Month: May 2025

Basic strategy players and card counters have asked me that question umpteen times over the course of nearly 50 years of playing, teaching, and writing about blackjack. This is what I told them.

BASIC STRATEGY PLAYER

Most basic strategy players believe they play every hand perfectly; however, that is not often the case. Most make mistakes, and what’s sad is they don’t even know it. That’s because a dealer isn’t going to tell a player that he just made a “bad” play. (Most dealers don’t know the basic playing strategy anyway, and even for those that do, most casinos forbid them from coaching a player.) Certainly, the floor supervisor isn’t going to rush to a table to correct a mistake a player just made. In addition, if you are depending on your tablemates to tell you how to play a hand, good luck with that ploy.

When you play blackjack, there is one, and only one, mathematically correct way to play every hand dealt to you. When a player uses intuition, gut feeling, or just plain guessing when deciding how to play a hand, the end result is a greater house edge and increased monetary losses. Therefore, it’s important that you play every hand perfectly, and the only way to know if you are doing this is to test yourself beforehand.

Note: Chapter 3 in my Ultimate Blackjack Strategy Guide contains several tips on how you can learn the basic playing strategy at home and then test yourself to be sure you know the strategy cold. You can also bring a blackjack strategy card with you when you play and refer to it if you are not sure of how to play any blackjack hand. (That will guarantee you won’t make any costly playing mistakes.)

Let’s suppose that you master the basic blackjack strategy and are playing every hand perfectly. Will this guarantee you won’t lose? Nope, and here’s why.

Even though you may be playing perfectly, your results on a session-by-session basis will fluctuate widely from the expected result. In some sessions, you will win, in others you will lose, but the results will always be skewed toward the losing side (because the house has the edge over a basic strategy player). Over time, your losses will equal roughly half a percent times the total amount of your wagers. That, my dear readers, is a mathematical fact about the game of blackjack, and no betting system or other voodoo is going to change it.

CARD COUNTING

Many blackjack players who advance to learn card counting mistakenly believe that they should win every time they play. That just isn’t going to happen.

Here’s an example that often occurred with students who attended and completed my four-week card-counting class. They would contact me several weeks later complaining that they were still “losing.” When I asked how long they’d been playing, the answer was usually “a few sessions.”

Folks, it takes more than a “few sessions” before knowing whether your losses are due to the “variance” in the game, or to mistakes in keeping the count, making the correct size bet, or implementing the correct strategy deviations. This is why I always told my students these five important points during their last class:

• After you complete the final take-home practice exercises, contact me so I can check you out before you head to the casino.
• It takes at least 250 hours of play before knowing whether your “losses” are due to variance or due to making mistakes in your playing or betting strategy.
• You need the bankroll amount (discussed in the class) set aside in a money market (or other) account, specifically to tide you over the short-term variability (meaning the ups and downs in your bankroll).
• The math of blackjack will always work out in the long term if you execute the strategies learned in the course perfectly.
• Your edge is small even playing perfectly, and just a few mistakes can wipe out that edge.

The students who embraced the above five blackjack tips did well with card counting. (I know because many contacted me to let me know how they were doing.) The ones who didn’t pay attention during class invariably were the ones that didn’t bother to be checked out by me. This was a free benefit I offered to all my students who took only about 30 minutes of table play to evaluate their playing 100% accurately, and I gave him or her more practice exercises to do at home followed by another check-out by me.

The only way to know if you are playing perfectly is to test yourself. (Alternatively, if you took a card counting class, ask the instructor to test you.) There are also tutorial software programs that you can purchase that will test your counting skills. In fact, there is a free Interactive Card Counting Trainer that you can use to practice and sharpen your counting skills in my Ultimate Blackjack Strategy Guide.

The point is this: When you play free blackjack, you have to play like a machine, meaning you must make all (not most) playing decisions accurately, keep the count accurately, and make the correct bets and strategy deviations accurately. If not, you’ll continue to experience losses that exceed the mathematical expectations.

Winning lines

Most machines have multiple winning lines on the reels, so options are given for how many lines the player wants to bet. Each line is equal to one bet, so on a five-cent machine, betting on five lines would equate to betting 25 cents.

Credit meter

A credit meter keeps track of how much credit the player currently has as well as winnings when the reels are spun.

Credits are often used instead of showing actual cash amounts because, to the player, losing credits may not seem as negative as losing money.

Arm or button

Once the player has selected how many lines they want to bet, pulling the arm or pressing the bet button locks the settings, selects a random number, and spins the reels.

We all need to get away. And if you’re like me, you want to go to one of the world’s top gambling cities, a place where legal gaming tops the menu. Casinosmake great bases out of which to vacation. Of course, there is the clang of slot machines, the tumble of dice and the divvying of cards at the blackjack table.

Just as importantly, though, when you are in a great casino there is so much to do. The world’s best casinos function as self-contained hotspots.

They come complete with top-notch restaurants, luxurious spas, round-the-clock room service, usually a fabulous swimming pool and some iteration of top-flight entertainment. Then, of course, there is the gambling and the fact that casinos tend to be located in cool cities.

Wishing you pleasant travels, here is a list of the five greatest gambling cities in the world and why you should visit them.

LAS VEGAS

Las Vegas, situated on the edge of America’s Mojave Desert, has long reigned as the king of gambling locales.

Taking into account the number of casinos there, it ranks as the biggest casino city in the world. Las Vegas has more than 170 casinos and over 90 casino hotels – that is, places to stay where gambling is on offer. It’s also a place with different gambling neighborhoods to accommodate the budgets and lifestyles of visitors.

Everywhere features non-stop games and great sports betting. The sports books all have giant TVs and comfy seats that make it a pleasure to hang out and watch the basketball or football or whatever-kind-of-ball unfold with wagers that make it all the more exciting.

Most famously, there is the Vegas Strip, with the fanciest hotels, highest stakes gambling and best-known restaurants. Top places to stay at on the Strip include Bellagio, Wynn Las Vegas, Cosmopolitan and Fontainebleau.

Fontainebleau is the newest, it boasts terrific restaurants such as Mother Wolf and Papi Steak, a private club on the top floor and a cool nightclub called Liv.

Bellagio has the famous fountains, its own clutch of great dining spots and a poker room where pros like to play.Cosmopolitan skews a little younger and splashier with the semi-private Talon Club for high rollers.

Created by taste-maker Steve Wynn, Wynn Las Vegas is known for posh accommodations, mega high limits, a poker room of its own and great entertainment with resident performers like the magician David Blaine.

A more suburban experience is to be had in the neighborhood known as Summerlin, where Red Rock Casino Resort and Spa rules the roost. It’s a Strip-quality casino with easy access to hiking and more rural explorations.

