More ways for the casinos to eliminate jobs and to tighten expenses - thank the beancounters

After all MGM and Caesars have big interest payments to pay on their junk bonds, so tighten the games, tighten the comps, permanently change blackjack to where the dealer must hit on soft 17 and where a blackjack pays 6 to 5. The public is still too naive and dumb to boycott it.

What is the latest? Tracking your play and determining if you qualify for a drink.

From today's LVA shorts:

Damn. Sounds like an orphanage or something.

"Please sir, may I have more?"

"No you may not. Keep mopping."

DonDiego remembers back in the day, . . . when Las Vegas casinos offered pleasant entertainment and rules which provided the players a better chance to win - or at least enjoy playing for a while, and free drinks even to folks at the cheap tables . . . and even inexpensive rooms and free transportation to and from the airport.

When a Vegas Vacation was fun !

Things change.

Exactly what they do at the sportsbook at the Mirage when I'm betting the ponies. I'm usually betting $6 or $12 a ticket(Exacta, Trifecta, usually boxed). They give me a red drink voucher after almost every bet. I end up with a handful of vouchers that I leave for other folks. Not sure if people just sit in there without betting and watch the horses or watch sports on the big screens? But by trying to weed out the moochers they just piss off the paying customers.

more and more it seems like they want to rid themselves of gamblers, the gamblers that built these fine "resorts". dining, clubbing, shopping i can do at home, so once they have completely ruined the casino experience for me i will have no reason to go to vegas.

Just another reason for me to avoid Las Vegas. I, like Don Diego, remember when Las Vegas was all about gambling, cheap food and cheap vacations.

The thing is it seemed like everyone was happy. The casinos were making money and people would fly from all over the world, even a low roller like me, to have a vacation in Las Vegas. We would come home and tell people yes we lost money but we never paid for a drink and I stayed at Caesars Palace for $49.00 a night with a free buffet everyday.

I have to tell you living in Florida cruising looks better and better.

I don't blame them...much. Vegas is doing what it needs to do in a world where gambling is now everywhere. They are successfully transforming the vacation experience to focus on things beyond gambling. If they stuck to the old formula they would probably be in a world of hurt - see Atlantic City. Free alcohol is a pretty expensive cost to a business whose customer base isn't spending much in the casino anymore.

For those of us who still go to Vegas in large part to gamble and get comps - we still have our places, albeit not as many as 10 years ago. I didn't need a new, restrictive drink policy to keep me away from Caesar's properties. Plenty of reasons to avoid them already

Homework pays off now more than ever.

Actually Mirage is part of the MGM Resorts and not Caesars. Not that I'm happy with CET, but I don't want to throw blame at them when it is their competitor who is doing this.

trends. eventually things come full circle. one of these days I think they will once again lavish us, even the low-rollers, with a good gamble, free drinks, and cheap or free food and rooms. it will happen once they have chased all of us off, and then they will say DOH! -- here is a group we can market to. eventually the 20 and 30 somethings are going to run out of mom and dad's money to blow at the night clubs. I love vegas and I am not ready to give up on it just yet.

I don't think this trend is going to end anytime soon. Not in our lifetimes anyway.
A lot of older folks seem to believe that all those young "kids" are partying in Vegas on their parent's dime. I don't believe that's the case for the majority. They're young and crazy. They want to party hard, see and be seen, and hook up. gambling does not give the return on the money they are looking for.
And they have money. They make a lot more (inflation adjusted) at their age than I did.
The young executives that worked for me loved to party in Vegas but none of them gambled regularly. They think nothing of dropping hundreds of dollars to hang out in a night club, thousands if they think they can score with some really hot girls. But wasting $50 playing blackjack is crazy to them.
Everything changes.