Originally posted by: Jerry Ice 33
I would do close to what a Southpoint does. But I'd not reduce slot club points like they did, wouldn't start skimping on the promos like they have and I'd keep food prices a little closer to where they had them maybe a few years ago. Don't cater to high rollers. Keep the bowlers, locals and sports conventions coming in the door and keep table minimums around $10. (there just aren't many out there like that anymore; why do you want to be like everybody else?)
OK, I'm sure there are a few positive EV players that squeak out a small profit over time. So what! The place is packed. They seem to do it all on massive volume instead of gouging the gambler. Stay true to that; don't go the other way now.
Now I know what some of you will say. They can do those three things above and keep the place packed. You may not be wrong about that and I'm sure that is what the casino mgmt is thinking in regards to those changes. But it has to take a toll at least a little bit on their customer base. I, for one, have started giving them less action and not staying there as often. There must be others.
I was an AP back in the "golden era of VP"--the 90s and the 00s. But I was late to the party, as I really didn't start doing that in earnest until 2003, at which time opportunities were already starting to dry up. We were starting to see absolute freakouts by many casinos about ,25 FPDW players. They were TERRIFIED that maybe the card counter era was coming back, or something. They went full nutso, surveiling VP players, canceling players' club cards left and right without warning--the El Co and Orleans were notorious for that. If you played only on point multiplier days at Boyd, Stations, et al., your players' club membership was no more.
Most people aren't aware of this, but a well-known local pro named Slob Prancer was hired by the Orleans, and later, other casinos, to help them identify VP APs. Hundreds were identified and many were banned.
And all this effort--for what? For what? To stop people from playing a game that would net them $7 an hour if they played it fast and perfectly? It's quite reminiscent of when the casinos turned blackjack into shitjack because the bosses were seeing card counter ghosts underneath their beds.
The next group targeted was those who managed to show a profit from mailers and promos. The massive efforts to squelch that resulted in the alienation of thousands of ploppies for whom the bennies increased their paybacks from 90% to 91%. They got their monthly mailers with $5 free play and never came back.
So I'm saying, I totally agree with you. Let people win. Give them good deals. Some people may figure out a way to gain a modest advantage. Don't massacre everything that's a good deal just to stop those $7 an hour pillagers and looters.