Downtown Vegas is an older precinct where the best place, for my money, is Circa. A great feature there is Stadium Swim, a pool that never closes, which essentially functions as an outdoor sports book with games being shown on a giant screen. Barry’s Downtown Prime is a phenomenal, subterranean steakhouse and Saginaw’s Delicatessen serves the best pastrami in town.

If you love gambling, Las Vegas is a place that you must visit.

MACAU

A ferry ride away from Hong Kong, Macau is often referred to as Las Vegas of the East. The name is justified, considering that Macau is the biggest gambling city in Asia.

In fact, in terms of gambling revenue, it often outshines Las Vegas. There are 24 casinos on Macau Peninsula, which is the original gambling hub there, and 17 in a second gambling ‘hood, referred to as the Cotai Strip.

Visitors to Vegas will recognize familiar names in Macau. The city boasts outposts of Wynn, MGM Grand and Venetian.

Similar to what is found in Las Vegas, Macau’s joints offer 24/7 action on the casino floor and all the sports betting you can desire.

Native casinos include the old school Lisboa, Macau Palace (on the water, it is often described as a “floating casino”) and City of Dreams with its Michelin-starred restaurants, four hotels and high-energy vibe.

One thing unique to Macau is the overriding love of playing baccarat. That game rules in the casinos. It’s not unusual for baccarat tables to roll out for as far as the eye can see.

When visiting Macau, make like a local, sip from a glass of milky tea and buy into a game of baccarat. From there, your only decision will be whether you should wager on the banker or player.

MONTE CARLO

If you’ve seen the James Bond movies “Never Say Never Again” and “Golden Eye,” you would naturally be thirsting for a visit to Monte Carlo.

Besides being a top gambling destination, it ranks as one of the world’s most luxurious destinations (regardless of the gaming). Yachts crowd the waterfront, Michelin-starred restaurants warrant a visit and the casino gambling experience is as opulent as it gets. The must-play spot there is Casino de Monte Carlo.

The elite gambling den opened in 1856 and still retains a sense of old-world elegance with high-stakes blackjack, baccarat, craps and roulette among the games of choice.

One thing unlikely to repeat from the old days: in 1913, the ball in a roulette game is said to have landed on black 26 times in a row. Millions of francs were blown, as bettors wagered on the streak being broken. It finally was, of course, but, by then, the casino had loaded up on winnings.

If you gamble high enough, angle for a comped room at Hotel de Paris, in close proximity to Casino de Monte Carlo and dripping one-of-a-kind elegance.

SINGAPORE

Everyone knows that Singapore is a great food city, but it is also one of the top gambling cities in the world.

Marina Bay Sands there is fantastic for more than gambling, and clearly appeals to players who believe that bigger is better. The largest gambling resort in the world, Marina Bay Sands houses 2,500 rooms, enough swimming pools that you will never get bored of paddling around and an outpost of Universal Studios for the kid in all of us.

But of course, we are there for the gambling and there is no shortage of that.

The gaming floor boasts more than 600 table games – including craps, blackjack and baccarat, with every variation and side-bet that you may desire – plus 2,300 slot machines. And when you get hungry from all the action, check out eateries from celebrity chefs Wolfgang Puck, Gordon Ramsey and Daniel Bolud.

LONDON

With all there is to do in the capital city of England, you might not think of casino gambling as being a key attraction. But, in fact, London counts itself among the world’s greatest gambling cities and the place is completely poker crazy.

There are more than 20 casinos, with the Hippodrome and the Empire, both in Leister Square, ranking among great places for a punt.

On the other end of things, there are private casinos such as Crockfords (where Kelly Sun and Phil Ivey attempted to pull off their high-flying baccarat play via edge sorting before it all unraveled) and Crown London Aspinalls. They are designed for high rollers and operate on intimate scales.

Whatever you go for, though, you will surely have a blast in one of the world’s hottest casino destinations.

We all hope to hit it big at the casino. For most of us, winning a few thousand dollars would be the dream come true. Then there are those who lived the dream writ large. They won millions instead of thousands, and the payoffs were life changing. Making these victories even more special, they got snagged in single sessions, not over the course of multiple nights spent grinding it out.

What does it take to rack up a jaw-dropping win? Sometimes, you need strategy and a knowledge of the game you’re playing. Always, there looms the unpredictable luck factor, which invariably plays a key role in massive payoffs at the tables. And finally, since one never knows when luck will strike, there is something to be said for putting up the money and being game to go for it.

Here are some of our favorite big winners, people we salute for their abilities to keep wagering and to not quit until they got to where they wanted to end up.

Kerry Packer holds the crown for being one of the biggest and most prolific gamblers in the world. The Australian billionaire’s winningest night of all? A 1997 run he had at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. He is said to have played blackjack for $200,000 per hand, covering six spots at a time. So, each of the dealer’s hands had $1.2 million on the table with Packer giving himself six opportunities to win or lose.

During this infamous streak, he clearly won more than he lost. In fact, the wins are so large that it is unclear exactly how much he ultimately took down. While it’s reported to be as much as $40 million, a pal who was there has claimed that the total is closer to $26 million. Whatever the case, the sum was jaw dropping. And not just for him. When all was said and done, Packer reportedly tipped the MGM crew $1 million. Clearly, it was a good night for everyone – except for the holders of purse strings at MGM Grand.

It’s Never Too Late to Score Millions

While it’s easy to believe that gambling is best enjoyed by young people, Johanna Heundl is an exception to that rule.

She proved her mettle in 2002 while celebrating her 74th birthday in Las Vegas. Like almost everyone visitor to Sin City, she figured that she would take lady luck for a spin.

Heundl did it via a progressive slot machine at Bally’s, laying out $100 to try winning the $3,000 progressive. But that didn’t work out. Her money got drained. Rather than quitting and heading off for eggs or pancakes or whatever, Heundl ponied up another 100 bucks.

Things were not looking good on the rebuy until, some $70 in, she hit a jackpot that far exceeded $3,000. Heundl was thrilled with what she believed to be a $2 million payday. When staff strolled by, though, she found out that she was wrong.

In fact, her payout was $22.6 million. Clearly, it was the greatest birthday present imaginable and nobody complained about her being late for breakfast.

Squeezing Tropicana

The professional gambler Don Johnson has won tons of money and reaped loads of comps from casinos around the world. But his most stunning win has got to be the one that he engineered at the Tropicana in Atlantic City.

As with Packer, Johnson excelled at blackjack. He found his edge by demanding advantageous rules: a hand-shuffled six deck game, re-splitting Aces, dealer stands on soft 17 and a 20 percent discount on losses.

