12/7/2001
December is here–my favorite month of the year, both for the added cheer of the holidays and the casino promotions made in VP Heaven. I scarcely have time to breathe! Go to any Coast property any day from now through the 25th and you’ll earn double points. That alone could keep you busy, but check Slot Club Promotions (click the icon on the homepage) to find other bonus opportunities.
Charlie Rewards Club members at either Arizona Charlie’s location who are not interested in the Wal-Mart or Yukon Grille Reward Point Specials can redeem reward points earned between 12/1 and 12/24 for cashback at a bonus rate, 800 points for $1, instead of the regular rate of 1,000 points for $1. They have also added a new gas station vendor to their redemption options. City Stop has seven facilities spread across Las Vegas/Henderson/Summerlin. The exchange rate is 750 reward points for $1 credit, in increments of $5, $10, $15, and $20.
Silverton often runs good promotions, especially for quarter players, which makes up a little for a recent devaluation of its slot club comp-only points – requiring 500 points for $1 in comps, up from the 400 it took in the past. I’ve finally learned, from my friend and good promo scout, Scot Krause, the requirements for getting Silverton’s often valuable monthly blue coupon sheets. There are two levels, for getting either an A sheet or a B sheet. The A sheet has the best coupons and requires 5,000 lifetime points; the B sheet requires 1,000 points (a recent change from 500).
However, this month everyone, even first-time sign-ups can get the same valuable sheet (and double-dip by using your LVA POV coupon at the same time if you haven’t already done so). Here are the coupons on the December sheet–and what we are going to use ours for:
1. Smiths (local grocery store) $25 gift certificate when you earn 3,500 points on
Dec. 9. This makes a very practical host gift. However, we’ll use ours for munchies and drinks to serve at the kiddy New Year’s Eve party we are throwing for our grandchildren who will be in town visiting us. We are pitching into the trash all our fancy casino-party invitations this year and will watch videos, giggle, eat popcorn and pizza, and walk a half block from our condo to a high point where we’ll all watch the Strip fireworks at midnight and then come back and snuggle up in our sleeping bags on the floor.
2. A $25 certificate for Belz Mall when you earn 3,500 points on Dec. 10. Good–I can stock up on Atkins products at the Vitamin Store. A low-carb diet is making me feel healthier than I’ve felt in years.
3. A $25 Target certificate when you earn 3,500 on December 11. Wonder if that will cover a little red wagon for Brad? He’s wanted one ever since his was stolen when he was five. He says he can use it to transport all the gifts the casinos give us between the condo and the “casino comp museum” that’s spreading in our garage.
4. Walgreens $20 certificate when you earn 3,000 points on Dec. 12. We’ll stock up on health and beauty staples when they’re on sale–and maybe I’ll buy new antlers to wear this holiday season –the lights burned out on the pair I have. If you see an antler-clad woman at a VP machine, stop and say “hi.”
Now here is a personal message from my daughter, Angela, the Frugal Princess:
I’ve been so touched recently by those of you who have been inquiring about sending items to my Army husband, the other soldiers in his unit, and the children in Kosovo, where he is now deployed. The holidays are always a difficult time to be away from loved ones, but because of the recent tragedies and world events, this year seems
to be even more stressful.
My husband, Steve, enjoys reaching out to the local children–it helps him feel connected to the two he’s been forced to temporarily leave behind. He e-mailed me recently that “”the children love to see the soldiers and are always there to talk to them. This really makes the patrols worthwhile. … Most of
12/14/2001
Lots of slot club news these days—some good, some bad.
First, the bad. Bally’s and Paris seem to have taken a step backwards. They had started to be more forthcoming in telling the details of their slot club after being a “don’t-ask won’t-tell” club for a long time. But Jeff Compton, in his “Players Edge” column in the Review-Journal, reports on a recent disappointing change—the card readers no longer show your point balance, necessitating an aggravating trip to the booth for information. He and I hope this is a temporary change and they will get back on track soon.
