Balloon Drop

Curious what you all have experienced, or think, a "Balloon Drop" means when being done in/by a casino. Specifically for New Years?

What would be/are your expectations?

Thanks.

DonDiego would expect a large number of brightly colored inflated thin rubber bags to be dumped from a net onto New Year's revelers in a large ballroom. Were the casino executives in a particularly generous mood and/or the revelers especially esteemed high-rollers, the balloons might contain cash or some other appropriate lagniappe.

This is where they drop the Gamblers who don't pay their markers from a hot air balloon.

At the Western, it would have meant balloons of smack dropping from customer pockets

Sams at Tunica has one every NY's in their atrium entrance area. Four nets full of balloons drop at midnight. Was there for this years and no big deal, but there was alot of kissing going on...too bad they are all old folks like me.

My reason for starting this topic is that one of "my" local casino's was having two balloon drops on 12/31/2014. One at noon, the other at midnight.

They were mentioned in some promotional printings. As a result, I and a friend decided to visit that casino for the 'other' promotion, which would have us there during the balloon drop.

We both expected that those balloons, or some of them, would contain "prizes". Slips of paper inserted which would award a some amount of FSP, food, etc.

In the past, I've attended balloon drops at other casino's, and "scored" some decent prizes. My expectations for this was similar. I had even "armed" myself with a couple of large safety pins for fast and easy breakage.

At noon, the balloons fell, and there were no prizes. NONE. This casino draws quite a few retired people from a nearby long established development, and they were going crazy stomping balloons. Yelling and telling each other that there were no prizes. These 'old folks' seemed disappointed and unhappy.

I'd already determined that, and Team Roadtrip just sat down to watch. My 'partner' was also unhappy at what we thought was a very deceptive or misleading promotion.

We both spoke to different 'upper level' employees. One we both spoke with claimed she was "in charge of marketing".

I talked, she responded, and I decided she was an idiot. Yesterday, I decided to telephone that casino, and ended up speaking with the Director of Guest Relations. She told me that the person I'd names as "in charge of marketing" worked in the printing department, and was just helping out during the drawing promotion also going on at staggered times that day.

I'd suspected something was not right with the girl claiming to be in charge of marketing at the time, but accepted it, and went no further, deciding that the balloon drop promotion was deceptive, and waiting to decide whether to take it higher up the chain of command. Semantics and deception are a pet peeve when used for promotional advertising. Since I vary casino's based largely on promotions, this practice costs me EV.

I telephone, and spoke with someone who handled my issue to my satisfaction. Even got some FSP added to my account.

I'd explained that to "my" generation, a balloon drop at a casino generally meant there would be some sort of prizes in at least some of the balloons.

So, I started this topic hoping I'd get answers from people who attended various balloon drops at casino's where there were, or were not prizes.

HNY.

What casino was it ? [RoadTrip can trust poor old DonDiego to keep it on the QT.]

How dare hey drop balloons without prizes. You should have sued them.

DonDiego suggests a protest march.

Find a local community organizer, gather a large crowd, and march to the as-yet-undisclosed gaming establishment shouting: "No Lagniappe, No Peace !"

It should look something like the photo below, . . . only get better looking children for the front row . . .



. . . Oh, and do not let the kids giva a NAZI salute, like that tyke in the knickers with the white shirt and tie, on the left in the photo.