Sooooooooooo……if you plan to play there tomorrow – Father’s Day – you better keep track of your starting and ending point balances to see if the 11X is being added.  This is a problem that Gold Coast has not been up front in letting their customers know about it.  You could have activated the 11x on a kiosk and just assumed that it would have been done.  No sign on the kiosk that there might be a problem.  The only reason I know about it is because I read Internet forum posts and talk to other players who are kind enough to share information.

Gold Coast already has a major PR problem after the Boyd burn-and-slash players club changes have chased away many customers.  You would think that they would jump at the chance to be extra transparent with those that have stayed.  System malfunctions do happen, but a casino should warn customers about them.  I guess that responsibility falls on me at the moment even though I am definitely not on the Boyd payroll!

Speaking of Boyd Gaming, I guess I am really tired of trying to help players deal with casino policies that no one I know can understand.  So, I’m going to leave that subject – at least for today – and go to subjects that are more positive – or at least don’t depress you.

Here is a link to an article, Moët and Silk Jammies, that might bring a smile to some of you old-timers.  It is one I could have written myself about Brad’s and my adventures when we first started gambling in Las Vegas.

And if you are bored with your home casino, go to this link to find some of the most unusual casinos around the world you could put on your bucket list.  I was in the Australian town of Coober Pedy almost 50 years ago and marveled at the underground homes cut right out of the earth, but there was no underground casino there at that time!

And I’ll end this blog with a press release that did not excite me one bit:

FLY LINQ is now the only zipline in the world to offer four ride styles that can launch simultaneously on 10 side-by-side lines.

FLY LINQ, which is also the only zipline on the Las Vegas Strip, now gives riders four ways they can fly:

1. Prone or “superhero”– backward
2. Prone or “superhero”– frontward
3. Seated – backward
4. Seated – frontward

We created an exhilarating experience that only FLY LINQ could deliver. For the first time, we are giving riders the option to fly seated or prone backward whereas before they were only able to fly frontward.

Definitely more options than most 80-year-women need!

As I have mentioned in past blogs, we are planning to phase out our play at CZR, but it is a slower process than we expected.  They keep sending us good offers!  First, we had a monster offer in April from Harrah’s Tahoe.  And then we got a good offer if we checked into a Vegas Caesar property in May or June.

We hadn’t stayed or played locally for several years, so decided to choose the Cromwell, an old haunt of ours back when it was called the Barbary Coast.  We did have a room there once when it was first bought by CZR and renamed the Cromwell, and I had written how the rooms reminded us of a stately old library that was the scene of an English murder mystery – dark, with heavy old furnishings.  That was still our impression when we walked in our room this time, much the same historical romantic mysterious atmosphere of that old Barbary Coast.

We had chosen the Cromwell over other local CZR properties because it is easy in- and-out self-parking and you didn’t have to walk a mile to check-in and then to your room.  Brad and I are both having trouble walking long distances these days, a major change in our lives from when we would take long power walks up and down the Strip.  However, we had forgotten that going through and between casinos is always a longer distance that one expects.  So, our plan to walk down to Harrah’s for dinner and a show became a stop-and-go experience as we would grab an empty slot machine chair for a rest period every so often!

We enjoyed a return to Harrah’s buffet, one that we had visited many times in the past but not recently.  Not as fancy as some, but with a large selection of food we liked – as Brad remarks when we visit some of the new buffets and restaurants around town, “No weird food.”  The only lack for me was no-sugar-added ice cream, but they did have other SF desserts.

We rarely take advantage of shows in Vegas these days, even when we could have them comped.  After 35+ years we have seen most of the on-going big productions, and many of the new shows feature modern music that is not to our tastes.  We miss our “oldies” music, with so many of the stars we loved passing on.  But sometimes a “tribute” show can bring back some happy memories of by-gone days, and so we used the monthly free-show Seven Star benefit to go see the new Harrah’s show called “Heartbreak Hotel.”

I hate to review a show really, because it is like trying to recommend a restaurant.  So many different tastes!  But I really enjoyed this tribute to Elvis.  It was high energy with a live band of six guys and 3 gal singers – all very talented!  It concentrated first on Elvis’ early life, with biographical narrative and photos on 4 huge LED walls in-between the performances of his early hits, then covering many of his most well-known songs.  Here is a review that gives more details about the performance.

