Casino Q&A
Home of the Loosest Slots
By Rob Wiser

Behind the scenes with Tom Monaghan, General Manager of the Casino Queen in East St. Louis, Illinois

The Casino Queen opened in 1993 as a multi-level riverboat on the Illinois side of the Mississippi River, directly in view of the sprawling St. Louis skyline and world-famous Gateway Arch. Last August, the riverboat was replaced by a $92 million building attached to a floating, barge-style casino.

Illinois mandates that all casino action must take place over the water, but no longer requires its casinos to be housed in riverboats with set cruising schedules. Casino Queen's new home is actually a massive, excavated pit, filled with 340,000 gallons of water and dug to a depth of nine feet.

The 38,000-square-foot casino is the highlight of a new hotel and entertainment facility, which also includes a fine steakhouse, an expanded buffet, a coffee shop, snack bar and VIP lounge. All the amenities are located on a single floor with soaring ceilings, making the overall ambience for players quite comfortable and convenient.

Casino Queen offers 150 regular guest rooms, along with six suites, a luxurious penthouse, and commanding views of the Gateway Arch. Guests also enjoy an indoor heated swimming pool, a fitness room, an elegant breakfast room, meeting and banquet facilities, and direct access to the Metro Link, the rail transit system for the Greater St. Louis area.

Illinois law limits its casinos to 1,200 gaming positions, so the new facility basically offers the same number of games as before—32 tables and 1,122 slot and video poker machines. Table limits range from $2 to $2,000, and the casino is open from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. daily. (Under state law, casinos can operate 22 hours per day.)

Casino Queen's owners designed the new facility as the first phase in an ongoing plan. They’re hoping that the state legislature will finally decide to lift the 1,200-position limit. If and when this happens, they intend add additional gaming space, a showroom, and other amenities.

The limit on gaming positions is a frequently debated issue, since Casino Queen competes with the casinos on the Missouri side of the St. Louis metropolitan area. The Missouri casinos have the advantage of being able to offer an unlimited number of games. A smoking ban, which went into effect on January 1, has also caused Illinois casinos to take a financial hit.

However, Casino Queen is able to make an incredible claim that no other casino in America can: it has the loosest slots in the country. In our 2008 “Best of Slots” issue, in which we compile the payback percentages of casinos around the country and report on who offers the loosest machines, Casino Queen has come out on top for the third year in a row. It’s a remarkable distinction, and it has been an invaluable marketing tool for them.

Casino Player spoke with Casino Queen's general manager, Tom Monaghan, to get a closer look at their operations—and how it earned its extraordinary “loosest slots” title, which it has no intention of relinquishing.

Tom, you started your career in the racing industry. Was it challenging to move from the tracks to casinos?
For me, the decision was a no brainer. The gambling industry was in my blood. It was a natural transition. I came to Casino Queen on August 1, 1994, and at that point casinos were just starting to open here. This is a very dynamic and exciting industry.

Last August, you opened a new facility which has been described as Phase I of an ongoing $150 million expansion project. Are the next phases underway?
We’re putting together project costs. Phase II would have included a parking garage, but the smoking bill has had a dramatic effect on revenues. There is also new competition across the river. So right now we’re in the middle of evaluating the feasibility. The expansions would also depend on state legislation. The current facility is structured so that if gaming is allowed to expand, we can add 800 positions, an additional barge, and a showroom.

Your competitors in Missouri are allowed to have an unlimited number of gaming positions. How optimistic are you that Illinois will lift these limits on its casinos?
It has been discussed for the last five years, on and off, among the legislators. It’s about letting us compete. We’re limited to 1,200 positions, and during our first month, on a busy Friday or Saturday night, it was not uncommon for two or three people to line up at every position. One of these days it will happen. It’s just a matter of when.

Is the overall growth of the St. Louis gaming market going to hurt or benefit you over time?
With any expansions or corrective measures to downtown St. Louis, we would certainly expect to share a percentage of the growth that comes with it. There are other projects that are still pending—it’s been refreshing to see, because it’s well overdue. That growth will assist everyone.

Your $92 million upgrade to Casino Queen was unusual in that you didn’t just expand the casino, you moved it inland and completely rebuilt it. How has that changed the guest experience?
It’s all on one level now, versus the old riverboat which had three levels of gaming. In the old days, our customers had to walk through a guest pavilion and over a bridge to get onto a three-story vessel. Now we have much greater convenience and high ceilings. It’s very similar to the Suncoast in Las Vegas. [Casino Queen and the Suncoast were designed by the same firm, Yates-Silverman Inc.]

Let’s talk about your greatest claim to fame, as far as players are concerned. You’ve got the loosest slot machines in the country.
It’s part of our overall marketing strategy. We’re proud to be able to give our guests what we consider to be the best value for their gaming dollar—whether it’s at the slots, the tables, or our drink prices and food venues. It’s quality at a reasonable price. We have our loyal customers who come here daily, and we cater to them. When you're awarded the loosest slots year after year, people pay attention. It’s a huge marketing tool, especially when people start to complain that the slots have “tightened up” elsewhere. We have that claim to fame, versus Missouri, where their hold is over 9 percent. Their payback percentages are 91 creeping up on 92. Our paybacks are just over 94.

Was that a specific goal of yours—to earn that “loosest slots” distinction?
In the early days, our marketing campaign was about trying to have the loosest slots, period. As other competition hit the marketplace, our slots became the loosest in St. Louis, then in the Midwest, and as time went on it became what it is now. We never took advantage of our guests. Other facilities may have continued to tighten up, but we stood fast.

How exciting was that for you, when Casino Queen was officially recognized as having the loosest slots in America?
The first year we received the award, we walked around with our chests stuck out because we take pride in taking care of our customers. We’re not a big, multi-property facility, but we do take great pride in our customer service, our cleanliness, and offering the best value for the dollar. When we won the award for the second and third year, it really told the whole story of our marketing mentality. Because we have a brand-new facility, a lot of people thought we might tighten up our machines in order to pay down debt. We didn’t do that. We wanted to continue delivering what our guests expect.