All of that, combined with incredible luck – as Johnson has acknowledged to me – allowed the blackjack whiz to fleece the Tropicana out of nearly $6 million over the course of an on-fire 12-hour-long session in 2010.

For obvious reasons, Johnson was unenthusiastic about the world getting wind of his massive takedown. But that became impossible after bosses at the casino made public that its poor financial showing for a particular quarter was due to the win of a player named Don Johnson.

The revelation gave Johnson notoriety in the gambling world, but it also led to casino managers handling him with care and, eventually, not providing him with the rules he needed to keep winning. But Johnson doesn’t mind all that much. Blackjack was just a side hustle for him. He makes his real money handicapping horse racing, and that continues to go strong.

Clocking the Wheel

In his book “Gambler: Secrets from a Life at Risk,” the world-class sports bettor Billy Walters writes about clocking roulette wheels.

He put together a team of people who traveled to casinos around the United States and found biases on the wheels. After all, they are mechanical devices and prone to mechanical glitches. Recognizing the wheels with specific biases that resulted in certain numbers hitting more often than they would if the game was completely randomize, he set out to win millions of dollars.

Among his biggest scores: nearly $4 million, aced during a 38-hour session at the Golden Nugget in Atlantic City, which was then owned by Steve Wynn. Walters bet $2,000 per spin on the same five numbers: 7, 10, 20, 27 and 36. He managed a magnificent profit at a game that statistically comes out on top against gamblers. Of course, though, with his hard-earned knowledge, Walters was not exactly gambling.

Putin’s Prize

This, strictly speaking, is not a gambling win, but it did come down in a Vegas casino, it did happen in a single session and it is too juicy to not include among our favorites.

In 2018, the Russian UFC star Khabib Nurmagomedov successfully defended his lightweight title in a match against Conor McGregor. According to UFC President Dana White, Nurmagomedov was on his way to the dressing room when he received a call from Vladimir Putin. The Russian strong man, according to White, “gave him and his father like $20 million worth of property in Russia.” As far as we’re concerned, that’s a heck of a Vegas win.

Maybe Putin was impressed by Nurmagomedov post-victory tactics: He jumped into the crowd and mixed it up with a teammate of McGregor.

And while the real estate windfall is nice, it’s hard to keep from wondering what Putin might have done if Nurmagomedov had lost the match.

It’s easy to stay at one of the new, shimmering casinos on the Las Vegas Strip or thereabouts. And we’re advocates for doing just that.

The Fontainebleau, for example, is new, cushy and compelling. Opened late last year, it features a state-of-the-art spa, fabulous restaurants (La Fontaine is a terrific Frenchified spot for gourmet dining) and a nightclub that will have you dancing all night.

But, also, there is something to be said for checking into the town’s oldest joints. They tend to be comfortable, friendly, dripping with history and best bets for value hunters. Knowing where Las Vegas used to be can provide a great counterbalance to explorations of where the ever-changing city is heading next.

Here then are four of our favorite casino/hotels that drip history and provide great experiences.

GOLDEN GATE

Not only is this the oldest continually running gambling den in Las Vegas, but it is also a great bargain with recently renovated rooms usually going for less than $100 per night, even on the weekends. Opened in 1906, the Golden Gate was lauded for its electric lighting and steam heat.

The city’s first phone number was installed at the Golden Gate, though gambling was temporarily put on ice – between 1910 and 1931, when the likes of poker and roulette were outlawed in the burgeoning Sin City.

These days of course, the place, fittingly situated at 1 Fremont Street, is loaded with all the gambling you can desire. Upon checking in, don’t forget to get a gander at the display case, which features mementos from the early days.

EL CORTEZ

This is my favorite place to gamble. I love the clutch of blackjack tables located in the rear of the casino, with low limits, friendly dealers and a good-natured pit crew.

Best of all: The single deck games that pay 3 to 2 on blackjacks (these days, the much less advantageous 6 to 5 seems to be everywhere outside of the high limit rooms).

Located downtown, right on Fremont Street, the El Cortez was built in 1941 and billed as downtown LV’s first full-on resort.In 1945, the joint was purchased by a group of mobsters who included Bugsy Siegel and Meyer Lansky. Tribute is now paid to Bugsy via the Cortez restaurant, Siegel’s 1941, where the prime rib special is a must-order item.

Beyond the food, the Parlor Bar puts on performances of bands playing vintage jazz that takes you back to another era. Back it up with a quick jaunt through the Cortez’s History Hallway, where black-and-white photos capture the early days of Vegas in general and the El Cortez in particular.

If you want to soak up history with comfort and style, be sure to reserve one of the hotel’s 47 original rooms. They received top to bottom renovations in 2022. No doubt, Bugsy Siegel would approve.

GOLDEN NUGGET

The Nugget, as it’s known, reigns one of the fancier places downtown and it was built to be that way, constructed at a cost of $1 million in 1946. The joint’s founder, Guy McAffee, was perfect for Vegas. He came there from nearby Los Angeles with a posse of mobster pals and a history of running illegal nightclubs after his stint as a crooked cop.

Reportedly, McAffee invited 20,000 people to the grand opening and hosted some of the highest poker games in town. Over time, though, the Golden Nugget was eventually eclipsed by places on the Vegas Strip. If it did not exactly go to seed, well, it was on the way.

In 1972, Steve Wynn came to the rescue. Taking a controlling interest, he restored the Golden Nugget back to its original luster. The place changed hands multiple times after Wynn sold it to MGM and MGM sold it to a fresh set of owners. Wynn, if nothing else, was a masterful showman, and the place retains no small amount of head-turning amenities.

Tourists come to check out the Tank Pool – loaded with sharks – and guests enjoy the $30 million swimming pool, complete with a slides that whip you through the shark tank. Thanks to Plexiglass encasement, a drop into the pool is a gamble in which you can’t lose. Goldennugget.com

THE FLAMINGO

While Guy McAffee was getting the Golden Nugget in motion, his organized crime pal Bugsy Siegel was breaking ground on a main thoroughfare that came to be known as the Las Vegas Strip.

That’s where the Fabulous Flamingo stood. Opened in 1946, it was the third casino to be built on the Strip (first up on what would pretty much define Vegas was the El Rancho) and stood out as the costliest spot in town, constructed with a $6 million budget.

The idea was right – put up luxurious digs (including Seigel’s penthouse, which took up the entire fourth floor), bring in top-flight entertainment (the likes of Jimmy Durante and later Wayne Newton), lure rich gamblers from around the world – but the execution must have been flawed. The Flamingo flopped in record time. By 1947, other mobsters had it under their control and Seigel took a bullet to the head in June of that year.

What marked the end of Seigel also seemed to mark the beginning of the Flamingo and high-end Vegas as we now know it. The property turned over $4 million in profit during 1948 and Vegas proved to be fertile ground for organized crime.

