Two years in a row my husband and I have gone to Las Vegas in February. Having been in almost every casino on the strip and some off of it at least once I am claiming the casino at the Tropicana hotel to be the best overall. At the end I have listed some other of my favorites for specific activities.

This casino offers more complimentary (comps), discount and other special promotions than any other hotel I have come across. No matter where you come into the casino the first thing you have to do is go back outside if you didn’t come in from the front. There you will find a giant slot machine and a man giving out coupons depending on what you get when you spin the wheel. You will get a lot even if you don’t spin any winning combination!

The coupons will entitle you to many free and discount food and shows at the Tropicana. I will go into some detail on them so you can see why I feel that the casino at the Tropicana is the best. You will start by going to the promotion desk and getting your free keychains or deck of cards and more coupons.

You definitely want to sign up for the Winner’s Club card if you are going to gamble there anyway. Unless you aren’t gambling at all in Las Vegas (An oxymoron to me!) then you may as well gamble here. There are 98% pay back slots. Below I have listed 2 casinos that I feel have better pay back rates, but again, I am reviewing Tropicana Casino overall. The important point is my feeling that you may be more apt to win at one of these slots than at the more upscale casinos. The tables were $5.00 to $100.

Watch at other casinos that claim pay backs. Many of them say up to 98%. That up do are two important words.

Back to the Winner’s Club card. After playing for ½ hour (We ended up playing two nickel slot machines for over one hour with $20 – a fun time for $20) we were then able to get two Tropicana t-shirts and what they call 2x cash back. What that translated into for us was over $4.00 in cash and a coupon for $3.00 good in their bar or restaurants. Before the show we went to at the Tropicana on a discount, we had sandwiches in their deli and used the $3.00.

The show was excellent. It was at the Comedy Stop in their hotel. We went to the 8:00 pm show which was smoke-free. The 10pm show is not. The comedians were truly funny, actually two of them were hysterical, as good as any I have seen in any other comedy show.The Comedy Stop won Best Comedy Club in Las Vegas for several years including 2000. It cost 15.66 for both of us and that came with a drink. A real alcoholic drink if you want one.

Remember while gambling drinks are free (You should tip, though) but you can’t bring drinks into the Comedy Club so the two free drinks become attractive.

The casino also has a large lounge area with live entertainment (different bands playing throughout the day). It is nice with comfortable chairs and, of course, you will receive coupons for drinks there! For example you will get a 2 for 2 cocktail or $1.00 off a frozen Margarita.

Either when you spin the wheel when you first walk in or while you are redeeming other promotions you will get discounts to other shows at the Tropicana. Last year we saw the Folies Bergere (check because they have both a family show – it is a musical review and a non-family review with the dancers topless.) We also saw Rick Martin who was a good magician again at a discounted price.

These may not be top of the line reviews of shows but I enjoy a show I’m paying $8.00 for more than I enjoy one I am paying $58 for unless that show is very, very special. (We saw Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young last year at the MGM and it was worth every penny of the $50 a ticket for the last row!)

The only negative was the staff who, in general, were not friendly and did not seem happy. We didn’t let it bother us, though, I imagine there is a hierarchy of hotels in which people wish to work and perhaps Tropicana is not up there with the best of them.

In summary, I highly recommend the Tropicana casino. Don’t go there just for a quick throw of a few quarters. Go there planning on spending an afternoon or evening. It is a lot of fun and has a lot to offer.

Since I can only write about one casino and one hotel in Las Vegas I wanted to give you some of my other picks:

Most expensive slot machine: Bally’s - $10,000 a pull!

Two best places to make money are on Freemont Street: Lady Luck and The 4 Queens.

Prettiest casino and hotel: Paris and have their buffet – brunch or dinner - $22.00.

Most extravagant short casino show: The Rio (just off the strip). See it every 2 hours from 4:00pm – 10:00pm. Have their buffet also. It is excellent - $28.95.

Best breakfast is at The Mirage for $8.95

Most elaborate hotel is the Bellagio – watch their waterfall show.


For more Las Vegas reviews:

Red Rock Canyon

Eating Our Way Through Las Vegas Buffets

The Rio Hotel and Casino

The Fremont Experience (Downtown Las Vegas)

The Strip - 2 Low Budget Shows

Valley of Fire
Tropicana Casino

The Luxor

The Rio Hotel and Casino



Recommended: Yes