You can snag discounts with your Stations Boarding Pass players card at two coffee shops:  Lucky Penny at the Palms and the Brass Fork at Palace Station.  Discounts, valid 24 hours a day 7 days a week, vary from 10% off with the lowest card, Preferred, and rise 10% for each level above that, ending at 50% for Chairman. Important to note is this promotion goes to the end of the year and is valid both with cash purchases and point redemptions. This discount perhaps is evidence that business had suffered at both places because of the perception that their prices seemed too high for “just a coffee shop,” even though they tried to promote it as more upscale than a “regular” one.  Many people – Brad especially included – want a reasonably-priced restaurant with familiar comfort food, “Don’t try to make it fancier or different; I am unimpressed with upscale.”

As with all promotions there are fine-print restrictions, many in this case:  Not valid on café specials, nor with My Generation ½-point dining, nor for alcohol. Must be 21 or older; dine in only.  Not valid on holidays or special events. (Whatever that latter exception means?)  Limit one offer per check, maximum of four guests per check. (This one is not clear; better check with the waiter before you order.)  Cannot be combined with any other offer. (This one could be a deal-breaker in some cases if that means you can’t use a coupon.) Management reserves all rights. (Of course they do, but lawyer-talk sounds so unfriendly.)

The Rampart has opened their newly-renovated buffet, with outdoor patio seating, an unusual casino buffet option.  There have been some favorable reviews, but as always – you can’t satisfy everyone – there have been complaints.  Although there are several specialty nights, some miss the deli night from the past.  Also, there is a downgrade for seniors.  The $5 buffet lunch on 50 Plus Party Tuesdays now requires first earning 100 points that day.

The Palms buffet still has unbelievably long lines because of the mass mailing of buffet coupons. One person commented on that report I put in my blog last week, giving one reason why the VIP line is always so long:

 The VIP line at Palms AYCE has gotten as long as the regular line due to all the “non-handicapped” who have figured out that they cannot be asked to show evidence of their “handicapped” status. The cashier can only ask if they are handicapped and as long as they reply that they are they are permitted to access the VIP line. Lately most patrons on the VIP line are not VIP cardholders but low-level players who figured out how to game the system. The cashiers say they are helpless to do anything.

 PLAYERS CLUB CHANGES AND DETAILS

(I use vpFREE for players club numbers, like below. Saves me a lot of math figuring!)

1. Downtown Grand: After a no-point period for video poker, you can now earn them but the return % is very small:

• $10 Coin-In = 1 Point on Video Poker
• 250 Points = $1 Free Play (0.04%)

2. Club Fortune in Henderson: In their new 4-tiered players club, members now earn both points and comps. They are running sign-up promotion in which new members that earn 50 base points on date of signup can play a kiosk wheel spin game for guaranteed free slot play.

• $2 Coin-In = 1 Point on Most Video Poker
• Free Play or Comps: 500 Points = $1 (0.10%)

—–

• $3 Coin-In = 1 Point on “Up to 100%” Machines
• Free Play or Comps: 500 Points = $1 (0.067%)

Points can also be redeemed for products and services from several local businesses.

3. Casino Royale: Slot and video poker players can get daily rebates of $20 in free slot play for every $100 in losses. (I got this info from Scot’s “Vegas Values” – a valuable weekly report every Sunday on both current and ongoing Vegas promotions.  He covers many casinos, including some of the smaller ones that perhaps don’t do as much publicity.)

And now for some probably not very useful but perhaps somewhat interesting information – at least perhaps for old-timers like me.  I recently saw an article, with pictures, about a Snakes-and-Ladders slot machine.  I don’t know how long this slot has been around, but I had never come across one in my casino wanderings.  However, seeing mention of it took me back some 70+ years ago.  Chutes and Ladders was one of the first board games I ever played, first with my mother, and it then occupied many hours of my childhood as I taught my sisters the minute they could grasp the gaming concept – so I would have someone with whom to compete.

