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Slot Hunters Interview: “We Play $100-$150k Per Casino Trip”

Can slots be a family business? That’s the case with the breakout Slot Hunters channel on YouTube. The show features a father and son chasing jackpot wins across the USA.

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The explosion of slots-based content on YouTube had led to the rise of unique and entertaining personalities across the USA.

One of the standout new channels is the family-run Slot Hunters. Kent serves as the host for the show while his son Chasen works behind the scenes on the production side.

Currently the channel is a side project for the father and son team but it’s quickly becoming a big deal on YouTube. Kent lives in Dallas, Texas and has a National Real Estate Development Company while Chasen Lives in Southern California and has a successful gourmet food business.

Every few weeks the pair meets up at a predetermined casino and proceed to make slots magic. The channel is only 17 weeks old but they’ve already racked up millions of views and an impressive subscriber rate. The Slot Hunters aren’t afraid to play for huge amounts and they show the losses and wins. They plan on playing at over 100 casinos in the USA.

Kent was kind enough to sit down with me and explain how channel came to be in the first place.

This interview has been slightly edited for length and clarity.

Arthur Crowson (SlotsFan): How did you get your start making slots content?

Kent (Slot Hunters): It all started with the fact that Chasen would come out and see me on the weekends – because there’s so many flights from Orange County to Dallas – and we’d go to the local because there’s no gambling in Texas. So you could go to Oklahoma or Louisiana.

We’d go play some slot machines – which we both love to do – and then have a good dinner and head home together.

One of those days we came home and Chasen said, “Hey I want to show you something on YouTube.”

We watched a couple [slots] shows and I thought to myself, that’s really cool. We could do that. That’s how it started.

We’re still learning this business – I do call it a business – and it’s growing fast. We’re having a lot of fun with it. It’s gambling though. There’s no question about it. We’re playing with real money.

It seems like a cool way to bond with your son…

Kent: I’d say that’s absolutely accurate. I mean, I get to travel around with my son and play slots. Does it get any better than that?

We take out several days during the month. We’re a traveling show. So we’re not just going to one hotel in Las Vegas or one hotel in Reno or something like that. We’re traveling across the country. So I have the opportunity to spend time with him travel across the country to new places go to new casinos and play slot machines, which we both love to play. I mean, it doesn’t get any better than that.

How long have you guys played slots? How did you get into it in the first place?

Kent: Oh, I don’t know [laughs] . It’s you just playing casinos years and years and years. There are several Native American casinos in Southern California, which he plays at and then of course, I’ve been playing in Las Vegas for decades.

If someone hasn’t seen your content before how would you describe it?

Kent of the Slot Hunters driving a VW van across America.
Traveling is a huge component of the Slot Hunters YouTube channel.

Kent: I would say it’s an entertainment show. We focus on traveling across the country, trying to find the best casinos — those that pay out the most money. That’s really what our show is about, and we emphasize that.

We want to be the show that travels across the country and lets viewers know which casinos are playing the most and paying the best. Additionally, we identify certain slot machines that we play inside those casinos — machines that pay better than others. Different casinos have varying Return to Player (RTP) rates, and we discuss those on the show. In fact, we often provide the machine number during filming.

For example, we might say, ‘We’re at the Palms Hotel, and here’s the machine number.’ Viewers who play in that particular casino can then try their luck on the same machine for potentially better odds.”

What has the feedback been from people watching?

Kent: The feedback has been excellent. Approximately 100% of the comments we receive are positive. This positivity is reflected in our viewership numbers—we’ve reached over four million views in just 17 weeks. Our audience continues to grow at a rate of about 40% per month.

I think it’s because our show is interesting. We discuss not only gameplay but also aspects like the hotel itself and strategies that have worked for us. And importantly, we play with our own money, which adds an extra edge to the experience.

I feel like people love that level of authenticity.

Kent: That’s just the excitement of the game—both the losses and the wins are important. At the end of every show, we make sure to post a list of all the casinos we’ve visited and how much money we’ve won or lost.

It’s crucial to maintain a good sampling across all the casinos we visit. This ensures that our numbers aren’t skewed. Let me explain: If we go into one casino and only play $10,000, that wouldn’t give an accurate representation of the Return to Player (RTP) for that casino. Conversely, if we play a hundred thousand at the next casino, we’re providing a broader range of play. We strive to maintain consistency by playing within the same range at each casino. This way, the numbers we post — both the return to player and the win/loss figures — are legitimate.

