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Introduction to New Jersey Slot Machine Casino Gambling in 2020

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.

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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

Slot

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.

Finder

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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:

  1. Bally’s (1,775 slot machines): 100% minus 8.2% equals 91.8%
  2. Borgata (2,864 slot machines): 92.0%
  3. Caesars (1,888 slot machines): 91.4%
  4. Golden Nugget (1,417 slot machines): 91.2%
  5. Hard Rock (2,167 slot machines): 90.4%
  6. Harrah’s (2,036 slot machines): 91.7%
  7. Ocean (1,758 slot machines): 90.0%
  8. Resorts (1,436 slot machines): 90.4%
  9. 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 video poker games are competing with the beach and the
boardwalk for your attention.

The result is that some of the best video poker variations in the country can
be found at casinos in Atlantic City. In fact, we recommend skipping the slots
in Atlantic City entirely, because the payback percentage is so much better on
VP games.

Atlantic City blackjack is nothing to write home about, either. Since all the
casinos there have relatively unfavorable rules, video poker trumps blackjack.

You’ll find full pay Jacks or Better (with the 9/6 pay table we discussed on
the Jacks or Better video poker page on our site) at most of the properties in
town. The payback percentage on these games, if you play with perfect strategy,
is 99.54%. This leaves the house with a razor thin edge of just 0.46%.

One thing you won’t find in Atlantic City are video poker games where the
player has an edge-i.e., games with a payback percentage of 100% or more. Let’s
face it. The casinos in Atlantic City aren’t exactly thriving businesses lately,
anyway. Overly generous video poker games would only make their financial
situation worse.

But if you stick with the right games, use your players club card, and learn
the right strategy for how to play each hand, you can play a game with a close
to 0% house edge. We like to think of that as free entertainment.

Below we list the top video poker casinos in Atlantic City along with which
games qualify them for the list:

1 – Borgata

The Jacks or Better games
at Borgata are good. They offer the full pay (9/6)
pay table. You can find these for as little as a quarter, but remember to bet 5
coins per hand. Borgata caters to high rollers, too, so you can also find JoB in
denominations of $10, $25, and $50-which means betting $50, $125, or $250 per
hand, respectively.

But that’s not the best video poker payback percentage in the casino,
although at 99.54%, it comes close. The Super Double Bonus Games offer a 99.69%
payback percentage, which is 0.15% better. Forget about high roller action on
these games, though, as they’re only available for $1, $0.50, or $0.25.

Bonus Poker is the only other good choice at the Borgata. (We define “good”
as offering a 99% or higher payback percentage when played with perfect
strategy.) These are only available for $1 or more. The highest denomination
Bonus Poker game reported there was the $50 denomination game.

If your standards are a little lower, you can play games with a 98%+ payback
percentage. These include Double Bonus Poker and Double Double Bonus.

2 – Harrahs Atlantic City

The best video poker game at
Harrahs Atlantic City is full pay Jacks or
Better, which is easy to find and available in denominations from 25 cents to
$10 and several points in between. They have enough of these machines that
you’ll rarely find them all full.

Double Double Aces and Faces, with its 99.46% payback percentage, is also
readily available in the same denominations. We recommend sticking with Jacks or
Better unless you’re just dying for variety, though. Double Double Aces and
Faces requires a different strategy, and even if you’ve mastered that strategy,
Jacks or Better offers slightly better odds.

But Harrahs has several more good VP variations: Bonus Poker (99.17%), Bonus
Aces and Faces (99.26%), Double Bonus Poker (99.11%), Double Double Bonus
(98.98%), and Jokers Wild (99.29%). These are all available in multiple
denominations from 25 cents up to $5.

3 – Bally’s Atlantic City

If you’re looking for full pay (9/6) Jacks or Better, which should be your
bread and butter anyway-especially if you’re a beginner-Bally’s has a couple
dozen games to choose from in multiple denominations. Look for the GameKing
machines in the smoking section.