This same column confirms the rumor that has been circulating for months—the slot club at the Golden Nugget will get in line with those of other MGM Mirage’s Strip properties, by reducing its cashback for video poker from .67% to .33% beginning January 2. You can find these valuable weekly Players Edge columns, both the current one and the past ones, at http://www.lvrj.com/lvrj_home/opinion/packages/columnists/edge.html. This should be one of the Web sites you visit every Friday if you want to keep up to date on slot club changes and promotions—right after you read Frugal Fridays first, of course!
Now good slot club news: The Las Vegas Club finally has card readers on most machines and its slot club should be fully operational, including cashback, on Jan. 2. I hear that when you join, you get 4,000 free points, but I don’t know how long this bonus will be in effect.
Already we’re getting frequent bounce-back checks and other mailing goodies from the Palms, and we haven’t had time to play there very much since it opened. Good mailings can be as good or better than regular slot club cashback. The only problem is that it’s not something you can always track carefully. So we’re taking a wait-and-see attitude before we give the Palms slot club a thumbs up or down for its comp-only policy.
Silverton is giving its regular players a chance to redeem some of their comp points for the same value in cash; however, you must have the mailed coupons that give specific times and days and limits—you cannot get them at the booth.
Good hotel tidings: “Harrah’s made its own news on Monday announcing that it is dropping its $3 a night energy surcharge at Harrah’s Las Vegas and the Rio. The Las Vegas Sun followed up with a story that Park Place had dropped its surcharge in September, while Boyd Gaming and Station Casinos are keeping theirs.” This from the Gaming Morning Report, an interesting casino-industry financial newsletter you can subscribe to at [email protected].
But back to bad news from the same source: “2003 is … when investors are expecting business in Las Vegas to return to normal, Jason Ader of Bear Stearns said.” On the other hand, that may be good news for some. “If he is correct, and several other analysts have said the same, there may be plenty of opportunities to buy casino stocks cheaply.” Hey, I’m just quoting here—don’t run out and buy casino stocks and then blame me when they tank!
Talk about the stock market led my thoughts to taxes, a subject we will all have to deal with far too soon. Sitting side by side at an excellent video poker opportunity with our tax accountant/financial planner and friend, Marissa Chien, I heard about all the good new tax changes we might be able to take advantage of next year, including some that might be especially valuable if we have another really good winning year. I thought then how lucky we were to find a good all-around financial planner who was a gambler herself and knew all the ins and outs of the complex tax issues that face all gamblers, winners or losers, once-in-awhile casino visitors or regular serious players. For far too long, I felt I had to educate an accountant/tax preparer with my limited knowledge of the subject.
12/21/2001
Here are some good parking-garage tips for Vegas—or for anywhere really, from posters on Skip’s VP List (Subscribe at http://vphomepage.com). “A little investigation in the parking garages can garner you a good spot, not that far from the elevator. The secret? Just keep going up to a higher floor. I’m always amazed how people will crowd into the first or second floor, driving around and around looking for the best space, cursing out others who get there a second sooner, and end up parking a half-mile away from the elevator. Just take an extra minute to go to the next floor and there are often spaces right near the door. I quickly discovered Suncoast’s third floor is almost deserted. Higher floors at Palace & Sunset Station, as well as at Hard Rock and JW Marriott (formerly the Regent), revealed parking spaces right next to the handicapped spots. And it usually takes less than a minute to drive to the higher floor.”
And here’s another good one: “A smart trick when the traffic is one way is to cross over to the down traffic on the second or third floor while everybody else goes to the top and then works their way down.”
Good ideas to think about during an endless wait for your valet-parked vehicle to appear.
BRIEFS
From an article on the history of poker by Basil Nestor in the March Casino Player: “Consider this amazing linguistic metamorphosis. Poker’s rotating dealer was often designated by a buckhorn knife in frontier days. The knife was replaced by a silver dollar as the frontier gave way to towns, and dollars became known as ‘bucks.’ When players passed the responsibility of dealing to someone else, they were ‘passing the buck.’ One young man from Missouri who loved the game later became president of the United States. That man, Harry Truman, immortalized the phrase, ‘The buck stops here.’ Three universal metaphors from just one tiny function. That’s the power of poker. The whole game is a metaphor for American life, and vice versa.”
