MGM National Harbor
Step outside at MGM National Harbor and you're still on the casino floor -- the outdoor gaming terrace runs video roulette and familiar slot titles in the open air, right next to a 2,400-square-foot zone built entirely around Ultimate Fire Link.
MGM National Harbor opened December 8, 2016, on a $1.4 billion build just outside Washington, D.C., and its design intentionally echoes the capital -- a white exterior meant to match the marble of DC's federal buildings, organized along a central axis the way the National Mall is laid out. The casino floor runs roughly 125,000 square feet with somewhere between 2,200 and 3,300 slot machines depending on which count you trust, plus an outdoor gaming terrace that's unusual for a casino this far north. Here's what's actually on the floor, how visitors describe the room, and what to know before you play.
Slot Machines and Video Poker
The centerpiece of the slot floor is the Ultimate Fire Link Zone, a dedicated 2,400-square-foot space built around 48 machines from the Ultimate Fire Link series, and a community slot-tagging site independently confirms a specific variant, Dragon Link: Happy and Prosperous, as a separate sighting elsewhere on the floor. Beyond that zone, the official casino lists Dancing Drums, Buffalo, and 88 Fortunes among its current games. BetMGM's own guide to its resort destinations goes further, naming five more titles specifically at National Harbor by name: Dragon Link, Jumanji Next Level Game, Coin Trio Royal, Smokin' Hot Stuff Link, and Dollar Storm. A 2017 feature on DC-area slot machines pinned down an unusually specific detail from that era -- nine Buffalo Grand machines on the floor, among the tallest cabinets in the building, each with a large bonus wheel and five jackpot levels -- though that exact count may well have shifted in the years since the article ran.
Table Games and the Poker Room
One official casino profile puts the floor at 80 table games spanning blackjack, craps, roulette, mini- and midi-baccarat, Pai Gow Poker, Three Card Poker, Four Card Poker, and Ultimate Texas Hold'em, while a separate casino-guide profile counts closer to 120 tables and roughly 3,300 slot machines total -- the gap between the two likely reflects different survey dates rather than a real contradiction, but it's worth knowing the number moves depending on the source. The poker room, on Level 2, runs 37 tables live 24/7, spreading No-Limit Texas Hold'em, Limit Hold'em, Pot-Limit Omaha, and 5-Card Omaha and Omaha Hi-Lo variants, with daily tournaments on top of the standing cash games. Outside, the open-air gaming terrace runs popular slot titles alongside six video roulette machines -- a genuinely unusual setup for a casino this far north, where most competitors keep everything indoors year-round. The same casino-guide profile notes a high-limit salon set apart from the main floor, and the in-house BetMGM Sportsbook has a 360-degree jumbotron, paired with a separate 1,500-square-foot racebook simulcast facility on Level 2.
Layout, Decor, and Atmosphere
Visitor impressions of the interior design vary about as widely as they possibly can. One review likened the space to "a smaller version of the Bellagio, right down to the flower displays in the atrium," praising the elegant décor throughout the property. Another described the exact same building as "a very large poorly decorated warehouse on the inside." Both are real visitor accounts of the same floor, which says something about how differently people read the same design choices -- worth keeping in mind if you go in expecting either extreme. A poker-room review split the difference somewhat, calling the overall design "slick, fresh, and extremely clean" and "very tech-forward and new," with the upstairs poker room in particular offering an "unusually quiet, clean, and pleasant" atmosphere compared to the busier main floor below it. Service is where the reviews line up more consistently: dealers are described as "generally quite good" with occasional mistakes, but drink service can lag noticeably -- one reviewer noted that during a visit, "neither of us saw a waitress in the room for the first hour of play."
