Introduction to New Jersey Slot Machine Casino Gambling in 2020
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New Jersey slot machine casino gambling consists of nine casinos in Atlantic City. None of the three racetracks or off-track betting (OTB) facilities offer physical slot machines. However, New Jersey has legalized online slots for real-money gambling.
- NJ Division of Gaming Enforcement ATLANTIC CITY JACKPOTS December 1, 2020 Greater than $50,000 Page 3 of 33.
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The New Jersey gaming commission has established a minimum payout limit for slots machines in Atlantic City. Monthly return statistics are publicly available.
This post continues my weekly State-By-State Slot Machine Casino Gambling Series, an online resource dedicated to guiding slot machine casino gambler to success. Now in its third year, each weekly post reviews slots gambling in a single U.S. state, territory, or federal district.
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Relevant Legal Statutes on Gambling in New Jersey*
The minimum legal gambling age in New Jersey depends upon the gambling activity:
- Land-Based Casinos: 21
- Poker Rooms: 21
- Bingo: 18
- Lottery: 18
- Pari-Mutuel Wagering: 18
Historically, New Jersey's Atlantic City established legalized gaming on the eastern side of the United States from Nevada. Voters legalized casino gambling in Atlantic City in 1976. The New Jersey Casino Control Act became state law in 1977. The first casino in New Jersey, the Resorts International Casino, opened in Atlantic City in 1978.
During their peak in 2006, when they were the only commercial casinos in the eastern U.S., Atlantic City casinos were an economic boon. Afterward, the many casinos and racinos throughout the eastern states, along with the Great Recession, hugely reduced the profitability of Atlantic City casinos. Since the reopening of two casinos in mid-2018, Atlantic City casinos have seen a significant upturn in profitability.
*The purpose of this section is to inform the public of state gambling laws and how the laws might apply to various forms of gaming. It is not legal advice.
Slot Machine Private Ownership in New Jersey
It is legal to own a slot machine privately in New Jersey if manufactured before 1941.
Gaming Control Board in New Jersey
The State of New Jersey Casino Control Commission regulates online and Atlantic City casino gambling alongside the state's Division of Gaming Enforcement. The Commission is an independent agency while the Division is an arm of the New Jersey's Attorney General's Office.
New Jersey's gaming regulations promoting a safe and robust gaming industry are publicly available from the Casino Control Commission. However, the Division of Gaming Enforcement announces Atlantic City jackpots of $50,000 or more won each year in Atlantic City, including sharing such useful jackpot information as:
- Date
- Casino
- Jackpot amount
- Slot machine denomination, manufacturer, and game theme
Casinos in New Jersey
There are nine commercial casinos in New Jersey.
The largest casino in New Jersey is Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa with 3,000 gaming machines.
The second-largest casino is Resorts Casino Hotel with 2,500 gaming machines.
Commercial Casinos in New Jersey
New Jersey has nine casinos in Atlantic City including:
The Wild Wild West Casino is officially a portion of Bally's Atlantic City, often considered by the public to be a separate casino.
Tribal Casinos in New Jersey
New Jersey has no federally-recognized American Indian Tribes. Therefore, the state does not have any tribal casinos.
Other Gambling Establishments
As an alternative to enjoying New Jersey slot machine casino gambling, consider exploring casino options in a nearby state. Bordering New Jersey is:
- North: New York Slots
- East and South: Atlantic Ocean
- South and West: Delaware Bat
- West: Pennsylvania Slots
Each of the links above will take you to my blog for that neighboring U.S. state to New Jersey.
Online slots for real-money gambling is a real alternative for New Jersey, but only if you are physically located within the state. The state offers a verified list with links of state-approved Internet Gaming Sites.
If an online gaming site is not on this list, it's not approved to offer internet gaming in the State of New Jersey.
Our New Jersey Slots Facebook Group
Are you interested in sharing and learning with other slots enthusiasts in New Jersey? If so, join our new New Jersey slots community on Facebook. All you'll need is a Facebook profile to join this closed Facebook Group freely.
There, you'll be able to privately share your slots experiences as well as chat with players about slots gambling in New Jersey. Join us!
Payout Returns in New Jersey
New Jersey gaming regulations require all slot machines have a minimum theoretical payout of at least 83%.
The Division of Gaming Enforcement makes New Jersey gaming Financial and Statistical Information publicly available with monthly and quarterly gross revenue reports. The monthly gross revenue reports are most useful with regards to return statistics.
Further, the Division offers Monthly Gross Gaming Revenues with casino win statistics. These monthly statistics provide a Win% which, in New Jersey, is the amount won by the casino instead of the more usual amount won by the player. Player Win% is 100% minus the Casino Win% provided in these monthly reports.
For March 2020, the number of slot machines and overall player win percentage at each of the nine casinos in Atlantic City was:
- Bally's (1,775 slot machines): 100% minus 8.2% equals 91.8%
- Borgata (2,864 slot machines): 92.0%
- Caesars (1,888 slot machines): 91.4%
- Golden Nugget (1,417 slot machines): 91.2%
- Hard Rock (2,167 slot machines): 90.4%
- Harrah's (2,036 slot machines): 91.7%
- Ocean (1,758 slot machines): 90.0%
- Resorts (1,436 slot machines): 90.4%
- Tropicana (2,357 slot machines): 90.5%
For March 2020, the highest return for players went to the Borgata at 92.0% followed closely by Bally's at 91.8% and Harrah's at 91.7%.
The lowest return went to Ocean at 90.0% closely followed by Hard Rock and Resorts at 90.4%.
Summary of New Jersey Slot Machine Casino Gambling in 2020
New Jersey slot machine casino gambling consists of nine casinos in Atlantic City as well as internet gaming choices for individuals physically located within the borders of New Jersey.
The theoretical payout minimum limit for slot machines is 83%. Monthly return statistics are publicly available for each casino.
Annual Progress in New Jersey Slot Machine Casino Gambling
Over the last year, there has been little change to the slots gaming industry in New Jersey outside of the significant issues related to the global pandemic.
Other State-By-State Articles from Professor Slots
- Previous: New Hampshire Slot Machine Casino Gambling
- Next: New Mexico Slot Machine Casino Gambling
Have fun, be safe, and make good choices!
By Jon H. Friedl, Jr. Ph.D., President
Jon Friedl, LLC
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.
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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: Restaurant du casino st paul les dax.
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.
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: Restaurant du casino st paul les dax.
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.
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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.
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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.
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You just have to watch the pay tables, as these games are mixed in with the other games on the casino floor.
