It’s getting harder and harder for me to write this monthly update here and stay positive. Just so many downgrades and negative changes! ☹ But I will continue to hunt for new good opportunities and give helpful hints on how to navigate these stormy promotional waters.
SOUTH POINT
Here is one port where you can dock sometimes this month and take advantage of a good promotion, especially for VP players who are choosing the best paytables. They are running one of their popular earn-and-redeem gift-card promotions, with the opportunity to use $25 in slot points for a $50 Walmart gift card. As long as you are playing for this offer – up to a limit of 10 cards – that is the equivalent of 2x points (worth .6% instead of the regular .3%). This is especially appealing because this casino has been cutting down on their 2x bonus days, running other types of promotions on holidays which in the past were usually multiple-point days.
STATION CASINOS
Lots of stormy weather here, with extremely cautious navigation needed to avoid crashing on the rocky shores. You need to get out your magnifying glass to read your mailer and its calendar, the online information on the casino websites, and newspaper ads. That tiny print “up to” is popping up all over the place, not just for VP multipliers but for slots also. It makes those weekly Multiplier Mondays and Tuesdays not as attractive as they might look on first glance. And keep the magnifier out for the gift offers and see which gift is available in what casino. Then be aware that Palms is still the red-headed stepsister and does not have all the same offers as the other properties. When you see an offer you like, check the casino logos; for example, Palms does not participate in the Wednesday senior day programs as at all the other properties. I guess the Mother Station does not like us older siblings but I’m not sure why not – we have more money and more time to spend in their casinos!
BOYD PROPERTIES
I have covered the disaster of their new players club at length and will continue to do so in the future, but for the moment, I have little advice on how to navigate in this Category 5 hurricane. Many players have just fled the area, looking for new seas to sail. Some of us have put into dock only on 11x days, giving up any long-term plans to work for our usual higher tier status.
OTHER VEGAS PROPERTIES
Brad and I have cut down on our play, both on the number of days we want to go out and the length of the sessions when we do go out. We also limit our driving range. Therefore, I have less personal experience to share, having to depend on reports from other players, either personal contacts or those who post on Internet forums, to learn about other possible “good” places to play VP.
But I still can give the best basic formula for a person who wants to find new VP opportunities. This formula will work not only if you a Vegas local but for players who are locals in other casino venues and/or who are willing and able to do some traveling. Go to vpFREE2 and do an extensive research on every casino you might be able to visit, especially those you may have never considered.
Then you look for the game inventory and see what good games you either already know or could learn and what their EV is. And then you click on the slot club tab and see what that benefit is worth. (Players are always telling me that they can’t figure out the slot club value – you don’t have to be a math genius – you can just look it up!) You add those two figures together for a base number. I’ve told you how to do this in umpteen blogs over the years. If you are a new reader or have forgotten this stuff, go to the 3-part series I wrote about “Using Math to Choose a VP Play.”
Although this is just a start, you need a firm base number. Then you look for multiple-point promotions (see Scot’s bonus-point list). Then you regularly go to the casino’s website to look for other promotions. You read the VP forums where they may discuss comp policies and other valuable benefits. You can talk to other players who may share information.
Sailing a turbulent promotional sea is not an easy job. You have to keep a strong grip on the ship’s wheel so you don’t end up shipwrecked on the rocks.
I was playing $ VP at the Suncoast on Wednesday and noticed a real change to the point system.
Prior to the “new and improved” tier system, $1 in equaled 1 Base point. Now $1 in equals 0.5 point.
Previous promos included 6x points for YAH VP players, now it has been “increased” to 11x. But it is all a sham.
Previously $10 in yielded 10 points with the multiplier: 60 points.
Now $10 in equals 5 points with the multiplier: 55 points.
I have been a Boyd player and stockholder for almost 20 years, but I am looking for a new home casino.
OMG!! I have more crazy news for you about the Boyd B-Connected program. I have been a 40+ year player at Boyd properties. Have always been full RFB status at their properties. But here is more disturbing news. I have two months of actual, live data from the so-called new program. Here are my comments and real and actual experience. Both months I play at least $50,000 in action in craps (each month). I should have received about 2500 tier credits for each month. I got 2000 in Sept and 1300 in October. Both low IMO. Both months I also got credited with tier credits for reel/keno play. Seems odd since I never played any reels or keno on those two trips. And in October I was credited with 240,000 bonus points for video poker play. Associated with this was 1920 tier credits. At $2 coin-in to equal 1 bonus point on video poker, that means my coin-in ratio to tier credits is 250:1!!! Wow!!! Better still, $480,000 coin-in for 3 days of $1 video poker play; assuming I play about 600 hand an hour, that means I played 160 hours — strange — isn’t three whole days constrained by the 72 hours? I conclude that the program is wacked and full of errors, flaws, and programming mistakes!!!
