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Ask anyone who’s spent a weekend at Mystic Lake Casino Hotel in Prior Lake and they’ll probably tell you the same thing: the place just feels lucky. Turns out there’s data behind that now. A new ranking that pulled reviews from more than 55 major US casinos puts Mystic Lake at number four in the country, ahead of properties in Atlantic City and behind only a handful of names most people associate with Vegas or Florida.
Minnesota Punching Above Its Weight
Tribal gaming just had its biggest year on record. FY2025 brought in a record $46.2 billion in gross gaming revenue, up 5.3 percent from the year before. Mystic Lake is part of that boom, and it’s a big reason casinos like it don’t get written off as the consolation prize to Vegas anymore. When a resort a couple hours south of the Twin Cities can hold its own against properties in Oklahoma, upstate New York and Florida, the old hierarchy of Vegas first, everywhere else second starts to look a little dated.
The resort itself is nothing new to Twin Cities locals. Spa, indoor pool, a concert schedule that pulls acts most casinos this size wouldn’t get near. What’s new is the reputation for actually paying out. One Tripadvisor reviewer put it about as plainly as you can: “I didn’t win any huge jackpots but won enough to stay there and play.” Not a bad standard to hold a casino to, honestly, and one that a lot of flashier properties apparently can’t clear.
How Casinos.com Ran The Numbers
The methodology is pretty simple: pull reviews from over 55 major US casinos on Tripadvisor and count how often words like won, jackpot, hand pay and bonus show up. Casinos.com, who offer guidance on online casinos in a range of countries including the USA and Ireland for example, put Mystic Lake at 20.13 percent on that scale, with 121 lucky mentions out of 601 reviews.
That’s good enough for fourth place, just behind Choctaw Casino Resort in Oklahoma and Turning Stone Resort Casino in upstate New York, and just ahead of Pechanga in California. Turning Stone’s 2,300 slot machines and 80 tables helped it rack up 102 mentions of the word “won” alone, while Choctaw’s 7,400 machines and progressive jackpots inspired one reviewer to write, simply, “Bye bye Vegas! Hello Choctaw!” Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Tampa took the top spot at 25.49 percent, helped along by a reviewer who claimed four jackpots in one overnight stay. Michigan’s Soaring Eagle Casino and Resort made the top ten too, so this isn’t a one-off for the Midwest.
Meanwhile, The Strip Had A Rough Showing
Not one Las Vegas Strip property made the top 20. The Luxor, Excalibur, Bellagio, Circus Circus and MGM Grand landed in the bottom five instead, all under five percent. The Luxor came in dead last at 3.97 percent, with only 55 of its more than 60,000 reviews mentioning the word “winner.” The Excalibur wasn’t far behind at 4.14 percent, with just 99 mentions of “lucky” out of over 27,000 reviews. That doesn’t mean the machines are actually rigged against you there. It probably just means people reviewing the Bellagio are writing about the fountains and the restaurants, not their blackjack hand, and the math shakes out accordingly.
Worth The Drive North
If you’re weighing a weekend out of the city, Prior Lake is an easy one to tack onto other Midwest trips UrbanMatter has covered before, like our pick for the most luxurious cabin retreat in the Midwest, a couple hours in the other direction if you want to stretch the trip into a full weekend. Pair the two and you’ve got a lakes-and-slots itinerary that doesn’t require a flight.
Slot machines are random. No casino, Mystic Lake included, can actually promise you’ll win more there than anywhere else, and Casinos.com is upfront about that in its own disclaimer. But if you’re already headed north for the lakes, the Mall of America, or a show, it’s worth stopping in and seeing if the numbers hold up for you too.