Good feature of the Hard Rock Casino slot club: You do not lose any slot club credit by switching machines. The computer keeps a running count even if several days elapse between two sessions of play or you switch machines often. This is reassuring information, since it takes $200 through the machine to earn one point on VP, $100 on slots, and the card reader doesn’t show a countdown. Each point is worth one dollar—so you don’t want to lose credit for any!
If you go up 55 stories to the Ghost Bar at the Palms, are you brave enough to try the two-person swing on the observation deck? I haven’t summoned up the courage yet. I can’t even stand on the glass section cut into the floor without suffering vertigo.
Your Frugalness has always loved Vegas in December because of the great bargains and promotions the casinos think up to get warm bodies through the doors. I’m reminded of what one casino executive reported, only half-joking I think, about why this time of year is so slow. “People would say that a guy took his perfectly good gambling money and wasted it on gifts for his grandmother.”
Happy holidays to all from Brad and me!
12/28/2001
I love reading about casinos and Las Vegas. I guess you might say I’m a gambling-information junkie. But look at the things I wouldn’t know — and therefore you might not either — although you might wonder if this is much of a loss!
You think you’ve had bad luck: A delayed flight kept a Wisconsin woman from collecting the $1 million prize in Ho-Chunk Casino’s second annual Million Dollar Giveaway (from the Casino Wire newsletter, which you can subscribe to at www.casinowire.com/newsletter).
Television actor Charles “”Chuck”” Zito was arrested at the Foxwoods Resort Casino Saturday night after refusing to remove his Hells Angels jacket or leave (from www.casinowire.com/news.asp?id=3791).
“”You have to dress more like the people of the region. Wearing a fanny pack says, ‘I’m an idiot, rob me.’“ From Peter Tarlow, a sociologist specializing in tourism and economic development and an expert in crimes committed against travelers.
Problem drinkers are 23 times more likely to have a gambling addiction, according to a new study conducted at the University of Buffalo’s Research Institute on Addictions (from Channel2000.com).
One hundred casino chips used in the 1962 James Bond film, Dr. No, went unsold at a Monday auction of film memorabilia at Bonhams in London. At an auction earlier this year, the bikini worn by Ursula Andress in the film fetched £35,000, about $50,000 (from the BBC News).
This next item is from the Everything Las Vegas newsletter, which you can subscribe to at [email protected].
Removal of Coffeemakers From The Rio
by David Berman
In-room coffee-makers are no longer available at the Rio, and possibly at other Las Vegas resorts that offered them as a standard amenity.
A subscriber to the AVLV Usenet group recently noted the absence of the coffeemakers while staying there, and subsequently sent the Rio an e-mail message of inquiry about the removal. A reply over the name of “”Rio Rita”” said, among other things, that the coffeemakers had been taken away as the result of a letter received from the Clark County Health District.
I was intrigued by the reason for all this, so over the past few days I have spoken by phone with the corporate director of communications for Rio’s parent, Harrah’s Entertainment, and with a supervisor in the Environmental Division of the Clark County Health District. I’ve posted the details of what I learned on AVLV and thought I’d share this information with all of you.
When cleaning guest rooms at the Rio, housekeepers would use the room’s bathroom sink to clean the coffeemakers. On a visit several months ago, a county health inspector pointed out to Rio’s director of housekeeping that this cleaning procedure is in violation of state statute, which provides that such items used by the public must be cleaned in a properly equipped dishwashing machine or in a three-compartment sink that allows for the use of cleaning liquid and two rinse procedures. I imagine that any of you who have been involved in the food-service business are aware of similar procedures as part of the sanitary requirements you’ve had to follow.
After the shortcoming was called to its attention, the Rio sent a letter of inquiry to the Clark County Health District, which replied in an early September letter that spelled out the steps to be followed.
After receiving the Health District letter, the Rio considered the possibility of using three-compartment sinks or commercial dishwashers located on every other floor, in order to comply with the cleaning requirement. But once it had given thought to this, Rio decided instead to just stop providing the coffeemakers in the rooms.
It is not my place to infer that Rio pulled the coffeemakers for reasons of economy, convenience, manpower, or anything else. But the fact is that they were not being cleaned properly and have now been taken from the rooms.
From the Las Vegas Sun newspaper, under