We are going to Laughlin in two weeks and then to Vegas the Sunday & Monday after Thanksgiving, staying at a Boyd off-strip property. In our two favorite Laughlin casinos, the point systems are next to incomprehensible–but the comp offers keep coming.
In Vegas it will be pointless to earn tier credits this trip since they all disappear at the end of the year; but I do plan to play a little just to reset the six-month limitation on my remaining points. Otherwise, we’ll probably just shuttle directly from the room to the poker room and back. Meanwhile the Boyd comp offers also keep coming, at least through February. I wonder how long we’ll be able to get away with that….
Dear Jean,
Thank you for all the energy that you expend to further the positive experience we seniors enjoy on our vacation retreats to Las Vegas. You seem discouraged by the inability to report on positive news because for the most part, there is very little to report. And, that is not your fault.
It is time for seniors to accept that Las Vegas casino management is unconcerned that our experiences are no longer enjoyable because we feel unappreciated and mistreated by the continuous effort to extract maximum income from all visitors and especially our target group. After years of loyalty to each casino brand with concurrent rewards for our action, we are now asked to play more and lose more for reduced complimentary benefits. Not fair.
Mature seniors should accept the new gaming policies and avoid becoming angry and resentful. Life is too short to waste time and energy complaining about something over which we have no control. Instead, we should embrace this change and look for other opportunities for spending our time and money. We could spend more time visiting with friends, or taking free classes at our local colleges and universities. We could attend more cultural activities such as concerts or plays and support local high schools by volunteering or attending school productions. We could spend our time and money on outings with children and grandchildren even if they are often too busy for grandparents.
We can meet with our friends and reminisce over coffee about the good old days when we traveled to Las Vegas maybe five or six times a year to gamble and have fun. Wow, those were the days.
DEAR JEAN,
I HAVE LOVED YOUR ARTICLES FOR MANY YEARS. I HAVE AGED RIGHT ALONG WITH YOU.
THE BOYD GROUP TELLS ME THAT $5 IN EQUALS 1 TIER CREDIT ON SLOTS. BUT ON VIDEO POKER THE GAME SWITCH IS very IMPORTANT. IF ON A GAME KING AND LIKE TO SWITCH GAMES ( LIKE ME ), ALL ACCRUED VALUE TOWARD THE TIER IS lost IF THE TIER IS NOT COMPLETED. THEY TELL ME IN THE NEXT FEW MONTHS IT WILL BE POSSIBLE TO TRACK TIERS AS YOU EARN. WE WILL SEE!!??? AS A RED CARD PLAYER, I FEEL REALLY DISCRIMINATED AGAINST. I CAN’T EVEN EARN ANY SLOT OR VIDEO POINTS! FORGET ABOUT MULTIPLIERS. NOT EVEN ON SENIOR CITIZEN DAYS…
To adopt your metaphor, looking for good promotions and decent paytables in Vegas is like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. It’s rapidly becoming futile. We should abandon ship and sail our lifeboat toward friendlier shores. We might find safe harbor in Reno, Laughlin, or the Midwest–but not on board the Vegas sinking ship, which is apparently captained by a madman who headed straight for an iceberg, obsessed with the Great White Whale of massive corporate profits, and, uh…OK, I’ll stop now.
My experience with Southpoint is excellent. VP is full play. Unfortunately the buffet and coffee shop are terrible.
Jean, we stay at the Gold Coast 5 weeks a year and we’re solid saphire. We play 95% video poker and as you know when it takes 30 to 100 $ to recieve 1 point we will not make Saphire again, therefore never be able to earn any slot points either. When it purges your tier points each year that guarantees your demise. We just got back from a two week stay and I will tell you all the employees from the valets to the bartenders are pretty upset including upper hotel management. The slot host we talked to didn’t seem to care, which amplified the situation. It’s hard to believe that upper management didn’t look at this harder. This could be a business disaster in the long run. We visited with the South Point host and will probably make a change after going to Boyd’s for 1o years.
Living in Florida, Laughlin looks more and more appealing.
We’re having the same problems in the midwest. We have to watch where we play and who rewards us. Love to play craps but both table games and machines are giving us nothing for points, compared to money risked. I can see the day when it’ll all dry up.