It's in the Cards

It’s no secret that Nevada law permits a wide variety of gaming, including traditional card and dice games, race and sports books, slot machines, cashless slot machines, high-tech electronic gambling devices and international games of chance originating in Europe and Asia.

Las Vegas resorts offer an electronic version of virtually every type of casino game. Slot machines linked to statewide networks pay progressive jackpots that can start in the millions and grow each time coins drop into any of the more than 600 networked machines throughout Nevada.

While slot machines are the runaway favorite among gamblers in Las Vegas, table games have seen new additions and a tremendous resurgence in the popularity of poker. Some of the newer games, such as three-card poker, and old favorites, like pai gow, continue to draw people to the tables. The increased exposure and popularity of poker, specifically Texas Hold ‘Em, has prompted many casinos to re-open poker rooms that had been shuttered for a number of years.

• In 2004, Clark County's casinos (Clark County includes Las Vegas, Laughlin, Mesquite, Primm and Jean) took in $8.7 billion in gross gaming revenue. Las Vegas casinos accounted for $6.8 billion.

• In 2004, the average gambling budget per trip was approximately $545 per visitor.

• The average visitor gambled 3.3 hours per day.

• Eighty-seven percent of visitors said they gambled during their stay.

• Slot machines reign in the casinos – 64 percent of visitors hit the slots during their stay. Blackjack came in a distant second with 16 percent with video poker rounding out the top three with 9 percent.

• The statewide Megabucks games experienced a first in September 2005 when a player hit the progressive jackpot for the second time. The 92-year-old winner took home $4.6 million in 1989 and then hit the jackpot again last year for $21 million.

• Nevada's casino and gaming areas are off limits to people younger than 21. When Bellagio opened on the Las Vegas Strip October 1998, the hotel barred people from the premises who were under 18 years of age unless they were registered guests of the hotel; this policy was a first.

• Race and sports betting tops $2 billion per year, including tens of millions wagered on single sporting events such as the Super Bowl and Final Four. Some Las Vegas casinos treat gamblers to plush seating, free drinks and buffets in the race and sports book complexes where live-racing and athletic events are viewed on giant, satellite-fed screens.

>Back to Top