After I wrote about daily average earlier in the month, I received this e-mail from a reader: 

One thing you might warn your readers about is “what is a day?” for the computation of a daily average.  I’m a night person so I like to play all night when I have the full range of VP machines to pick from and no distractions.  I have been tripped up on the what-is a-day question enough times to make it my business to 
TRY to find out the answer. I have quite a lot of experience trying to extract information from players clubs, hosts, marketing departments, and whomever else I can grab, but it isn’t easy to find the answer to this question. 

Some casinos start their player day at midnight.  Many, many start at 2:00 AM. (It took me forever to find out Fitzgerald’s starts at 4:00 AM.) If you’re in a casino that starts at 2:00 AM and play from 10:00 PM  ’till 3:00 AM. You have played for TWO player days, thus diluting your daily average.  95% of the time, if you ask at the player’s club, they will tell you midnight, but for the sake of computation of daily average, thist isn’t always true. To make matters even more complicated, if a casino is offering point multiplier days, these almost always start at midnight.  Anyone starting to play at midnight in the hopes of getting lots of points is running the risk of ruining their daily average. 

I personally make it a point to start any new play after 2:00 AM (the 
Fitz after 4:00AM) and hope for the best.

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I got a lot of questions after my September 7th blog entry, most of them about the subject of casinos using daily average to determine what rewards and offers to send you in the mail. Here is a sample: 

How do we, the players, know if our play is based on daily average? Will the players club disclose that information? What about a host?  

Do you by any chance have a list of casinos in Vegas that use daily average? It would sure help us to know. 

I wish that there were simple answers to these questions, but there aren’t. I’m forced back, as I am so often, to my old standby statement, “It depends on the casino.” And in this matter, I must also answer, “And it’s not easy to find out. 

Occasionally, you can find out at the slot club as you can at the South Point Casino. Ask them what the requirements are for the various mailers they send out (to locals only) and they will give you the figures that you can write down and tell you what the qualification period is. (See my September 2 blog entry for more details.) This is one casino that does not use daily average; you can play as much or as little in any one day of the month. Only your monthly total counts. 

However, the front-line slot club personnel usually are not privy to marketing department policies and details. But it is worth a try to ask to speak to a slot club supervisor, who can occasionally be knowledgeable and helpful. 

What about hosts? Sometimes they can enlighten you and sometimes they just shake their heads and say that marketing is as much a mystery to them as to you! 

One of the ways I find out about puzzling casino policies is to peruse gambling forums, particularly vpFREE and/or one of its regional forums. Lots of people reporting on their experiences sometimes give one enough information to put the puzzle together. 

I do have some specific information,   Harrah’s – they do worship the God of Daily Average but they have lots of more minor gods, including Theo. I study them constantly and still can’t exactly figure out why they do anything! 

It used to be true, in Vegas, that Strip casinos mostly used daily (or trip) average – and that is still the way it is. Locals casinos almost always used monthly or quarterly totals. However, that is changing. The Stations seem to be tinkering with their system and sometimes (always?) include daily average as a factor. The Palms has always used daily average – a major frustration for me and many locals who want to go in and play more often. But if we can’t play big on some day, we just don’t play at all there. We will go to another locals joint where we don’t have to worry about ruining our daily average. 

A rule of thumb I use if I don’t know for sure whether daily average is a factor in a particular casino: I assume it is and try to give as much play as I can in as few days as possible. When I want to establish myself in a new casino, I play big one day and try not to be tripped on any other days. Then I have a high average whether that is important or not. 

So no, I can’t put a list of casino here to help you. I wish I could but the way casinos change, it would be out of date before I finished typing it!

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I don't understand how this Tuscany thing works. Why do players pull
their cards out? What do they have to gain from this? 

I have been questioned about this since my last entry here. The short answer is that casino bugaboo called “daily average.” I dislike this casino policy probably more than any other. Here is part of the section in More Frugal Gambling where I discuss “The DAILY AVERAGE TRAP”:  

Be especially careful when any casino benefits are based on your daily average. This can be a huge danger area not only for the player who uses the host system to get comps but also for someone who is depending on bounce-back cash from the slot club or room offers through direct mail offers.  

