Spin Cycle: Tightening Slots, Safer Sweeps Highlight Week In Gambling

Welcome to “Spin Cycle,” Casino Reports’ weekly Friday roundup of all things impactful, intriguing, impressive, or idiotic in the gambling industry. Pull up a chair, grab a stack of chips and a glass of your beverage of choice, and take a spin with us through this week’s news cycle …

6:5 blackjack comes to slot machines

A recent study by the UNLV Center for Gaming Research (reported on Tuesday in the Las Vegas Review-Journal) found that Nevada casinos are not content with reducing the payouts on natural blackjacks and adding green zeroes to the roulette wheels. In their endless pursuit of additional house edge, it seems operators are programming slot machines to be a little tighter than they used to be.

The study found that statewide hold on slot machines was 7.15% in 2025, whereas the average since 2004 was 6.55%. They may not sound like a huge difference — and the average gambler certainly wouldn’t notice it in any single session — but it adds up and churns through bankrolls that little bit faster.

The casinos are well within their rights to do it, as Nevada law simply requires a minimum average return-to-player (RTP) of 75%.

Well worth a read on this general topic: this Substack post by Trung Phan, which highlights the effectiveness of slots and how you definitely shouldn’t play the ones at the Las Vegas airport if you like winning money, as those appear to skew closer to that 75% minimum RTP.

Is it safe?

For all the hits that sweepstakes casinos (ahem, “social plus” casinos) have taken over the past year or so, the trade group representing the operators, the Social Gaming Leadership Alliance (SGLA), keeps chugging along, doing its best to keep this gray-area gambling vertical in good stead where it can. To that end, on Tuesday the SGLA announced a new partnership with Paysafe — the second major payments platform to join the SGLA, alongside Nuvei.

“Paysafe’s global payments experience strongly aligns with SGLA’s commitment to player protections and industry integrity,” said SGLA Managing Director Sean Ostrow via press release. “The company’s technical capabilities, industry perspective, and significant U.S. footprint will meaningfully support our work with policymakers and stakeholders.”

Added Zak Cutler, president of global gaming at Paysafe: “As a global payments leader, we are committed to providing secure and reliable solutions that enhance player experiences while protecting the integrity of the gaming ecosystem.”

Media movement

Congrats are in order for fellow industry journalist Jessica Welman, who announced on X Wednesday that she’ll be stepping down at the end of January as managing editor of SBC Media:

Welman didn’t indicate where she’s headed next, but did signal that she’ll be announcing her new working home in February.

We wish Jess (a one-time Low Rollers podcast guest, for what it’s worth) the best of luck, even though we are deeply offended by her recent categorization of One Battle After Another as a “legit bad” movie.

House Rules: Insights from around our network

REV IT UP, JERSEY EDITION: New Jersey online casinos set another new record in December [by Jeff Edelstein]

REV IT UP, PENNSYLVANIA EDITION: Pennsylvania closes out 2025 with record $259.7M iGaming haul [by Chris Altruda]

REV IT UP, MICHIGAN EDITION: Michigan online casino operators take in record $315.8 million in December [by Jeff Edelstein]

SPHERE WE GO AGAIN: Second Sphere set to be built, this one in Maryland [by Jeff Edelstein]

DOUBLE YOUR PLEASURE: Multi-State Lottery Association reveals plans for two new national games coming this year [by Eric Raskin]

PIP, PIP, HOORAY: Scott Roeben and I believe pips matter, and we believe integrity matters [by Richard Schuetz]

TURF WAR: Santa Anita Park takes its 3×3 machine case to court [by Jeff Edelstein]

GO CANADA: Alberta officials prepping for digital sports betting, iGaming launch [by Jill R. Dorson]

LIVE! GOES LIVE: Virginia’s newest casino opens its doors to the public [by Jeff Edelstein]

FLIFF’RENT STROKES: Pivot or panic? Assessing Fliff’s float from sweeps to DFS [by Eric Raskin]

KEEPING IT 100: Another attempt to restore gambling loss deduction fails [by Jeff Edelstein]

HOWARD 101: Light & Wonder’s Howard Glaser: ‘Transitional year’ ahead as prediction markets advance with ‘no barricades’ [by Brett Smiley]

Small stakes and hot takes

This week on the Casino Reports podcast Low Rollers, I welcomed veteran gambling industry journalist David McKee for a conversation covering McKee’s recent exploration of the Wynn Al Marjan project, a “What Happens in Vegas”-style slogan for UAE gambling, Las Vegas’ struggles over the past year, and more.

I also offer my analysis of the court ruling poised to block Kalshi from operating in Massachusetts, and I thank some anonymous sharp for tipping me off to Indiana as a national championship contender back when they were still priced as a longshot.

Full episode:

The Shuffle: Other news and views

HERE COMES THE SUN: MGM to power its Strip resort-casinos with solar in the daytime [Las Vegas Review-Journal]

SLOW AND STEADY: Adapting U.S. slots for new IRS jackpot threshold could take months [CDC Gaming]

WAIT TIL NEXT YEAR: Bally’s Chicago opening timeline thrown into question after extension bill filed [iGaming Business]

STRIKE THAT STRIKE: Teamsters avert strike, ratify union contract with Rio Hotel and Casino [News3LV]

ALL OPPOSED SAY NAY: Majority of speakers at Allen County casino public hearing against idea [KPC News]

VISITATION STAGNATION: Congressional Dems warn Trump rule for screening foreign tourists is another hit to NV’s economy [Nevada Current]

NOT PLAYING: Officials seize 30 slot machines from 2 arcades in Lee County [Wink News]

A QUEENS RANSOM: Genting nets $750M refi for casino complex [BisNow]

GOOD DEAL, EH?: Downtown Las Vegas casinos stretching Canadian dollars to lure visitors [News3LV]

The Bonus Round

Completing the Spin Cycle with some odds and ends and our favorite social media posts of the week.

• I’m claiming the rights to the movie script on this one: Last weekend an 88-year-old woman named Linda Hammons was at the Beau Rivage in Biloxi, Mississippi, intending to play some slots, only to find the casino had removed her favorite machines. So she spontaneously ponied up $500 to enter a poker tournament instead — the first poker tournament she’d ever played — and finished in 14th place out of 2,628 entries, earning a payout of $10,100.

• I’m not sure I’m ready to bring my 16-year-old son to Vegas, but I’m bracing for him to make the request, as the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported this week that Metallica has signed on for a residency at the Sphere from October to December. Key incentive for James Hetfield: You can’t get physically burned by massive LED screen images of fire.

• IndieWire reported earlier this month that Squid Game creator Hwang Dong-hyuk’s next Netflix series is called The Dealer and is set in a casino — and involves, according to the plot synopsis, “the shadowy underworld of illegal gambling” as well as a female card dealer with “supernatural abilities.” Waiting for the internet to explode with rumors that Strangers Things isn’t actually over; Eleven just became a card dealer and this is her spin-off show.