In today’s world, there are seemingly countless ways to gamble one’s money. Table gaming, daily fantasy sports, online poker, sports betting, and horse racing, just to name a few.
Yet in New Jersey, it’s one of the industry’s oldest gambling formats that remains its most popular, and not by a small margin. That format is slot machines.
So far in 2017, one-armed bandits account for nearly 71% of Atlantic City gaming revenue, and over 75% of revenue for Harrah’s, Resorts, and Tropicana. Anecdotal evidence suggests slots are an even greater proportion of NJ online gambling revenue.
The appeal of modern slots is in their glitz, ease of play, and through the allure of potentially life-changing payouts. Unfortunately for players, they own one of the highest house edges of any game in the casino — bingo, and certain table game side bets aside.
That being said, not all slots are created equal. And New Jersey players might be surprised to know that they can often stretch their gambling dollar much further from the comfort of their own home, rather than embarking on a trip to Atlantic City.
According to the NJ Division of Gaming Enforcement, Atlantic City slot machines returned approximately 91.1% to players in July 2017. Harrah’s AC was the best casino to hit the slots, returning 91.7%, and Tropicana AC was the worst at 90.2%.
This rate of return stacks up quite well compared to those found in neighboring states, particularly Pennsylvania, where high tax rates force operators to lower returns — PA land-based slot returns are closer to 89%.
But how does it stack up against NJ online casinos? From what it appears, the answer is “not well.” Unfortunately, the DGE does not break out online slot holds in its monthly revenue reports. However, certain casinos, namely PokerStars Casino and Golden Nugget Casino are very transparent with their slot machine returns, listing both the return-to-player (RTP) as part of the game description.
Here’s a sampling of game returns on popular Golden Nugget Casino slots:
From this we can make the rough conclusion that the average NJ online casino slot returns somewhere in the vicinity of 95% – 96%, vastly exceeding the RTP found at even Harrah’s, where slots appear to be the loosest.
For perspective, a player who wagers $1,000 at Golden Nugget online casino, will on balance, lose just $40 – $50, compared to $90 (approximately double) in an Atlantic City casino. Suffice it to say, that’s quite a significant difference.
But what about value hunters looking for the absolute best play around; where are they better off grinding slots? At land-based casinos these players would likely seek out $1 or $5 slot machines, which are known to offer much higher returns than their penny slot counterparts.
It is projected that a $5 denomination slot player will see returns in the vicinity of 94% – 97%, which is roughly on par with the returns associated with NJ online casino slots.
However, the vast majority of NJ online casinos offer nothing but penny slots. This leads us to draw a couple of conclusions:
Turning to online, the absolute best slots return upwards of 98%. Thus, value hunters are still better off playing online, although in so long as the value seeker is willing to shell out big bucks at their favorite Atlantic City casinos, the divide is less formidable.
As for penny slot players, they’re probably even better off playing online than the topline RTP numbers suggest.
Casinos, both land-based and online, incentivize players via what’s known as a slot club, or a rewards program.
Through a typical rewards programs, players earn points based on their play. These points are used to determine a player’s:
Generally speaking, land-based casino slot clubs are still more rewarding than their online counterparts, but the gap is closing.
Arguably, the biggest advantage of playing slots in an Atlantic City casino over online are the better freeplay opportunities.
Betfair Casino, which offers one of the best loyalty programs of any NJ online casino, offers between 0.1% – 0.5% cashback to slot players based on their tier. The cashback must be played through one-time before it clears to player wallets. These “exceptional” online rates are relatively par for the course when it comes to land-based casinos.
In reality, the average NJ online slot club more closely resembles Golden Nugget’s, which offers just a 0.05% return on slot play. And while loyalty points (Golden Points) can be earned through non-gaming activities (VIPs have even more freeplay opportunities), the club is still not nearly as lucrative as the one found at say the Borgata in Atlantic City.
Additionally, monthly freeplay offers are still generally better at land-based casinos, although this is a bit more difficult to accurately measure.
That being said, one area where online is rapidly catching up to live is non-gaming incentives. These days, it is far less difficult to earn discounts and freebies at a Atlantic City casino via its online brand than it was just two years ago.
And as online becomes an even more integral facet of the state’s gambling industry, we expect it to become an even more significant driver of traffic to brick and mortar venues.
Despite land-based players doing slightly better in the incentives department, overall, the average New Jersey slot player is best off gambling online.
That’s not to say Atlantic City casinos are a bad bet, as their slot returns exceed northeast region averages. But from a purely value perspective there simply is no better place in not only NJ, but the entire US, to wager legally on your favorite one-armed bandits, than at NJ online casinos.
One topic we haven’t broached is why do NJ online casinos offer materially better slot returns than their land-based counterparts.
After all, doesn’t conventional logic tell us that because land-based casinos have so many means of generating high margin returns (hotel, dining, entertainment, alcohol) that they can afford to offer better returns on slots?
Maybe so, but consider that land-based casinos have a very limited timeframe to procure wins from their patrons — sometimes days, sometimes hours or less. It’s this sense of urgency that might compel land-based properties to lower their returns. Online there are less time pressures.
Not to mention, at land-based casinos losing on slots may not weigh as heavily on the average patron, because there is so much else to do. Contrarily, an online player’s experience is almost a sole reflection on how they fared at the tables and machines.
Given this, it’s little wonder why NJ online casinos offer high slot returns — more winning moments equates to higher customer satisfaction and better retention rates.
Other reasons why NJ online casinos return such exemplary rates may include: