- Ultimately, the data suggest if you can find a $.50 slot machine at an Atlantic City casino you should probably play it. The average RTP for $.50 slot machines at all Atlantic City casinos is 94.1%. The next best bet is the high roller $25 slot machines, which posted an average RTP at all Atlantic City casinos of 93.4%.
- E-Check/ACH Bank Transfer: Money going directly from your bank account to the online casino. Neteller: Similar to PayPal and acts as an online wallet. Cash at the casino cage: Handy for players who live close to the Hard Rock Casino in Atlantic City, and want to fund their online account while they're there.
Deposit directly into your account at the Golden Nugget casino cage in Atlantic City. You can use your funds immediately.
Atlantic City is known for 3 things:
- The beach
- The boardwalk
- The casinos
This page concerns itself with #3, but only in terms of what are the best video poker deals at the various casinos. Atlantic City video poker is actually a pretty good deal, especially compared to the slot machine games there. In fact, since most of the casinos have relatively unfavorable blackjack rules, the smart money in casino games there tends to be the video poker machines.
Most of the casinos offer at least a few full pay Jacks or Better games. We like those games, because the strategy is familiar to most players. It’s also easy to spot because of the 9/6 pay table. You can find more information about that game in particular on our site, including strategies and how to spot the best pay tables.
None of the casinos offer any games with a 100% or greater return to player, but that’s not surprising. Atlantic City casinos seem to be able to lose money without any help from expert VP players. You can probably combine the players club membership card at some of these casinos with the best strategy and most generous games and come close to a break-even game.
Please keep in mind that even though we hope that the listings below are still accurate when you read this, casinos change their game selections, locations, and layouts all the time. If you’ll contact us when we need to make updates, we’ll make changes to this page accordingly.
Bally’s Atlantic City
Bally’s offers full pay Jacks or Better in a variety of denominations, but you won’t find a lot of these machines on the floor. There are probably less than 2 dozen of these games in the entire casino, and most of them are in the smoking sections on the GameKing games. They’re available in the following denominations: 25 cents, 50 cents, $1, $2, and $5. The higher denomination games are the more common ones.
This is, by the way, the best video poker game in the casino. The next best game is Double Double Bonus Aces and Faces with a payback percentage of 99.46%. But most players already know the correct strategies for Jacks or Better. They’re less likely to be able to play Double Double Bonus Aces and Faces with the correct strategy, which might add as much as 1% to 2% to the house edge.
At Bally’s, you can also find the following games with a payback percentage of over 99%:
- Joker Wild
- Bonus Aces and Faces
- Double Bonus Aces and Faces
- Bonus Poker (There are a lot of these games in the casino, and the payback percentage is 99.17%. If you’re having trouble getting on one of the full pay Jacks or Better game, this is the one to go for.)
The best payback percentage at the Borgata belongs to the Super Double Bonus games in the original area of the casino. If you play with the correct strategy, you’re looking at a 99.69% payback percentage. These games are available for a quarter, 50 cents, or a dollar.
The Borgata also offers 9/6 Jacks or Better, which is an equally legitimate choice. You’re sacrificing 0.15% in payback percentage, but you’re probably better at playing Jacks or Better than Super Double Bonus. The Borgata actually has quite a few of these games throughout the property, with denominations starting at a quarter. But the high roller area has these games for $10, $25, and $50.
The only other video poker game at the Borgata with a payback percentage north of 99% is Bonus Poker, and they only have a few of these games. They’re mostly available in higher denominations, too, starting at $1 and going up to $50.
You can find several video poker games here with a payback percentage of between 98% and 99% though, including:
- Double Double Bonus
- Jacks or Better
- Bonus Poker
- Double Bonus Poker
Caesar has about a dozen Double Joker Wild games available for 25 cents. This game has a payback percentage of 99.91%, which makes it not only the best video poker game in Caesars, but also one of the best video poker games in the entire city.
Caesars also offers about a dozen full pay Jacks or Better games. These are available in the following denominations: 25 cents, $1, $2, and $5.
The Double Double Bonus games are also worth noting, as they have a payback percentage of 98.98%. There are only a handful of these in the middle of the casino.
Like many of its competitors, Golden Nugget offers full pay Jacks or Better as its best-paying video poker option. But you’ll only find a handful of these games available near the rear of the casino. They’re available in a variety of denominations, though: 25 cents, 50 cents, $1, $2, and $5.
