I recently noticed a Rampart Casino ad in the Las Vegas Review-Journal newspaper that read:
DO THE MATH – Our points are worth 5x more!
Point redemption Breakdown
US – 1000 points = $5
THEM – 1000 points = $1
I don’t know who “them” is – the ad doesn’t say what casino they are comparing theirs to. I don’t know whether they are comparing points earned for playing slots or video poker – some casinos have different rates for each of these. This ad is worthless to anyone who wants reliable information on slot clubs benefits. I can see that the Rampart wants you to think that their casino is the best place to gamble because of their slot club point system, but can you actually “do the math” to verify this “fact”? No! This ad does not give enough basic information for you to come to a valid mathematical conclusion, the most important being how much coin-in does it take to earn one point. None of the rest of the information is valid if you don’t know the answer to that basic question.
Well, when I want real math facts, I go to vpFREE2. I didn’t check out every casino in Las Vegas there but I decided to check the two casinos that are nearest the Rampart, probably their primary competitors, and South Point which is a favorite for many VP players. I just looked at the VP information so I would be comparing apple with apples, not oranges, and I used the rate for “most” VP (at some casinos 100%+ machines have a different rate). Here is what I find for the Rampart and some other locals casinos:
Rampart
$2 coin-in = 1 point
1000 points ($2000 coin-in) = $5
That’s a .25% benefit.
Suncoast
$1 coin-in = 1 point
$5000 points ($5000 coin-in) = $5
That’s a .1% benefit. (Rampart is better but not 5 times better.)
Red Rock
$1 coin-in on most VP = 3 points
5000 points ($1666.65 coin-in) = $5
That’s a .3% benefit (Better than Rampart)
South Point
$1 coin-in = 1 point
1665 points ($1665 coin-in) = $5
That’s a .3% benefit. (Also better than Rampart)
The above shows that you can’t just compare points. You can compare either the coin-in or the percentage. This ad is very misleading because it has so much missing information. And they rub salt in the wounds of knowledgeable players by stating we should “DO THE MATH.” Math-minded players can easily do the math themselves IF they have all the details. But we non-math-minded aren’t out in the cold – we have vpFREE2 to help us. It gives the players club benefit percentage of every casino in that database. There are also calculators that will figure this for you on some VP software programs.
However, the wise player will know that we don’t look at just the players club basic benefit to find a “good” play. It’s a good place to start but we also consider a host of other factors, including multiple-point days, promotions, drawings, bounce-back, and perhaps even comps, to add to the EV of the game.
As you allude, other factors besides slot club return on play should dictate where you play. For the .25 (and below) player, there is no currently existing combination of slot club return, mailers, comps, warm wet kisses on the cheek, etc. offered at ANY casino that exceeds the return on FPDW at places like Palms and Stations (where you only get points at rates like one- thirty-sixth of one percent, or roughly 27 cents in comps for every $1000 of coin-in). This means that BY FAR, game selection is still the single most important element. If your habits/proclivities nudge you upward into the $1/$5 denominations, game selection isn’t quite as critical, as just about every game you play at those denoms will be inherently negative EV anyway. Of course, even crawling on bloody hands and knees upward to a, say, 100.1% return (perhaps on 9/6 JOB with a generous slot club, mailers, etc.) will create a better net return than .25 FPDW and such if you are playing $25 a hand–but most of us don’t have the bankroll and/or couldn’t stomach the variance to play that high.
This is an excellent explanation. Ads quite often are so deceptive! Thanks for the info 🙂