A Report From the Monte Lago Grand Opening

Rob Singer sent me this report from the Monte Lago Grand Opening yesterday evening.

I'm back from last night's affair and I'll give you the scoop before anyone else hears about it. You can post it anywhere as you wish.

The VIP party was from 6-9pm. Very packed with a very uppity type, well-dressed crowd. Food sampling was provided from all the restaurants in Monte Lago Village as well as Harry's Seafood Bar in the casino, and it was all excellent. No gaming was allowed until 9pm. We all would get some amount of free-play as invited guests if we stayed and played for a minimum one point, but I left prior to that.

The basic casino remained the same but with major gaming changes. There is no live table games--only those virtual Blackjack tables with the dealer on the big screen TV inside. Compared to the old casino that had a large amount of vp machines, there are only about 30% as many of them scatterred throughout a floor that seems to put open spacing before numbers of machines. It is slot machine-heavy, kind of like a Strip casino.

Harry's Bar downstairs and the Sports Bar upstairs (an A+ favorite of mine in the past because of the eye-level TV's and unusual comps on premium pours) have the usual vp machines with a twist: there is some sort of gigantic video slot/keno/vp machine (1 @ the downstairs bar/2 upstairs) that have the poorest paytables I've ever seen, like 6/4 JoB, and what's even stranger about these things is they give you the payback percentages for every game on it.

Another oddity: Every vp machine in the casino is five denominations--5c/25c/50c/$1/$5. Very strange, including the fact that they are also at the bars. It'll be interesting to see if they comp drinks to nickel players. And, every slot and vp machine in the casino has a little TV on them that we were watching a baseball game on. Imagine trying to concentrate on holds while watching the playoffs.

Paytables: All machines in all denominations but nickels have 7/5 Bonus Poker. The 5c BP game is some weird 6/5 with a 50 credit payout for all quads. All other games are short-pay.

So my question to the people running the casino was: If the place didn't make it when times were good, what's the secret supposed to be that's gonna make it successful this time around in such a bad economy--especially with short vp paytables? All I got was shrugged shoulders and irritated looks. BTW I talked to a number of local players there and they all said they would not make the trip across town or even from Henderson to play there. They said there was no reason to when other much closer casinos had better paytables. One guy did say he'd come back to see if they comped the higher-priced drinks to a 5c player at the upstairs bar. And the next time I'm in town I'll play some at the bar just for old time's sake. I'll win a few hundred dollars in the process because although I prefer better, I can easily beat a bad paytable. But the stop won't be as regular for me like it was in the past.

My Comments


I tend to agree with Singer about the short pay tables attracting anyone that doesn't live in the area. When the former Reserve..now Fiesta Henderson...wanted to bring people to their casino, they made every VP machine full pay, or at least the highest pay table for any comparable machine in Vegas. And they packed the casino almost every night. I mean that players are not going to drive 10, 15, or even 30 miles from one end of town to the other, in order to play these machines. It might be fun to take a "day trip" to ML to see what it's all about and what they've done to the place, but what's going to keep the players coming back?

I would think that even if they didn't make all their machines "full pay", but gave a higher pay out than the strip or most locals places, that would encourage players to make a return trip. A good thing is giving premium drinks at the sports bar and having "eye level" flat screens at the bar. Having a small TV on every machine is also very nice for those that are playing VP outside the sports bar area but still want to follow their favorite team or playoff game. That's a definite plus.

As far as what the nickel players will receive when playing nickels at the sports bar when ordering drinks, I would think if they make a buy in of $20, they will receive the same comps as those playing .25c and up. But that's just my guess. We'll let someone who plays there give the final report.

It's good too know that at least they have an excellent restaurant in Harry's Seafood Bar. That could be a nice drawing card to bring people into the casino.

Overall, I think they're going to have a tough road to hoe if they don't change things.

I would agree with Singer's assessment (did I say that? LOL) that without offering better vp games, why would anyone drive from Vegas or Henderson to go there when there are considerably better options closer to home. It makes you wonder what they perceive their competitive advantage to be?

Singer said "And the next time I'm in town I'll play some at the bar just for old time's sake. I'll win a few hundred dollars in the process because although I prefer better, I can easily beat a bad paytable. But the stop won't be as regular for me like it was in the past."

Despite what you think about his strategy and "special plays", how can you take a guy like this seriously? What is he saying....the worse the pay table, the easier for him to beat it? Zero credibility.

I knew that this sentence would bring some comments. I chuckled a little when I read it, but that's the confidence he has in his "system". I can't remember if I wrote about this yet, but here goes. I know it's fact because my slot host commented to me about this win.

Singer had I believe 2 free nights at the Silverton. He called me when he got there because I told him I could probably get him an upgrade. He didn't want a suite since he was traveling alone, so I called the front desk to see if I could get him one of the newly remodeled rooms...which are beautiful. I did, and when I called him back he was playing a .50c and $1 machine near the bar. He filled me in that the bar jackpot was over $6500 and I was ready to fly out. Anyway, he called me back about 15 minutes later to let me know he had got DEALT a Royal in clubs...and better yet...it was with the $25 FSP that he received from the Silverton. Welcome to Las Vegas Rob!

Bags, I'm all about having a positive attitude but think about the logic here....

If you could bounce around Vegas and drop in to places that have subpar vp paytables and know "that I can easily beat a bad paytable", why wouldn't you do this? Think about all the comps you'd get simply because you'd be playing games with big casino advantage theo's. Wouldn't it be a license to print money....and not back breaking work by any means. The point is, if you could, why wouldn't you?

What part of all that doesn't make someone want to call "bullshit"?

I'm not going to get into a debate on this.....but before anyone drinks the Singer Kool Aid they should read some of the things he says and writes and ask themselves if it passes the stink test.

For the record I once again agree with his assessment of the Monte Lago. After reading what he wrote about the pay tables, who needs to waste the time and gas? Sounds like they're destined for failure.

If the VP is all short pay, I don't see the serious VP player playing at ML. .

Having said that, an open casino adds to the decor of Lake Las Vegas and gives the average tourist another reason to visit.

'I can easily beat a bad paytable.
Rob Singer

She must be wearing your lucky hat, LOL.

The Mean Streak at Cedar Point. I've rode that many times.
The girl is going to need those training wheels.

My problem is I tend to play VP games with better pay tables. Lol

I agree with you Fed. No one is going to last long playing short pay VP. Other than you with all your Royals...not to mention your wifes....I just don't understand how you can beat this game.