A locals casino is a casino designed primarily to attract residents of the area in which it was built rather than tourists or vacationers. The term is most commonly associated with casinos in Nevada, USA, to distinguish them from casinos that target mostly tourists in a central area.

[edit] Overview

Locals casinos can range from locations with fewer than 15 machines such as supermarkets, convenience stores, gas stations, bars or lounges with no lodging, to resorts that have hundreds of machines and hotels with hundreds of rooms. Larger locals casinos in the Las Vegas metropolitan area include the South Point, Orleans, all of the various casinos operated by Station Casinos, Sam's Town (the first locals casino) and Green Valley Ranch Resort.

[edit] Attracting residents

In order to attract residents to gamble, locals casinos try to differentiate themselves from tourist-oriented casinos to benefit gamblers. For example, locals casinos usually have a different mix of games or offer games not typically found in tourist-oriented casinos in the area, such as bingo. Additionally, they offer table games with lower minimum bets, as well as lower denomination slot machines and video poker.^[1]

In addition, table games rules are frequently adjusted to decrease the house advantage, and the payout percentage on slot and video poker machines is increased;^[2] locals casinos are well-known for offering more full pay video poker machines^[1] or even machines that pay more than 100%.^[3]

Locals casinos will typically offer comps, such as free meals at the casino's restaurants, at a higher rate than tourist-oriented casinos.^[4] Additionally, many locals casinos have promotions such as payroll check cashing, frequently accompanied by some type of free play bonus, to get patrons into the casino.^[5] In Nevada, this is usually expanded with special promotions to cash Internal Revenue Service tax refund checks.

Locals casinos often act as community centers and frequently include non-gambling entertainment such as bowling alleys, movie theaters, ice skating rinks, and day care centers.^[1]

[edit] References