Rivers Casino

Reviews 3

A

A Private User

It goes without saying that fool and his money are easily parted. It is gambling and losses are the norm, not winnings. We all understand this, yet the "wouldnt it be nice to..." mentality drives us on. I have been to the Rivers Casino often. It is a generally unpleasant place for gamblers as machines truly appear to be far tighter than other area casinos, but the people watching is better than at a walmart on food stamp day. These are a few thoughts, and i hope to accurately depict the Rivers Casinos good and bad points. With the sports stadiums, concert stage, and various hipster eateries and bars nearby, you get a lot of heavy traffic while approaching the casino. Parking is free most of the time, though spots within the garage are narrow and hard to come by during evening or weekend hours. Once inside the Rivers,where you will be greeted by crowded aisles, silly bad music and an overall air of despair. Again it is a casino. As in any casino, you will find a large population of elderly citizens who gamble for hours on end trying to feel alive. They move slowly, have to play 3 slot machines at a time, and give you dirty looks when you play what they have deemed to be the machine that they may have wanted to play at some point during their visit. Like any casino, it attracts people who dont know when to say when, or desperately gamble their money away hoping to pay rent and utilities. If you visit the Rivers on or about the days when welfare checks and social security are direct deposited, the people watching is at its absolute peak. The spectacle of senior citizens and welfare recipients from the low income/ high crime area 2 blocks from the casino really should be enjoyed by all at least once. While there, you will see an absurd amount of money being put into the slot machines, but very little coming out. I have heard people win, yelling and clapping and all the rest, only to see that someone did a $3 bet, and won $72. Once I heard a highroller win over $10k. When I investigated, I found the wager to be 5 credits at $25 per credit. Certainly, if you are chancing $125 per spin, one would hope that a winning would sound decent. When you see someone bet $1.50 and win $200 dollars, that is a major win for the place. Again, the machines are tighter now than ever before I say this confidently after 200 or more visits there. Recently a local news channel also expressed an interest into this truth only to confirm it. Noise levels fluctuate. Some of the machines could wake the dead, some of them that should have sound are silent. It is common to hear a noisy machine blasting the sounds of bonus spins or "big wins" only to walk past and see that the player won $15 to $60 dollars. People who play the $1 wheel of fortune slots inevitably always win the lowest 2 amounts on the wheel. Maybe 1 player in a few thousand gets a good take, but dont bank on leaving there wealthy. When my friends and I go, we play for a few hours, waste some money, and leave with stories to tell. Its a place to go, a thing to do. The food is mediocre. The restaurants within are bland and pricey, and the buffet is heat lamp heaven. There are free pepsi product fountain drinks, approx 10 oz cups, but the drinks never taste right at all. Better food is available on the way to and fro, so we do not eat there often. This is the kicker of the visit. The air within is putrid and stale. It smells of cheap cigarettes, heavy perfume, over-priced Budweisers, body odor and broken dreams. Trust me, you will want to launder your clothes immediately upon returning home. The commercials are beyond misleading. There are no smiling, attractive young men and women in suits and cocktail dresses. It is crowded, noisy and filthy. So, in many ways, the casino is just something to do.

GE

Geoff Wolf

Rivers Casino is a very bittersweet place. Ive visited all of the casinos within 75 miles of Pittsburgh and Ive found that their sub-25 cent denomination slot machines are the tightest, by far. If you want to play slot machines, go to Meadows, they pay out much more evenly. If your objective is to come here and pay penny slots, Id say go elsewhere. Rivers is definitely the most visually appealing and cleanliest casino in this 75 mile radius though and they seem to use it to their advantage. Its almost always packed, no matter which day of the week or time of day that you go. Things start emptying out around 1:30AM but the tables with the lower minimums are still difficult to get into. The minimums for table games are almost always $10 for the popular ones such as Craps, Roulette, and Blackjack. In fact, Its only been on one occasion where Ive had the opportunity to play $5 Roulette. Ive never seen Craps below $10, and theres usually only one $5 Blackjack table which is always packed. Mini-Baccarat is almost always $25 minimum (sometimes you can play at the $15 one thats rarely open). If you want to play tables with a lower minimum, again, go to Meadows, they have a great selection of $5 tables during the day. Rivers tables are simply too expensive for me to play for more than a couple of wagers (unless I get lucky). Unfortunately, the $10 tables are quite busy so I guess they dont have much incentive to lower the minimums for more conservative players like myself. The absolute worst part about Rivers which sets itself apart from other area casinos is their Rewards program. Ive gotten up to nearly 2000 points and have yet to see a single dollar of free slot play, nor have I received a comp of any kind. Bottom line, unless you can afford to have a hefty bankroll for the table games, chances are you will not do well at Rivers. Ive played tons of penny slots that have eaten $20 bills in less than 3 or four minutes playing 30 credits a spin with nothing more than maybe 100-150 credits "won" to show for it.

PR

Priscilla Arnold

I used to go to Rivers Casino a lot and I mean a lot but when I saw that they started cutting their machines back and the payouts werent being as well as they used to be or if you get a bonus you might or might not win something on the bonus more than like you going to get a dollar $50 to $2.20 I played the Roman Tribune one day at Max bet which is a dollar fifty and I got on a fluke 450 free spins it reach figured three times not once was there a full screen of anything the highest amount that I got do the math out of 1050 free spins was $320 at a dollar fifty maximum bet when that occurred I immediately stop spending a lot of money at the Rivers Casino they would rather take your money and give you very cheap payouts then to be good to their customers and open up their machines so that the customer may want to either reinvest but they may have one or come back another day with money in their pocket and sit down and try to spend it all the people that Ive talked to in the casino say one thing they hate Rivers Casino cuz its cheap you can never find any of waitress when you want you can never find a casino attendant when you want it I needed a casino attendant one day because the machine ate my ticket and I said at that machine for 45 minutes waiting and when the attendant finally came he said this isnt really my section I just got here I have 22 more machines I have to attend to but since I saw your machine I guess Ill take care of it what was that that was not appropriate that was not acceptable so every negative that I have come against up in rivers I bring less money each time the Meadows theyre even worse Ive gotten to the point where I dont even want to go to the casino anymore its not even fun to be there

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