Fontainebleau Report (part 2)
You may recall my newsletter. I introduced you to Vegas’ latest casino, the Fontainebleau (which I will abbreviate as the FB), with a detailed report on the table game offerings. This part 2 of my report shall look at the video poker and video keno.
Based on my observations, there is a shortage of both video poker and video keno at the FB. Instead, reeled slots rule the floor. However, there were some Game Kings, which I base my review on. I picked a random one offering conventional single-play video poker. The denominations available were $0.25, $0.50, $1 and $5. The following table shows the games, pay tables and return at the $0.25 to $1 denominations.
$0.25, $0.50, $1 Video Poker
| Game | Pay Table | Return |
| Jacks or better | 8-5 | 97.30 % |
| Bonus Poker | 6-5 | 96.87 % |
| Double Bonus | 9-6-4 | 96.38 % |
| Double Double Bonus | 8-5 | 96.79 % |
| Deuces Wild | 20-12-9- 4 | 97.06 % |
| Bonus Poker Deluxe | 8-5 | 97.40 % |
| Triple Double Bonus | 9-5 | 97.02 % |
| Deuces Wild Bonus | 10-4-3-3 | 97.36 % |
At the $5 level, things got better, as follows:
$5 Video Poker
| Game | Pay Table | Return |
| Jacks or better | 9-5 | 98.45 % |
| Bonus Poker | 8-5 | 99.17 % |
| Double Bonus | 9-7-5 | 99.11 % |
| Double Double Bonus | 9-6 | 98.98 % |
| Deuces Wild | 25-15-9 | 98.91 % |
| Bonus Poker Deluxe | 8-6 | 98.49 % |
| Triple Double Bonus | 9-6 | 98.15 % |
| Deuces Wild Bonus | 13-4-3-3 | 98.80 % |
I then visited the high limit slots room and picked another random Game King. The denominations available were $25, $50 and $100. The games and pay tables were exactly the same as at the $5 level on the main casino floor.
The same randomly chosen Game King on the main casino floor had standard “spot” keno at the $0.05, $0.10, $0.25, $0.50, $1 and $2 denominations. All of them followed the following table, which I call pay table 3 in my keno section
Spot Keno – Pay Table 3
This pay table has a minimum return of 87.41% on the pick 3, a maximum of 90.19% on the pick 2 and an average of 88.28%.
In the high limit slots room a random Game King had keno at the $2, $5, $10 and $25 levels. At the $2, $5 and $10 levels, the pay table was the same as on the main floor and shown above.
Strangely, when jumping to the $25 level the only game available was Cleopatra Keno. There they follow what I call pay table 4 at Wizard of Odds.
Cleopatra Keno – Pay Table 4
On the pay table above the minimum return is 89.99% on the pick 5, the maximum is 90.19% on the pick 3 and the average is 90.11%.
All things considered, I would say the video poker and video keno are average for a nice Vegas Strip property. In other words, stingy. I have always said you can tell how loosely a casino sets their reeled slots by how it sets their video keno, so I would expect the reels at the FB to be about equally as stingy as the Vegas strip average.
I have been meaning to update my Vegas video keno survey, but for now this general average estimate will have to do.
Finally, I judge casinos by how generous they are with the expiration period on slot and sports tickets. At the FB, slot tickets expire after 180 days and 365 days for sports. These periods are fairly generous compared to Vegas averages. In closing, for this final newsletter of 2023, I wish you a happy new year and good health and happiness in 2024.