While the Flamingo has switched ownership a number of times – one of the bosses, in 1953, added the Champagne Tower, which was fronted with bubbling neon – it is now in the hands of Caesars Entertainment and rules as the oldest, still-operating casino on the Strip.

The tropical themed pool remains in full effect and the spirit of Hunter S. Thompson, who stayed there while reporting “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,” still haunts some of the rooms. Speaking of which, the Fab Rooms are the oldest and most loaded with history (a plus or minus, depending on how you see things) and high-floor Flamingo rooms are the pinkest and newest and offer views of the flamingo loaded Habitat.

Where would I stay? Like a blackjack player dealt a pair of Aces, I’d split ‘em, and spend half of my time in each room.

Are you looking for the best, the very, very best times I have ever had? There might be a single problem with them, as some are not around anymore or some of them might be played only in locals casinos.

1. How would you like to play a single-deck blackjack game where all but one card was dealt from the deck and then the deck was reshuffled from the cards in the discard pile?

Single deck blackjack with all except one card played. Yes, this was the best blackjack game my wife, the Beautiful AP, and I played at the Maxim Casino Hotel in the summer of 1992 or thereabouts.

2. When the dealer ran out of cards, he just grabbed the discards, shuffled them, and played what remained in the game. Yep! A basic strategy player had an edge at this game because …

You could surrender your hand if you wanted.

Any blackjack with $5 wagered earned you a dollar that could be spent anywhere in the casino. Even for meals in the gourmet room!

The odds were about one in 20 that a player received a blackjack. That plus the 3-to-2 payouts meant those blackjacks were quite valuable. Of course, those $1 payouts didn’t go up as you increased your bets but still … come on! Free money!

I learned a method of play (called end game from Paul Kean, a master blackjack player), and that plus the basic odds of that wonderful game gave us an edge over the house. Paul was one of the teachers of blackjack great Ken Uston.

My wife and I spent eight weeks in Vegas until we had to return home to our jobs – we were both teachers at the time. We played eight to 10 hours a day, two hands each. We were somewhat well-off teachers after that time. All our debts were paid off.

They only had four tables available for that magnificent game and we came down early and played all day. Two hands for each of us too!

We’d go out to dinner and I played craps most nights, working on my controlled dice throw (took me three years to learn it!). I used the Captain’s throw as my guide but seriously it was the hardest thing I ever tackled in my gaming career.

But I could even see in the early 1990s that blackjack was starting to change. Multiple-deck games were becoming the norm – not all at once but slowly you could see the writing was soon on the wall.

A few weeks after the Beautiful AP and I returned home the Maxim ended their game and that was that for that game.

Playing Baccarat in the High Roller Rooms

In the good old days of the casinos, just about every high roller room had the large baccarat table with large minimums (in those days $100 to $200). I liked playing in those. The game was slow and the dealers were truly well-dressed and responsive since tips were plentiful.

Given that the house edge on the two best bets were 1.06% on the Banker wager and 1.24% on the Player wager, baccarat is a close game between players and casinos. It was also a slow game – which was really, really good. The slower was the better for the player; the faster was the better for the house.

Since the Banker won more often than the Player I always bet banker. The lower the house edge; the less you lose. The higher house edge; the more you lose.

Baccarat attracted many as in many, many superstitious players. You will note that some table numbers do not appear on the game – number 4 and a couple of others.

My most fun came when I found myself sitting across from a wealthy and truly nutty lady whose English wasn’t actually English. I think she was Asian but even that was hard to determine since she always had a scowl on her face.

It took me some minutes to realize that she and I had a relationship of sorts. “Of sorts” is the right term. I won a couple of hands in a row and all of a sudden she ran around to my side of the table and stuck her face into my face and screamed.

A couple of the people she was with took her by her arms and led her back to the table. She was glaring at me.

I won a third hand in a row. She was (I kid you not) growling. Her companion held her arm – I guess to prevent her from running to my side of the table.

I didn’t play the next round. Nor did she. I didn’t play the next round either. Nor did she.

Then I realized what she was doing. She was counter betting me. If I bet Player; she bet Bank. Now for some fun. You see, as I said, I always bet Bank. It was the best bet at the table so I always made that bet.

I would see what she did as I made my Banker bets. I was so hoping – and praying – that I could hit a long, long winning streak on the Banker bet. That would – I assumed – drive her crazy. And that drive wouldn’t be a long trip for her; I can assure you of that.

Okay, I made a Player bet. Yes, yes, I made a Player bet. She made a Bank bet. I quickly switched to Bank bet just as the dealer signaled for the game to start. Bingo! She was now betting with me.

Her eyes bugged out and she garbled something. She stood up. Her companion took her arm and settled her down. We lost the bet. Boo-hoo!

I then bet Player again. She waited and waited. Then the deal hit and I quickly moved my bet over to Banker. She stood up. Was she going to attack me?

Oh, I forgot to mention, she was a truly short lady. Wrinkled too. She didn’t seem old but I’m guessing her emotions had left their marks on her skin. I won again!

I could see now that she was struggling. Emotionally struggling. I made a Banker bet. Would she bet with me or against me?

She bet with me. I won again! This was better than I had hoped for. This was glorious. I could see she had a full head of steam seemingly coming out of her ears.

Then she got up and ran to my side of the table. Oh, boy, I thought, I’m in trouble now.

She took me by the head (she was awfully strong for such a little lady) and she kissed me. A big wet kiss. She was jabbering in her language – whatever language it was – and she hugged me. Then she ran out of the room.

That was the last I saw of her. And then, as the gods of chance would have it, I went on a losing streak.

The Greatest Dice Rolls I Ever Saw

The greatest dice roll I was ever on I wrote about in one of my books. The roll was 147 numbers – the second-longest roll ever accomplished (at least as far as I know). That was the Captain. That roll I will leave for readers of my books to enjoy.

The most impressive roll was by the woman known as “the Arm.” The rolls themselves were not more than 15 or 20 numbers or so. No. In fact, roll by roll, it wasn’t what you would call special. Plenty of shooters can roll 15 to 20 numbers right?

It was New Years Eve and the Captain was at the craps table at the Claridge in Atlantic City. This was somewhere in the vicinity of 1993.

At that time, the Claridge was a favorite hangout for the Captain. And also, for his crew of high rollers. There were 22 of these guys and most of them played craps. Some also played blackjack; a few even played slots. But the main game was craps.

The table was cold. Horribly, awfully, hideously cold. “Get the Arm down here, Captain.” “Come on Captain. Get the Arm.” “This table is freezing.”

