I recently entered a local casino shortly after 4 a.m. and swiped my card at the kiosk. On the screen read words to the effect of “Unable to Access Your Card at This Time!” I swiped at an adjacent kiosk and received the same message.
This could mean several things. One possibility was that the casino was doing daily maintenance — such as, for example, calculating multipliers from the previous day. This happens sometime “early” in the morning. Maybe 2 a.m. Maybe 3 a.m. Maybe 4 a.m. Depends on the casino. This was the most benign thing that could happen. I hoped this was the explanation.
It could be, however, that I’d worn out my welcome. This periodically happens to many strong players — including me. I know players who have run out of places to play in greater Las Vegas. I’m not at that point yet, but I’m closer to it than I’d like to be.
If you run into a situation where your card doesn’t work, you need to go to the club booth (usually not open at 4 a.m.) and find out what is wrong. Maybe your card has been demagnetized and a simple replacement will fix the problem. Or maybe the casino is going to take your card away — with or without allowing you to cash out your points first. You won’t know until you go to the booth and ask.
I was not at a casino where I needed to swipe at the kiosk before starting to play, and I already knew what my multiplier would be that day, so I went to a video poker machine to get some more information. I knew how many points I had accumulated on my card and if that number showed up when I inserted my card, likely everything was okay. If my card wouldn’t work at the machine, that would tell me that it was more serious.
My card didn’t work at the video poker machine. Damn! This might not end well!
I then examined the card closely and discovered the problem. I was trying to play with a card from another casino! These senior moments keep happening more and more frequently these days, although I sometimes did this kind of thing even before I became a senior. I’m sure that this has also happened to many of you who have a sizeable collection of slot club cards.
Okay. Fine. No problem. I got out the correct card, went back to the kiosk, and everything worked just fine. I had a tiny “scare,” but everything worked out this time.
But it won’t always work out. Sooner or later, another casino will restrict me in one way or another. So, the question is, how do I prepare for that?
When a casino restricts you, some places have a reputation for allowing you to cash out your already-earned points, and some don’t. Some casinos have a policy of letting you redeem your points for full value using free play, or half value if you want cash. (I will ALWAYS want free play in these situations.) If they take away my card, they’ll cash me out at the lesser rate. I don’t want that, of course, so every time I accumulate $200 or more in free play at such a casino, I redeem it. That way, when I lose half of what I have accumulated, it won’t be very much.
It can be trickier if there is a third option, such as redeeming the same amount of points for $1 cash, $2 free play, or $3 for food at restaurants. If you use the restaurant(s) at this casino, redeeming all your points when you earn them is costly. You’ll need to work out for yourself how many dollars to keep in your account based on how often you eat there and whether you think you’re close to being restricted.
Other casinos have the reputation of not cashing you out at all. How do I know this? I ask players who have been restricted! If somebody tells me they have been restricted at a particular place, I ask them if their points were redeemed when they were restricted. Sometimes the answer is yes. Sometimes it’s no. I keep balances accordingly.
I prefer to keep larger balances as a sort of “savings account” to be drawn down during the inevitable losing streaks. Since these balances have tax implications only when withdrawn, on a winning year I tend to keep large balances and on the losing years, my balances become zero before December 31.
That is my preferred way of handling balances. But when playing at casinos that might not redeem at full value, keeping a small balance trumps savings and tax considerations.
I hear that certain machines or casinos are better than others for playing VP. If you find a full play machine, does it really matter where you play? Isnt each hand random?
At the risk of my leg being pulled by these questions, the term is “full pay”, not “full play”. It is a term used by VP-knowledgeable people, referring to VP machines that “pay” optimally for certain winning hands. Example: Machine #ABC has the game of Double Bonus, and pays 45 coins for a Full House and 35 for a Flush.. Machine #XYZ has the same game, Double Bonus, but only pays 40 coins for a Full House and 30 for a Flush. In the simplest of terms, machine #ABC is “full pay” (but in this explanation only as far as those two hands). Is there any such thing as 50 coins for the Full House? There used to be, I think, and THAT would be the fullest pay, but I haven’t seen it in a long time..
These two machines, ABC and XYZ may be side by side in a casino. You also might walk next door and find a Double Bonus machine at full pay, and of course that is fine, play one where your slot club treats you best, i.e. comps. When a machine is declared by players to NOT be “full pay”, it is because one or more of the winning hands on THAT machine pays less than what is considered “full pay.”
