Ellis Island Opens Most Adorable High Limit Room, Ever

By Scott Roeben, on May 08 2023
3 min read 6 comments
Gambling Las Vegas Las Vegas Casinos Slot Machines

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.

It’s not about size, it’s about how much fun you’re having, and that’s the story we’re sticking to.

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.

Cupcake distributions on casino floors should be an everyday thing.

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.

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

Opposite sides of casino dice always equal seven.

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

We tease because we love.

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.

The Ellis family still brews its own beer, just in St. George, Utah.

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.