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You can find the game for a quarter or 50 cents, but most of the full pay
machines are the higher denomination machines–$1, $2, or $5. This means
wagering $5 per hand at most of their games, as you need to play for 5 coins per
hand.

Double Double Bonus Aces and Faces (aka “the video poker game with the long
name”) offers a payback percentage of 99.46%, which is almost as good as full
pay Jacks or Better. You’re more likely to be familiar with the correct strategy
for 9/6 JoB, though, so you’re probably better off sticking with that more basic
game unless you’re just looking for variety.

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Bonus Aces and Faces, Bonus Poker, and Joker Wild are also reasonably good VP
games to try at Bally’s. They do offer pay tables which make a 99%+ payback
percentage possible, but always keep in mind that you need to know the right
strategy for the game. If you don’t, you’re going to give up as much as 2% or
more just by making the wrong decisions.

We’re big fans of the Bonus Poker games at Bally’s, by the way, as they offer
a payback percentage of 99.17%. And the strategy for those games is relatively
easy compared to the other variations on the list.

4 – Caesars Atlantic City

One of the best payback percentages available in the entire city is available
on the Double Joker Wild games at Caesars. The expected return on this game, if
you play correctly, is 99.91%. It’s only available in a 25 cent version.

Double Double Bonus is popular in Atlantic City, and the version at Caesars
has a payback percentage of 98.98%, which is probably close enough to 99% for
most people. You’ll find a limited selection of these games near the center of
the casino.

You can also find full pay Jacks or Better here, in multiple denominations
starting at a quarter and going up to $5.

5 – Tropicana Atlantic City

Joker Wild with a 99.59% payback percentage is available at Tropicana
Atlantic City, but it’s only available for 25 cents. It’s only slightly better
than the 2-that’s right, there are only 2-full pay Jacks or Better games at the
Trop. The Jacks or Better games are in the high limit area and are available for
between $1 and $10.

Those are the only good games there, although they also offer Double Double
Bonus with a payback percentage of 98.98%. If you’re stuck for an idea for what
to play besides those, you could try their Deuces Wild variation, but it’s a $5
game with a payback percentage of only 98.91%.

6 – Trump Taj Mahal

The best game at the Trump Taj Mahal is Jacks or Better for $1 or $2. As with
most of the casinos on this list, they offer the game with the 9/6 pay table and
the 99.54% payback percentage.

They also offer Bonus Poker with a 99.17% payback percentage for $1, $2, or
$5.

Those are the only 2 good games, but Double Double Bonus with a 98.98%
payback percentage comes close to good, too. If you’re a low roller at the Taj
Mahal, this is the only realistic option, because it’s the only VP variation
with a decent pay table available for a quarter.

7 – Golden Nugget Atlantic City

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One of the least impressive video poker casinos in Atlantic City is the
Golden Nugget. They offer full pay Jacks or Better, but there aren’t many of
these machines available. The ones that are available are hard to find in the
back of the casino. You can play for multiple denominations, from 25 cents to
$5.

Double Bonus games with a 99.11% payback percentage are also available at the
Golden Nugget. They’re available from 25 cents to $5, too.

You can also find Bonus Poker games with a payback percentage of 99.17%.
These are available in $1 and $5 denominations only.

8 – Resorts Atlantic City

Resorts Atlantic
City offers the least attractive selection of video poker
games in the city. The only game worth playing here is Bonus Poker with a 99.17%
payback percentage. It’s available for 25 cents, 50 cents, or a dollar. None of
the other games here are worth playing.

Conclusion

Atlantic City is a solid video poker destination. There’s something worth
playing at all the casinos there.

The Borgata and Harrahs are the top 2 choices on our list, and Resorts and
Golden Nugget are dead last.

Regardless of the casino, video poker is probably your best option,
math-wise, anywhere in the city.

The best advice we can offer you, though, is to seek out the best pay tables.
The casino managers mix the VP variations, so they might be right next to each
other and have dramatically different payback percentages.