If you follow my writings, you know that I really get frustrated with casinos doing “dumb things.” I give you a recent example that came in the mail today. Harrah’s Resort Atlantic City sent both Brad and me an offer to come and collect $100 in cash. The problem is that you could collect it only on May 30. Hello, casino promotion people - it is June 4. It’s stuff like this that makes me think you are stupid and I don't want to visit your casino at all. Aren’t promotions supposed to make me want to come visit your casino????   Hey, people, we play big every time we go to Atlantic City, but did you notice our Zip Code? Maybe we might need just a little bit more incentive to fly clear across the US to visit you??

Anyway, I saw an ad in today’s newspaper and it got my mind out of negative territory right away. I love South Point’s June gas promotion. It provides a way to get something everyone needs. It has simple details: Earn $25 in points and get a $50 Chevron gas card. This card is good anywhere in the US so this can be a good play for locals and out-of-towners alike. The points must be earned in June – you can’t get gas cards with old points you may have stockpiled. But the detail I like best is that you can earn these points on any machine in the casino. The ad says, “No machine restrictions.” So many local casinos are targeting specific machines, mainly the better paying VP, with little labels that exclude them from certain promotions or that require more coin-in to earn a point, and it is a breath of fresh promotional air to see a casino that hasn’t gone this route.

Of course the ad can’t give all the details of this promo – there is the usual “See club booth for complete rules” and this is good advice before doing any promotion. It takes 8334 points to earn one $50 card. You are limited to getting 25 cards, which would mean earning 208,350 points if you wanted to get this max.

If you are into the math, you might have known that earning 8334 points at South Point usually gives you $25 in cashback. That means that this gas promotion for $50 cards is just like getting double points. However, double points are usually given only one or two days a month. This month you can earn that double bonus every day in June if you use your points for gas cards.

What percentage value is this promotion? If you are a savvy math type, you know that here $1 coin-in earns 1 point and it takes 333 points to earn $1 in cashback, making that a .3% add-on to whatever game you are playing. So a double bonus like the gas promo (or double points) gives you a .6% add-on. That is a strong bonus.

But if this kind of math figuring gives you a headache, you have help available with Frugal Video Poker (or some other software programs), which will do this job for you in its Slot Club Calculator feature.

You will see Brad and me at Southpoint often this month. Stop and say “Hi” if you recognize us. We will be on one of the best VP machines – of course!

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