The obvious meaning of daily average is the amount of action (coin-in or slot club points earned) you give on the machines in one casino divided by the number of days you played on their machines. If you are staying in the casino-hotel where you are playing, this might be figured as a whole trip average. But whether it is called a daily average (for a day visitor) or a trip average (for the multi-day tourist), it is quicksand territory. 

The main problem comes in determining what a casino considers a “day” or a “trip.” We have a high-roller friend who is an expert in avoiding this problem. Writing under the nom de plume of Royal Cat, he gave a long list of ways you can run afoul of being “tripped,” meaning doing something that the casino might count as a “day” or a “trip” even if you don’t actually put any money into a machine. 

1.      Sticking your slot club card into any casino machine or kiosk, even to merely view your point balance.

2.      Presenting your card in the pit. 

3.      Any slot club transaction, including checking point balance, redeeming cashback, having free play put on a machine, or getting a comp for your points 

4.      Use of ANY coupon that has your account number on it, including gift shop or buffet discounts

5.      Playing on your card later in the day after checking out from the hotel, triggering a second trip rather than a continuation of the first one. 

6.      Inquiring about or paying off a marker

7.      Making a reservation for a hotel stay or event, even if you later cancel it. 

8.      Signing in to a VIP lounge 

There are ways that a savvy machine player can avoid being punished by an unreasonable use of technology (and hopefully some casino executives will read this and see how irrational rules keep gamblers from playing as much as they would like in their casinos). NEVER give “walk-through” play in a casino that worships the God of Daily Average. If you can’t give a substantial amount of play in this casino, don’t give any. You get in from the airport late your first night for a 3-day stay at this casino or you have only an hour on the last day before you have to check out and go to the airport, don’t ruin your average by playing for a short time. Sometimes a host is authorized to take these short periods into consideration, but you can’t talk to a computer to “explain” when they send out your next room offer based on a “ruined” daily or trip average. Instead play next door where they welcome your play, whether for long or short periods of time. Some couples with individual slot club accounts, as I always recommend, solve this problem by using one person’s card for their major comp play in a casino and the other card for these short sessions in the same casino. 

With all my experience in this area, I still can’t avoid this problem completely. A new casino opened quite near our condo here in Las Vegas. It would be handier for us if we could establish ourselves there and perhaps drop playing in a couple of casinos much further away. But we would have to see whether this new casino could offer the same benefits we had been getting elsewhere. There was no cashback so we would have to depend on bounce-back cash and there were no brochures on this to help us know what it took to get what. So we would have to “experiment.” After our early play, they started sending frequent “free play” coupons, sometimes 3, 4, or 5 times a week. Okay, we wouldn’t be pikers; we wouldn’t just play out the free play and then run.   Every time we used a free-play coupon, we would play for an hour or two – so we were putting in some serious weekly coin-in. What happened? Our free-play coupon amounts started decreasing. We had friends who were putting in the same coin-in as we were each week, but all in one day. They were getting much bigger free-play coupons. Oops, we were caught between getting “tripped” for using a coupon without playing and having a low daily average.

At some casinos, if you pull your card after you download your free play, the software used does not record a “play day.” That would be the reason why you might want to pull your card if you don’t plan to do any play that day except running the free play through once and then cashing out. However, this will not work at casinos with more recent software and all “action” is recorded in the machine records. 

In any case, casinos definitely frown on card-pulling - and sometimes take severe measures against players who do this, including cutting them off from getting all mailers. You are taking a risk if you do this.

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Palms 

A clarification to this question about the Palms slot club change I talked about back in June: Does this mean that whatever points I now accumulate, I can ONLY
 use them for gambling (free play) and NOT for free meals, etc.?? 

“Old” points (earned before June 1) can only be used for comps but they don't expire as long as you play at the Palms once a year. You must go to a kiosk to get a paper comp in order to use these old points. Now if you swipe your card at an outlet to pay for something, this accesses your “new” point account and redeems new points. So, yes, “new” points can be used for comps OR free play. 

Casino Royale 

Cashback earned at Casino Royale expires after 48 hours!!!! Collect it fast or lose it. 

Tuscany 

Tuscany monitors carefully whether you collect mailed bounce-back free play and pull your players card to play it off so you don’t earn any points. Some do this thinking that this will keep your daily average higher. This may work at some casinos, but even though Tuscany software doesn’t seem to catch this, Marketing manually goes through their database to weed out these “tricky players” and they will be taken off their promotional mailer list. 