I talked earlier about the old-fashion atmosphere we liked about the Cromwell room.  So why am I writing this blog tonight from home when we are checked into the Cromwell.  Well, it’s hard to explain.  Maybe it’s because we are old – or maybe just jaded?  We have enjoyed staying in fancy casino hotels for 35 years.  But with this offer we could do just “down the street” we decided to skip the packing and lugging the CPAP machine. Just go for the day and do the little bit of play we needed to do, eat, and see a show.  Mess up the bed and gather up all the nice toiletries, and then return home to sleep in our own bed.

Some of you might understand.

And when you are running around town with younger generations, the key part of “activities” is “active.” First there was a retro trip to the Pinball Hall of Fame where Brad and I discovered we hadn’t lost all our skills at a game we hadn’t played for decades.  I really recommend this amazing place, with hundreds of working games, many of the simple old classics as well as the more recent complicated options.  No admission charge – just put a bill in the money changer and grab a plastic container to fill with lots of quarters!

Next there was birthday party #1, a joint one  thrown by our daughters, for my best friend Wilma and me – we both turned 80 just 3 days apart.  Some stodgy old-lady celebration?NOT!  It was held at a party room at the Twilight Zone Miniature Golf indoor venue at Bally’s Casino.  Playing in the neon black-light, the competition between the 20-something grandchildren and the oldsters was intense.  A fun place to party.

Then we took a break from birthday partying to celebrate a major milestone for granddaughter Kaity – finishing 19 ½ school years, with her master’s degree in Film and Video Production from Georgia State University.  We met at the Bacchanal Buffet at Caesars Palace, one of her favorite restaurants.  Everyone was happy we could use the Seven Star line, with only a short wait for our large group.  We were told that those in the regular line were facing a FOUR-hour wait!  The town is packed during the holidays so one must remember to adjust schedules for the crowds everywhere.  Below is Kaitlynn opening graduation gifts.

That evening we all went to the show “WOW!” at the Rio.  And all I can say about that is “Wow,” an amazing production.

And then the final blow-out celebration was the Frugal Birthday Open House to which everyone here and friends with Jean Scott on Facebook received an open invitation.  I know many of you wanted to attend but weren’t in town – and I appreciated all your birthday best wishes in the Comments here.  But many were able to attend, including not only locals but those from far away, even from Canada and Australia.  And it was great to get together with many friends we hadn’t seen for years and meet those we had known previously only online.  Kaitlynn was filming all during this party and when she gets the video edited, I will post the link here so everyone can enjoy the celebration even if not in person.

So now our family has flown back to Georgia – and Brad on the couch and I in my recliner have collapsed.  It was a wonderful week, but we need to recover from all that fun!

Some may wonder why I haven’t mentioned one member of the Frugal Princess family.  We really missed having grandson Zachary and his family here.  But you can blame Uncle Sam. When Zachary finished college, he became a police officer in the family hometown of Columbus, Georgia, but he also was a member of the Georgia Army National Guard.  And his unit was activated to go to Afghanistan.    He was able to spend Christmas with his family but is now at Ft Steward, waiting to deploy.  I am hoping that the up-in-the-air troop withdrawal plans of the President will happen sooner than later!  But in the meantime, Taylor is learning to be the strong military wife – as Angela was for so many years – and take good care of our 3 precious great-grandchildren – Asher, 4; Bowen, almost 2, and their little sister Cooper who arrived in November.

Stay tuned for another blog entry soon when I will have researched the January promotions and changes for the new year.

Most of the free buffets for military members and veterans will be on Monday, November 12^th, but some Boyd properties and South Point are running their promotions on Sunday, the 11^th.  South Point is one of the few that includes a free meal for a companion.  However, I must warn you that you will have a long, long wait in line no matter what time you go there.  This has always been the case in years past but it may be worse this year since at this time their buffet is limited both in menu and space due to on-going renovation.

And I just saw an ad in the newspaper that might interest you, if you want to take a short Sunday road trip to Mesquite.  The Virgin River and Casablanca Casinos are offering veterans and military personnel a free buffet on the 11th, all day long from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., plus a guest eats free also.  You must present military ID or DD214.