A look at Slot Hunters RTP at various casinos.
Slot Hunters have no problem showing their ROI at various casinos around the USA.

Did you have a set budget?

Kent: We’ve been to maybe nine casinos or ten casinos. We played between $100,000-$150,000 in each one of the casinos.

That’s a significant amount of money.

Kent: Especially when you’re doing an average bet of 10 to 15 dollars, so we’re a kind of a different show in that respect. We’re not making $500 or $1,000 bets. We’re more of an average slot players’ channel.

Traveling is such a big component of your show how do you create the schedule?

Kent: That’s an excellent question, and it’s one of the key challenges in coordinating our casino visits due to a couple of factors.

Firstly, we avoid going to casinos that are absolute no-win situations. We aim to identify casinos with a higher Return to Player (RTP) so that there’s a chance to win. Once we’ve identified these casinos, we work on our schedule. Sometimes the schedule evolves through conversations and research, but it’s generally on a month-to-month basis. Keep in mind that our show started in March, so we’re only four months into it — 17 weeks, to be precise. It’s still a learning process for us. But to address your question, we focus on casinos that we believe offer the highest return.

Secondly, coordination is essential. We arrange airfare transportation from California and Dallas, Texas, to the casino we’re visiting. Additionally, we need permission from the casino to film on their premises. This can be quite challenging. On my end, I handle logistics, including travel arrangements and communication with hotels. Convincing hotels to allow filming in their casinos isn’t straightforward. You’ve probably heard this story countless times — I can spend weeks corresponding via email before finally getting a positive response from the right person.

Some of the casinos we’ve contacted are incredibly restrictive. They want to review the show before it’s posted, require a PR representative to be present during filming, and insist on an insurance liability policy for filming within the casino. And, of course, we adhere to basic requirements, such as not filming card games, employees, or other patrons.

I bet it can be challenging dealing with the casinos in some cases

Kent: That’s true but some casinos really get it and they’ll basically roll out the red carpet for you. For instance the Peppermill Casino in Reno. Their marketing department is great and we have a very good relationship with them.

It’s also close to Lake Tahoe, which is spectacular. We’ve been to the Peppermill twice and we’re going back in three weeks.

We’ll tell the truth about any hotel though. That’s a big part of our channel. There was one hotel where the bed sheets were so bad we couldn’t even sleep on them. We said it on air. I’m not sure if it was helpful criticism or not but we didn’t get any blowback. We talk about details like that on our channel.

How do you ascertain the best casinos to play?

Kent: Basically, you can research online, and you can find out RTPs. The gambling laws in different states are different, and some don’t have to post. In other words, the state of Oklahoma doesn’t post theirs. In Nevada, the minimum RTP is 75%. Different states have minimum standards. The state’s trying to protect the gamblers.

In fact, there is a hotel right out in New York, right near the airport, and they claim and post and guarantee a 99% RTP. It’s in New York.

Generally, in Vegas, what we experienced is mid 80s or ,mid-90s and let’s face it: There’s a big difference for every hundred thousand dollars. That’s a difference of $15,000 or $10,000, so it’s important when you’re playing as much volume as we’re playing. Because remember, we’re playing a hundred and fifty thousand dollars at an average of $10 or $15 bets. That’s a lot of spins on a lot of machines. So the RTP definitely comes into a factor.

What are your favorite casinos so far?

Kent raising his arms underneath the Choctaw
Kent at Choctaw Casino in Oklahoma.

Kent: I would say my favorite is the Peppermill. That would be my number one so far. Casinos that we haven’t been successful with in terms of gambling are the ones in Southern California. The nicest Casino Hotel that we’ve been to is the Yamava, which is in Southern, California.

I can’t count them out now, but probably less than 10 right now. I’m looking forward to trying that one in New York. Yeah, so we’re going to go to the Peppermill in three weeks. We’re gonna go there, and then after that, we’ll probably head to New York. There’s a lot on the East Coast, Connecticut.

We’ll probably end up going to most states – those that have gambling I mean.

What other slots channels do you enjoy watching?

Kent: I can’t say any channels that really stand out. I’m not saying that because I think our channel is better. It’s just they don’t have any interest to me. I guess I would say, if I had to pick one channel that I think is a good channel that I watch, it is Leslie’s Slots. 

I think she was from Southern California, now she’s in Las Vegas. I’m not sure. But what I like about her show is the production level is good. She’s playing low denominations. So she’s playing one to five dollar bets, she posts daily. She’s got a good subscriber base. In other words, her views to subscribers are almost one-to-one.