It was many years later that I learned that Chutes and Ladders was the Americanized version of the ancient Indian game of Snakes-and-Ladders, teaching children a morality lesson about good and evil. Go here to read more about this subject – maybe it will make the slot machine version more interesting?

Now I’m not saying the casinos are going back to those glory days of generous free play, easy comps, and good games. But I am seeing some positive moves.  Wynn/Encore have dropped all parking fees, even for valet.  It hasn’t happened yet but there is now talk that perhaps high and too “hidden” resort fees should be adjusted to attract those that are cutting down – or completely cutting off – their trips to Vegas casinos. And although it doesn’t seem that Boyd is thinking about getting rid of some of the onerous parts of their new players club – like Ruby players not earning points or being eligible for most promotions that are based on point earnings – there are some signs that they are trying to win back some of the customers that have fled.  Must have been a lot of them at the Gold Coast because they have been adding extra bonus-point days for the last few months – in October this runs for four days each week, 11x Monday through Thursday. (Remember, this is like 5.5X for VP players since it now takes $2 VP play to earn one point instead of $1 like under the old club program.)

However, the most common positive note for many casinos is that they are upping food comps. Every free or discounted meal you get, leaves you more money in your pocket.  Now not every casino is doing this increased food comp quite right. This has been a pet peeve of mine for 35 years.  A casino sends out a free-buffet coupon to – it seems – everyone who has ever been a player club member, some who haven’t played there for years and even some who can’t participate because they are dead!

Are you listening, Palms?  Does anyone from the ivory-tower offices in the sky ever come down to the casino floor and see the lines (both VIP as well as the regular one) snaked an unbelievable distance all over the place.  Do you see the tired, disappointed, and often angry looks on the faces of people in those lines who know they are looking at probably more than an hour of boring wait time?  When they finally do get seated and then finish their meal, how many are so mad by that time that the last thing they want to do is go to a machine or a table to gamble.  A food comp is supposed to be something that makes a player happy and glad to be in the casino – not something that makes them mad at a company that doesn’t use good sense in their marketing tactics.  Why can’t they spread out the dates for these coupons?  We no longer even try to use all those free buffet coupons we are getting in the mail; Brad, like many other seniors, just isn’t able to endure such a long wait.

Related to this food gripe, is the gift-giveaways.  These seem to be on the increase and I guess this is a popular perk for many players.  Not my favorite and probably not for many of my fellow seniors – we are trying to size down, not collect stuff.  It would be nice if there was an alternative free play choice.  For years in some casinos we would schedule our time to pick up gifts for late in the give-away period, knowing that if they ran out of the advertised gift, we would be given a gift card or extra free play.

There is also the same long-line problem during gift-giveaways I discussed earlier.  These often take place in cramped crowded areas and the lines have to snake through crowded slot machine aisles.  This should only happen once in a casino.  Someone in authority would see the problem and the next time it would be moved to a less crowded part of the casino and there would be enough staffing that long lines would not develop.  And a personal wish: They would train the employees to smile and act friendly when they are checking in the players and/or giving out the gifts.  So often we feel like these employees actually hate that we have shown up to ruin their day!

End of rant and a last technical note:  Some people have told me that they can’t subscribe to this blog.  We did have some problems with this earlier, but they have been resolved.  So, you might try again.  If it still does not work for you, drop a note to promotions@huntingtonpress.com  and we will subscribe you manually.

Most of my readers who follow my writings already know that we started out as quarter players and that we slowly worked our way up to much higher play levels, and I have written in detail about this exciting ride up to more luxurious benefits.  But I should have been clearer when I re-published this 20+-year-old article, which was definitely written by a very inexperienced quarter player!