You must know these full payouts for the particular VP game if you want to strictly play a “full pay” game.
As to your question whether it matters where you PLAY if you find a full PAY machine, it might, and the answer can get complicated. In general, full pay is better than [not] full pay. You’d rather get 45 coins for a Full House than 40, right? But one casino may ‘rank’ (my word) your “full pay” VP play lower than another casino would for purposes of the slot club benefits/comps earned. This is nuts but it happens. So, a smart player might not drive 50 miles just to play the one full pay machine in the county unless the benefits (comps) seriously outweigh the price of gasoline, or they feel compelled to do it on principle. If not, the player might search for the nearest thing to full pay (full coin on most hands on that game) in a closer casino.
Another reason one may opt to play a NOT full pay machine in a certain casino is if that machine is one with a progressive jackpot for the Royal Flush. Progressives very often are NOT full pay, taking out a coin on one or more winning hands to subsidize the casino that pays for the Royal costing them 5726 coin instead of the usual 4000 of a non-progressive game.
Your question about whether each hand is random or not also makes me suspect you are joking, but yes each hand is supposed to be random. Randomness doesn’t actually apply to whether the machine is full pay or lousy pay. They both deal randomly, or are supposed to. A casino can lose their license if found to be tinkering with randomness of a machine.
mgm doesnt let you cashout
nor agua caliente.
Doesn’t “cash back” often have a “use by” date? If so, you’d have to be cognizant of that in managing your “savings account.”
In Las Vegas, I thought they were required by law to allow you to cash points, but they could confiscate comps. Is that incorrect?
MGM properties (mLife) used to give cash for points many many years ago, but they changed to the Express Comps system, listed on your account in dollars. No cash. Express Comps can be used for food, rooms, spa, etc. and in some casinos to purchase items in casino-owned shops. (Not in Vegas, I think.). Express comps can be “confiscated” by the casino to satisfy indebtedness, such as owing money on markers, or trashed a room etc., if the customer doesn’t pay up. If lowest tier and no activity in 6 months points may be “forfeited”, as in lost. For the rest of the tiers 12 months. Used to be 18 months.
Harrah’s/Caesars has never as far back as I can remember given cash for Total Rewards points. TR points can be used for food, rooms, spa, etc. They will “cash out’ TR points for Free Play, roughly half the ‘value’ of the points. No cash. Points are forfeited (lost) if no activity in 6 months. Always has been 6 months. I’m sure they can use points to satisfy indebtedness, haven’t looked up the “rules” for that system.
There are different rules about these things for casinos in different parts of the country. Example: Express Comps can be used to purchase items in Beau Rivage gift shop in Biloxi, but not in Las Vegas.
Both MGM and Caesars give a discount in their casino-owned gift shops with presentation of players card. The higher the tier, the larger the discount. Again, since Beau Rivage allows purchase with points they may not allow discount in the shops. I haven’t bought anything there lately so can’t say for sure.
I’m not familiar with the other companies’ policies, Boyd, Stations, etc. Likely they have similar rules.
Bottom line, use points often however they can be used. Never know when the systems may change and opportunities lost. Use for food. Get a massage. Something.
MGM Detroit your points are seperate from Express Comps and can be cashed out for straight cash right at the machines any time you’re at $5 or more. Sadly, everything is earned 10 times slower than their properties in Vegas.
If your card is not working at a Kiosk because it was demagnetized, then it will also not work in a slot machine.
MGM Detroit now turns your point play into free play. It used to be downloaded as credits and cashed out. Now you have to play through it at least once. Not sure how long its been like this. Last time I was there was in early 2016. So it was changed sometime between then and now.
Does anyone know if casinos are required to provide a Win-Loss statement upon request and is there a time limit for them to provide the information?
They all provide them, and some even send them snail mail before you ask. Some (most?) are online, some you have to bring or mail in a notarized form, etc. Most people request them around first of the year for the previous year, but they go back as far as the players card systems recorded play. Example, I could request a WL statement for 2010 today and it would be available. As for 2019, some may be ready right now, some may take a little longer, but not that long.
It took 3 weeks for me to get one mailed to California from Station Casinos.
Before you go heading off to the kiosk make sure you try your card again. Those kiosks display that
message often for a variety of reasons. If a second swipe fails, try another kiosk. I’d say it’s 10%-20%
of the time I get the “unable to access account at this time” message.