Boyd Gaming Changes
I have been putting off writing this blog. Many of you know that in my writings about casinos I like to emphasize the positive rather than ranting and raving about the negative that I can’t change. I also stress that we players must remember that casinos are a for-profit business, not a charity.
However, the casino business – just like many other businesses we deal with in our everyday life, like banks, grocery stores, drug stores, restaurants, airlines – sometimes make changes that we just can’t understand. And that describes many players reactions to the brand new players club being introduced by Boyd Gaming.
Let’s think about what we need if a business changes its rules, regulations, or policy. First, we need a clear explanation of all the changes, especially the basic ones. This is where so many players are feeling frustrated about the new Boyd players club. I looked everywhere this last week to find the two basic facts someone needs to initially analyze any player club system: How much coin-in does it take to earn a point and then how much is a point worth for whatever benefits this casino offers – cash, free play, or comps. I went to the kick-off party and absolutely no specific facts were given. I checked online and looked for brochures and signs in the casino. Nothing!
I finally did find the facts of the second point on their website: You can redeem for FastPlay, for dining, shopping, or hotel stays. Save 40% on the dollar value of your B Connected Points when you redeem for food at 600 B Connected Points = $1.00. FastPlay and retail purchases are 1,000 B Connected Points = $1.00.
However, nowhere could I find in writing how much you had to play to earn a point, the other piece of information we needed. Finally, just yesterday I went to the players club at the Gold Coast and asked this question and I was given a little credit-card-size cardboard with a point-earning chart:
$1 of coin-in Reel, Video Reel, and Keno (must be all Keno box) = 1 Base B Connected Point
$2 of coin-in Poker and Multi-Games = 1 Base B Connected Point
Bonus B Connected Points are now earned based on type of game, average bet, and length of play
Table Games – B Connected Points are earned based on the type of game, average bet and length of play (Table Game Points are not earned in Las Vegas or Diamond Jo Worth)
For Race, Sports, and Bingo please see B Connected.
Although some of the details above aren’t very clear or complete, why wasn’t this basic information put somewhere in writing online so anyone could access it? Not everyone will be able to visit one of their casinos right away, and many won’t think about asking. I am wondering if this information I got was for Las Vegas only – and it will be different for properties in other areas of the country??? This means each player probably needs to research information for each specific casino where they plan to play. Although this club is supposed to be company-wide, I am thinking there might be individual property-specific details.
After I found the basic-point facts, I began to analyze the tier system. This has been an area of confusion for many, but it helps if you understand there are two different separate systems. The first system is the “point” system I discussed above. The other system is the tier one in which you earn “credits.” There are different earning charts for each of these systems with much different benefits! However, the two systems do “mix” with each other at times. For example, players in the lowest tier, Ruby, do not earn the above-mentioned points and thus earn no benefits. That chart does not kick in until you reach Sapphire.
Boyd was much more forthright in talking about the new tier system and the new luxury benefits they were offering to the top tiers – they talked about nothing but that at the launch party and they put a lot of hyped-up information about it on their website and in other written sources. On that same little credit-size cardboard I referred to above they gave this information about how to earn tier credits: Reel, video reel, and keno players would earn 1 tier credit for each $5 coin-in, Bingo players needed $6 buy-in for 1 tier credit. For video poker players it was to be “based on the game played, average bet, and time played.”
In this blog I have just touched on some of the basics of this new players club so far, but this information may have brought up more questions than answers for readers here. I will be talking about this subject in my blog probably for weeks, even months, tackling some of the problems these changes are causing. In the meantime, here are some online resources for you to check that will give more information although they certainly will not answer every question you might have since the details of many parts of the program are either missing or very confusing.
- An overall view of the program
- The rules and regulations:
- The details of the Vegas Young at Heart program
You can get more insight into these new major changes by reading posts in the forum at vpFREE. (Subscribe at [email protected] if you are not already a member). There has been a very lively – even fiery – discussion there for the last week or so, which could help both slot and video players decide what kind of a relationship – if any – they might have with Boyd properties in the future in light of all these new changes.
I have not yet been able to confirm every future ramification for Brad’s and my own play decisions. I know we are going to play at the Gold Coast tomorrow – Labor Day – because we can still play our favorite good-EV video poker machine at 11x points – a fairly okay play for us. That’s about as far we can plan right now.
Stayed tuned!