VEGAS MYTHS BUSTED: Downtown’s Slots are Looser Than the Strip’s

Posted on: March 24, 2025, 07:21h. 

Last updated on: March 24, 2025, 10:50h.

Corey Levitan Read More
Expertise: Commercial Gaming, Entertainment, Expert Insight, Las Vegas, Restaurants, Las Vegas Myths.
  • Downtown casinos used to pay more back on their slot machines than Strip casinos
  • For the past four years, this trend has reversed
  • Almost no one knows

Most gamblers think that downtown slots are looser on average — have a higher return-to-player (RTP) ratio — than Strip slots. And they think that because it’s historically been true. Until 2020, that is. That’s the year the Strip started delivering a higher RTP than downtown. And it hasn’t stopped since.

This data comes from the Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB). (Image: Casino.org)

This myth seems more compatible with the nickel-and-diming tourists feel increasingly subjected to on the Strip, where they now have to pay for their drinks while gambling, and for parking just to gamble.

But the yearly RTP totals over the past decade tell a different story. While the Strip has been returning to slot players a consistent average of $92 per $100 over the past 10 years, downtown operators have slowly been decreasing their RTP.

Downtown Not-So Grand

This sign at the Fremont Hotel & Casino downtown has been lying to you since 2020. (Image: Shutterstock)

“(Downtown casino operators)  could be riding high on the past reality of higher RTPs, combined with the inability of reel slot players to detect such small differences in the RTP percentage,” Anthony F. Lucas, a professor of casino management at UNLV and a former gaming industry operations analyst, told Casino.org.

“It’s not a bad strategy for reel slots,” Lucas said.

In 2021, Lucas and his colleague, Katherine Spilde from San Diego State University, published a study clearly demonstrating that players are unable to detect differences in how much — and how often — a slot machine pays. (“Pushing the Limits of Increased Casino Advantages on Slots: An Examination of Performance Effects and Customer Reactions” appeared in Cornell Hospitality Quarterly.)

For their study, Lucas and Spilde compared the daily performance of four pairs of slot machine titles over six months. The high RTP game in each of the four pairings was set to return a little over $95 per $100 wagered, while the low RTP games were set to return about $85 per $100 in wagers.

There was no evidence of slot players switching from the low RTP slots to the high RTP slots. That is, even over the six-month experimental period, players couldn’t tell the difference in the RTPs. And, even more surprising, the casino’s expected daily win was much greater for the low RTP games in each of the pairings.

One Caveat

As with everything, there is some complexity that can’t be glossed over. For example, game mix matters.

“If the downtown market had a greater proportion of video poker play that could increase its overall RTP,” Lucas said. “The data available through the NGCB does not isolate performance by game type, only denomination.”

Look for “Vegas Myths Busted” every Monday on Casino.org. Visit VegasMythsBusted.com to read previously busted Vegas myths. Got a suggestion for a Vegas myth that needs busting? Email corey@casino.org.