Most casinos have better-than-average promotions from time to time. Often, many players agree that a small number of machines are the best ones to play during one of these promotions.
As an example, I prefer the Quick Quads machines at South Point during multiple point days. There are only four machines there. Sometimes more than four players wish to play them at a particular time.
When this happens, usually players are civil with each other with respect to sharing. If someone asks me when I’ll be done, I usually tell them. On occasion I’ve taken somebody’s cell phone number and told them I’d call them ten minutes before I was ready to leave.
This system works well for well-connected players. You give the machine to me when you’re done with it and I’ll give the machine to you. The system works poorly for loners. Loners would LIKE the rule to be first come, first served and if you’re waiting when a machine becomes free you should be able to get it.
There is no universally-accepted correct way to divide up the machine time, although “squatters rights” are virtually always recognized. If you currently have the machine, usually you may decide who gets it next. A big problem sometimes arises when players break the casino’s rules to stay on a machine.
Sometimes casinos choose to limit the number of points any one player can earn during one of these promotions. At Coast casinos, a frequent limit is $10,000 of coin-in per day. The reason they do this is that the casinos are taking the worst of it when the best players play the promotion — but if the casinos get enough average or recreational players playing the promotion the casino will make out okay.
Many, not all, casinos look the other way if a player plays on his-or-her spouse’s card. I’ll play on Shirley’s card when this is allowed. Where I’ve been told that this isn’t allowed at a particular casino, I don’t do it.
At some casinos, players blatantly cheat. These get around the $10,000-per-day limit by playing on cards belonging to five or ten other players. Instead of being on-and-off the desirable machines in an hour or two, they live on these machines all day long. They only play on machines where W2Gs are unlikely (or impossible).
Other players who play on the same machines usually are aware that this is being done — and by whom. Most players let other players get away with “minor” transgressions. So long as everybody stays cool about it, this cheating can go undetected for an extended period of time.
Not all players are willing to look the other way. Being shut out from a good machine because there are a lot of players waiting in line is one thing. Being shut out because others are blatantly cheating is something else altogether.
Let’s say “George” is being shut out and “Gracie” is the one playing on a lot of cards. Let’s further assume that George has had all he can take. He goes up to Gracie and explains the facts of life. Either Gracie gives him the machine in short order or he will rat her out to the casino.
Bringing casino management into this is something no thinking player wants. There is no telling what “solution” the casino will come up with, but many solutions are detrimental to all players. Sometimes both players are kicked out. Sometimes the casino will decide that since 7x point days creates this sort of problem, maybe they should only offer 4x points in the future. Sometimes the casino will decide that the best way to solve the problem is to lower the pay schedule on the machine so players won’t fight over it any more.
So if George and Gracie get into it, sometimes you’ll see a “Blanche” voluntarily give up her machine in order to quiet the situation. Blanche might simply be playing on her own card but is smart enough to see the bigger picture. If this happens, all players owe Blanche a big thank you.
Usually there is no Blanche around. Nominally-uninvolved players wish the situation would resolve itself quietly, but they aren’t willing to give up their machine in the process. Good Samaritans are frequently scarce.
If George IS going to go to management, heaven forbid, it’s surprising how many times he announces to everybody that this is what he’s going to do. When he makes this announcement, cheating players switch back to playing on their own card — and when the casino management comes by to check, everybody is legal. But you can bet that nobody wants anything to do with George afterwards.
Not everybody is good at problem resolution. Emotions can flare. Voices can get raised. Things can get said that inflame the situation.
I’ve seen cases where George and Gracie worked something like this out. I’ve seen cases where they haven’t. I’ve seen cases where afterwards both George and Gracie wish they could have done it over again and come up with a better solution.
Video poker opportunities are relatively scarce these days. Sometimes you can’t help getting kicked out of a casino because you won, but getting kicked out because you’re caught cheating is a foolish risk. At the same time, some players don’t have the skills to survive without cheating so they are going to do what they have to do.
From various guests on my radio show I’ve come to the conclusion that surveillance in casinos is much better than it used to be. This increases the likelihood that cheaters will be caught and punished. If the morality of the situation isn’t enough to stop players some from cheating, perhaps the increased potential of being caught will give them pause.