Best Gambling Atlantic City
Atlantic City is known for 3 things:
- The beach
- The boardwalk
- The casinos
Best Casinos in Atlantic City, NJ - Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa, Caesars Atlantic City Hotel & Casino, Ocean Casino Resort, Harrah's Resort Atlantic City, Tropicana Atlantic City, Wild Wild West Casino, Resorts Casino Hotel, Bally's Atlantic City Hotel & Casino, Golden Nugget Hotel & Casino, Caesars Palace Diamond Lounge. Harrah’s Atlantic City 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.
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.
- Choosing a casino to play at in Atlantic City is tough, and this is for one simple reason: there are just so many different Atlantic City casinos to choose from! Regardless of your personal preferences, you’ll almost certainly find an Atlantic City casino that ticks all of the boxes, and we’ve listed five of the very best in 2020 below if.
- Best Atlantic City Casinos For much of Atlantic City’s history, the town served as one of America’s great summer vacation resorts. The city is situated on the South Jersey shore, and the boardwalk that overlooks the Atlantic Ocean is the world’s longest.
- Atlantic City, NJ “ Justin by far is one of the best casino hosts I have ever had the pleasure of dealing with. ” In 5 reviews 5.
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.
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:
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.
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.
Best Gambling In Atlantic City
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.
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.
You just have to watch the pay tables, as these games are mixed in with the other games on the casino floor.
Finding suitable accommodation is a huge part of travel, and choosing a hotel can be one of the more time consuming parts of our planning. And sometimes we don’t get it right.
But have you ever considered staying in a casino hotel?
Casino hotels have started popping up all over the world, though it’s quite easy to argue that Atlantic City has some of the best. With luxury rooms, cheap rates, and some of the tightest security, booking a luxury hotel attached to a casino is pretty sure bet!
Set on New Jersey’s Atlantic coast, AC is famous for its spectacular beaches, iconic boardwalk and many stunning casinos. As such, these Atlantic City best casino hotels have well and truly become a trend!
Resorts Casino Hotel
With direct access to the beach, Resorts Casino Hotel is arguably best casino hotel in Atlantic City. Located right on the Atlantic City boardwalk, and boasting the only year-round beach bar in the city, the resort is all about luxury and convenience.
The hotel itself offers 942 guest rooms and suites; if you’re looking for a large room on the boardwalk, book a room in their Rendezvous Tower, or go for their Ocean Tower if you’re after views of the Atlantic Ocean and beach.
Rooms in the Rendezvous Tower are huge; this tower has 42 lush suites ranging in size from 1,090 to 1,150 square feet. The suites feature a comfortable yet elegant sitting and dining area, and over-sized bathrooms complete with Jacuzzi bathtubs.
That said, the Ocean Tower is more popular with everyday travelers, with 480 standard rooms that include your access to the hotel health spa and fitness center, indoor/outdoor pool, sun deck, the Dining level, the casino, gift shops, the boardwalk, beach and ocean.
The property opened as Atlantic City’s first casino in 1978. Today they have 80,000 feet of casino gaming space, and the slot machines, table games and other gambling is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Tropicana Casino and Resort
Another waterfront casino hotel, Tropicana Casino and Resort is set on the Atlantic City boardwalk alongside various shops and entertainment venues. With restaurants, entertainment, gaming, nightlife, and luxury accommodation, this is one of the best all rounders.
The resort features a salon, fitness centre, a full-service spa, a nightclub and 20 restaurants for the food enthusiasts to choose from. There’s an even an IMAX theatre onsite.
Hotel rooms are spread throughout 5 different towers, and guests have access to both indoor and outdoor swimming pools, with the outdoor pool hosting a pool-side bar. Gaming wise, they not only have onsite tables, but also have their casino online.
Even if you’re not staying or putting money down on the tables, they have weekly comedy shows, a pumping nightclub, and host regular martial arts competitions. ROC is not only the longest running Mixed Martial Arts show in Atlantic City, they have also sent over 130 fighters to the UFC.
They also put on a fireworks performance every Saturday night on the boardwalk during summer (from May 25 2019 – September 7 2019 at 10pm). You can catch each of the 17 performances from the beachfront; expect intricately designed scenes and vivid effects including Grucci high aerials!
Harrah’s Resort Atlantic City Hotel & Casino
This very tall and impressive hotel features more than 175,000 square feet of casino space and is only a 7-minute drive from the Boardwalk. Harrah’s Resort Atlantic City offers a sophisticated marina setting & an infinite roster of world-class resort amenities.
Casino guests can choose between a total of 12 top-end restaurants, which includes a massive food dining area and fine dining spots like Oshi Modern Asian Kitchen, Veracruz and Martorano’s. If you’re after something super upscale, go for Gordon Ramsay Steak.
In terms of the hotel, the Bayview Tower Suites have been recently renovated, and are a great choice if you’re looking or a guest room that’s a cut above the rest. Rooms in the Waterfront Tower exude the “glam” of an uptown Manhattan high-rise with floor-to-ceiling windows that look out over the marina.
There’s an indoor tropical pool that transforms into the Xhibition nightclub once the sun sets, as well as a seasonal family pool located on the 4th floor of the Harbour Tower. There is a Golf course within 3 km of the resort and waterfront shops.
As far as the casino goes, you can choose from 2,172 slot machines and video reel games. Fans of pop culture can play video reels ranging in themes from Britney Spears to Big Bang Theory. Harrah’s Resort paid out $194,148,123 in May.
Ocean Casino Resort
Your toughest decision when staying at Ocean Casino Resort will be deciding between the ocean or the pools; the property offers four pools, while being set directly on the ocean, with something for families, VIPs, and those looking for a weekday party.
In terms of the rooms, Ocean Casino Resort offers ‘Sweet dreams above the sea’. Guest rooms are modern and comfortable and if you book an Ocean View room you’ll get an awe-inspiring, unobstructed view of the ocean, through floor to ceiling windows.
There’s plenty of dining, and a full service spa and bathhouse onsite. Their 40,000 square foot spa is Atlantic City’s only co-ed bathhouse, ideal for relaxation, detoxifications, and socialization. Visit their Himalayan Salt Grotto, or sink into their heated pool. They also feature steam rooms, saunas, and hot tubs.
Best Casino Atlantic City
When it comes to entertainment, their on-site concert venue, Ovation Hall, features various live shows, including symphony orchestras, musical and comedy acts. The casino offers 138,000 sq. ft. of gaming entertainment.
Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa
Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa is a 4-star resort with luxury accommodation, a two-story spa, and five heated pools. Though what really sets this property apart is it’s range of world class restaurants.
The chefs they have at Borgata are a pretty big deal – you can order food prepared by big name Iron Chefs like Bobby Flay, Michael Symon, Geoffrey Zakarian, and Wolfgang Puck. Each restaurant at Borgata has a different inspiration and varying cuisines, but one goal: to surpass your palate’s wildest dreams.
There are options for both casual and fine dining here, so whether you’re after an all American steakhouse, or a classic Italian recipe, Borgata does a great job of indulging every craving. With tastes from Italy, Asia, America and Europe, this is one of the best places to eat in Atlantic City.
If you can’t make it to Borgata but still want to join in the casino fun, they have an online casino and poker sites which will let you play all of your favorite games from blackjack and slots, to Texas Hold ‘em. Or you can get in on the sports action by downloading their very own Sports betting app.
Just remember to gamble responsibly.
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