Plaza Bets Bigger on Slots, in Time for Hall of Fame Honors

^{The new high-limit slots room at the Plaza in downtown Las Vegas promises a quieter, more comfortable setting for players willing to risk at least $5 a spin. (Photo: courtesy of The Plaza)}

LAS VEGAS — Las Vegas casinos can't seem to build high-limit slot rooms fast enough.

The Plaza Hotel & Casino joined the rush in late August, opening a 2,000-square-foot room with 53 high-dollar slots, round-the-clock cocktail service and some perks not found elsewhere on casino floors.

The new room will host the first live induction ceremony for the Casinos.com Slots Hall of Fame on Thursday, Oct. 8, at 1 p.m.

It is the second year where our slot experts and slot-enthusiast readers honor slot games that have stood the test of time and earned their place in the annals of casino lore.

Plaza General Manager Sue Ascanio gave us a tour of the new space where our event will be taking place.

"The Plaza has to continue to diversify its offerings to meet the changing needs of our guests," Ascanio said. "The new high-limit slot room is a beautiful and intimate setting."

Indeed, you can’t help but notice the rich wood tones and gold accents that scream Old Vegas, along with plush furnishings and technology that is decidedly 21st century.

Ascanio said the property's slot business has continued to grow, bringing in more higher-end players while longtime guests have been asking for a dedicated high-limit room.

High-Limit Slots Craze

The Plaza isn't alone. High-limit slots rooms have become one of the more noticeable casino-floor trends in Las Vegas, evolving from tucked-away rooms for big bettors into lounges and salons with couches, drinks and space for groups of players and their friends to hang out.

At least 15 Las Vegas casinos have built or substantially upgraded high-limit rooms since 2022, and the pace has only picked up.

The Plaza is the latest to jump on the trend. Weeks before it opened its room, Fontainebleau expanded its high-limit slots room with great social hype, while Golden Gate soon followed, giving downtown another entry in the high-limit arms race.

"We wanted to not only provide the newest and most popular games with higher limits but also focus on personalized customer service," Ascanio said.

That service includes being able to check in to a hotel room directly from the high-stakes lounge and having a direct line to a concierge and casino host to handle restaurant, pool, spa and even pickleball reservations.

The high-stakes room has dedicated cocktail servers around the clock.

"The focus on personalized service was a hallmark of the bygone era when the Plaza first opened," Ascanio said.

Welcoming Big Slot Players, ‘Unattended’ Jackpots?

While old-school courtesies and unreasonable hospitality may be something downtown casinos can offer a tier of players who might not get certain Strip properties to blink an eye, this room also has amenities that are decidedly 21st century.

Machines in the high-limit room use a cashless-gaming system that allows players to use Apple Pay and other forms of electronic payment if they don’t want to give up their seat while chasing a progressive.

The room also allows high-limit players to claim “unattended jackpots.” This concept is new to me, and I’m admittedly still trying to understand it – not just how it works, but why everyone doesn’t have it.

Essentially, eligible players can have qualifying jackpots processed electronically rather than waiting at the machine for the traditional hand pay. It’s particularly useful in a room where $5 to $200 bets can make a $2,000 jackpot considerably less extraordinary than it might be elsewhere on the casino floor.

Games in the high-stakes room include Huff N’ Puff Link, Huff N’ Triple Puff, Dragon Link, Dancing Drums Dragon, Inferno Link, the Fortune Frenzy Series and FOMO Mummy, among other titles.

Dragon Link was last year's inaugural People's Choice inductee into the Slots Hall of Fame.

Making Room for the Slots Hall of Fame

The room gets its first big showcase Thursday, when Casinos.com brings the Slots Hall of Fame out of the virtual world for its first live induction ceremony.

Six games will join the 2026 class. Five are selections by the Casinos.com expert panel, while the sixth – the People's Choice – was decided by players after a month of voting. Slots content creator and Casinos.com ambassador Desiree Rodriguez, aka DayByDayDesiree, will host.

"Any live event brings an undeniable level of excitement and energy to the casino floor," Ascanio said.

This year's People's Choice nominees are Huff N' Puff, Wheel of Fortune, Gates of Olympus, Big Bass Bonanza, Legacy of Dead and Dead or Alive.

Hall of Fame inductions aren't the only hardware up for grabs. The ceremony will also honor newer games and studios with awards ranging from Best Slot of the Year to the Toothache Award for Sweetest Slot and the Pineapple on Pizza Award for a game players either love or can't stand.

"I am excited to hear what games get inducted into the slots hall of fame," Ascanio said.

These nominees represent games made by slot makers IGT, Aristocrat, Light & Wonder, and Pragmatic Play, among others.

"The Plaza continues to increase and diversify the number of slot games on our casino floor," Ascanio said, "so hosting the first live Casinos.com Slots Hall of Fame is a natural fit."