The Arm was the best dice controller I ever saw. She had a unique throw and she more often than not would make money for the Captain and his crew. She didn’t gamble but she would, when asked nicely, shoot the dice. The Captain would put up a Pass Line bet for her and she was usually off to the races after that.

She entered the casino shortly after she was called. The crowd (I swear this!) parted as if she were Moses crossing the Red Sea. She took her place at the table, took the dice, rolled a four, then immediately rolled the four again.

And for about an hour that is what she did. She’d roll a number then hit that number again within a roll or two. She did seven-out at times but these seven outs were not often. I watched the greatest dice controller ever that night and it was, when all was said and done, a very happy New Years for the Captain, the Crew and, yes, me.

The Beautiful AP and I Stumbled on A Biased Roulette Wheel

Roulette players of the I-hope-I can-stick-it-to-the-casino school of thought are always looking for biased wheels where certain numbers come up more than others in long-range calculations. Indeed, over history some players have found such wheels.

This is an extensive project, recording hundreds (make that thousands) of spins. Very few players ever find such roulette wheels and when I played roulette I never bothered to look. I just played my red and black colors for small amounts and I was done with the game.

I always played in casinos where a green zero meant the casino only took half your bet. That brought the house edge down to 2.63% on the double zero wheel and down to 1.35% on the single-zero wheel. That game was a good one but, no matter what, no edge could be found.

All the Atlantic City casinos had that game and a few Las Vegas casinos offered it too.

Our normal Las Vegas and Atlantic City days were repetitive. We’d head out early in the morning to play blackjack for a couple of hours, then go for a walk or run or swim, then eat breakfast, then take a nap, then go out again later, then return and at night go to a show after a scrumptious dinner.

We might play a little roulette in the evening or craps (low, low, and lower wagers on both of those games) and we’d do the same thing the next day. Our trips lasted a week or two.

This particular morning in Las Vegas, we headed out to play blackjack at a locals casino that had a good game. As we passed the roulette table I noticed three numbers that were next to each other on the wheel that had been selected and we headed out.

A couple of hours later we came back and I noticed the same three numbers on the scoreboard – each separated by a few other numbers. Wow! They had hit again.

We worked out; took naps and then headed to our afternoon casino again. We passed that roulette table and two of those numbers were again up on the scoreboard.

“Let’s wait a couple of spins,” I said. We did. In a few spins, one of the numbers came up. Then we headed out.

“There are a few numbers that are repeating,” I said.

“There are always numbers repeating,” said the Beautiful AP. “I doubt there are any biased wheels in a fancy casino such as this.”

We played blackjack and walked back into the hotel. We walked past the roulette table. All three numbers were on the scoreboard.

Back to the room for another nap. Then we went to dinner. Before that, however, we passed the roulette table and two of the numbers showed again on the scoreboard. I stopped. “Let’s play a few numbers,” I said. “Maybe we have a biased wheel here.”

We were a few minutes early for dinner so AP and I sat at the roulette table and I bet the minimum bet on the three numbers.

A few spins later, one of them hit. A few spins after, another one hit. Then the same one right after that. We waited about eight spins later and … we were off to the races!

This was a biased wheel! Holy mackerel! We played that wheel for a while when the pit boss came over. He asked if we were having a good day. “Yes!” I said.

Here is what happened. No one else played those numbers. They all had their own ways to play the wheel. No one even seemed to noticed that our numbers were hitting. Over and over!

“We’re closing this table but you are free to go to another table to play,” said the pit boss. He closed the table and the other players (who groused a little), got up and went to the new table.

We went to dinner. Flushed with one of the biggest wins of our careers! We ate silently for a few minutes.

“That’s never going to happen again,” I said.

“No, it’s not,” said the Beautiful AP. We sat silently.

“It will make a good article,” I said.

“No one will believe it,” she said.

“Probably not,” I said.

All the best in and out of the casinos!

It’s 4 in the morning at Durango Casino and Resort. You’ve been riding the gambler’s roller coaster all night long, swinging between wins and losses, pressing bets and taking walks when they seem appropriate. Between it all, you capitalized on a comped dinner at the absolutely fantastic Nicco’s steakhouse.

Unable to decide between fish or beef, you opted for both: citrus fed filet mignon for the entrée and a few langoustines as an appetizer. The warm butter toffee cake was impossible to resist for dessert.

But that was hours ago. In the gambling pit of recently opened Durango, you ran the gamut, going from slot machines to blackjack to craps. Then there were the pre-season football games you bet on – plus a futures bet for the Super Bowl champion in 2025. You started out with a crew of four friends. One by one, they disappeared – sick of gambling, having won enough or lost too much, and just plain tired.

Hero that you are, you kept going, loving the action and hanging on for the swings, until you are finally satisfied with your starting stake and a pocket full of multi-colored chips – including a couple of purples – for your trouble.

You could go to sleep. But, why? Instead, you repair to The George, Durango’s 24-hour eatery, for steak and eggs – more beef, but you are in Vegas and that seems like the right thing to do – and a reckoning of the night’s results. It is the perfect way to end your gambling spree.

The Durango, which opened late last year, is not the most obvious place in which to try your luck in Las Vegas. Located away from the neon drenched Vegas Strip, it stands on its own and is a luxurious, elegant, comfortable option for gambling as well as sleeping (the rooms are large and welcoming, with high ceilings and comfy beds). Great for those who want to avoid the bustle and congestion of what we think to be Vegas proper, it is a great alternative spot in which to get down and enjoy the action that defines Sin City.

“You come into town and get here 80 percent quicker than you get to a place on the Strip on a Friday night,” Durango’s general manager David Horn tells 888casino. “For a lot of people, it’s refreshing to avoid the craziness and stay here.”

Luxury Away from the Strip

Gaming rules at Durango lean toward the liberal (which means that you win more or lose less, depending on how things shake out at the tables), all of the newest slot machines are in place and the crowd – many of whom are locals on nights off of working in other casinos – provides a nice change from the touristy throngs that dominate gambling joints on the Strip.

“We’re creating unique experiences,” says Horn. “We’re doing that with natural lighting, keeping the casino bright and being easy on the eyes [in terms of décor]. The idea is to make it feel tranquil in some places and high energy in others.”

The Durango has long been in the making, and the finished product ranks among the nicest casinos in Leas Vegas. The place has a clean, California-style aesthetic. All the standard games are there on the casino floor. High limit gaming areas for slots and table games both rank as showstoppers.

“We make sure high-limit is inviting,” says Horn of the table-gaming enclave where betting minimums begin at $100 per hand and go as high as $300 on busy nights. “There’s a nice bar in there – where players can relax and feel like they are in a bit of a hideaway. There’s a private cage” – for cashing out discreetly – “and TVs all over the place so that you never miss a game.”

Slot players with deep pockets do not exactly get the short shrift.