They also have a couple of Bonus Poker games available for $1 and $5. These have a payback percentage of 99.17%.
The Double Bonus games are the only other video poker games worth mentioning at this property. They have a payback percentage of 99.11%. They’re available in the same denominations as the Jacks or Better games.
Harrah’s has over half a dozen of playable video poker variations available, the best of which are their full pay Jacks or Better games. They have plenty of these games available, and they’re reasonably easy to find, too. They’re available in the following denominations: 25 cents, 50 cents, $1, $2, $5, and $10.
They also have the 99.46% version of Double Double Bonus Aces and Faces. These are available in the same denominations as the Jacks or Better games.
Jokers Wild is available with a 99.29% payback percentage. Bonus Aces and Faces has a similar payback percentage, 99.26%. And Double Bonus Aces and Faces is available with 99.24%.
Bonus Poker, Double Bonus Poker, and Double Double Bonus are also all available in their best paying variations. All of these games are available in the same denominations that we listed above in the Jacks or Better paragraph.
Resorts Atlantic City only has one video poker game worth mentioning here:
The Bonus Poker games are available for 25 cents, 50 cents, or a dollar. They have a 99.17% payback percentage.
Other than that, you won’t find much of interest in terms of VP games here.
The best option at the Tropicana Atlantic City is also the only appropriate game for low rollers—Joker Wild. The payback percentage is 99.59%, and the game is only available for a 25 cent denomination.
They also have a couple (literally just 2) full pay Jacks or Better games for $1, $2, $5, or $10. They’re in the high limit area.
Those are the only options if you’re looking for 99%+, but if you can live with 98% to 99%, they also have options in that range, too:
Double Double Bonus for $5 with a 98.98% payback percentage is also available. There’s also a Deuces Wild game with a 98.91% return to player available for $5.
The Trump Taj Mahal actually has a reasonably good selection of games with decent RTP (return to player) figures. Their best game is Jacks or Better with a 99.54% payback percentage—it’s available for $1 or $2.
99.17% Bonus Poker is also available throughout the casino. It’s available in the following denominations: $1, $2, and $5.
Those are the only 2 games with a 99%+ potential, but they have a couple of games in the 98%-99% range, too:
Double Double Bonus with 98.98% is scattered throughout the casino. They also have a Deuces Wild game with 98.91%. These games are available for a quarter, making them the best for low rollers in this property.
Atlantic City isn’t a video poker paradise, but most of the casinos offer at least one or two games worth looking at. We like to stick to variations with a 99%+ return to player, but that’s not entirely possible for all bankrolls at all properties.
The Borgata and Harrahs are our 2 favorite casinos for VP in the city. We’re not impressed with the selection at the Golden Nugget, though.
We like blackjack, too, but in Atlantic City, the rules are so unfavorable that full pay Jacks or Better or Bonus Poker are clearly the better options.
You just have to watch the pay tables, as these games are mixed in with the other games on the casino floor.
For decades, the majority of the advertising you may have seen for Atlantic City casinos has centered around how loose the slot machines are.
Slots are the most popular games in any casino and Atlantic City casinos have been trying to draw you in by promising the loosest slots in town. What they’re really saying is their slots pay out at a better rate than the competition. Some can even prove it using data from the New Jersey Department of Gaming Enforcement (NJDGE).
The NJDGE puts out the Atlantic City Casino Industry Casino Win Data report annually. It lists, by denomination, how much money the slots at every Atlantic City casino is taking in every year and how much of it they’re keeping. From there, it’s easy enough to extrapolate the Return To Player rates for slots at all nine Atlantic City casinos.
If you’re playing slots online you might not think this has much to do with you. That’s wrong. For the most part, the online slots you find at New Jersey online casinos are the very same ones you see on the gaming floor at Atlantic City casinos.
These days, almost 99% of slot machines are computerized. At Atlantic City casinos, the computer programs that run the slots are housed in the slot cabinets you find in banks all across the gaming floor. At NJ online casinos the very same computer programs run on servers you can access on the internet.
Since most of the games are the same, it would follow that the Return To Player rates for most of the slots at Atlantic City casinos are the same as the ones you’ll find at online casinos or in some cases, better.
Casinos with Better Paying Slots than Atlantic City Casinos
What Does Return to Player Mean?
