Las Vegas casinos are known worldwide, but how do they compare to US tribal casinos?
Regulated vs. Free Market
The biggest difference in our opinion is that the slot machines on the Las Vegas Strip (and all of Nevada for that matter) are regulated by the Nevada Gaming Commission. Slot RTP (Return to Player) cannot be below 75%.
Minimum slot RTP requirements vary by state: Louisiana for example has a minimum slot RTP of 80%. However, as you know from our past articles, payouts from a 75% RTP slot are not good, which is why Vegas slots typically have an RTP of 89% or higher.
Tribal casinos are more often than not unregulated, which makes sense since they’re built on tribal sovereign territory. States have limited ability to regulate gambling there, as codified by the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988.
Tribal casinos respond to local market conditions. If no one ever wins at a tribal casino, no one would ever return, so slot RTP can’t be much lower than what you would find in Vegas, especially in states that border Nevada.
There’s a lot of money at stake in getting this balance right.
Every US state except Hawaii and Utah have tribal casinos. Indian gaming revenues grew from $100 million in 1988 to more than $26.5 billion annually. One of our local tribal casinos (Graton in Rohnert Park) just built a $1.1 billion expansion, making it twice the size of the largest Vegas casino.
Regulation or The Wild West?
If you want to be 100% sure that the slot machine you’re playing is regulated by a government agency, go to Nevada. If you don’t care, tribal casinos offer a local alternative.
Note that regulation does not factor into wins. A “regulated” 75% RTP slot is far worse for the player than a 90% “unregulated” slot at a tribal casino.
To use an example from another industry, US airline deregulation resulted in dramatically lower fares and increased competition, but also killed off service to some regions. While consumers benefited from the lower fares, a lack of competition can drive prices back up. For example, Southwest Airline fares from San Jose to Vegas tripled in one year because of limited competition.
Which do we choose?
We play slots at both Las Vegas slots and tribal slots, but for different reasons.
VEGAS = CHOICE
In Las Vegas, moving between competing casinos is a 5-minute walk. Tribal casinos are typically spread out geographically, so the nearest competitor can be hundreds of miles away.
Vegas also offers a variety of restaurants, hotel accommodations and other services, which even the newest tribal casino can’t match.
TRIBAL = CONVENIENCE
Tribal casinos are easier to get to than Las Vegas. In many cases, they also provide a better gambling environment. Most tribal casinos are less than 10 years old, so the facilities haven’t yet suffered from decades of wear and tear.
Some tribal casinos have invested heavily in sponsoring top-tier entertainment and sporting events.
Tribal casinos also have newer IT infrastructure, which is a huge benefit. Many Las Vegas casinos still require you to send an email to get a copy of your win-loss statement.
AND PAYOUTS?
As far as payouts go, we haven’t noticed a significant difference between the regulated slots in Nevada and tribal casinos, including Class II (bingo-based) slots.
It also might be interesting to note that Reno and Las Vegas compete for gamblers in much the same way.
We used to split our time between Reno and Vegas, but that ended after we won 18 handpays in Las Vegas and only 1 in Reno.
Questions?
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