Don’t assume you are prepared because you have participated in a Veterans Day promotion in years past.  Before you go, be sure to check casino websites for details about dates, times, and what they require for identification to qualify.

HARD ROCK

The players club is in a transition period and most – all? – promotions and benefits have disappeared.  Look for a new club to be introduced after the first of the year as the new owner turns the Hard Rock into a Virgin property.

TUSCANY

Some new details about their senior program:

New Look, Same Club!

Free coffee every Thursday in November. $39/$65 Room rates for November & December. Pick-A-Gift Thursdays for 50/50 Club Members when you earn 250 points! Senior surprise scratch offs – earn 250 points, scratch up to $500 in Free Slot Play every Thursday in November. See Players Club for details.

CAESARS PALACE 

Perhaps this is old news because we don’t visit this casino very often anymore, but I just noticed they have the neatest system to help you find an empty parking space in their self-parking garage. There are little lights running above each parking space:  red, if the space is occupied, green if it is open, and blue if it is an open handicapped space.  So easy to scan and easily find your closest spot.

(Our more-recent experiences in this garage is an extremely small sample, and maybe we were there on a normally slow time or day, but we no longer have the problem we used to have in trying to find a parking space.  Hummmmmm…charging for parking just may be having a bigger negative effect than the casinos will admit to?)

TIRED OF HUNTING PROMOTIONS?

Here’s a neat list of places in Vegas you could visit to take your mind off disappearing casino benefits. One even has to do with sex, which is always a good subject to help you forget about life’s disappointments!

How time flies!  Seems not that long ago Kaitlynn was in a stroller screaming her lungs out  as brother Zachary was enjoying the wolf howling during the noisy Christmas show in the Sam’s Town atrium.

We haven’t stopped visiting casinos while Kaitlynn is here. Although she is interviewing me about my early life – growing up in a minister’s home, teaching high school, and living in Australia where her mother, the Frugal Princess, was born – she is fascinated by my transition to skilled gambler.  She is starting to understand that, although it looks like two very different worlds, there is much the same.  I learned the value of being careful with money when I was a very little girl so it was not a surprise I became a frugal gambler.  I knew I would be a teacher as soon as I started first grade so it was not a surprise that I wrote books teaching about smarter gambling.

So she is filming as we enjoy comped casino meals.  She is filming us as we play video poker. “Just go about your regular routine,” she says.  She already knows about coupon runs since we took her on one a couple of years ago when she turned 21.  So that was on the top of her must-film list.  Despite  triple-digit temperatures, we went downtown for  a  coupon chase in and out of casinos until we were all exhausted.  But Kaitlynn got the footage she needed – and I got some photos to share with you.

And then there is Kaitlynn’s non-casino activities, partnering up with an 86-year-old Poppy for his first pedicure.

One can “get lucky” on recreational non-advantage play, but we did not on this trip.  So, our losses on our play just went into the column of “Vacation Expenses.”  But we had a relaxing and fun time, which was our goal.

We aren’t finicky foodies, so we enjoy the buffet, especially at breakfast.  Locals – and Vegas residents are considered “local” – automatically get the 2-for-1 price during the breakfast/lunch serving time.  We also like their Beach Café where prices are very reasonable. We have eaten at the Range Steakhouse many times and it is always top-notch when we want to go gourmet.

Since we are both at the Seven Star players club level, we took advantage of their Diamond Lounge frequently.  They serve hot food from 4 p.m. opening weekdays, at noon on the weekends.  We eat very lightly these days, so we often find items we like to make our complete small meals.   We especially like their chunky chicken salad with cranberries and walnuts. Seven Stars have an added benefit of a special-order appetizer/dessert menu.  Brad is a chocaholic but met his match with the “too-rich” double-chocolate cake selection and the next time joined me in the tasty and lighter ice cream and berry option.

We have been to Laughlin many times over the last 30+ years and enjoyed many of the fun activities this area affords.  Back when we were younger and long walks was our exercise of choice, we would hike the “river strip” – even in the hot summer heat.  It was an easier walk down from Harrah’s to the Riverside, but then we had to tackle the strenuous climb back up the hill on the way back, stopping often to cool off at each casino along the way.  These days when we want to visit other casinos, we take the river taxi!

