The Boulder Strip and North Las Vegas casinos have the best odds. The bigger separation between the Wizard's slots-only survey and reported returns for the Strip vs. Downtown is probably because the strip has a higher mix of slots and downtown has a higher mix of video poker (which tends to pay better than slots). Slot Machine Player Winning a Payout Slip in a Las Vegas Casino after Successfully Playing a Bonus Reels Game - http://www.travellinksdirectory.com/links/las.

1. Big Payout Slots Vegas

• Factoid: Twenty-five years ago 2 states had legalized gambling and 48 did not. Now 48 do and only 2 do not (Hawaii and Utah.)
• Factoid: Nevada gambling revenue was $1 billion in 1975 ...$10 billion in 2004 and is projected to be $15 billion in 2009.

'Las Vegas was built for people who are really bad at math....' ...Penn Jillette (Penn & Teller, now at the Rio!)

'There are two times in a man's life when he should not speculate: when he can't afford it and when he can.' ...Samuel Clemens, also known as 'Mark Twain' (1835-1910)

In the last decade, entertainment, shopping and fine dining have replaced gambling as the top attraction for visitors to Las Vegas. Many hotels get more than half of their revenue from non-gambling sources.

Although tourists no longer list gambling as the primary reason for their visit, almost all are willing to risk an average of $500 each trying to hit that elusive jackpot.

Nationwide, casino gambling is a $50 billion business. And 20 percent of that amount comes from just one state ...Nevada. One third of all Nevada general tax revenue comes from state gambling taxes.

The state of Nevada and casinos like to call it “gaming” since ”gambling” has such an negative ring to it. We agree. “Gaming” is a better word for the games of chance legally offered in Las Vegas. Games are played for entertainment. And this is how you should treat the money you risk in Las Vegas in hopes of hitting “The Big One.” Play for fun and the “possibility” that you might win. NEVER take Las Vegas gambling seriously.

Gambling laws in Nevada

Las Vegas gambling was legalized in 1931. The Nevada Gaming Commission and Control Board develops and administers all gaming regulations. Their website can make interesting reading. Casinos with more than 15 slot machines pay an annual tax of $250 on each one. There is also an additional monthly tax of up to 6.75% on gross gaming revenue ...a percentage that is the lowest in the U.S.

Anyone working as a gaming employee must be registered with the state and have a valid gaming work permit. This includes all casino workers except bartenders and cocktail waitresses.

You must be 21 to enter a casino, gamble ...or purchase or consume alcoholic beverages. If you look young carry a state-issued ID with photograph such as a driver’s license. Children are permitted in the casino public walkways but are not allowed to be near slot machines or gaming tables. You are allowed to carry open alcoholic beverage containers on the street, but not in a vehicle.

Taxes on gambling winnings

There are some things you should know if you are lucky enough to win. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) requires all casinos in certain instances to withhold federal taxes if you win over a certain amount. The percentage withheld ranges between 25 and 30 percent depending on how you won. Here is how it works.

If you had gambling winnings, the casino is required by the IRS Information Reporting rules to withhold 28% as income tax if you do not provide a documented TIN (Taxpayer Identification Number, that is, your Social Security Number.) We have heard of cases where it is withheld no matter what. The withholding tax is 30% if a foreign gambler. The tax rate is 25 percent if the amount is over $5,000 (except for non-resident aliens.)

When your winnings exceed a specified threshold and/or tax is withheld, the casino will give you an IRS Form W-2G showing the amount you won and the amount of tax withheld. Report (and take credit for the tax you paid) on your IRS Form 1040 tax return at the end of the year. (Only use Form 1040 if you had gambling winnings; you cannot use any other form.)

Big Payout Slots Vegas

Generally, gambling winnings are reportable to the IRS if the amount paid is (a) $600 or more and (b) at least 300 times the amount of the wager. This requirement primarily applies to lotteries, sweepstakes and other big winnings from small bets. It does not apply to winnings from bingo, keno, and slot machines.

Casinos report gambling winnings for these games to the IRS when a player wins $1,200 or more from a bingo game or slot machine or if the proceeds are $1,500 or more from a keno game. When you exceed these amounts, the casino may withhold taxes and will provide you with IRS Form W-2G. They keep the original and give you two copies of the form. (If state income tax withholding is required on gambling winnings in your state, additional taxes may be withheld.)

