Free Bar drinks at Wynn & Encore while playing VP?

Last few trips we have not ventured much past TI and Venetian on that end of the strip, so i don't know if Wynn is still not allowing free drinks at the bar when playing VP or any bartop game. I heard that you could be playing VP a few feet away from the bar and get served. If this is still going on, did other casinos pick up on it? It would seem to me that their bars would be pretty empty. One of our favorite things to do is to sit at the bar, playing vp, chatting with and tipping the bartenders for our drinks. Must cut down on the bartenders tips quite a bit.

Mandalay was the same way last time I was there.

As far as I know, the Wynn/Encore are the only casinos not comping drinks while a player is playing VP or Keno. Mandalay tried that policy and it was a big flop.

If you do go to the Wynn/Encore do NOT mention this policy to the bartenders. They are not happy about it and become defensive when asked about the policy. And not only that, but the prices they charge for drink is outrageous. I was there for opening week of football, or early in the season. The sports book was so crowded that they were "borrowing" seats from the bar. No one was drinking from the bar, and if they were drinking, they were getting it for free from the cocktail waitress that worked the sports book. Now that must really make the bartenders happy. How Wynn continues this poclicy is amazing, as no one else in town doesn't comp drinks while playing. Everyone who has tried this policy has always had to reverse it and do what everyone else is doing.

First of all Bagiant the bartenders get a cut of all of the waitresses tips. So it the volume of alchohol remains the same their tips are not affected that much.

Secondly why don't you finish your trip report for once.

When you tip the bartender, does that money go to the waitress or is split to the waitress? (Yes, this is a rhetorical question)

So, while it's true that the bartender may get a cut of the waitresses tips, getting 10-20% of the bar's patrons tips is still less than 100%.

15 patrons per bar, average 2 drinks an hour, $1 for each drink = $30 per hour. Or, you can get 10% from the waitress $3 an hour

$30/hour is a lot more than $3/hour

Now you can argue the semantics (some might not tip, there might not be 15 patrons, they might drink less than 2 per hour....and in the same breath you could also say that they drink more than 2 an hour, and they might tip greater than $1 per drink)

In the end, bartenders can make 5 - 10 times more money in tips from serving patrons themselves than from getting it back in shared tips from the waitress.

To be more precise VP players at the bar are not comped drinks. VP, Keno and penny slot players feet from the bar ARE comped drinks.
Makes a lot of sense, huh?

Seriously, you can sit 8 feet from the bar playing 1 penny at a time on a video slot and drink Goose and red bull for free or sit at the bar playing $5 denom VP and pay $12 for the same drink.

They can get away with it because most of the bars at Wynncore are always pretty crowded with people that don't mind paying for the $12 drinks while they talk to hot chicks trying to get in their pants.

Exactly, Wynn makes more money from selling booze at the bar than from the VP players at the bar.

Booze is no longer a loss leader in Vegas. Gambling revenues are well down from their mid decade highs, but booze sales have exploded in Vegas and statewide. Last Saturday, we were told it would take buying an $800 bottle of liquor in order to get four seats in a booth at The Madhouse. It was quite bizarre how they had three walking condominiums protecting the near empty booth area as scuffle after scuffle broke out on the overcrowded dance floor.
The bottom line is there are plenty of people willing to pay stupid money to drink in Vegas and the casinos are happy to allow them to do so.