Harrah’s is definitely a family destination.  Especially during the weekends, the restaurants, beach, and family pool are crowded with kids.  Good there is also an adult-only pool for a quieter experience!  The sandy beach is popular for all ages and the jet ski rental business there is booming all summer.

Down through the years we have enjoyed many side road trips. The Indian-owned Avi Resort and Casino 25 miles down the Colorado River has a Vegas-style hotel and casino, with many amenities that include a movie theater, an RV park, and beach and water activities.

You can see the original London Bridge, dismantled and brought over from England and reassembled, in Lake Havasu City, AZ.  An adventurous way to get there, which we did with our granddaughter and her friend, is on a jet boat that leaves the beach at Harrah’s for a scenic 2-hour ride 60 miles down the Colorado River.  There will be a stopover in Havasu City to see the bridge and have lunch and then the cruise back to Laughlin.

One of our favorite places to take friends and family is the historic former mining town of Oatman, Arizona, on Route 66, about a 45-minute drive from Laughlin.  These days it is a quirky tourist destination with fake gunfights in the streets, wild burros roaming carefree, and the usual places to eat and drink and buy kitschy souvenirs. If you don’t mind crowds and long walks after you finally find a parking place, hit the town during special events like the annual Bed Races or the Sidewalk Egg Fry Contest on the 4^th of July.  If you don’t have a car, there are commercial tours to Oatman and to many of the other attractions around Laughlin.

Many visitors to Laughlin are those who drive from Las Vegas, as we did.  That drive used to be a traffic nightmare before a divided highway was built.  And now it is even easier since the bypass around the Railroad Pass Casino has been completed.  However, a little bit of the old bad memories came back on this last trip since there is now construction between Searchlight and the Laughlin turn-off and we had to contend with about 16 miles of no-passing single lanes coming and going!  ☹  I talked about bus service between Las Vegas and Laughlin in a recent post but you need to Google that subject  for up-to-date information since these opportunities have come and gone down through the years, especially free trips sponsored by the Laughlin casinos.

One thing that many people may not know about is that Harrah’s Laughlin runs numerous air charter trips from many parts of the country, mainly the Midwest and South.  Some visitors take these charter packages regularly every few months, praising their convenience, with straight-through flights and included room accommodations.  When they land in the Bullhead City airport across the river, a bus is waiting to take them straight to the hotel.  The prices for these vary, but for many visitors, after they pay for the first trip, the future ones can be discounted or completely comped depending on their previous casino play history.  Some gamblers feel Laughlin is more laid-back, more like the good old days, and opt for it as an alternative to the hustle and bustle of Las Vegas.

Although I mainly look for gambling-specific promotions, like multiple-point days, to write about, I know most players are also interested in other promotional categories, especially food offers.  Obviously if you can save money on meals when you are in a casino, then you will have more money to add or keep in your gambling bankroll. This month I know about three play-for-a-buffet promos.

SOUTH POINT

From a press release:  South Point Casino Club members have the chance to earn a lunch or dinner voucher for the Garden Buffet every Monday through Thursday throughout April. To earn one lunch buffet, slot machine players must earn 300 same day base slot points between 3 a.m. and 1 p.m. Club members can receive a dinner buffet voucher by earning 600 same day base slot points before 8 p.m. To receive the earned buffet vouchers, Club members must present an ID and swipe their Casino Club card at any kiosk to verify their points by 2 p.m. for a lunch buffet and by 9 p.m. for a dinner buffet. Players must then redeem their lunch and/or dinner tickets at any Casino Club kiosk between 7 a.m. and midnight to receive their Garden Buffet coupons. All players must be 21 years of age or older and can only be awarded one lunch or dinner buffet per day per player, based on same day play points. The Garden Buffet vouchers are valid Monday through Thursday only and expire Thursday, May 3.

SILVERTON

Tuesdays in April you can earn either (but not both) a free lunch buffet by earning 50 points or a free dinner buffet for 100 points.  This is one of our favorite value-priced buffets.  And the promotion has one extra feature.  You can earn and print out the coupon at the kiosk on Tuesday and it is good through Thursday of that same week.

RAMPART

Rampart has an every-day on-going earn-and-redeem (you don’t keep the points to use for other purposes as you do in a simple earn promo) buffet offer. They also offer a similar spa promo.