The rules are different for table games (such as blackjack, baccarat, craps, roulette or other spinning wheel games.) Since Nevada casinos do not know the amount you started with, they are not able to determine how much you won (...your taxable gain.) As a result, federal law provides that there is no withholding or even reporting of table game wins to the IRS. It therefore follows that table game winners probably do not report their gambling profits to the IRS.

You not only pay taxes on gambling profits, but you can also claim gambling losses as an itemized deduction as well. But you must keep some kind of documentation (such as a diary or tickets) to substantiate the amount and nature of the losses. In any event, you cannot claim gambling losses that exceed your winnings.

Managing your money

Greed is the downfall of most players. The odds that you will win if you play long enough is statistically wrong ...as is; having doubled your money, you next try to quadruple the winnings (and end up losing it all.) Both concepts have built a lot of nice hotel-casinos in Las Vegas.

My system for managing gambling money is simple. I budget $100 a day which, according to statistics, is about average for Las Vegas visitors. If I am on a five day vacation, I put $100 in each of five dated envelopes ...a total of $500. I ration the money throughout the day and stop when I lose my hundred and do other things. I might stop when I double my allotment. In any event at the end of the day, I either am ahead or behind. If I am ahead, I put whatever portion of the $100 I have left (hopefully it is more than $100) back in the same dated envelope and place it in the room safe that hotels provide. Tomorrow I play with the money in following day’s envelope. The most you can lose is $100 on any given day ...or $500 for your trip. I am happy if I break even ...and you should be too. Once in a while I go home with “their” money. In recent years I have done better. I will tell you how later.

The bad news: There are no casino games or bets where the house does not have a clear advantage. The odds either favor the house ...or they get a commission. And if you are not familiar with basic information about the games you play or bets you make, you are just about a guaranteed loser. In short, casino owners are in business to make a profit. They did not build all those gorgeous hotels by giving away money.

The good news: The reality is that if you are lucky you can win ...and the drinks are free. But statistically the chances are against winning. So the cardinal rule is, over the long haul, whether playing the slots, table games, betting on sports or risking money on anything; you will probably lose. But some bets are better than others.

It is beyond the scope of this website to provide in depth strategy on how to gamble and win in Las Vegas. Many books have been written on the subject and - trust me - none work over the long haul ...or are illegal.

We will, however, cover the most popular games and things you should know as a beginner to have fun and minimize your loss ...and maybe make a few bucks.

Let the games begin

Blackjack (21) is either dealt by hand with one or two decks. Multiple Deck 21 is dealt from a box called “the shoe.” Everyone in Blackjack plays against the dealer. Roulette consists of a spinning wheel marked with numbers 1 through 36 (18 red, 18 black) and American Roulette has a green 0 and 00 ..a total of 38 possibilities. You win if your number, combination of numbers or color comes up. To play Keno, you select a minimum of 4 but no more than 10 numbers on a ticket between 1 and 80. Twenty of the 80 numbered balls are drawn and you win if all your selected numbers are chosen. Craps is a complicated dice game which we do not recommend for first-timers. There are many other table games (and variations) as well. More and more people are playing poker these days and we will also have a little to say about that later.

By far, however, the most prevalent pastime in Las Vegas is playing the slot machines ...and video poker. We will cover the games of chance and sports betting in this chapter ...which you should play, where you should play and the odds of winning.

NEXT PAGE: 10.2 SLOT MACHINES ...AND VIDEO POKER... ⇨

What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas—unless you happen to win a huge cash payout while gambling. The odds that you’ll win $5.00 or $10.00 while playing the slot machines are quite good. The odds of hitting a multimillion-dollar jackpot at a Vegas casino—well, if you accomplish that, then we’ll be hitting the Vegas strip with you next time.

They may be rare, but mega-million jackpots in Vegas do happen. Most recently, in November 2014, a man turned $20.00 into $14.28 million when he hit the progressive jackpot playing a Megabucks slot machine at Rampart Casino. The Megabucks machine is linked to 157 casinos throughout Nevada.

