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Not all casinos are required to report their payback information, but some are. The requirements vary by state as to what information is released and how often, but when such information is available, it can be a small but helpful tip to a player around trends to which casinos pay better than others over time.
This article will point in the direction of various places you can find information, and will evolve over time as other options exist.
Nationally Compiled Data
Some sources put the effort in for you, which makes it easier to look up data when you need it.
American Casino Guide
One source is the American Casino Guide book, which prints a new edition every year and has a 12-month window of data leading to the book’s publication, generally July-June each year.
They thankfully also publish this data on their website in a public location, so you can see the data even if you’re not a purchaser of the book.
University of Las Vegas Center for Gaming Research
UNLV’s Center for Gaming Research does not only a lot of data compiling, but some great data analysis, for those who wish to understand trends in casino payback levels and how markets compare.
Their reporting section is generally kept up to date with monthly updates of reports by market and offering year-to-date and year over year comparisons of much of the data.
You can also go back quite a few years in more established markets like Las Vegas, Atlantic City and Connecticut to see data trends going back decades in some cases. For Nevada, where gaming has proliferated the most, you’ll find groupings by market, by casino size and more.
The UNLV site also has papers, podcasts and more that go more in depth on various topics.
State-Level Reporting
Each state has reporting portals where you can see the data reported by casino, and sometimes by game.
Each state maintains a different format for data, so for those less familiar, you may find the national roll-up of information in the first section of this article a bit more accessible.
Understanding a given state’s win vs. another may help you understand how good one market is over another.
- Colorado: The Colorado Department of Revenue maintains a Gaming Industry Statistics page that shares hold percentages by month for each property.
- Connecticut: Reporting for each casino can be found on the Connecticut Gaming Revenue and Statistics site. This overall reporting shows overall payback, but each casino does report by denomination, which is seen in the American Casino Guide data published annually.
- Delaware: Gaming in Delaware is run through the lottery, which has a monthly net proceeds page that confirms the revenue generated by property in a monthly format.
- Illinois: The Illinois Gaming Board maintains a page where you can check the monthly Video Gaming Reports. However, when we attempted to access during the writing of this piece, it was down. So a new source may materialize soon.
- Indiana: Monthly reporting of revenue and win by casino and by game type can be found on the Indiana Gaming Commission site.
- Iowa: The Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission has monthly reporting per casino on their slot holds and other win data.
- Louisiana: Monthly and annual revenue reports, with some specifics but not as detailed as some other stated, can be found on the Louisiana Gaming Control Board website.
- Maine: Maine’s Gambling Control Unit publishes detailed monthly payback statistics for each of the properties that have gambling.
- Massachusetts: The Massachusetts Gaming Commission maintains a site where reporting for each of the Massachusetts casinos is updated monthly.
- Mississippi: The Mississippi Gaming Commission has a reporting section that features a monthly win report for each slot denomination, as well as revenue information for casinos by month.
- Missouri: A Financial Statements section on the Missouri Gaming Commission website breaks down slot win by denomination, as well as table games, as an aggregate for the state, but also have reporting showing hold % by table game and slots by casino each month.
- Nevada: As you would expect for a state with a comprehensive gaming program, the Nevada Gaming Control Board puts out detailed statistics and reporting, grouped in various fashions on a monthly basis, to show what’s happening with Nevada’s gaming properties.
- New Jersey: The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement hosts monthly reporting for each of the casinos, which includes slot and table win percentages. New Jersey also features a jackpot reporting page, which is a fun look that shares where the biggest jackpots were won, on what game and what denomination
- New York: The state gaming commission site has links to reports for each commercial casino approved by the state. New York has multiple types of casinos, including Video Gaming Machine casinos sanctioned by the New York Lottery, Class III casinos, and tribal casinos (which are not in the reporting as they are exempt, but have a mix of Class II and III).
- Ohio: Ohio’s Casino Control Commission has monthly reporting by casino for both their table and slot win percentages.
- Pennsylvania: Reporting by property type and property is posted monthly on the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board.
- Rhode Island: Rhode Island Lottery hosts the monthly reporting information that breaks down win by casino.
Other states may offer or require reporting, but in my search of reporting information, I could not find a reliable and clear source of information. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist, and should I find a good source, this list will be updated.
