The house has an edge of 0.184% with odds on a pass bet, and an edge of 0.124% with odds on a “don’t pass” bet. There was no single zero roulette available. The roulette wheel was the standard double zero, for a house edge of 5.26%. The gaming area felt spacious and inviting. The atmosphere (even sitting next to a smoker) was clean and fresh. The pit was courteous, generous and proactive. They had good humor and positive interactions with the players. The dealers appeared to enjoy working at Sunset Station. In two hours, the cocktail waitress came around four times. Later, I waited 20 minutes for an order of tea. My first drink was retrieved by a boss after 15 minutes and a mild grumble (I was the highest bettor on the floor so they were falling all over themselves to please me). I observed several instances of pit generosity towards other players during my play.Ī negative: drink service was consistently slow. The boss allowed me to “undo” the hit and told the dealer that the face card was his next card. I got a face card and busted with a $100 bet out. I did not observe anyone playing the blackjack side bets.Ī positive: I was speaking with the pit about housing prices while playing and accidentally hit a 13 against the dealer up-card two. For example, when I checked at 7:00 PM there were 6 tables open and 7 players. In the evening there were plenty of seats and not many people. The double deck games had fixed minimums of $10 to $25 and were busy during the day shift. I was told that these games are only offered on Friday and Saturday nights at the “Wicked 21” games dealt by Hooters girls (starting at 7 PM).
I wanted to play a standard six deck shoe game and asked several dealers and bosses about their availability. The hands-per-hour rate was further increased by having automatic shufflers at each table. Fewer spots implies more hands-per-hour, hence more total dollars wagered by each player and more income for the casino. The double deck tables had only five player spots which is an idea I believe originated with Harrah’s. The double deck games were much more popular than the CSM’s. They offer a double deck game (dealer hits on soft 17, double after split, double on anything, re-split aces) for a house edge of 0.404% and a six deck “CSM” (Continuous Shuffle Machine) with a selection of standard rules and a house edge of 0.571%. Most days, Sunset Station offers only two types of blackjack. I did a visual survey of the slot mixture, and estimated that over 50% of them were video poker, about 10% were keno and about 40% were traditional slots. I also found the blackjack adjuncts “Lucky Lucky,” “Headstart Hold ‘Em” and the “Tie Bet.” The table games I found were blackjack, craps, Baccarat, Ultimate Texas Hold ‘Em, Let it Ride, Three Card Poker, Mississippi Stud, Deuces Wild Hold ‘Em/Fold ‘Em Stud Poker, Crazy 4 Poker, Double Deck Super Fun 21, and the Wheel of Fortune. By comparison, New York New York has 84,000 square feet of gaming space, 70 table games and 1,740 slots. GamblingĪccording to the Nevada Gaming Control Board, and the casino web site, Sunset Station has 114,000 square feet of gaming space, with 53 table games and 2,435 slots. The area was inspired by the work of Spanish architect Antonio Gaudi and is visually stunning. It consists of thousands of glass pieces and weighs twelve tons. To me, the most aesthetically appealing part of the casino is the 560 square meter stained glass ceiling above the table game area, near the casino’s center.
There were bike racks by the movie theatre and by the front valet area. I noticed a lack of visible parking lot security guards in both the parking garage and front lot. There were plenty of spots available close to the main entrance.
I drove through the parking garage then around to the front of the casino and parked in the front lot. Heading east on Sunset provides access to the front of the casino, valet parking, and front lot parking. Heading east on Warm Springs leads to an easy entrance to the parking garage. and Warm Springs Rd., with access from Interstate 515. Sunset Station is located on the far eastern side, in Henderson, between Sunset Rd. The casino includes a 21-story hotel with 527 rooms. The success of this model is seen in other similar casinos (Red Rock, Green Valley, M Casino, etc.). It is an upscale local’s casino, primarily aimed at the over 50 demographic located in and around Henderson. It opened in June of 1997 on the tail of the successes of Boulder Station and Texas Station, during the last great Las Vegas building boom. According to Wikipedia, Sunset Station is owned by Station Casinos, Inc., on 98 acres in Henderson.