If you’re hoping lightning strikes twice, you may want to visit the following casinos on your next trip to Las Vegas:

Top Las Vegas Payouts

5. Rampart Casino

The unidentified Vegas resident who won the cool $14.0 million at Rampart was visiting the casino with an out-of-town friend one day. The man played the Megabucks slot machine for all of five minutes before hitting the jackpot! The money, he said, would be donated to various charities and his church.

The 50,000-square-foot Rampart Casino¹ is located in the JW Marriott Las Vegas Resort & Spa. It boasts nearly 1,300 slots, video poker, and keno machines. The Summerlin Room High Limit area features games that range from $1.00 to $10.00 denominations and the 300-seat Bingo Room is conveniently located next to the Rampart Buffet. With 50 lush acres, JW Marriott Las Vegas is considered to be the first off-the-strip luxury resort in Las Vegas. The 548 guestrooms offer mountain, garden, city, or golf-course views, and are equipped with high-speed Internet access, rainfall showerheads, and jetted tubs.²

If that’s not enough, the JW Marriott has a day spa. Spa Aquae has 36 treatment rooms, an outdoor hydrotherapy circuit pool, a whirlpool, a steam room and sauna, a hot and cold plunge, and cascading waterfall showers. It also has a state-of-the-art fitness center and offers daily yoga sessions.³

4. Bally’s

Seventy-four-year-old Johanna Huendl was on her way to breakfast at Bally’s when she decided to take a seat at the Megabuck machine. She put in about $170.00 and won the jackpot. Initially she misread the machine and was overjoyed to see she would be taking home $2.0 million. But she was wrong; she won $22.62 million.⁴

Located on the Vegas strip, Bally’s Las Vegas features more than 2,800 extra-sized guestrooms (450 square feet each) and a number of penthouses ranging from 2,567 square feet to 3,425 square feet. Guests at Bally’s can also enjoy the 13,000-square-foot spa, salon, Olympic-sized pools with palm trees, private cabanas, and a whirlpool, fine dining, shows, and shopping.⁵ At 67,000 square feet, the casino at Bally’s has countless slot and video poker machines, more than 65 Las Vegas table games (casino blackjack, craps, roulette, baccarat, and pai gow), a poker room, a 24-hour Keno parlor, and a stadium-style race and sports book.

3. Palace Station

Did you know that one of the largest, progressive slot machine payouts in history happened at Palace Station? Back in 1998, a retired flight attendant fed $300.00 into a Megabucks machine and walked away with a staggering $27.5 million.

Located just a few minutes off Las Vegas Boulevard, Palace Station is known as the locals’ favorite place to stay and play! Palace Station has a 1,000-room hotel, fitness center, pool, and salon, along with bars, lounges, and fine dining.⁶

The Palace Station casino has more than 100,000 square feet of gaming space and the perfect mix of slots and table games.⁷ The casino has more than 1,600 slot/video poker machines, 45 table games (blackjack, pai gow poker, pai gow tiles, “Ultimate Texas Hold’em,” craps, roulette, and baccarat), a 307-seat bingo hall, a 20-seat keno lounge, and a 230-seat race and a sports book featuring 44 screens.

2. Wynn Las Vegas & Encore Resort

On January 26, 2000, Cynthia Jay-Brennan, a Las Vegas cocktail waitress, won $34.9 million after investing $27.00 on a Megabucks machine at the Desert Inn. Naturally, the casino set her up in one of its top suites and offered her champagne and caviar.⁸

Unfortunately, the Desert Inn suffered the fate of many of the older casinos in Las Vegas: it was imploded. Today, Wynn Las Vega and Encore Resort now sit on the land where Desert Inn once stood. If you’re superstitious, you might want to try the casino at Wynn or Encore.

Wynn Las Vegas is an iconic, curved high-rise on the Las Vegas Strip with 2,716 rooms ranging in size from 640 square feet to villas at 7,000 square feet. Together with the adjacent Encore Resort, the entire Wynn resort complex has a total of 4,750 rooms, making it the world’s sixth-largest hotel.⁹

Wynn Las Vegas has a 223,000-square-foot convention center, 76,000 square feet of retail space, a spa, a salon, a pool, and an 111,000-square-foot casino. If you like to golf, Wynn Resorts also has the only golf club on the Strip. The 18-hole, 7,193-yard, par-72 golf course was designed by world-famous architect Tom Fazio and resort owner Steve Wynn.