I should have left out or explained more fully this one short sentence from that entry:   I’d never run an unfair promotion, like a slot-point marathon where quarter players are competing with $5 players.   Actually my intent would have been more obvious if I had started this paragraph with my second sentence: People like a promotion where everyone has at least a chance to win. Then I could have given a present-day example like a recent pull-tab promotion at Silverton in which the prizes went up in value, depending on the level of your play, but smaller play would win you something.  Obviously, higher-level players can score more benefits in most promotions, but it is nice when casinos think about the lower-level players, who are the bulk of the gamblers in many casinos.   One promotion comes to mind here, the royal bonus promotion going on at the Gold Coast this month.  Quarter players can earn the top bonus of $100; higher-denomination players get that same $100 bonus, not a higher amount.  Thus this is a “better” promotion, looking at EV, for lower-level players.  And many casinos, especially those catering to locals, often run better bonus-point promotions for penny machines, which target the smaller players.  They often also cap multi-point promotions that discourage more high-level play.

Funny, other than this one sentence I discuss above, I think the rest of that article is as timely today as it was so long ago.  My main purpose was not to analyze particular promotions and decide what level of players would benefit from them, but most of the ideas on my “wish list” had to do with customer service.  And most of those issues affect all levels of players.  Everyone likes to be able to get their questions about players club benefits answered by a knowledgeable employee at the club booth.  No one likes to receive notice of a promotion after the date it expired or find that club rules have changed and they are going to lose benefits they have already earned because they weren’t notified in a timely fashion.  Everyone likes to be treated like a valued customer, by the valet parker, the housekeeper, and even by the porters who clean up.  I have seen buttons worn by every employee in a casino, reminding customers of a casino-wide promotion that makes them all VIPs.  I liked that!

It seems most thoughtful readers, whatever the level of their play, appreciated the total message rather than fixating on one out-of-date sentence.

My next blog entry, which I promised earlier, will be back on my usual track of practical information, giving examples of how to boost the EV of your VP play.

Where can I find out what casinos offer the best Video Poker Odds and what those odds are?

Your best friend – and the friend of all wise VP players – should be vpFREE2.   You can search by game, casino, or particular section of the US – a wealth of data at your fingertips!

Are tips considered a deductible expense?

This is one of the subjects covered in Tax Help for Gamblers, in the sections talking about filing as a professional gambler.  Recreational gamblers would not have a place on their return to deduct tips, but if you file with gambling as a business, either on a Schedule C or corporation forms, there is a place for work-related expenses.  Some of these expenses might include things like travel, office supplies, mileage – and gambling tips might be added to that list.  It is very hard to get the IRS to accept gambling as a business, so you would need to keep very detailed records, especially on expenses.  As I suggested in the book, IRS Publication 535, Business Expenses, is a good resource to learn what deductions are allowed and their limitations.

How come you never talk about your losses, just about your big fantastic wins?

Over the years I have written about the valleys – but the mountains are always more dramatic and make for more interesting reading.  Actually I don’t talk too much about particular sessions – winning or losing ones.  If you notice, I talk about the long term much more frequently, because that is the only thing that really matters to us.  No one session – good or bad – makes or breaks us.

That said, long losing streaks are difficult to weather for all gamblers.  They are particularly stressful for gamblers who are getting too close to the bottom of their bankroll money.  They are stressful for players who have a skimpy psychological bankroll – they “lose the faith” pretty fast.

And a word for the 99.99% of my readers who write polite and helpful comments – thank you from the bottom of my heart.  However, don’t worry if your comment doesn’t show up for a couple of days.  I try to check and approve the comments every day – but sometimes I get busy and don’t have time to right away dig them out of the loads of spam that plague an open forum like this.

From the Seven Stars Insider Newsletter:  Caesars has reconsidered its decision and has reinstated its Total Reward benefit of two free tickets each month for selected Las Vegas casino shows – but only for Seven Stars cardholders, not for Diamonds anymore. A list of shows currently available may be obtained from the Total Rewards desk in each of Caesars Las Vegas casinos.

