Anything like "RACE FOR REWARDS" THIS SUMMER?

Harrah's gave away millions? of dollars (probably) in comps to people who did not even go to their casinos to play. They merely mailed their cards to each other and played the required $20 for their friends, relatives, and people they never met, who traded cards online through their discussion boards.

For the required "swipe," only Las Vegas properties, and a few others, required ID's. Most sites had kiosks. One player in Las Vegas described how he sweet-talked a TR clerk into swiping several cards for people who were not present.

Apparently Harrah's outlying properties didn't want to pay an extra employee whose job it was to check ID's. Instead they gave away comps to people who never set foot in Tunica or New Orleans or Atlantic City, but who magically "played" 20 points there.

Any wonder why they are not repeating the promo? This may or may not be the reason they are not having it this year, but it is certainly unfair to Harrah's loyal customers who actually play in their casinos.

I did the Race to Rewards legally two years ago (at a great cost of airfare and rental cars), but I did not to it at all last year.

I'm sorry about it too.

- bcc

I did the race 2 years in a row honestly. It got me into casino's I never would have gone to . It was a blast , but I think because I still have 650.00 left in my account they are no longer giving me comped rooms except on certain dates so boo on them. I think the second year I had to show id at most of the casino's.

I have never paid an early check in fee and am platinum. My rooms are usually ready or if not they are within an hour of my arrival. I do hate the stupid resort fee , most of the casino's waive the resort fee if the room is comped and give you the amenities so CET is really gouging us. One wired internet really? I mean even Boyd casinos have wi fi and they only charge 5.

I will be trying out the Quad this time. I got a comped room and some reel rewards in May and the room was nicer than our upgraded room at Harrahs. It had a coffee pot, flat screen tv, slippers, robes , nice counter tops a very very decent room. If they put me in those rooms again I will be a happy camper and the resort fee is only 10 and I was told it includes wi-fi that most of the CET properties don't have.

Millions dollars in comps ?? Oh please those are like monopoly money. I use my comps for spas, shows and meals and if I spend $300 at the spa or at a show, it is $300 less that I can gamble. I think they would prefer that I gamble that money, especially since I can get a pedicure cheaper at other casinos than I can at Caesars Palace. Guess where my gambling money goes then, to the other casino. Like I said I will not be going anywhere this year except for my local casinos and when I sent my mail to Caesars, I told them that. If it wasn't for Road to Rewards I would have probably not gone to Windsor, North Kansas City, Philadelphia, Metropolis, Tunica, or Council Bluffs. Those are all quite a drive for me, but we did it on the weekends to try something new. Now that I am staying local and I really don't like Joliet much, now that I am diamond already, I will be saving a lot of money this summer.

DeeTee

Most likely they didn't get the return on investment they were expecting. Players spending x when receiving y reward credits. Look at all the changes in the MyVegas game.

Or, perhaps in CET's mind, it was a 2 year promotion???

If the race showed a profit CET would have done it again. Its that simple.

We also visited and stayed overnight in both Indiana and Tunica, which we would never would have done, based on the rewards...I don't think there was anything wrong with that and we gambled in both places, ate at the restaurants and enjoyed the properties. On the way home we stopped at Metropolis...something else we never would have done and played long enough to quality.

If they want us to return to these properties, ensure the service is great, food is good and we feel like there is value. The program this year would have been an incentive to make the road trips again. Instead, we have planned other activities.

We did encounter the same "logic" in Kansas City where we stayed at Harrahs during the NCAA CBB tournament. Since we had comp dollars available from the contest, they would not comp our stay even though we had substantial play.

Put that all together along with resort fees, limited investment in upgrades to the properties and a general lack of customer attention and we give limited play to CET any more.

The underlying issues for them is that the company is losing money and trying to finance various projects. Expect them to sell off a few more casinos and they consolidate further with most attention to emerging markets.

They are not losing money because they give comps to people. Have you seen the unemployment rate ?? Even though both my husband and I both work, we have had to cut back a little. Because the states and federal goverment raise taxes and lower our pay checks because they mismanage the money. Those politicians don't get elected because they are nice people, they all owe someone and when they get elected it is payback time.

When my free play and comps go down at casinos I don't play there for awhile, because they want my money, but they don't like to give me just a taste.

In my opinion there is no better way to get people into the casino, but give them free play, free stuff and free food.

DeeTee

deetee, the difference is you probably gambled at the properties you visited during the Great Race and gamble at properties that give you free play, stuff and food. For someone like you, the Great Race would be an incentive to visit other properties.

Others mailed their cards around the country, had someone else swipe their card so they could get the reward credits. Some of these individuals bash CET every chance they get and don't gamble at CET properties even when spending their reward credits. I know people who recently mailed their cards to friends in order to get 1 point to keep their reward credits from expiring. When they use their reward credits to pay for food or shows in Vegas, they have no intention of gambling at CET properties.

CET has no one to blame except themselves because they didn't require all properties to check ID.

We did the Great Race legally last year visiting LV, Tunica (first time), Metropolis (first time), Southern Indiana, St. Louis, and KC (first time). We never would have done this trip if it were not for the Great Race. We each earned the $750 in credits. It was the toughest to earn the credits at Metropolis. Man, those machines were tight!

On an aside, an acquaintance from the diamond Lounge was "caught" with his card being used elsewhere, Lost all credits.

Joy

One thing that occurred to me about this too: How many of you who took part last year still have RCs left? I bet there a lot of people with at least a couple hundred credits left over. I have only made on trip to CET properties in Vegas since my $750 hit my account (I had one downtown only trip). So I still have over $650 worth of RCs that I'm going to put a big dent in next month.

I wouldn't be surprised if the high balances they see with a lot of us was one factor in not having it this year. They want us to use them before we reload.