The odds of winning at any casino game are often expressed in something called the Return To Player rate (RTP). It’s the opposite of the house edge the casinos enjoy on the games.
Essentially, return-to-player is the expected return a player can see, also referred to as payout percentage. The return is based around the life-expectance of the game, which in the case of online slots, is essentially infinity.
That means a game with a 90% RTP will pay back $90 for every $100 played on it.
The thing is, the payout percentage is based on long term performance of the slot machine. In other words, you’re not guaranteed to get $90 out of a game you just put $100 into.
It will take many, many sessions before you can estimate the RTP.
However, the slot machine payout percentage is a strong indicator of what you can expect from a casino game over the long haul. For slots in particular, RTP is far and away the best way to tell if a game is loose or tight.
Atlantic City Slot Machine Payouts
A look at the numbers in the 2018 Atlantic City Casino Industry Casino Win Data report tells us that Atlantic City casino slots had an overall average RTP of 92.11% in 2018. That’s a pretty good number for players because it means $92.11 of every $100 put into Atlantic City casino slots was paid back in prizes to those same players.
So, who really had the loosest slots in America’s playground in 2018? Here’s a look at the best Atlantic City slot machine payouts.
- Golden Nugget 93.15%
- Borgata 92.01%
- Harrah’s 91.97%
- Resorts 91.89%
- Tropicana 91.81%
- Bally’s 91.73%
- Caesars 91.67%
- Ocean Resort 91.45%
- Hard Rock 91.28%
Golden Nugget Atlantic City had the loosest slots in 2018. In fact, Golden Nugget’s $0.50 slots were the loosest in all of Atlantic City paying out a 98.5% RTP on the $2,750,730 they took in.
Penny slots might be the most attractive in Atlantic City casinos because they appear to cost the least to play. However, the average RTP of 88.7% for $0.01 and $0.02 slots in Atlantic City casinos in 2018 suggests they may not be the best bet. In fact, the $0.01 and $0.02 slots at Bally’s and Harrah’s offered the worst RTP in AC at 87.6%.
Ultimately, the data suggest if you can find a $.50 slot machine at an Atlantic City casino you should probably play it. The average RTP for $.50 slot machines at all Atlantic City casinos is 94.1%.
The next best bet is the high roller $25 slot machines, which posted an average RTP at all Atlantic City casinos of 93.4%.
AC Slots vs. Online Slots
Unfortunately, the NJDGE does not release this kind of specific Casino Win Data for NJ online casinos. That means we can’t tell you how online slot machines actually performed over that same period of time.
Fortunately, some real money casinos list the expected payout percentages for most slots in the description of the game. That means we can look at a selection of games you can find both at AC casinos and online and figure out an average expected RTP for those slots online.
Top 10 AC Slots Available Online
Here’s a look at the Top 10 AC Slots that are also available online and the RTP listed for the games at Golden Nugget Online Casino:
- Quick Hit Platinum:A retro Vegas classic five-reel and 30-payline slot with an RTP of 94.06%. Features include a progressive jackpot, free games, wild symbols, and the instant-win Quick Hit pays feature.
- Wolf Run: Forest-themed five-reel and 40-payline slot with an RTP of 94.98%. Features include an Auto Play function, bonus rounds, stacked wilds, free spins, and high quality wolf graphics.
- China Shores: A Chinese panda-themed five-reel and 30-payline slot with an RTP of 96.10%. Features include Asian-inspired symbols, a progressive jackpot, free games, and the ability to exchange free games for a random prize.
- Fu Dao Le: An Asian-inspired five-reel and 243-ways-to win slot with an RTP of 96%. Features include clumped wilds, mystery symbols, a free games bonus feature, a Red Envelope Jackpot, and a jackpot bonus feature with three jackpots.
- DaVinci Diamonds: An old-world Italian artistry themed five-reel and 20-payline slot with an RTP of 94.94%. Features include tumbling reels, free spins, scatters, and a bonus round.
- Hot Roll Super Times Pay: A classic Vegas dice game-themed five-reel and 20-payline slot with an RTP of 93.4%. Features include wilds, Hot Roll symbols and bonuses, and wild multipliers.
