Now Playing: MGM Offers Online Slot Tournaments At Vegas Properties

July 18, 2016
Now Playing: MGM Offers Online Slot Tournaments At Vegas Properties

You can finally play some real-money online casino games in Las Vegas from your smart phone, tablet or computer.

MGM Resorts International has launched a platform where visitors to its resorts can participate in online slot tournaments with cash prizes, called easyPLAY Mobile Tournaments. The Nevada Gaming Control Board approved the product for use in the state.

It’s not a full suite of games like one would find in New Jersey, but it’s an improvement over what is available now in NevadaPreviously, the only option to play anything online was poker, which is pretty much limited to the WSOP network.

MGM online slot play: The basics

The product from MGM and mobile gaming tech company oneLIVE inc is not for pure slot machine play. It allows users to play against one another in regularly scheduled slot tournaments for prizes.

Some of the details of how and where you can play:

  • You must be 21 years of age and a U.S. resident to play.
  • You must be located at one of nine MGM resorts: Aria, Bellagio, MGM Grand, Mandalay Bay, The Mirage, Monte Carlo, Luxor, New York-New York or Excalibur.
  • You must be connected to the resort’s wifi when playing; it cannot be done via a cell phone data plan.

While you can play on a mobile device, MGM has also installed InteractivePro Tables that are located in the nine resorts above.

Right now there are a limited number of slot and bingo products to choose from. MGM said in its press release that more offerings are on the way.

The idea behind the online slot tourneys

The slot tourneys at MGM amount to dipping a toe in the water to real-money online gambling at Nevada casinos.

The core idea? People may want to gamble while doing something else:

The introduction of easyPLAY® Mobile Tournaments at our MGM Resorts properties gives our guests an exciting, new opportunity to play their favorite games while enjoying the best Las Vegas has to offer,” said Tom Mikulich, Senior Vice President of Business Development for MGM, in the press release. 

“The tournaments are extremely user-friendly, provide players with a variety of game options including slots and bingo, among others, and bring an element of competition that our guests will enjoy whether they are sitting at a bar enjoying a drink or simply hanging out by the pool.”

The tournaments are also a low commitment for now — both in terms of time and money — with buy-ins of $10 and less, and consisting of 25 spins.

MGM is also offering the All Summer Long Winner Takes All Progressive Slot Tournament. For just $5, anyone who enters before September 4 could win the minimum grand prize of $10,000.

Just the beginning?

Nevada online gambling is not likely to end with slot tournaments.

The Nevada Gaming Policy Committee met in May and plans to look more closely at online gambling products in the state.

And MGM is not close to finished with the online gambling space; from CNBC:

“This mobile platform that was just released is going to lay the foundation for what we do in the future,” said Lovell Walker, executive director of Interactive Gaming Development at MGM Resorts. “We think that mobile is going to be a major part of gaming.”

It’s safe to look for more movement in Nevada online gambling in the coming months and years.

Privacy Policy