——

PALMS

I don’t always give you all the details of every promotion I mention here since you can go to the casino website where these are usually well covered, including requirements, limits, and restrictions.  I constantly remind you to read all the fine print!  However, there is one casino I talk about – the Palms – that has not yet followed its new “mother” (Stations Casinos) by covering their promotions on their website.  So, I will try to be more detailed here so that those who do not get the regular monthly mailer will have enough info to at least have a general idea about their promotions, many which out-of-towners as well as locals might find attractive.

First, I need to mention that the popular earn-a-buffet promotion that they ran since their new A.Y.C.E buffet opened is no longer in effect.  I am assuming that they think their frugal introduction offer has produced a healthy number of fans who will continue to be customers at the regular price.  Most people I talk to think this is a high-value choice for a reasonable cost.  And there have been some changes that have improved the overall experience.  Even Brad – who wasn’t thrilled at first – likes to go there.  And the lunchtime sliders I panned earlier now have the soft buns I like better.  We both like the navy bean soup and light-style cornbread, and our favorite desert is the fudgy sugar-free brownie topped by vanilla sugar-free gelato.  Yummmmm!

Although the buffet offer is gone, they have several other promotions this month. A couple small ones are kiosk games on Mondays and Fridays that you can play after earning 5 base points.  I haven’t done these very often, but in my experience and talking with others who have done these at other Station properties, the prizes are fairly small and probably not worth a special trip for many players.  But if you are on property those days anyway, it is a small added bonus.

The popular promotions to earn movie tickets and car washes have been combined in April into one day – Tuesdays.  Earn 300 points for one or 600 points for both.  You keep the points. Also, the Palms continues to participate with the other Station properties in the Wheel of Fortune bonus, where each individual property jackpot starts at 10K and must hit by 20K.

The biggest promo that may be of interest to many players is earning Chevron gift cards on Thursdays in April.  You can find the complete rules and schedule at the Rewards Center, but there are many levels.  You can earn a $5 gift card by earning 300 slot or 1500 VP points.  If you earn enough points for all 5 levels (that’s 19,500 for slots; 57,000 for VP), you will have earned $190 of those gas gift cards – and you still keep the points for free play, cash, and comps.

Miscellaneous Promos

Not interested in long gambling sessions or no interest in gambling at all?  Casinos these days try to offer free or low-cost activities to bring in customers who will spend money at their property outside of the gaming action.

Silverton offers free admission to “Pub Trivia” on Wednesday nights; and with your players card, on Thursday evenings you can enjoy a classic rock band show.  You can stop by a craft show there on April 1, a garage sale on April 7, and a weekly farmers market on Sundays.  On Tuesdays you can enter two slot tournaments, free with your players card.

Rampart Casino is offering free table game lessons every Saturday at 10 a.m.  At South Point there are free show options, and many events in their Arena are open for free to the public.

If you are age 50+, almost all local casinos have freebies and discounts for you on their designated “senior day.”

Scouring local casino websites will help you discover promotions for all type of activities – gambling and otherwise – many which may surprise you, especially if you don’t get their  mailers.  And there is one resource that I forgot to put on my list I gave last week here in my blog, one that is a must-read for those always on the hunt for all kinds of good promotions.  Go to the weekly Vegas Values where every Sunday Scot Krause gives you a report on the best current casino deals and you can also check on-going promotions.

For complete information about this fun and informative event go to ZorkFest. There you can scroll down and find schedules, pictures and bios of the speakers, preliminary session subjects, host hotel rates, and registration details.  Of course, I want to tell you about all the ways you can reduce the cost of this educational and entertaining event – talking about how to get more bang for your buck is what I do!

First, remember this valuable code:  zorklva.  This will give you discounts for many parts of the registration fees.  And second, remember this still-wise cliché – the early bird gets the worm.  The Super Early Discount rate available if you register before March 20, coupled with the LVA code, will be the best bargain.  But there are other discounts for add-ons and combo offers.