“The chairs are comfortable, and the room feels good, but customer service is key,” says Horn. “We swap out machines, set up requested machines ahead of a player’s arrival, move things around if need be. We have quite a few machines that are first to brand.”

Keeping Gamblers Happy

Because the casino is not on the Strip, where visitors to Vegas make a pastime of roaming from casino to casino, Durango has to be enticing enough to keep guests in house and occupied. Right now, the pool – “It’s set up,” says Horn, “so that you go there and feel like you are getting away from everything” – is one way of making visitors stick around. The sportsbook is another.No ordinary sportsbook, The George Sportsman’s Lounge is built into the aforementioned George.

“It wraps around an experience that is not just for the sports bettor,” says Horn. “You can come here, bet on the games, enjoy dinner and make a night of it by finishing up with a UFC party on the back patio.”

And if you get hungry during the day – of course you will – a well-thought-out food hall replaces the more standardized food court that has long been a staple of casinos aimed at locals. But in Durango’s iteration, there is no McDonalds in sight. Instead, there are Vegas outposts of cool local restaurants from around the United States as well as some unique to Durango.

As a New Yorker, it did my heart good to see Prince Street Pizza, a downtown Manhattan staple. And, like at the original, there was a line to get a slice. As always, the wait was worth it.

Other spots worth checking out for a quick bite: Irv’s Burgers, Uncle Paulie’s Italian deli and El Pono Café with Hawaiian street food.

Plus, occupying a middle ground between gourmet and everyman is Fiorella, a pasta joint that comes courtesy of Italian food maestro Marc Vetri.

More formal, after the sun goes down, are options that include the market-driven Summer House and Mijo Modern Mexican Restaurant, which lives up to its name.

High Rollers

Then, of course, there are the gamblers who never have to wait on lines for anything, the ones who gamble so high that the casino completely rolls out the red carpet for them. They take their shots in Durango’s private gaming rooms.

“We have three salons here,” Horn says, referring to the refined spaces for discreet gamblers who like to play behind closed doors – often with friends and karaoke machines and a selection of top shelf liquor to help things along – and wager between $1,000 and $10,000 per hand. “Games being played in the salons tend to be split between blackjack and baccarat. Maximum limits are discussed with the guests.”

Back inside The George, your chips are organized and you’re ready to cash out with a tidy profit. Your steak and eggs are finished off and you just found out that tonight the spot will feature live entertainment, right outside, on the patio – plus sports to be wagered on and watched on the big screen monitors.

It’s a good bet that you’ll be there to take it all in.

Will it be prime rib or crab legs? Or maybe some Italian dishes are in order tonight? And don’t forget dessert, the key lime pie looks great but a bit of chocolate cake is pretty enticing as well. These are just a few of the thoughts that gamblers may be considering when heading to a casino buffet.

These expansive smorgasbords literally offer something for everyone and have become staples in today’s mega-resort gambling houses. Worked up an appetite? Today’s modern buffets can fit the bill – and possibly help pack on some pounds.

But why have buffets become synonymous with casinos and Las Vegas? Keep reading to learn a bit of the history of these food fiestas.

After-Midnight Sandwiches

For years, Las Vegas boasted plenty of budget meal options – from cheap steaks to shrimp cocktail to free drinks. Visitors enjoyed a great but low-cost meal with their gambling. The city’s first all-you-can-eat option debuted at the El Rancho casino in 1945.

A visitor to the property, which was the first to open on the Vegas Strip in 1941, named Herb McDonald was looking for a late-night bite to eat, so a helpful employee brought out some cold cuts, cheese, and bread to make a sandwich at the bar. Other hungry casino guests began stopping by and asking for a sandwich as well.

The casino’s owner, Beldon Katleman, apparently realized this could be a good idea that could keep gamblers at the casino. The property’s Buckaroo Buffet soon became a regular option at the casino and came with a price of just one dollar.

“When the fixed-price all-you-can-eat midnight feast proved to be a roaring success, it was quickly adopted by operators all over town, keen to keep hungry patrons gambling on the graveyard shift without having to cover the expense of a full-service restaurant,” the Las Vegas Advisor noted.

Food and Wine magazine also added: “The casino lost money on its buffet (for the most part, they still do), but profits weren’t the point. The whole objective was to keep patrons inside and gambling as long as possible.”

More People & More Meals

With more casinos adding buffets of their own, casino management realized how popular these dining options could be. In the 1950s, other properties also began offering buffets during more normal hours. The Frontier and the Dunes began offering breakfast buffets for those looking for eggs, sausage, and other options to help kickstart a day at the slotsor blackjack tables.

By the 1960s and ‘70s, as more visitors came to gamble, the buffets also expanded across Sin City to offer dining for all three meals. The quality greatly improved from that original El Rancho offering with many more options and trained chefs looking to whet any possible appetite.

For hotel guests, the buffets offered an easy and speedy way to grab some grub to suit any taste and not have to worry about actually placing an order. A buffet also still offered plenty of bang for the buck. Even into the 1970s, a plate at one of these colossal cornucopias could be had for just a few dollars. The buffets were “loss leaders,” meaning the casinos would take a loss but keep visitors happy – and keep them gambling as well.

However, that began to change in the 1980s as properties ramped up the food offerings even more. Diners could now find carving stations, steak dinners, lobster, omelets made to order, delectable desserts, champagne brunches, and almost any possible food combination one could think of.

More buffets also began offering Asian, Mexican, and other cuisines from other parts of the world. All these expanded eating options began to include higher prices as the quantity and quality of food began to go up.

A Look at Today’s Buffets

Decades later, the buffet remains a key amenity for hundreds of casinos around the world. While COVID saw many buffets shut down, a large number have

returned offering just about anything a hungry gambler might desire.

As legalized casino states also expanded across the U.S. and around the world, the buffet also became more popular in other states as well. From Oklahoma to Atlantic City and everywhere in between, gamblers continued lining up to grab a plate and pile on the meats, vegetables, desserts, and more.

Despite Las Vegas seeing an elevated culinary reputation over the last couple decades, the buffet remains at many casinos – but now often with higher-quality options than those early feeding frenzies.

“Eighty years later, the buffet remains a popular commodity — often located just off the casino floor,” Eater.com notes. “While the house is poised to always ‘win,’ the buffet offers a tantalizing opportunity for travelers to succeed in getting their money’s worth by eating their weight in low-margin proteins. That’s only part of the appeal, though. While Las Vegas is home to some of the most esteemed restaurants in the country, the sheer volume of choice can easily overwhelm, especially when contrasted with the seemingly infinite possibilities of a buffet line.”

