games

If slots aren’t your cup of tea, and you much prefer real money blackjack, then visit our dedicated page to online blackjack. United States Blackjack typically affords better odds than the slots, especially if players are willing to learn card counting. Bet your real money wisely with the tips you garner from reading legitimatecasino.com.

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Who’s Really #1?

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For those looking for a specific casino to frequent or a certain machine offering the very best slot odds, it is hard to separate the hoopla from the reality. The Gaming Control Board statistics do not reveal the results casino by casino or machine by machine. And the claims made by the casinos themselves have to be taken with a grain of salt.

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For example, in 2010 the Palms Casino Resort launched a massive advertising campaign based upon the results of an “independent survey by the Las Vegas Advisor (that) indicates Palms’ slots and video poker returns are better than the average payback percentages in Nevada.” Their claim was that Palms’ slots were “28.278 percent looser than Clark County and 36.856 percent looser than the Strip.”

Not to be outdone, in 2011 the downtown’s El Cortez Casino shot back with advertising claiming that their slots were “39% looser than the Strip,” implying looser than the Palms’ slots by inference. Most lists of “hot slots” in Las Vegas mention the two properties as #1 and #2, but with three Megabucks jackpots awarded since 2004, perhaps the Palms deserves a slight edge. The El Cortez has paid no Megabucks winners to date.