Sad To See This

 After all of the efforts of Anthony and Andrew, the Downtown Grand has resorted to this - Downtown Grand Video Poker Overhaul We knew that the announcement that the Downtown Grand was getting all new machines wasn’t good news. Sure enough, the machines at the Furnace Bar are new and sparkly, but the paytables have been significantly devalued. Of greatest consequence, the former 9/5 Double Double Bonus 4-way progressive is now an 8/5 3-way. Previously almost always in the 100% range, it was at 98.85% when we checked. Also gone is 8/5 Bonus Poker, devalued to 7/5 (98.01%).

Hard to attract business this way. They are one block off Fremont Street...might as well be a mnile. DTG needs to do something to get the downtowners to want to go there.

We visited DTG during our Feb 2024 trip..most of the decent draws / plays were still in force then. I think they've changed some of the upper mgmt. people..few incentives to visit now it seems.

 So typical - one step forward, two steps back. 

It seems like their VP inventory, anyway, has waxed and waned since they opened.  Remember a few years ago when they experimented with a lot of FP pay tables (like dollar 10/7 DB and even dollar FPDW)?  That lasted a week or two, they must have gotten beaten up.  But it's always been up and down.  I agree with Don, they have to do something to attract people to their awful location.

The good news is that without all the deals, the place had been a ghost town. That'll happen again very quickly. Then manglement will say, "Duh, what happened? What's wrong? Revenues are down by forty percent!" Then maybe, just maybe, the light will dawn...

Overall, by the way, there are signs that the post-pandemic gouge tolerance may be slowly wearing off. People may be getting tired of getting reamed out. We'll see, I guess.

The thng is, the amounts that they would have lost by offering those good machines would have been TRIVIAL. Let's take $1 10/7 DB as an example. It returns 100.17% with PERFECT play. A skilled player would be able to pump through 800 hands an hour, or $4000. He will then make....$7.20 an hour. Oh, the casino heartbreak! The rending of garments in anguish! The existential PAIN of somebody WINNING SEVEN BUCKS!!!!!!!

And the same old algoeithm would still apply: they would make money by people playing less than perfectly. Hell, they wouldn't be able to deal blackjack or craps if everybody played those games well. But the greedheads get all alarmed when three or four of the casino's 500 machines don't make as much moiney as they "should." (The concept of a loss leader being alien to them.)

Agree, Kevin.  My sense is that the old loss-leader concept has been gone (from most properties, anyway) for a lot longer than we think.  The recent QoD about the Mirage reminded me that their model from the start in 1989 was for every department to be a profit center.  Providing positve or near-positive EV games is probably the same notion; nobody is going to make a fortune on dollar 10/7 DB, and the vast majority of people will be playing with negative EV (I don't remember, but I think DB is a negative game or at least close to negative if you don't incorporate all the penalty card situations).  It is funny how DTG goes through these cycles without ever sticking with a stable business model; you'd figure that there would be some degree of managerial memory.

It's really a shame. Shortsighted decisions. My wife and I, despite staying at other Fremont Street properties would always go and spend hours chasing those progressives because of the decent pay tables there at least once during our trips. We enjoyed playing at the bar. Bartenders are great and quick with the drinks. Now, why waste the walk since we can find similar pay tables all over Fremont Street. I wonder how much those bartenders will lose in tips due to this sh!tty move. Bad move Downtown Grand. Get it together.