I was recently in the high limit slot salon at the Venetian. I went to play the $5 JoB machines that they have to qualify for a couple promotions. Unfortunately, the machines are gone. If you want to play full-pay Jacks or Better you have to play $25 machines now. They've priced me out. Those machines are too high for me.

One pleasant surprise, however, was that they've now added a mobile gambling device to their offerings. Right now, the device only works in the high limit salon, and the gold/platinum card lounge attached to it. I spoke with the head of the system and he informed me that they're trying to add the pool and eventually the entire casino floor to the area of operation.

I decided to put $50 on the device and play a few games to check it out. Here's what the login screen looks like:

To play, I had to set up an account with one of the slot attendants in high limit. This took a few minutes longer than I expected, but it was probably more a factor of the system being so new to everyone than anything else. I gave the lady $50 in cash and signed a couple pieces of paper. I then logged into the game with my player's card number and a PIN number that I chose while activating my account.

The machine had a few table games such as blackjack and baccarat as well as some video poker.

Here's a picture of the blackjack and of the video poker:

The video poker schedules were very low return. I only played a few hands. I don't know percentages of return on short-pay machines very well, but these were probably in the 96% to 97% range.

The blackjack is surprisingly good because it does pay 3:2 on naturals. I don't recall if surrender is offered or not, but the house edge is probably about 0.5%. Not too bad really. The minimum bet allowed was $5.

People will argue that the house is always going to have the edge on these games. That's usually true, but you may find that they'll offer some type of promotion on these. Perhaps they'll give you a matching bonus of $50 for a $50 play. In that case it would be great. There are no such offers right now, but I'd say it's in the future, especially as more casinos get the technology and competition develops.

Also, if your form of entertainment is playing $10 blackjack and you want to sit by the pool and play, I think this could be fun. Some people do gamble for entertainment. I choose not to, but that's not to say that it's wrong.

By the way, I cashed out $71 for a $21 profit and it was very quick and easy.

On a separate note, as I was leaving the Palazzo next door where I parked, I noticed that a number of prime parking spots are reserved for carpool vehicles or low-emission vehicles. I'm aware that the Palazzo has received an award for environmental responsibility. Specifically, the U.S. Green Building Council has given it the Silver LEED Certificate for it's significant efforts to reduce it's environmental impact.

Among some of the innovations are sensors in the suites that monitor if a person is inside and adjust the temperature up a few degrees in the summer when no people are present. Also, the pools are heated by an extensive solar system which also is used to heat the hotel's hot water in the summer when less energy is needed to heat the pool.

I laud the Palazzo's efforts. They've made some great efforts and improvements in the way these megacasinos respect their world. It's great news.

On the other hand, the parking spots idea may need some rethinking. Here are the signs over the reserved spots:

I believe it's a great idea to give carpoolers and drivers of fuel-efficient vehicles preferential parking. We have to make some real efforts to reduce our consumption of oil. These spots, however, did not appear to me to be monitored. Even if they were, I'm not sure how they would enforce it. If a husband and wife park in a carpool spot, who's to say they didn't carpool?

If they can enforce these spots somehow, then I'm all for it. If they're getting the benefits of environmental recognition from them, yet they're not being used properly, then it's not-so-good.

Having said that, their efforts in other areas of their construction and operation are the absolute best in Las Vegas for any casino property. I think they deserve a lot of credit for that.

For more excellent information about Palazzo's efforts to be Green, click this link.

[Email Blogger]