South Dakota Casinos Payback Percentage
South Dakota's bars and taverns are allowed to have up to 10 video lottery terminals (VLT's) that offer the following games: Poker, Keno, Blackjack and Bingo. These machines are the same as regular video gaming devices but are called lottery terminals because they are regulated by the state's lottery commission which receives a share of each machine's revenue. The machines accept cash but don't pay out in cash; instead, they print out a receipt which must be taken to a cashier. The maximum bet is $2 and the maximum payout allowed is $1,000.
Slot machines, as well as blackjack and poker are only permitted at the state's nine Indian casinos and in the historic city of Deadwood.
South Dakota law limits each casino licensee to a maximum of 30 slot machines and no one person is allowed to hold more than three licenses. Some operators combine licenses with other operators to form a cooperative which may look like one casino but in reality it's actually several licensees operating under one name.
The following table shows the payback percentages on all of Deadwood's slot machines from July 1, 2006 through June 30, 2007:
DENOMINATION | PAYBACK PERCENTAGE |
---|---|
1¢ Slots | 90.79% |
5¢ Slots | 90.96% |
25¢ Slots | 90.76% |
50¢ Slots | 91.51% |
$1 Slots | 91.98% |
$5 Slots | 93.59% |
$25 Slots | 95.09% |
Average | 91.29% |
Some of the larger casinos are open 24 hours but most of the smaller ones are open from 8 a.m. until midnight Sunday through Thursday and 8 a.m. until 2 a.m. on the weekends.
south Dakota's minimum gambling age is 21 at all Deadwood and Indian casinos (18 for bingo at Indian casinos). South Dakota's casinos have very liberal rules about allowing minors in casinos and virtually all of the casinos will allow children to enter with their parents until about 8 p.m. Additionally, South Dakota is the only jurisdiction that will allow children to stand next to their parents while they are gambling.