In Las Vegas, bingo is a very different animal compared to Atlantic City. For starters, cash games are allowed, and thrive. More than 25 casinos offer bingo. Websites are devoted to the subject, and include a list of bingo jackpots that change on a daily basis. There’s even a publication called the Bingo Bugle solely dedicated to bingo stories and advertising.

There’s progressive bingo, electronic bingo, giveaways of lucky charms like Beanie Babies and pink elephants. Other lures, like free breakfast and donuts and coffee, draw bingo players to their halls.

Arizona Charlie’s offers 24-hour bingo, making sure the most diehard bingo fan always has a chance to play.

Nearly every bingo hall has different levels of buy-ins, starting around $3 and ranging to the low $20s. The higher you pay to get in, the more the jackpot pays.

Bingo is so big that new casinos are building parlors. Michael Gaughan’s new South Point Hotel Casino & Spa built a gigantic, state-of-the art bingo parlor with 640 comfortable seats and plasma televisions. Its progressive game sometimes exceeds $50,000.

But the granddaddy of bingo in Las Vegas is Station Casinos. In fact, Station grew from the ashes of a bingo parlor—its first casino, Palace Station, originally was all-bingo—and has grown to be one of the most successful casino franchises in Nevada.

“Bingo is still a very big deal in Las Vegas,” says Weldon Russell, corporate director of bingo, keno and poker for Station Casinos. Station offers bingo at seven of its properties, the biggest being the 18,000-square-foot, 600-seat hall at Red Rock Casino Resort & Spa. “For some, it’s a pastime, a social gathering where they sit down together, talk, have a cup of coffee, play the slots. For others, it’s a serious thing. Some do it to get out of the heat.”

Station shows it’s very serious about bingo with its progressive jackpot that hovers around $50,000. And its cover-all countdown pays $125,000 if you cover the whole card with 46 numbers or less. It has paid off 14 times in two years. Station Casinos, like some others, offers electronic bingo. Upon buy-in, players’ cards are scanned. If you win, your beeper sings a song to you.

“It’s pretty high-tech stuff,” Russell says. “But there are some purists who stick to paper. There are some traditionalists left there.”

However, that electronic approach has drawn new bingo players, which Russell believes is the future of the game.

“We call a number every 12 seconds,” says Russell, who estimates that 80 percent of Station bingo players are locals. “So it’s pretty fast-paced. It’s quite interesting to see these new players come to the game.”

While bingo can be a money-maker for many casinos, the newest trend in bingo in Vegas isn’t too far from Atlantic City’s strategy, as bingo parlors are built to attract players—in hopes they play slots while waiting for their bingo sessions to begin.

By Joseph Harrison

Joseph Harrison is a Casino Connection staff writer who covers news and trends in the casino industry as well as community related stories.