Today’s buffets don’t come with those bargain-basement prices from the ‘50s, ‘60s, and ‘70s, but they also usually come with better-quality options are can be more higher-end experiences. Eater recently rated some of Vegas’s best buffets with some insight on what diners can expect when dishing out some food on their plates.

The 12,000-square-foot Market Place Buffet at Rampart Casino rated well and offers some insight on how some buffets now feature themed nights to serve guests with some unique options. For $31.99, hungry guests can enjoy a prime rib dinner on Thursday, Friday, and Sunday. Champagne brunch is served on Saturday and Sunday and is priced at $32.99. An Hawaiian-themed dinner also is scheduled on Saturdays for $31.99.

The Wynn remains one of the most luxurious casinos in Las Vegas and the property’s buffet ranks high among diners. The eatery features 16 cooking stations with rotisserie grilled steakhouse cuts, a wide variety of seafood, an eggs Benedict station, and a “Latin Street Food” station.

Those hitting the Wynn buffet have plenty to choose from – withmore than 90 dishes available. The establishment also follows a newer buffet trend with many choices made to order. Brunch is also a popular option, starting at $54.99 with extras like unlimited mimosas, wine, and beer starting at $32.99.

Conclusion

Casino buffets have been popular through the years for many reasons, including the low cost, numerous food options, usually short wait times to get a table, no ordering involved, and the ability to serve yourself.

Today’s buffets still attract plenty of people looking for a few minutes away from the casino floor. At Wynn, this food option is so popular that waits can get up to an hour and a half. But like other aspects of buffets, this element has also changed. Guests can reserve and prepay for a meal online to steer clear of the rush.

Diners getting in line for a meal at many casinos will find some excellent culinary options. The casino buffet looks like it’s here to stay. These eating options have come a long way from that first sandwich bar at the El Rancho and will continue to change and adapt. Working up an appetite? Grab a plate and get in line.

Like many companies around the world, the casino and gaming industry has been forced to deal with a growing technological concern over the last few years – cyber attacks. Cyber security has never been a bigger concern as casinos around the world have experienced breaches in recent years.

Harvard Business Review recently reported a 20% increase in data breaches from 2022 to 2023 and that looks to continue going up.

“For many years, organizations have struggled to protect themselves from cyberattacks: companies, universities, and government agencies have expended enormous amounts of resources to secure themselves,” the report noted.

Casinos have also seen a major uptick in cyber attacks in recent years, including some major cases in 2023 with a couple of cases drawing some major headlines.

MGM Resorts

In September 2023, MGM Resorts experienced a cybersecurity attack that left many of the company’s computer systems down. The outage affected company websites, email accounts, reservation systems, and even slot machines at casinos across the U.S.

“MGM Resorts recently identified a cybersecurity issue affecting some of the company’s systems,” the company said in a statement at the time. “Promptly after detecting the issue, we quickly began an investigation with assistance from leading external cybersecurity experts.”

The company notified law enforcement and also consulted with outside security experts to combat the cyber attack. However, the breech greatly affected the company with casinos reverting back to operations one might have seen years ago – with many transactions and reservations conducted by hand rather than computer. Slot payouts were even made in cash for a time.

After several days, the company began to get things back to normal, but that came with considerable costs financially, with a drop in earnings for the third quarter of about $100 million. Hotel occupancy dropped to 5% compared to September 2022, which actually may not be too bad considering the issues the company faced.

MGM’s Securities and Exchange Commission filing reported that MGM also saw a $10 million one-time expense for technology consulting services, legal fees, and the use of other advisors during the cyber attack. Several lawsuits were also filed against the company.

MGM also said in the filing: “While no company can ever eliminate the risk of a cyber attack, the company has taken significant measures, working with industry-leading third-party experts, to further enhance its system safeguards. These efforts are ongoing.”

The FBI said the attack was the work of a group called “Scattered Spider,” which has cost companies millions of dollars since it began operating in 2021.

Caesars Entertainment

MGM wasn’t the only company to experience an attempted cyber attack in 2023. Caesars Entertainment, the company that operates numerous major casinos including Caesars Palace, Paris Las Vegas, Flamingo, Harrahs, and numerous others, also experienced a cyber attack around the same time as MGM, with hackers demanding a ransom.

The company took a different route to getting back control of the companies’ system, according to the Wall Street Journal, and ultimately paid a $30 million ransom. The high-tech bandits used a similar scheme as with MGM to initially gain control of the company’s systems.

“Hackers used a social-engineering scheme, in which a person pretending to be an employee contacted the company IT help desk to have a password changed,” the Wall Street Journal reported. “Caesars said that the incident resulted from a social engineering attack on an outsourced IT support vendor, without providing further detail on ‘the unauthorized actor’ responsible for it.”

The company quickly activated response protocols for this type of situation and enacted containment and remediation measures for Caesars computer systems. Management was able to gain back its systems completely after paying the ransom, according to reports.

The Journal noted: “Hotels and casinos are potentially lucrative targets for hackers because of the amount of personal and financial data they collect from customers.”

Shutting Down in Canada

American gaming companies haven’t been the only gaming and casino operators affected by cyber crime and a major case in Canada offers a look at how these cases can hurt employees. In April 2023, Gateway Casinos and Entertainment shut down casinos all across the province of Ontario after undergoing a ransomware attack.

The shutdowns lasted two weeks and greatly affected Gateway employees in the province, who weren’t able to work. The company operates gaming properties in British Columbia, Ontario, and Alberta and has annual revenues of more than $200 million. Management brought in outside experts to help regain access to computer systems and to protect customer data.

Some of the recent cyber attacks against gaming firms point to what should be a growing concern, according to a report from web performance and security firm Cloudflare.

“Over 5.41% of the total DDoS attack traffic recorded by Cloudflare in Q3 (2023) targeted gambling and gaming sites, taking over the cryptocurrency sector that was previously the most targeted,” Canadian Gaming and Business noted. “Looking at specific regions, Cloudflare reported a 10% increase in Canadian cyberattacks year-on-year. Canada ranks fifth globally for DDoS attack traffic, behind the US, Singapore, Vietnam, and China. In total, Canada is responsible for a 1.687% share of all DDoS traffic globally.

Other Hacking Cases

There have been more casino and gaming-related cyber security breaches in recent years as well. In February, Arizona’s Casino Del Sol in the U.S. was the victim of an attempted cyber attack and faced serious disruptions to the property’s computer systems. The attack affected the casino’s phone systems, bingo operations, rewards club, and more.

As noted, online operators have not been immune to these types of attacks as well. In September 2023, CoinTelegraph.com reported that a major crypto gambling site lost $41 million after being hacked. The site reported that the gaming site was drained of three different cryptocurrencies to an account that had previously seen no activity.