That means the base is very good with her. In other words, I don’t think she’s ever bought any subscribers. I don’t think that she’s ever done anything weird like that. I think she’s just been slowly growing her base organically, and she’s got a solid following of views. She’s got a good show. So if I had to say one show, I would say Leslie Slots.

I appreciate quality production and good conversation during play because there’s a lot of downtime when you’re spinning and nothing is happening.

The production values are very high on your channel as well.

Kent: My son does a good job at that. He’s smart and he’s always been very good at business. He’s always concerned about the production. He wants the cameras in exactly the right place with no glare on the screen. We do our best to minimize music in the background.

He spends hours and hours editing our show.

What are your favorite slots?

Kent: Our favorite game is Huff and Puff. That’s everybody’s answer. It’s sensational, and I think it’s because of the simplicity of the game, as well as the theme of the game: The Big Bad Wolf blowing down the three little pigs’ houses. I mean, everybody knows that story, and the game is unbelievably popular. I think though that Light and Wonder has gone a little too far in my opinion now. I think the newest ones have lost a little bit of the entertainment value but that’s just my opinion. Chasen might have a different view on that.

We like that and we like Piggy Bankin‘. Piggy Bankin’ has done great for us in multiple casinos. So even the casinos that have a lower RTP, the game was still winning. I would say the Huff and Puff and the Piggy Pankin’ will probably be our best two games.

Slot Hunters enjoying some action on Lock It Link Piggy Bankin’.

Can you tell us about your biggest win on camera?

Kent: I wish I could tell you that we won millions of dollars, but I think the biggest wins that we have done so far – and remember we’re only paying 10 and 15 dollar bets – were probably Huff and Puff wins. I think we won around $4,000 on a single play of Huff and Puff.

There’s nothing wrong with $4,000 though. I can say we’ve had $4,000 jackpots a dozen times. But have we gotten one for $15,000 or $50,000? No, we haven’t gotten there yet, but you know what? Just one more spin of the wheel. It’s coming.

What do you think it is that people love to watch slots?

Kent: I think it’s the excitement of the game. I mean, I think the game of slot machines is exciting. I grew up playing three-wheel slot machines, then went into my poker phase, Blackjack phase, crap table phase. And I have circled back to slot machines.

The entertainment value is there. The machines nowadays have so much energy to them and they’re just fun to play, and I think that that’s why people play slot machines, why they watch it at home, and watch shows like our show.

I think it’s because it gives them a feeling of being there. Maybe not 100% like being there but at least a portion of it.

And I’ve had some people even comment and say, “I can’t gamble anymore. I can’t go to the casino anymore. I’m losing money, but you know what? I love watching your show because it makes me feel that I’m still there.”

I was going to ask you, do you have any specific goals for the channel?

Kent standing near a slot machine with cash.
Slot Hunters t-shirts and other merch will be available shortly on the channel’s website.

Kent: So, we really don’t know at this particular time. We’re only 17 weeks into this. We’ve got a great base. Our viewers to subscribers are over one-to-one. So, our base is solid. We’re not interested in buying any subscribers or going anything of that route. We’re going to continue the show the way it is, I would say, for the next two to three months and then we’ll figure it out.

We’ll say okay, we kind of got a handle on where does the show want to go from this particular point forward.

Our website [www.theslothunters.com] is in production right now. I mean, we don’t even have our website up. It’s at a point now where we need to strategically make the decisions both personally and professionally.

The show is doing well and we’re having a great time. I mean, that’s the bottom line.

Anything else?

Kent: We play with our own money and it’s important to us that we keep the show honest in the integrity of the show. And that is super important to us. We play with our own money. It’s real money, real play. We post the losses as well as the gains. And we keep it straightforward. The show’s traveling which is kind of a unique twist, we’re going to different places all over the country.

We’re still learning this whole thing where I look at some of these other shows and these people have been doing this for three, four years. I mean, it’s hard to post a show every single day and to imagine posting a show every single day for three, four, five years. I mean, my hats off to those people and credit to them. I mean, that is hard work. And so, I respect them. I really do.

Author: Arthur Crowson
An award-winning writer and editor who hails from Hawaii's Big Island. Arthur began his career in traditional news media but transitioned to online media in the mid-2000s where he spent many years covering online poker during its boom. Arthur remains actively involved with playing online poker and maintains a presence in the poker community. As editor at SlotsFan, Arthur covers the growing community of slots streamers and games.
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