Polls based on popular vote and surveys can be very misleading.  Other times, they can be spot on.  As a musician, I tend to look at things like The People’s Choice Awards as nothing but a great example of “the squeaky wheel gets the grease.” Many times, the truly deserving recipient of the award is not known as well, or people have not experienced their product as much.  So goes with many popular votes.

Today we take a closer look at the “Netties” votes and the analysis for our own Editors’ Choice Awards.  Some were well deserving, but others were not, probably due to the lack of most gamblers experiencing all seven casinos one by one

Best Hotel – Nettie Choice:  1.Mohegan Sun   2. Foxwoods                 Editors’ Choice: Foxwoods – NETG picks Foxwoods because of the number of rooms, rooms of all levels, and more on-campus hotels, all quality places to stay. 

Best Bars – Nettie Choice: 1.Mohegan Sun   2. Foxwoods  2. Twin River    Editors’ Choice: 1.Mohegan Sun   1. Foxwoods (tied)

Best Night Clubs / Lounge – Nettie Choice: 1.Mohegan Sun 2.Foxwoods Editors’ Choice: 1.Foxwoods 2. Mohegan Sun – Mohegan Sun has more bars, but Shrine is the best club.  Add Liquid Sundays in the summer, and you have the best at Foxwoods.

Best Dining Options – Nettie Choice: 1.Mohegan Sun   2. Foxwoods Editors’ Choice: 1.Mohegan Sun   1. Foxwoods (tied)

Favorite Restaurant – Nettie Choice: Tom’s Urban (MoSun)          Editors’ Choice: Tuscany (MS) & Red Lantern(Fox) & Fluties22 (Plainridge) tied.  As for Tom’s Urban, we had heard complaints recently on service, and the warmth of the food served. Inconsistency seems to be setting in.

Best Dining Value – Nettie Choice 1.Mohegan Sun  2.Oxford Casino & Plainridge Park

Editors’ Choice:  – Mohegan Sun, Oxford Casino, Foxwoods & Plainridge Park all offer a good bang for the buck, you just have to compare.  

Best Buffet – Nettie Choice 1.Mohegan Sun   2. Oxford Casino  Editors’ Choice:  Ditto!

Best Small Venue for Entertainment – Nettie Choice 1.Mohegan Sun Editors’ Choice:  Ditto, again.  Nothing in the area tops the Wolf Den.

Best Large Venue for Entertainment – Nettie Choice & Editors’ Choice: Mohegan Sun Arena

Best Casino Slots – Nettie Choice 1.Mohegan Sun   2. Twin River & Plainridge Park (tied)

Editors’ Choice: – Plainridge Park.  Higher slots payback, improved VP, and added slotplay bonuses, Plainville, MA is the place to go.

Favorite Slot Machine – Nettie Choice: Cashman & Hot Hot Penny (tied)

Editors’ Choice: – How can it NOT be Wheel of Fortune in it’s 20th anniversary, and almost 100 variations.

Best Video Poker – Nettie Choice & Editors’ Choice: 1. Mohegan Sun  2. Foxwoods. Mohegan Sun still leads New England in the number of 9/6 JOB offered, while Foxwoods has more progressive VP jackpots.

Best Casino Table Games – Nettie Choice & Editors’ Choice: 1. Foxwoods  2. Mohegan Sun & Twin River (tied)

BEST Poker Room – Nettie Choice:1. Foxwoods  2. Twin River       Editors’ Choice: Foxwoods – Still one of the largest and most exciting poker rooms in the country

Favorite Table Game – Nettie Choice: 1. Blackjack  2. Craps            Editors’ Choice: 1. Blackjack  2. Texas Hold’em (table game)

Best Racebook – Nettie Choice: 1. Foxwoods  2. Plainridge Park    Editors’ Choice: 1. Foxwoods  2. Mohegan Sun – but Plainridge has showed improved signs of life with the new casino. It’s cleaner and feels more like a racebook than a OTB.

Best Casino Players Club – Nettie Choice: 1.Mohegan Sun               Editors’ Choice: Foxwoods – improved Players Club Card, addition of Tier/status multipliers, and a friendlier club to locals puts it #1.

Casino You Feel the Luckiest In – Nettie Choice: 1.Mohegan Sun   2. Twin River & Plainridge Park (tied)

 Editors’ Choice: Pick ’em!  You win, you feel the place is luck, you lose……well you don’t.

Finally, our thoughts on two new questions we asked about this year:

How Many times Do You Visit a New England Casino? –                                 1. 63% once/month      2. 25% once/week

NETG has a feeling there is a little denial going on here.  Definitely more than once per month for most gamblers.

Which casino (approved or not) are you MOST interested in visiting in the future?  1. Third Connecticut casino   2. Wynn Boston Harbor

Again, we think this is swayed by the CT voters who voted this question. But, Wynn and MGM Springfield have got to be the next best things to happen to the New England Casino landscape.  Personally, I can’t wait, and the rest of the staff is especially looking towards the Wynn Boston Harbor opening.

Well, that’s a look at the Best of 2016.  Can’t wait to see changes on the rise.

Keep following NETimeGambling.com for as your complete New England Casino Resource.

Binbin, Miguel, & Bert