How the B-connected Card Works

I copied and pasted this reply from the question that I asked if others were seeing their comps at MSS. I think that this explains why my comps tightened up when I was there over Super Bowl:

"My play at Cal. was in addition to my regular play at MSS. I was given this info by marketing dept. Any play at downtown Boyd casino is not combined but considered a days play. Example today I play coin in 4500 at MSS, 200 at Fremont, 1000 at Cal. thats entered into averages as 3 seperate days of play. If my daily average for past 18 months was $5000 a day for ten days then when they add in my 3 days from above it drops my daily average way down. They admit its not accurate but thats how there software is programmed. If you call them they will review your play and possbly upgrade your next resv.with previous offer."

The last trip to MSS was last July when my wife was invited for a big slot tournament that was played at the Fremont and MSS. A majority of our coin-in was at MSS but we both played a little at Fremont on the tournament days, this would have diluted our daily average the same way it did to the player who told me about this. I guess the best thing to do is not put in the B-Connected card if we decide to play at the Cal or Fremont.Textitalicized textText

Interesting! Thanks for that information!

RecVPPlayer

GEgrunt, what you say may well be true. But if things are indeed this complicated and demanding with Boyd, why would anyone bother to play by their rules for getting so little? The rooms at both MSS and the Cal are low-end to moderate, and they are inexpensive to book online. (Right now MSS is $36 on Expedia.) Their restaurants are, IMHO, poor to mediocre. To play through $5700 a day at these places only to have them cut back on what they give you seems ridiculous to me.

I have another opinion: I used to patronize MSS, the Cal, and Stardust. I got pretty good offers. But after Boyd demolished Stardust, destroying a lot of their positive cash flow, I noticed my comps at MSS and the Cal all but collapse, even though my level of play didn't change. So I no longer go to these, or any other Boyd property. Instead, I go to much nicer places (4 star properties), all of which have better gambling, much nicer rooms, and better restaurants. For the same amount I played at Boyd places I get much more, and I'm also treated better than I was by the people at Boyd properties.

I realize that everyone has their own individual tastes and preferences. But I find it difficult to understand why people want to stick with places that give them relatively little or less than they used to. For customers to rationalize the casinos' tightening policies is an even a greater mystery to me.

GEgrunt, thanks for this info. I don't think that anyone would have come to this as a normal conclusion as it certainly appears to be a flaw in their system. Obviously, it doesn't make any sense....play all in the same day within the same "family" of casinos and instead of being rewarded for the additional play, you're penalized.

We just started playing at MSS to try to get on their mailer radar and likely wouldn't have thought twice to bounce over to the Cal and give them play on the same visit. Thanks to your info, that won't be happening.

barrys, with all due respect to GEgrunt, how much do you think he'll get giving $5,700 coin in per day at the "4 star" properties you suggest? I think the issue with MSS/Cal/Fremont is that there's a "flaw" in their system. Once GE recognized and learned what it is, he can likely go back in, give the same play but restrict it to just one of these properties and the presumption is that the offers will flow again as previous.

I would agree that it's distasteful to play at a property who doesn't properly value your play. However, this depends on the play level you're at. My personal approach is to say that I would normally play $X of coin in and then decide where I'd get the most value in the way of comps. If that amount of coin in won't get me in at my preferred place, I then have to decide if it's worth paying the difference or reevaluating my expectations.

Thanks again for the post...it was very insightful.

Dan

Those types of "flaws" in a system can be programmed out; one wonders if they purposely leave them in, knowing the vast majority of folks won't know or won't care?
I myself don't stay downtown, but will often hit a number of places when I do go there. And almost always will play at both the Cal and MSS. Thanks to Grunt, I'm going to be much more selective when I play downtown. Not that I want to make my dt offers better; just the principle of the thing.

fredo

This, exactly, is my point. I don't pretend to understand the intricacies of any of the casinos' systems of calculations of how comps are given. Nor do I bother to keep track of how much per day I put through the machines. All of this seems more like work than play to me. I have a very simple system: I have a daily limit, and I play all of it at the place I'm staying at, where my room and meals are comped. While I can't comment on others' experiences, I've found, certainly for the past two years, that I'm able to get far better offers from nicer places than any operated by Boyd. I don't find that, in the long term, loyalty is rewarded by the casinos; their policies change over the years.

I do think that loyalty may or may not be rewarded by some casinos because they may tend to figure that you are likely to play about the same amount as usual basically no matter what.

I do have to say that I do not care much for what I've seen at least at Fremont which is just "Good Luck" on the screen and then you have no idea how many points you have earned until you pull out your card and insert it again and then it's possible that you may have played to an uneven point level (not 5 or 10) and who knows if the counter will remember where you left off on your next visit to a machine.

RecVPPlayer

I have to agree with you about the whole "Good Luck" on the screen. I dislike that feature also.

I believe this is basically correct, but not three separate days of play, but three averages for three different casinos. For example, on a three day visit, you played daily 5000 at Fremont, 500 each at Cal and MSS. This would give a daily average of 5000 at Fremont or a total 15,000 in tier points. For Fremont/MSS, it would total 1500 each or 500 average daily play. This also would be a total of 18000 tier points at all three casinos. If I was to use the ops description as three separate daily days at all three casinos, my daily average would be only 2000 (18000 divided by 9). This is a significant low amount. I have been receiving the same type of comps.

According to my host at the Fremont, she stated she cannot see the amount played at the Cal or MSS. She could only see the amount played at Fremont and she determined the type of comp I could have. The host at the Fremont showed me the graphic analysis of my daily play that was used to determine my comps.

Just over a year ago, I transferred my home casino to MSS. The MSS host could only see what little I played at that casino and would not give me a comp. After talking to her boss, they researched and obtained my past play at the Fremont and then was given the same comp status.

The advantage is that all casinos can see the bonus points and may be used at any Boyd restaurant.

........... and just when you thought it was safe to go in the water.


Thanks for this info GE grunt.

Rick