Blackjack, roulette, craps, baccarat, and other table games are among the most well-known in Las Vegas.  Uno?  Not precisely.

This week, a lucky winner and their guests are invited to the UNO Social Club at the off-Strip Palms Casino Resort, which was announced in May.  The UNO Social Club, which bills itself as the “ultimate game-night destination,” offers table games of UNO where the dealer distributes and shuffles the cards.

The casino does not provide UNO table games for wagering on its gaming floor downstairs, nor is the UNO Social Club at Palms accessible to the general public.

No gambling with UNO 

Online confusion has resulted from the UNO Social Club marketing gimmick.  The Palms' collaboration with the well-known American pastime game is being redesigned as a casino game, according to false reports from a number of news sources and social media accounts.  DraftKings even made the completely untrue claim on X that UNO tables were operational in Las Vegas.

Instead, the Palms and UNO pact is a promotional tool for the card game that gives one UNO enthusiast a gratis three-night stay at the casino resort in a penthouse with a UNO theme.

This past weekend, a number of influencers were invited to visit the area, where they played the card game, bowled, and drank cocktails with a UNO theme.  Since UNO isn't an authorized game, Palms forbade participants from placing bets on the games' results since doing so would have violated its Nevada gaming license.

One influencer, “itszuose,” an Instagram account for an individual named Kuyate Josh, who has 134K followers, said it was “a good thing there was no betting bc I would’ve lost a lot of money.”

Although the UNO Social Club at Palms will only be accessible to the winner of the UNO Social Club vacation this weekend, from Friday, July 18, to Sunday, July 20, it won't be open to the general public. According to Mattel, UNO Social Clubs "will pop-up across the country later this years." In key US cities, "the pop-ups are planned for bars and venues."

The parent company of UNO, Mattel, Inc., which has teamed up with Palms for the marketing gimmick, claims that the UNO Social Club features three variations of the game that are based on crazy eights.

Players will be tasked with keeping lower-numbered cards while discarding high cards in UNO Golf.  Pairs of players can compete against each other in UNO Teams, but there will be unique cards to add some spice.  With its numerous extra cards and more severe penalties, UNO Show 'em No Mercy "will have players stacking, swapping, and drawing more cards than ever before." 

The History of UNO

Merle Robbins created UNO in January 1971 in Reading, Ohio.  A year later, Robbins, who works as a barber by day, sold the game to International Games for $50,000 plus a royalty of 10 cents every game sold.  In 1992, International Games was purchased by Mattel.

UNO is well-liked by both adults and children since it is simple to learn and play.  The object of the game is to be the first player to discard their hand after each player is handed seven cards.  A player must shout "UNO" when they are down to just one card.