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Most casinos will not tell you the requirements for receiving bounce-back cash/free play. However, I applaud the South Point for making this information known. At one time they even had a sign at the player’s club with bounce-back information.  

A few months ago they did make a major change to the requirements, greatly increasing the amount of coin-in for many of the tiers. There were so many complaints that they lowered the requirements some. Here is the present information you are given if you ask at the players club. These are monthly coin-in requirements for their skip-a-month system. For example, if you put $10,000 coin-in through the machines in September, you will receive the “B” mailer in November, 3 free-play periods for $15 each. 

A+   $60,000   --   4 x $50
A     $20,000   --   4 x $30
B     $10,000   --   3 x $15
C      $2,000    --   3 x $5
D      $1,000    --   2 x $5 

Remember, these numbers are coin-in, not points. Although $1 coin-in does earn one point, on double-points days you will earn twice as many points but your coin-in will be your base points. Base points (and therefore coin-in amounts) are accumulating and displayed on the card reader as you play and give you your balance for that day, no matter how many times you take your card out. However, when you take your card out, the points will be doubled and reflected in your total point balance. 

South Point has some good promotions this month. But remember to check the details. Don’t assume they are the same as in previous promos – casinos love to change things around!   You are limited to earning only TWO gas cards on Mondays.   And double points on Friday are only from noon until midnight.

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From Martin, a helpful Palms hint:  

Even as an out-of-towner, I always go down that little hallway on the right side of the Club Palm booth and on the wall there are usually all the current promotions listed. Also there are “hard stock” flyers with detailed rules (covering their butts) on all such promos. 

Thanks, Martin, for reminding me to publicize this. The Palms has many good promotions but they are also often VERY complicated. I make it a point to pick up these flyers and read them VERY carefully. It’s a job because there isn’t just a little fine print – the complete flyer rules and regulations are in fine print! 

Derek caught an omission in my August 1st blog entry about “Taxing Changes.” 

I just read your blog about states that do not allow deductions to offset your W2G winnings.  Please add Massachusetts to your list.  We have to claim the winnings but cannot deduct any gambling losses. That's why we call it "Taxachusetts." 

Oops, I missed this naughty state when I copied that list from Chapter 9 of Tax Help for Gamblers: “How All 50 States Handle Gambling Wins/Losses. 

From a reader who wants to stay anonymous, about my “beef” with Station casinos: 

If you try to make an argument for sending the same mailer to two players with the same coin–in, one who plays only Optimums and one who plays penny slots, not only are you wrong, you will never move Station management on anything.   You need to see their side of it - they are a business and they need to make a profit. 

This raises a valid point. Actually I have never said that skilled players should get the same from a casino as unskilled players. I understand and accept the difference. My main concern in the August 14th blog entry was that in a  Stations promotion that seemed to be for all 50+ seniors it was not clearly stated that you were excluded if you didn’t get the monthly mailer. 

I notice that I am not the only one who is bothered about many casino promotions and advertising. A recent article in the Las Vegas Sun says that “some casino customers are taking their complaints about ambiguous or deceptive promotions to the Gaming Control Board” and that the Board is taking them seriously. 

Thanks, Westie, for pointing out that Sun artcle and another one that talks about the theft of slot club points. A warning for all of us to monitor our slot club accounts closely and frequently.

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Sometimes it seems that it is a waste of breath for players to complain to casinos when they change their policy or do something “stupid.” However, once in awhile I see an example where a casino really listens to its customers. 

A couple of months ago South Point instituted a huge raise across the board in the coin-in requirements for the various tiers of their bounce-back mailers. They also did this so quickly and without publicity of the change that players weren’t given a chance to meet the higher requirements if they wished to do so. An uproar ensued when the mailers came out – local players don't like negative surprises. To give the casino credit, they did listen and cut down on some of the more severe raises, and you could ask for the new requirements at the slot club. 

Another recent example was the Palms, when they changed their comp system for a free play one and gave just a year to use up old points. A few heavy players who had a large comp bank complained and the casino changed the rule so that old points wouldn’t expire as long as there was play on the card once a year. 

