As Las Vegas casinos compete to stand out in a crowded gaming market, some are betting on “new” games that feel oddly familiar, including a twist on Pai Gow, a fresh side bet on craps and a vintage wheel making a reappearance.
Nevada gaming regulators have recently greenlit several table game options that blend novelty and nostalgia, including five-card pai gow at Harrah’s Las Vegas, a big six mega money wheel at MGM Grand and an all hard ways side bet at Paris Las Vegas.
The games are variants of existing games or playing conditions that many players are already familiar with. The minor tweaks make the games more approachable for casual players while adding a new experience for existing patrons.
Angel Espino, chairman and owner of Casino Gaming Development, said five-card pai gow is a “simplified version” of the traditional seven-card game.
“It speeds up the game,” Espino told the Nevada Gaming Control Board earlier this month before the regulatory agency approved the variant. “You have more hands per hour. You minimize dealer and player error.”
Espino said the hope is to introduce pai gow to a “new generation” of players with a faster, more efficient game.
Lucas Botsis, casino manager at Harrah’s, said the field test of five-card pai gow went “pretty well,” and dealers were able to pick up the game quickly.
“It is a new game, so it can be hard to draw players in. But with this (game) being a variant of an already established game, that definitely helped pique interest,” he said at the July 9 NGCB meeting.
The game has a hold percentage of roughly 33 percent, according to Botsis.
Dustin Brown, vice president of gaming at Harrah’s, The Linq and Flamingo, all of which are operated by Caesars Entertainment, said five-card pai gow will remain on the floor at Harrah’s due to its success during the field test. He said the next step is to add a progressive bet to the game.
Brown said he took another of Casino Gaming Development’s (three-shot poker) off the floor to accommodate five-card pai gow, but spoke highly of the Colorado-based company.
“(Espino) has been a great partner to the operations here in Las Vegas, and so I’m interested in any product that he creates or puts out,” Brown told the gaming board.
Another Caesars-operated casino on the Strip rolled out a new side bet for craps players. The hard all day side bet is now available at Paris Las Vegas on its craps no more table.
In craps, hard ways refer to rolls with identical numbers showing, such as two twos for a hard four or two threes for a hard six. Although two and 12 can be rolled in this manner, those outcomes are not typically referred to as hard ways.
Similar to the all tall or all small bets, hard all day players are betting a particular set of numbers will appear before a seven is rolled. In this case, the desired outcome is rolling the hard four, hard six, hard eight and hard ten before “Big Red” appears.
The bet pays 165 to 1.
MGM Grand, operated by Las Vegas-based MGM Resorts International, is taking an old favorite out for spin. The Strip megaresort received administrative approval to field test big six mega money wheel.
Field testing of new casino games generally spans between 45 and 180 days.
The big wheel is among a handful of carnival-inspired games that were once popular in Las Vegas casinos but have dwindled in numbers as players favor more digital-forward options. The big six mega money wheel, developed by TCS John Huxley, features either 52 or 54-pin wheels on an LED illuminated board.
Contact David Danzis at ddanzis@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0378. Follow @AC2Vegas_Danzis on X.
