The first positive was that I was able to earn players’ club points at rates like not 0.1% or worse, but 0.2%, 0.3%, or even better. The second was that while I was playing a negative EV game, JOB isn’t volatile, so I rarely suffered the “I lost half a royal” bloodbaths that were so common at FPDW. The third was that the mailers were good–really good. NYNY sent me $500 a month free play for six months, for instance.

The common thread was that the burst of goodies was usually short-lived, as they ultimately realized that I wasn’t going to be the cash cow their metrics said I would. Generally, I stayed away for a year after a given casino dried up–and then I could repeat the cycle all over again. And sometimes, stuff would come in the mailbox out of the blue–I learned that this often happened when a casino changed slot hosts.

This situation stayed profitable for the next 5-6 years, even as inherently positive VP withered and died all over town. Of course, now, all the machines are garbage and they won’t give you a stale donut for playing them. Those were the days.