The most surprising example just came last week, from Eastside Cannery, in the form of a letter from the casino’s new General Manager – to me and many other players who had been put on their no-mail list last fall:

Upon my arrival at the Eastside, I was made aware of a situation that adversely impacted your relationship with our property and is inconsistent with our guest service standards. As I understand the situation, you were invited to play on a 10x bonus point promotion in September of 2008. You played and you were then removed from the Eastside database and treated with service that is inconsistent for our organization. For this situation, I would like to start by offering my sincere apology. Therefore, I would like to reactivate your C.A.N. Club membership immediately as a High Flyer member. 

The rest of the letter gave details of many bennies that awaited us since we were now VIPs again. 

WOW!!! A casino is admitting – in writing - that they made a mistake! I am so shocked that I may not be able to blog for several days!

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Wow – what a concept! 

When the Palms on June 1 changed its slot club system from comps only to free play for points, it was embraced enthusiastically by most players. However, a few higher-level players who had built up thousands of dollars of comps were upset that their “old” points had to be used by May 31, 2010. They complained to the management that a year was not long enough.  

Actually this was an unwise rule in the first place, but I will have to give the Palms credit for realizing this fairly quickly. They did not want to alienate some of their biggest players. So now your old points will not expire as long as you remain an active player, putting at least one point on your card once a year. 

Way to go, Palms!

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This was totally unexpected  - as it was when the same thing happened at the Stations. On June 1 the Palms is going from a comp-only point system to giving free play for points. And to my surprise, they are keeping the redemption value the same – 400 points = $1. 

Some of the details of the new program: 

You can earn points for your purchases at the Palms - $1 cash purchase earns one point. (This point-for-purchase is also available at the Venetian/Palazzo and Harrah’s and perhaps other casinos.) 

What about points you have in your account June 1? These are called “Original points” and can be redeemed for comps only just as before. They must be used up by May 31, 2010 or they will be “forfeited.” 

Another feature of the new program was mentioned in an e-mail news release I received:  “As an added bonus Palms is also ending its practice of having caps on point multipliers.”  Hurrah! 

In the original printed rules describing this new Palm program, it said that “designated” machines were excluded from earning any points. But a friend of mine who gets good “inside” information has said that they were rethinking this and would be permitting points to be earned on all machines. “ However the ‘better’ machines will not be eligible for any point multipliers. Stickers will be put on the machines indicating this.  Exactly WHICH machines has not yet been officially determined, but for sure all 100% machines will have the stickers, and maybe the NSUDs. Those are currently under discussion.”   

So look for those dreaded stickers starting June 1 before you start playing!

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From a reader, commenting on my last blog entry: 

Jean: 

“First off, let me say I have enjoyed your writings and cherish your latest autographed book. However…[Oops, I know the other shoe is going to fall]… times change, as we know very well, living in Michigan.  We have had to give up certain benefits to keep jobs for the better of the auto companies.  Las Vegas is in as bad shape as Michigan, if not worst.   Therefore wouldn’t you expect some “benefits” to be changed to allow others to keep their jobs?  Isn’t it better for club members to receive fewer kickbacks rather than let employees lose their jobs?  After all, check the stock market and the price of Las Vegas Sands, MGM or Wynn stock.   These companies are hurting and deserve support not criticism.  You and your following should support and emphasize the positive or Las Vegas attendance will continue to decline.  Remember if you paint a negative picture, why would anyone want to come to Vegas? 

“I look forward to my visit to Vegas, at the end month, and I look forward to reading your POSITIVE comments.” 

First, I must say I always appreciate input from my readers, whether they agree with me or not. However, sometimes I must defend my own views. 

I’m not an expert on the automobile industry, but I do know that if an automobile company doesn’t have any customers, it will go out of business. So if it, for example, decides to raise prices above the competition, it will start losing customers, even those long-time loyal to the brand. The same thing will happen to a casino company; cutting benefits (that’s like raising the price of entertainment) will cause a loss of customers. 

That part of Vegas is negative. But there are many positive things in Vegas right now that make it a wonderful and frugal place for gamblers to visit or live. Many casinos are running the best promotions I have seen in years. Room rates are at rock bottom. Many casinos have not cut basic benefits. 

So to the reader who wrote above and all others, I give this advice: Seek out the promotions. Consider your many options and pick the best!

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