- Siberian Storm: An Siberian winter and white tiger-themed five-reel and 720-ways-to win slot with an RTP of 95%. Features include free spins and wild symbols. There’s also a Dual Play version of the game with 1440 / 2880 lines and an RTP of 94.22%. It’s features include the MultiWay Xtra feature with 1440 ways to win, a stacked wilds feature, and free spins bonus.
- 88 Fortunes: A classic Chinese-themed five-reel and 243-ways-to win slot with an RTP of 96%. Features include a free games feature, Fu Bat pick win bonus round, and Fu Bat Jackpot symbols giving you a chance to win one of four progressive jackpots.
- Dancing Drums: Another Asian-inspired five-reel and 243-ways-to win slot with an RTP of 96%. Features include wilds, free spins, scatters, the FU BABIES Jackpot Bonus and Free Spins Bonus.
- Zeus: A greek mythology-themed five-reel and 30-payline slot with an RTP of 95.97%. Features include free spins and a free games feature offering up to 100 free games.
RTP online versus live
The 10 slot machines listed above have an average payout percentage of 95.15%, which is even better than the AC best 93.15% RTP average of all slots on the Golden Nugget Atlantic City casino floor posted in 2018.
This suggests you’d be better off playing the games online than at a land-based casino. That may very well be the case, but before we declare that the slots at online casinos are looser than the same games at land-based casinos in AC, we should remind you of some important distinctions between the numbers.
First of all, the land-based casino RTP numbers are based on real data over the course of a year provided to the NJDGE by Atlantic City casinos. The online casino RTP numbers are basically theoretical and could take longer than a year to be realized.
Plus, the land-based casino RTP numbers are formed using actual data from every slot on the floor of an Atlantic City casino in 2018. The online casino numbers are theoretical RTP figures for just 10 games found at both land-based and online casinos in New Jersey.
Can I earn comps at AC casinos for playing online?
If you play slots online instead of at an Atlantic City casino you might think you’ll miss out on all kinds of comps, bonuses, and player loyalty rewards you’d otherwise earn. That’s wrong. Several online casinos offer the same comps, bonuses, and player loyalty rewards you earn on the gaming floor at Atlantic City casinos.
Atlantic City Casinos Open
In fact, many online casinos will provide loyalty programs that allow you to earn points at their land-based locations or earn credits for the land-based program, thereby allowing you to both earn and redeem at the online casino or retail location.
Here’s a list of the online casinos where players can earn comps at Atlantic City casinos when they play online:
Atlantic City Casino Online Gambling
Caesars Casino & Sports – Caesars Rewards Card
Caesars Rewards offers the Tier and Reward Credits for betting online at the Caesars Online Casino. Caesars Rewards properties in Atlantic City include Bally’s Atlantic City, Caesars Atlantic City, and Harrah’s Atlantic City.
BetMGM – iRewards Loyalty
BetMGM offers two rewards programs, one for online players, called iRewards Loyalty Program and the other for brick-and-mortar players. You can exchange your iRewards Points into Express Comps and use it at any MGM Resorts destination in the US, including Borgata in Atlantic City.
Golden Nugget Online Casino – Golden Rewards Program
Golden Nugget offers its own proprietary Golden Rewards program online. However, Golden Rewards members enjoy benefits and perks at Golden Nugget Atlantic City.
Harrah’s Online Casino – Caesars Rewards Card
You can earn comp points at Harrah’s online casino and convert them to your standard Caesars Rewards account.
SugarHouse Online Casino – iRush Rewards Program
SugarHouse provides a unique rewards program called iRush Rewards program. The rewards program is available at both both NJ and PA casinos. You can use these comp points at the Philadelphia SugarHouse Casino.
The online slots advantage
The truth is that online casinos are a lot more convenient for most people than their land-based partners.
If you want to play slots at an Atlantic City casino you must go out of pocket for transportation costs and unless you live next door to one, it’s going to take some time to travel there.
In contrast, you can login and start spinning online in a matter of minutes with no additional travel costs.
Since the slots are mostly the same at AC casinos and NJ online casinos, the fact online is more convenient and less costly makes NJ online casinos the obvious choice between the two. Plus, even though it’s theoretical, the fact you might enjoy a better RTP online than live makes the decision between the two a no brainer.
Easy Deposit Atlantic City Online Casinos Nj
With RTPs over 90%, we recommend doing both. But if you have to choose one or the other there’s simply too many advantages to playing slots online over AC casinos to ignore.