Vegas has some of the best bingo action around. Stations Casinos have a majority of the parlors and they all operate in about the same way. They have a “linked” game at the beginning of each session where five of the properties play the same game together. You can see the bingo caller at the “host” property on the screen and each parlor has a representative that communicates to the host via phone. The first game is a coverall where all of the even numbers are marked out. The number of calls to win starts at 47 just after a prize is won and the jackpot total is set at 100k. As time goes on, the number of calls to win goes up to and stops at 53 and the jackpot increases. It is remarkably hard to get a bingo in 53 numbers, it can be done obviously or no one would ever win the pot. The best I’ve done is 11 remaining after 36 numbers called. Meaning, if the number to win were 47, I’d have to hit every single number. However, the consolation prize is 500 so it’s not a bad payout, but you are also competing with 4 other properties. Mostly this hits at around 60+ numbers.
For this trip I decided to do a tour of the bingo parlors in Vegas. I went to three different parlors, Palace Station, Gold Coast, and Plaza. All of the stations casinos have similar payouts and costs so I only needed to go to one of the Stations Casino bingo places to test out the differences. For all the bingo parlors, just like regular bingo, you need to get a certain pattern to win. Sometimes with the free space, sometimes without, it might be a floating pattern, any three outside lines “letter C”, any two connecting outside lines “letter L” or even no pattern where you have to get every number “coverall”.
All of the parlors also have a color coded pay scale. Your payout will coincide with the color of card you purchase. All of them use blue, red and green and all consider the blue the lowest pay with red then green as higher paying. Of course the blue cards are the cheapest to buy. You can choose to play paper with a dauber where you mark your own numbers and keep track of what’s going on. It is fun to do this but I would say only play one as they call pretty fast compared to local bingo parlors. I like to watch keno at the same time, so I don’t play paper at all. The other option is to play on a machine. Once you log in with your numbers, you just sit and wait for the screen to tell you you have one number to go. You don’t even have to push any buttons, just watch and yell bingo when the time has come.
Plaza charges more for the blue, red, and green, but they also pay more for the base payout. For one sheet that contains 6 bingo cards, you pay 5 dollars. Palace and Gold Coast are both 4.
| Property | Blue Cost | Blue Payout | Red Cost | Red Payout | Green Cost | Green Payout | Tan Cost | Tan Payout |
| Plaza | $5 | $60 | $10 | $120 | $15 | $180 | n/a | n/a |
| Gold Coast | $4 | $50 | $7 | $100 | $10 | $150 | $13 | $200 |
| Palace | $4 | $50 | $7 | $100 | $10 | $150 | $14 | $200 |
In addition to the individual cards, all places offer side games for additional money such as Big 3, you have to hit 3 numbers in the first 4 calls, progressive coveralls, hitting a coverall in 47 numbers, and cashballs/hotballs. The progressives can vary, for example at Plaza, if you buy a “millions” card for 2 dollars, you can win a million dollars if you hit the coverall on that one card in 47 numbers. At Palace and Gold Coast, they offer a progressive with whatever the latest amount is starting at 47 numbers as well. Usually the payout starts at $15k.
The cashball is a ball that is called at the beginning of the game. If you bingo on the cashball, you win the current cashball prize for that session. Each session has a different cashball amount. It starts at $500 and goes up until it’s won. They can get up over $60k! But usually they are pretty low which indicates they can be won more easily than the progressive. Plaza takes this a step further and offers more cash if you get additional balls called with the cashball. The first 5 balls called are the hotball and the bonus balls. If you bingo on the hotball and also have any of the bonus ball winners, you get up to $5k extra!
Each place also has a number of packages to buy. I find it’s best to try to find the one in your budget with the most amount of green/tan cards. Small rainbows are blue/red/green and large are blue/red/green/tan. Many times the casinos will give you free blue cards in an effort to wash out the red/green/tan cards. It really is in your best interest to go ahead and take the freebees if offered, you will more likely bingo with more cards, but you will also more likely hit it on blue.
Many places offer double pay/triple pay on certain sessions. These are the ones to hit. A coverall consolation for tan is $1000 at Palace for those sessions. Now for the Plaza all sessions offer better pay for the consolation coverall. At Palace/Gold Coast winning on a green/tan card at a regular session will still only pay $250, but at Plaza, winning on a green card on the coverall for any session is $750.
As for the atmosphere. Palace is far and away the best with comfy seats, charging ports, and even recliners! There are screens all around the room, so you can watch keno! Plaza also has screens but it’s hard to see the keno from most places, also being that it is in the downtown/party town, there are often a lot of inebriated amateurs whooping it up at every single $60 win. If that is your vibe, you will love it. For me, I find the quiet, library like, parlors to suit me better. Gold Coast is larger overall but not as comfortable, but the clientele is friendly nonetheless.
And there it is, my tour of bingo parlors. I have just recently heard that stations casinos are offering a $500k in total prizes bingo games this October!!! I will be going!