History and Location
MGM Resorts won the Prince George's County gaming license in December 2013, beating out competing bids from Penn National Gaming and Greenwood Racing, and broke ground in April 2014 before opening in December 2016 at a final cost of $1.4 billion. The site sits inside National Harbor, the planned waterfront development on the Potomac just outside DC, which explains the building's specific architectural choices: a white exterior meant to echo the marble used across Washington's federal buildings, and a central-axis layout modeled loosely on the National Mall's own organizing geometry. The property changed hands in 2017, when MGM Growth Properties bought it for $1.2 billion in a leaseback deal; Vici Properties became the current owner after acquiring MGM Growth in 2022.
What to Know Before You Play
If you're trying to place a machine, start with the Ultimate Fire Link Zone -- at 48 machines in one dedicated 2,400-square-foot space, it's the single most concentrated bank on the floor and the games most likely to show up in casino-guide write-ups. Table-game and slot counts vary by a few thousand depending on the source, so treat any single number you read elsewhere as an approximation rather than a fixed fact. And given how differently visitors describe the decor -- Bellagio-adjacent to one reviewer, a warehouse to another -- it's worth forming your own read on arrival rather than trusting either extreme going in. Drink service can be slow in the poker room specifically, so don't count on a cocktail server showing up right away if you're settling in there for a session. If a machine or table still doesn't add up once you're standing in front of it, whether that's in the Ultimate Fire Link Zone or out on the open-air terrace, a quick photo and a question to 6-lab's Advisor is faster than guessing.
Notable games on the floor
- Ultimate Fire Link
- Dancing Drums
- Buffalo
- 88 Fortunes
- Dragon Link
- Jumanji Next Level Game
- Coin Trio Royal
- Smokin' Hot Stuff Link
- Dollar Storm
- Buffalo Grand
- Dragon Link: Happy and Prosperous
Good to know
- Features the Ultimate Fire Link Zone, a dedicated 2,400-square-foot gaming space featuring 48 machines from the Ultimate Fire Link series.
- Includes an outdoor gaming terrace that offers an open-air environment with popular slot titles and video roulette machines.
- MGM National Harbor has nine Buffalo Grand machines on the floor, among the tallest slot cabinets there, with a large bonus wheel and five jackpot levels.
- The 37-table poker room on Level 2 runs live-action poker 24/7, spreading No-Limit Texas Hold'em, Limit Hold'em, Pot-Limit Omaha, and 5-Card Omaha/Omaha Hi-Lo, with daily tournaments.
- The casino floor totals about 125,000 square feet with 80 table games, including blackjack, craps, roulette, mini/midi-baccarat, Pai Gow Poker, Three Card Poker, Four Card Poker, and Ultimate Texas Hold'em.
- The BetMGM Sportsbook inside the casino has a 360-degree jumbotron for game viewing, and there is a separate 1,500-square-foot racebook simulcast facility on Level 2.
- A separate casino-guide profile puts the floor at roughly 120 table games and about 3,300 slot machines, with an outdoor smoking patio offering slots and six video roulette machines alongside a high-limit salon.
- Visitor impressions of the interior design vary widely -- one review likened it to "a smaller version of the Bellagio, right down to the flower displays in the atrium," while another called it "a very large poorly decorated warehouse on the inside."
- A poker-room review described the overall design as "slick, fresh, and extremely clean" and "very tech-forward and new," with the upstairs poker room offering an "unusually quiet, clean, and pleasant" atmosphere.
- The same review described inconsistent floor service -- dealers were "generally quite good" with occasional mistakes, but during one visit "neither of us saw a waitress in the room for the first hour of play."
- MGM Resorts won the Prince George's County gaming license in December 2013, beating competing bids from Penn National Gaming and Greenwood Racing, broke ground in April 2014, and opened December 8, 2016 at a final cost of $1.4 billion.
- The building's architecture intentionally echoes Washington, D.C., with a white exterior meant to match the marble used in the city's federal buildings and a central-axis layout modeled loosely on the National Mall.
- MGM Growth Properties bought the property for $1.2 billion in a leaseback deal in 2017; Vici Properties became the current owner after acquiring MGM Growth in 2022.
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