Frustrated Las Vegas gamblers who have been playing for too long without a win may think that the machines are becoming tighter with their payouts – they’re not wrong.
A new report by the UNLV Center for Gaming Research shows that the “hold percentage,” or the portion of money gambled that a casino retains, has increased statewide in Nevada almost every year since 2004.
“Hold percentage...has a huge impact on casino revenues,” the report states. “Even if handle (overall play) rises in a period, a decline in hold percentage can mean a drop in casino revenues.”
Players naturally prefer a low hold percentage, which returns on average more money to them, while casinos look to balance higher hold with the need to keep players happy, the report notes.
State regulations mean that slot machines in Las Vegas and the surrounding areas can hold a maximum of 25 percent of the money put into them, meaning players can, in theory, expect a return of 75 percent.
However, the percentage split is, as of last year, 6.55 percent hold, with a return of 93.45 percent. This may seem like a decent return but the UNLV data reveals that players are now winning over 25 percent less of the time.
In 2025, the state’s average hold percentage was 7.15 percent, having been 5.72 percent in 20024 – an increase of 26 percent over the period. The hold percentage figures for December have not been released yet.
The report added that the Las Vegas Strip had a significantly higher hold than other reporting areas, followed by Downtown Las Vegas, South Shore Lake Tahoe, and Laughlin.
Jeremy Eberwein, chief of the Technology Division, which also oversees the Control Board’s gaming lab, said it would be virtually impossible for casinos to set their slot machines to hold more than 25 percent of the drop permitted.
“They have set configurations,” he told The Las Vegas Review-Journal. “For example, one of them might have a configuration for a 90 percent return to player or a 10 percent hold, depending on which way you want to look at it. It’s just fixed. That’s your only option.
“You can’t say, you know, tweak it a little bit this way or that way. There are just very specific options for that. And that’s all in the program. So you physically can’t pick something that’s got, say, a 40 percent hold. It’s just not there.”
He added that it was “pretty common” for games to have a “loose option” with a higher percentage return to the player, with the tightest option being around 86 percent.
The UNLV report says even though hold percentages have been on the rise over the last two decades, random chance is still a factor from month to month.
“Though slot hold has increased, on average, since 2004, there has been a great deal of fluctuation in the monthly hold, and from month to month there is little predictability about exactly which way slot hold is trending.”
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