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Your "gut" can only tell you so much. I stopped gambling at the Caesar's Joints over a decade ago. I just couldn't win at all. The Free Play was OK. The rooms, nice enough. But how much fun can you have on vacation, when you piss away your entire daily bankroll each and every day?
I flipped from them, to MGM Resorts. Better free play, better rooms and a better experience overall. The gambling was never good, but it wasn't as bad as CET. But then I started to stray, and I actually started to win. Not a lot, and certainly not all the time. But I started to do better when it came to gambling.
Treasure Island gave me a fair gamble, I just had an out with my host there. Resorts World, overly fair in my experience. And now that I have added Fontainebleau to the mix. My gambling experiences have never been better.
The theory goes, CET and MGM have to worry about their shareholders. When you worry about stock price, you start to slash slot returns to squeeze every penny you can out of the gamblers. Plus, being center Strip and owning nearly all the poster children when it comes to Vegas Resorts. They are never hurting for guests.
Fontainebleau, Resorts World and Treasure Island all need a hook to get people to travel down to the North End of the Strip. And that, IMO, is a better gamble.
So I broke out the math, and my results are what my gut felt. The North Strip is where you want to play in Vegas. Anecdotal? Maybe. You cant tell long term holds over such a small sampling. But that still doesn't make any of my results less true.
I looked back on my last dozen trips to these 3 casinos. Those Dirty Dozen paints a pretty compelling picture of who is holding/returning what to slot players.
MGM paid out just as many $100-$199 slot hits as anyone. Close to as many $200-$399 as the other two, with the exception of FB who was much better. The higher up you climb in slot wins. The further behind MGM fell.
Mind you, I play the same games, the same way with the same bets no matter where I play,. Sure, some places have slightly different games,. But my plan of attack and style doesn't differ. Not over the past 3-4 years anyway.
For you math nerds, this is a good look at which casinos should be fair. Your millage may vary. But this represents literally tens of thousands of spins over dozens and dozens of hours playing. With hundreds of Thousands of Dollars being played through.
Summary below, and the results speak for themselves.
Across all three properties. I averaged about 9 slot hits worth $100-$199 each per night. All things considered, it is a push. I averaged about 5 slot hits worth $200-$399 per night at MGM and Resorts World. But 7 per at Fontainebleau. Which ran almost 50% better.
But here is where it gets interesting. For the bigger hits, MGM ran cold as ice. Even though I spent 3 more nights playing with them versus the other two.
For hits worth $400-$599, I got one every other night with MGM. Nearly 2 per with RW. And just over 1 per at FB.
For hits worth $600-$799, I got one every 5 nights with MGM. 1 every other night with RW. And almost 1 per at FB.
For hits worth $800-$999, I got just one over 11 nights with MGM. Just 1 over 8 nights with RW. And an insane 5 over 8 nights at FB.
MGM had 1 hit worth $1K or more in 11 tries
RW had 6 hits worth $1K or more in just 8 tries
FB had 5 hits worth $1K or more in just 8 tries
11 Nights @ MGM
$100-$199 101 Total Hits. 9.2 per night
$200-$399 56 Total Hits. 5.1 per night
$400-$599 5 Total Hits. 1 every other night
$600-$799 2 Total Hits. 1 in 5 nights
$800-$999 1 Hit. 1 in 11 nights
Over $1K 1 Total Hits. 1 in 11 nights
8 Nights @ Resorts World
$100-$199 64 Total Hits. 8 per night
$200-$399 40 Total Hits. 5 per night
$400-$599 13 Total Hits. 1.7 per night
$600-$799 4 Total Hits. 1 every other night
$800-$999 1 Total Hits. 1 in 8 nights
Over $1K 6 Total Hits. 6 in 8 nights
8 Nights @ Fontainebleau
$100-$199 71 Total Hits. 9 per night
$200-$399 55 Total Hits. 7 per night
$400-$599 9 Total Hits. 1.2 per night
$600-$799 6 Total Hits. 6 in 8 nights
$800-$999 5 Total Hits. 5 in 8 nights
Over $1K 5 Total Hits. 5 in 8 nights
And the breakdown per trip.
Feb 2026
2 Nights @ Fontainebleau
$100-$199 13 Hits
$200-$399 12 Hits
$400-$599 3 Hits
$600-$799 3 Hits
$800-$999 3 Hits
Best: $12,475
Feb 2026
2 Nights @ MGM
$100-$199 15 Hits
$200-$399 9 Hits
$400-$599 Zero
$600-$799 Zero
$800-$999 Zero
Best: None of note
Oct 2025
3 Nights @ Fontainebleau
$100-$199 19 Hits
$200-$399 15 Hits
$400-$599 1 Hit
$600-$799 1 Hit
$800-$999 1 Hit
Best: $4,387
Aug 2025
3 Nights @ Fontainebleau
$100-$199 39 Hits
$200-$399 19 Hits
$400-$599 5 Hits
$600-$799 2 Hits
$800-$999 1 Hit
Best: $1,093, $1,200, $2,362
Feb 2025
2 Nights @ MGM
$100-$199 30 Hits
$200-$399 15 Hits
$400-$599 3 Hits
$600-$799 2 Hits
$800-$999 1 Hit
Best: $950 (Cosmo)
Oct 2024
2 Nights @ Resorts World
$100-$199 18 Hits
$200-$399 16 Hits
$400-$599 1 Hit
$600-$799 1 Hit
$800-$999 Zero
Best: $2,725
Oct 2024
2 Nights @ MGM
$100-$199 22 Hits
$200-$399 13 Hits
$400-$599 Zero
$600-$799 Zero
$800-$999 Zero
Best: $7,530 (Bellagio)
Jul 2024
2 Nights @ MGM
$100-$199 20 Hits
$200-$399 11 Hits
$400-$599 1 Hit
$600-$799 Zero
$800-$999 Zero
Best: None of note
July 2024
2 Nights @ Resorts World
$100-$199 13 Hits
$200-$399 6 Hits
$400-$599 2 Hits
$600-$799 1 Hit
$800-$999 Zero
Best: $1,125
Jun 2024
2 Nights @ Resorts World
$100-$199 20 Hits
$200-$399 9 Hits
$400-$599 7 Hits
$600-$799 1 Hit
$800-$999 1 Hit
Best: $1,108, $5,006
May 2023
2 Nights @ Resorts World
$100-$199 13 Hits
$200-$399 9 Hits
$400-$599 3 Hits
$600-$799 1 Hit
$800-$999 Zero
Best: $1,160
May 2023
2 Nights @ MGM
$100-$199 14 Hits
$200-$399 8 Hits
$400-$599 1 Hit
$600-$799 Zero
$800-$999 Zero
Best: None of note
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