Complaints from Internet forums:  The Las Vegas Hard Rock is docking points from your slot club account when you accept “comped” room and food offers from mailers.  This seems to be the new policy when they introduced a new “improved” players club a few months ago but there has been no mention of this on the mailers, and even some of the personnel didn’t know about the change.  Better use your points for free play before they disappear for “comps.”

South Point has a good promo going on this month – turn your points into “half-price” gas cards.  But don’t expect to double-dip on double-point days.  Somebodies in marketing forgot to co-ordinate their promotional enthusiasm – and a previously-announced double-point day in June has now been cancelled.

Some locals (including Brad) recently received a nice we-missed-you mailer– lots of bonus-play and free-play days – from  Station Casinos.  We liked that you could use these offers at any of their many properties.  That’s the way to show you would like to get some of your former loyal customers back in love with you!

Have you given your e-mail address to all the casinos where you play…or want to play?  We have and it sometimes gives us a welcome surprise.  Recently the Palms has been e-mailing an occasional extra free play bonus.

This problem even exists in the “Comments” right here on my blog.  I try to keep a light touch on the comment monitoring and I rarely choose to not “Approve” a comment so it won’t be available for the public to read.  (I even try to restrain the English teacher in me, but sometimes I might correct a misspelling or punctuation error!)

However, sometimes I allow some “rants and raves” to go public even though they might be generalized simplifications of complex situations and not entirely accurate in the smaller details.  I understand many of you are disappointed …even extremely frustrated about the decline of good video poker games and you just want to vent this frustration.  I too have seen many of my favorite plays disappear over the last few years.  But I don’t want readers to give up just because someone might have said that there are no good plays left, that it is no longer possible to be a “frugal gambler.”

First remember – there are many kinds of “frugal gamblers,” a group that contains players who have a very wide range of goals. Yes, it is getting harder for those of us who are determined to always find a monetary advantage.  But there are many of us still plugging away at this.  Some are learning new games.  Some are changing denominations.  Some are traveling out of their home area.  Many more these days are scouring the database at vpFREE2.com.  Most are chasing more good promotions.  Everyone is having to be more flexible – in their selection of casinos, their choice of games, their scheduling of playtimes, their monetary expectations.

But many others, actually most “frugal gamblers” I would guess, have more modest goals.  They want to get the best value for their money in a casino, enjoying this entertainment option for as little expense as they can.  And there are still many many frugal ways to cut these expenses – and I expect that you will be able to continue to always find them in the future.  One reader gave this example: Thanks for the info [in “Senior Discounts]. If we seniors save on other things, we have a little more money to spend in the casinos. I love checking out the “Senior Days” at the casinos on my yearly trip to Las Vegas.

Knowledge continues to give power.  The diligent “frugal gambler” will always find ways to stretch their gambling bankroll.

“Let me put it this way. If there were $5 full-pay Deuces Wild machines in hell, we probably wouldn’t mind the moaning and screaming!

“Although we never choose (or avoid) a particular casino because of the noise factor, and we have never left a casino earlier than we had planned because of the noise, we certainly have an opinion about it. Brad and I hate music played so loudly that we have to scream to communicate with each other or with others. We hate competing music, e.g. from a nearby live band and from the casino loudspeaker.

“Speaking of loudspeakers, we hate messages from them that we really want/need to hear (contest details, drawing names), but that are more garbled than the ones at our fast food drive-throughs. We have learned to live with the irritating fingernails-on-a-blackboard screeching of Caveman Keno, the all-too-frequent drone of wheel..of..fortune, and machines that blast out a message every time someone walks by. But we could exist more peacefully in a casino if none of these noises existed. We would even be happy with a compromise: turn down the volume!”

Note to casinos: We do not like to stand in long lines anywhere in your properties. We get cranky. Cranky customers are apt to take off without playing! Organized promotions that flow well make customers happy. Happy customers are likely to play more in casinos that make them happy.