UNLV Study Finds Rising Slot Hold Rates in Nevada
Nevada’s slot machines are retaining a larger share of wagers than 20 years ago, according to a December 2025 study by the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Center for Gaming Research.
LISTEN TO THIS ARTICLE:The report calculates a statewide average hold – the percentage of money wagered that casinos keep – of 6.55 percent since 2004, but it also shows a roughly 26 percent increase in the hold rate over the last 10 years. In practical terms, the study says the statewide slot payout in 2025 translated to a 92.85 percent return to players, with a 7.15 percent hold.
UNLV researchers cautioned that monthly figures can swing widely because of randomness in play, but they stressed the long-term trend: higher average hold percentages can materially boost casino revenue even if overall play, or handle, fluctuates. "Hold percentage – the portion of money gambled that the casino retains – has a huge impact on casino revenues", the report states, noting that small upward shifts in hold can offset changes in visitation or betting volume.
The UNLV report breaks down regional differences across Nevada. The Las Vegas Strip recorded the highest historical hold since 2004 at about 7.57 percent, followed by Laughlin (7.42 percent), downtown Las Vegas (7.17 percent) and South Shore Lake Tahoe (6.89 percent). By contrast, Reno reported the lowest average hold at 5.21 percent, a gap the UNLV authors describe as significant when aggregated across millions of spins.
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The Nevada Gaming Control Board, which monitors and audits gaming operations statewide, says the increases reported by UNLV do not indicate deliberate cheating or easy ways for casinos to secretly raise house take. Department heads Rusty LeBlanc, chief of the Audit Division, and Jeremy Eberwein, chief of the Technology Division, told reporters that regulatory safeguards and machine configurations make it essentially impossible for operators to set holds above the legal floor.
"The devices are programmed with fixed payback configurations – you choose from specific options rather than arbitrarily setting a percentage", Eberwein said. "A typical game might offer a loose setting around a 96 percent return to player and a tighter option near 86 percent. You can't just tweak a single machine to an extreme setting like a 40 percent hold; those choices simply aren't available in the software."
LeBlanc described the Control Board’s audit practice and enforcement tools. "Our agents conduct unannounced audits and review electronic logs and meters to verify theoretical and actual performance. Because machines are subject to testing, certification and periodic inspection, it would be both difficult and reckless for a licensee to attempt deliberate over-holding", he said.
The board enforces Regulation 14, which requires gaming devices to demonstrate mathematically consistent payback percentages and prohibits per-wager returns below 75 percent. Nevada also levies a 6.75 percent tax on gaming win, which is remitted to the state general fund.
Eberwein noted that although manufacturers developed server-based systems about 25 years ago to change configurations centrally, adoption has been uneven. "Network bandwidth, mixed-vendor floors and the operational burden of downloading themes and configurations to thousands of machines have limited widespread use of server-based reconfiguration", he said. He added that switching a machine between its preset configurations takes only minutes, but doing so across a whole floor can create logistical challenges.
Audit Practices and Analytical Limits
UNLV and regulators agree that statistical volatility matters: millions of spins are typically required for observed hold to converge on theoretical hold, and many machine models remain on casino floors for only months before replacement. That combination of short product life cycles and inherent randomness helps explain monthly variation even as the long-term averages trend upward.
Industry analysts say the findings warrant continued oversight and transparency. As UNLV’s report makes clear, small shifts in hold aggregated across Nevada’s thousands of machines can have meaningful impacts on revenue distribution between operators and players, and they underscore the importance of robust, ongoing audits by the Gaming Control Board and independent labs.
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