“Crypto gambling site Stake experienced $41 million in withdrawals on Sept. 4 in what blockchain security analysts have called ‘suspicious outflows,’” CoinTelegraph reported. “The withdrawing account has been labeled ‘Stake.com Hacker’ by Etherscan, implying that the drained funds may be the result of a stolen private key.”

In November 2023, Mexican online gaming operator Strendus allegedly left open access to numerous users’ personal data in what some media reports have called a “rookie mistake.” Cybernews reported that the “data was likely compromised by unauthorized actors.”

The site reported that significant personal data was available including names, home addresses, phone numbers, government ID numbers, email addresses, IP addresses, and more.

In 2002, one of the world’s largest online poker operators also experienced a serious setback after being cyber attacked. The attempted hack occurred during a major online poker series and left the company forced to reschedule many events.

No doubt casinos and other gaming entities will be targets in the coming years and technology staff members must remain vigilant in the war against these high-tech criminals.

“As the technology we use advances and progresses, the enormous potential for cyber crime also grows,” business insurance firm Embroker notes. “Not only is the number of cyber attacks growing, but incidents are becoming more sophisticated and dangerous. Cybercrime costs are on the rise, and it is expected to cost the world more than $24 trillion by 2027.”

The horses head down the stretch and the excitement builds. Fans leap to their feet and cheer on their jockeys. Within a few minutes the horses race across the finish line. Some bettors celebrate and others are disappointed with the results. Hopefully that ticket is a winner and if it’s not, maybe a few spins of the reels at the slot machines or some blackjack play might instead bring some winnings.

These are some of the gambling options one might find in the unique gambling properties known as “racinos” – a combination of the words a mash-up of “casino” and “racetrack.” These popular destinations have grown in popularity in recent years and some even offer modern amenities one might experience in Las Vegas.

Birth of the Racino

It may seem like a simple idea. Horse racing bettors may want to spend a few minutes playing slot machinesor at the blackjack tables when not making those daily double and trifecta selections. Or perhaps when it’s not racing season, an empty track might benefit financially from running a casino year-round, complete with a nice hotel, great restaurants, and some simulcast horse betting as well.

But the idea didn’t come to fruition until 1995, when the Prairie Meadows racetrack in Iowa added some slots in an effort to bring in more customers. At that time, the idea of a racino was a novel idea but the effort revived the racetrack. That success also inspired other states to also legalize slots and other gaming options at horse and dog tracks.

“The initial premise behind permitting casino gaming at racetracks in states with parimutuel racing and wagering was to preserve and promote horse and dog racing,” Global Gaming Business magazine notes. “The parimutuel racing industry was recognized as having been adversely affected by competition from other forms of gaming. Specifically, provisions were included that required a percentage of slot machine revenue to be allocated for payment of purses, to owners of racing animals at the racetrack, and in some cases breeders of racing stock in the state in which the racinos were located.”

Racinos were soon flourishing across the country with slot machines, video lottery terminals, and table games found at many tracks. Many of these racinos are now full-service resorts with great hotels, restaurants, showrooms, and major entertainment options.

Historical Horse Racing Machines

Another interesting aspect of the American racino and gaming industry is the emergence of historical horse racing (HHR) machines, which further intertwines gaming and racing.

The games were invented in 1997 and are similar to slot machines. As the name implies, the results are based on the results of past horse races. The games are officially considered a type of parimutuel wagering (just like horse racing, with money pooled and paid out based on the odds of winning), and players can officially look at handicapping information when playing.

Early versions looked like race betting terminals, but now most look more like slot machines. Most HHRs now feature symbols on spinning reels that correspond to the results of the player’s wager. A video of the race can be found in a small video in the corner of the screen while others may show a computer-generated animated reenactment of a race.

HHRs have become big business. Traditional horse racing companies like Churchill Downs (also the name of the track that is the home of the famed Kentucky Derby) owns several HHR gaming facilities. The company began constructing the $100 million Owensboro Racing & Gaming HHR facility this year as an extension of Ellis Park racetrack in Henderson, Kentucky, which already has HHR games as well.

However, the machines initially sparked some controversy in the state, where casino gaming is technically illegal. But most gamblers would probably not be able to tell the difference between these games and traditional slots. Opponents argue that the machines are “horse racing” games in name only and most don’t even have a link to horse racing in any way. They believe the games are simply slot machines just with a different name.

Supporters argued that the games have played a critical role in shoring up the state’s horse race industry in recent years by adding to purses and tracks’ financial security. Kentucky legilators officially made the games legal in February.

“If it were not for historical horse racing, Ellis Park would be closed and Churchill Downs would not be rebuilding Turfway Park,” Elisabeth Jansen, executive vice president of the Kentucky Equine Education Alliance, said in 2021 of adding HHRs to tracks in the state. “Without historical horse racing, we would have a few days of racing at Churchill Downs and a few days of racing at Keeneland and that would be about it.”

Historical horse racing games remain controversial in other states, but can are or have been in operation in Minnesota, Alabama, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, New Hampshire, Oregon, Virginia, and Wyoming.

Growth of the Industry

As racinos have grown in popularity over the last decade, they have become even more critical to the horse racing industry. In many locations, revenues generated from casino gaming also help add to purses that horse owners can win on the track. They also help fund tracks and pay employees.

The concept of the racino can also be found in other parts of the world outside the U.S. In Canada, gamblers can find racing/casino options in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, and Quebec.

One of the best of those, and perhaps one of the best in the world, was unveiled in 2023 when Great Canadian Casino Resort Toronto opened next to Woodbine Racetrack. The property features a modern resort casino with “transformative architecture” and 328,000 square feet of gaming space with 4,800 slot machines and 145 table games as well as VIP rooms and sports betting kiosks.

The casino is located on 33 acres adjacent to Woodbine and also boasts a 400-room hotel, 5,000-person live entertainment venue, and numerous on-site dining options. The $1 billion resort Toronto is now the largest casino property in the country and one of the largest private sector projects in Ontario. This racino really ramped up the experience.

Another example of international racinos can be found in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The Hipodromo Argentino de Palermo features opened in 1876 and is one of the most modern tracks in South America and also houses two buildings for casino gaming with more than 1,000 slot machines.

In recent years, casino gaming has greatly cut into the horse racing market and many see adding casinos to these complexes as a way to keep racing alive. In turn, the facilities have also helped grow the casino industry in the U.S., Canada, and other locations.

“While the introduction and growth of racino gaming has been a mixed blessing to the race horse industry, it has been a boon to the casino business,” Global Gaming Business magazine reports. “It has had the intended effect of increasing purses with resulting increases in spending, employment and preservation of green space by the industry in state and local economies. Further, the presence of live and import simulcast races at racetracks has been found to increase slot machine wagering significantly.”