MGM and Loyalty

I was just in Vegas for 4 days in October and I am also a LVA member. I usually come to Vegas about 4-6 times a year. I like playing blackjack and slots, I have been pretty loyal to MGM and have stayed at almost all their properties. This year I noticed the prices of everything going up almost every trip. When I was there in October I realized that they have tightened up all the slots significantly. In addition I used to be able to play blackjack and was able to play for hours at a $15.00 table. Well, there are no more $15 tables and even more concerning they changed all the tables over to 6:5. I will not play under those conditions. I will just go over to Southpoint, ElCortez, or Green Valley to play slots and blackjack because while the house always has an edge at least you can play at those places with fair odds. I was gold with MGM for many years. Just before COVID they changed the amount of points you get for tables, slot play and spend in MGM restaurants, etc. As such they downgraded me to pearl and now I have to pay resort fees on top of everything else. I usually come with and play with or spend $1000-$2000 per trip. While the mini bar is always expensive I also understand there is a large cost in maintaining and re-stocking them so I am okay with that to some point. However $26.00 for a bottle of water is absolutely insane. I had breakfast at Bellagio and $52.00 for an omelet and orange juice is crazy. I really miss the buffet at Aria, it was really good. Replaced by a food hall. I got a burger, frys and a drink and it was $47.00 and the burger was not even that good. I think In and Out has a better burger and I can get the same meal for $11.00 with better quality. I also used to have a host at MGM that would take care of anything I wanted or needed and comped nearly all my food and misc stuff. That also went away. Now everything is driven by some computer and the comps are very tight. If MGM wants to survive they need to treat their loyal customers a lot better. I will not play with 6:5 blackjack or slots so tight they never pay out. They can still make good money with a $6-$10 bottle of water and a $3 candy bar in the mini bars. They need to put the rewards program back the way it used to be and give us loyal customers the proper rewards and treatment we deserve. They will not survive by only taking care of the small number of "whales" that come and play $5000/hand games. I think that while for some people that are addicted to "influencers" they do not understand that they are missing out on getting real and factual information from people (Anthony and Andrew) who really understand the town and the industry. I think you should consider doing an episode on the MGM problem. I am certain that Caesars has similar issues however MGM really runs most of the strip. I wish you guys the best and will continue to support you because everything you guys do is in the best interests of the public, your members and subscribers.

Garry, you're just now realizing/acknowledging what patrons of the big casino conglomerates have been complaining about since the pandemic --The Gouge. Everybody has a pain threshold, and you've reached yours. I reached mine about twenty years ago, when I discerned that the Strip was nothing more than a ripoff.

So what should you do?

1. Abandon the Strip. There is still decent value, and much better gambling, to be found in locals' casinos. It'll also cost much less to stay there.

2. Abandon Vegas. Reno/Tahoe is an excellent alternative. Better prices, better gambling, and lots of things to see and do when you want a break from the casinos. And while destinations like the Deep South casinos and Atlantic City are putrid swamps, the gambling and overall value is much better there.

3. Abandon the idea of "loyalty" to any given casino megatoilet/group. You've seen that said loyalty only works one way. Despite your having poured tens of thousands down their greedy gullets over the years, they've been perfectly willing to "downgrade" you and throw you under the bus. I say, fuck 'em. Casinos are NOT, repeat, NOT good people. Stations Casinos has billboards all over town saying "We love locals." Yeah. The way orcas love seals. The folks at MGM love you in the same way and for the same reason.

If you want any specific recommendations for Reno or any other non-Vegas casino market, please let me know. There is literally no place in the US that is worse to visit and gamble right now, and that includes the basement of the Nevada State Penitentiary.

I don't think that's observable by a single person going to Vegas for a single visit.

Casino odds are premised on an infinite number of plays, something no single player can replicate by just plopping down at a table and taking notes.

If you played 1,000 hands of baccarat over a long weekend and lost every hand, well, yes, you could draw some conclusions about the fairness of that table.

But if you instead played slots that same weekend and did poorly, you still wouldn't have enough data to assess whether something had changed since your prior visit.

Yes, there may have been a tightening. But unless it was truly radical (say a > 20% drop in payback since your prior visit ), you wouldn't have the data to detect it.

Of course, but empirical observation still has value. One method that used to be pretty reliable to tell if a casino had tightened its slots was to examine and compare their VP paytables before and after. Many casinos didn't differentiate--they tightened ALL the screws. Of course, that process is more fine-tuned these days. But if the VP gets shittier, the slots probably do, too 

I've also noticed--again, purely empirical observation, with not nearly sufficient data to be "sure"--that there's just more "jackpot noise" in joints where the slots are loose. I remember being in the El Cortez and Caesars on the same day and being struck by the difference, with the same levels of overall activity and slot usage.

And finally, if the price of every single motherlovin' thing the casino sells has zoomed skyward, it would be rather Pollyanna to assume that the same hadn't been done to the slots.

Ultimately, there's a reason why the Gaming Control Board doesn't publish slot return percentages for individual Vegas casinos--just the three major areas. What the casinos don't want you to know, you won't.

We had been MGM and Strip loyalists for years ( spent many years at Gold and / or Platinum tiers ). That history started when MGM still offered 3:2 blackjack games with $10 minimums..ancient archives. Then MGM really obliterated their players club earning rates, in some cases up to an 80% reduction in TC earning. Those massive changes occurred about three years ago ( in incremental pain dispersal by MGM). The base earning rate for slot play of late  is $1 coin in = earns 1 TC ( horrible relative to the past). That means one has to have $20K coin-in to earn the Pearl tier..which allows members to park their cars in self-park as they get monetarily assaulted while gambling. Thus, in the past two years we haven't spent / gambled enough to even earn the Pearl level..on purpose because the radical reduction makes no sense whatsoever.

CET's 5X and 10X tier multiplier days are likely the single bast gambling promo left on the Strip; it makes a little bit of sense in terms of return. That's about the extent of it from our perspective.

No loyalty.  You can be riding high at top tiers for years as you said.  Should you get sick or otherwise can't gamble for a stretch, you go from hero to zero.  It is business, of course, and we can't expect otherwise. 

Candy

100%.

And it has ALWAYS been that way.

And if you doubt that, I highly encourage reading this recent HP "Question of the Day".

One big difference, though, is that hosts used to have the ability to reinstate you to your former level, which was of course good business as well as good customer service. Now, hosts' hands are tied in that and many other ways--like, the "discretionary comp" is now a thing of the past. Nowadays, if the bot/algorithm says "don't do it," they can't.

Ii disagree, therefore, that we can't expect otherwise. Casino hosts having discretion and autonomy was a business model that worked for decades. The bright-eyed, bushy-tailed graduates with UNLV "Hospitality" degrees couldn't fathom it, though, and eventually, the whole system became run by bean counters.

I stay on strip I still get comped.I stayed many years at Golden Nugget.When the loud noise started.I moved to the strip.I still spend time downtown.I just don't sleep there.I do also love little Casino's like Rainbow.I am a moderate gambler.I did notice not so lucky last time.Thought just bad luck.I get lot of meals from LVA and deals like Ellis Island offers.I am good a stopping when luck goes sour.

Next visit will limit Strip gambling.I am a bargain hunter.Yet also spend money.At my age I figure can't take it with me.