Encore Resort features a 2,034-room hotel that is ranked as one of the top 100 hotels in the world on the 2015 Gold List. Encore also has a 74,000-square-foot casino, 27,000 square feet of retail space, a spa and salon, five restaurants, seven bars, and a nightclub.

1. Excalibur

Back in March 2003, a 25-year-old software engineer from Las Angeles won $39.7 million after putting $100.00 in the Megabucks slot machine at Excalibur. The winner, who wished to remain anonymous, beat odds at the time of one in 16.7 million to take home the largest jackpot in Las Vegas history.¹⁰

Excalibur isn’t just a name—it’s a way of life. On the south end of the Las Vegas Strip, Excalibur is a Camelot-themed resort linked to neighbouring New York-New York and Tropicana resorts by overhead pedestrian bridges.¹¹

The hotel has 4,008 rooms, ranging from contemporary to guest suites. Amenities include shopping, four luxurious pools (including one for guests 18 years of age and older), a 13,000-square-foot spa, a fitness center, and, of course, the Canterbury Wedding Chapel.

The 100,000-square-foot gaming area consists of both table games and over 1,400 slot machines, including the ever-popular Megabucks progressive jackpot slot machine. The casino also has a poker room, keno, and pari-mutuel betting.¹²

So, what happens if lightning does happen to strike twice and you win big?

RMS Is the Easiest, Fastest Way to Get Your Money Back!

In the United States, winnings of more than $1,200 from slots (or other forms of gambling, including poker, pari-mutuel, and sports betting) are considered taxable income and are subject to a 30% withholding tax. If you win $2,500 on the slots in Las Vegas, you’ll walk out with just $1,750. The IRS gets to keep the rest.

If you’ve been to Las Vegas and had 30% of your gambling winnings withheld by the IRS, Refund Management Services (RMS) can help you reclaim a portion or all of your taxable winnings.

Founded by a Canadian Chartered Accountant in 1998, RMS is the most reliable and experienced gaming and casino tax refund provider for non-U.S. residents. Only RMS has the One Simple Step^TM process; our Customer Service Agents take care of the rest. Your refund cheque gets mailed out to you as soon as your refund is approved. We’ve never been refused an eligible refund. Contact us today!

Sources:

1. “Where the Locals Play in Summerlin,” Rampart Casino at The Resort at Summerlin web site; https://www.theresortatsummerlin.com/gaming/index.php, last accessed May 1, 2015.

2. JW Marriott Las Vegas Resort & Spa web site; http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/lasjw-jw-marriott-las-vegas-resort-and-spa/, last accessed May 1, 2015.

3. Spa Aquae web site; http://spaaquaelv.com/, last accessed May 1, 2015.

4. “$22.6 Million Megabucks Hits at Bally’s Las Vegas,” IGT web site; http://www.igt.com/company-information/news-room/news-releases?NewsID=650269,
last accessed May 1, 2015.

5. Caesars web site; https://www.caesars.com/ballys-las-vegas, last accessed May 1, 2015.

6. Palace Station web site; https://palacestation.sclv.com/, last accessed May 1, 2015.

7. “Boarding Pass Players Club,” Palace Station web site; https://palacestation.sclv.com/Gaming.aspx, last accessed May 1, 2015.

8. Macy, R., “Woman plays $27, wins $34.9 million,” Las Vegas Sun web site, January 27, 2000; http://lasvegassun.com/news/2000/jan/27/woman-plays-27-wins-349-million/.

9. Wynn Las Vegas web site; http://wynnlasvegas.com/, last accessed May 1, 2015.

10. Norman, R.J., “Record jackpot claimed by Calif. engineer,” Las Vegas Sun web site, March 4, 2003; http://lasvegassun.com/news/2003/mar/24/record-jackpot-claimed-by-calif-engineer/?history.

11. Excalibur web site; http://www.excalibur.com/, last accessed May 1, 2015.

12. Excalibur casino web site; http://www.excalibur.com/casino/, last accessed May 1, 2015.