Then there are special LVA promotions. Use the code zorklvaroller for $25 off the High-Roller ticket, offer good until April 30.    And here is one Brad and I are excited about because we love to chat with our fans:

ZorkFest will provide three (3) Friday VIP dinner tickets to raffle off for LVA members. Potential winners will be any LVA member who buys a Zorkfest conference ticket (with the LVA code). Those three winners will sit with Anthony Curtis or Jean and Brad Scott at dinner Friday night.  If the winner of the LVA contest for dinner already has purchased a dinner (or High-Roller ticket which includes dinner) they will get a $100 Treasure Island Casino chip, at registration.  Those who purchase the dinner (or High Roller Ticket which includes dinner) will also get a chance to sit with AC or Jean and Brad Scott, on a first- come- first basis.

I am really enthusiastic about this event because it covers such a large range of subjects of interest to people who work at being thrifty.  Of course, my niche is frugal gambling, but we spent a lot of time over the years making our travel budget smaller – think of those many airplane bumps we chased –  so we would have a bigger bankroll when we got to the casino.   And we are really looking forward to chatting with many of our frugal readers, some we have met in person in the past but many have wished for such an opportunity as this May event will bring.  Hope to see you there!

The Palms

Remember how I told you in my blog early in the month how you could double-dip at the Palms by using the same points for two promotions for certain days.  At the time I knew the casino was aware of this “problem” – for them but not for the customer!    Via the grapevine I heard they were trying to close this loophole so beloved by all of us players.  Well, they kinda did a few days ago by making a “rule” for the players club employees that they could not issue gift cards AND free buffet vouchers using the same earned points.  However, many customers just went the club desk to get these at different times and there was no guidance to the employees on how to check whether the proper points had been earned.

I have talked to one casino employee who wasn’t sure how this was going to play out the rest of February with two promotions still running on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  You can try to double-dip but I don’t guarantee your success.  However, I was told the casino was going to change/adjust promotion days in March so this would definitely no longer be a player option. ☹

South Point

This is probably not a new promotion but is one that just came to my attention.  South Point movie theaters are offering $4 movies for those 50+, not just on Monday senior day, but also on Wednesdays.  This price is good for all showings on those days, except there is an additional fee for 3D and XD.  You must show a South Point players card and ID.

Another discount day, for all ages, is Tuesday, with an all-day admission price of $5.25, with the same upcharges as just mentioned above.  (This promotion is available company-wide for Cinemark theaters.)  Also note that Tuesday Openings do not have this discount.

Inspirational Advice

“What helps luck is a habit of watching for opportunities, of having a patient, but restless mind, of sacrificing one’s ease or vanity, of uniting a love of details to foresight, and of passing through hard times bravely and cheerfully.” – Charles Victor Cherbuliez, a 19^th-century French novelist.

Some of you will remember my writing many years ago when we first started casino gambling that we called comps the “gravy.”  We never counted their value in our “profit” for the simple reason that we were earning more of them that we could have paid for on our limited budget at that time.  They were just an extra that allowed us to enjoy more luxurious vacations that we couldn’t have afforded otherwise.  We couldn’t have used comps to make up any of our actual monetary gambling losses. That would have been a fast way to go broke!

Now we are in a much different time in our life; we have enough money to pay for any activity or vacation that we wish to do.  Therefore, now any comps we can use to decrease our costs become a monetary plus, adding to any profit we earn in our gambling or making up any losses we might incur.  That is very important at this time when the opportunities for advantage play are rapidly disappearing.  We still do most of our casino play only when we have an edge, but that edge is often very slim and our records don’t always end up in the black at the end of each year.  The “long term” doesn’t always have the same end as our arbitrary date of December 31. Comps are still “gravy” for us most of the time, but I predict that in the future they will become a much bigger factor in how we choose where and when we play video poker.

However, this 5-day vacation for 7 adults and 2 kiddies did require major involvement with a casino comp system and the value was quite high.  We had 3 mini-suite rooms comped for 4 nights.  We never had a food bill.  We had free ski passes for the family.  (Brad and I declined to participate in that activity but it wasn’t for the lack of free ski passes!!!  ) A party-bus was provided for group transportation to and from the Reno airport, including regulation car seats for the kiddies. And an unexpected shopping promotion running while we were there provided $450 in the sports shop for ski equipment rental and winter clothing.  Left-over comps of $350 not used for food gave opportunity for splurging in the gift shop.

Although Brad and I had both attained Harrah’s 7-Star status for 2017 and had saved up over the year a good number of comp benefits for this family vacation, the expenses were not covered completely by comps.  It is what I refer to as a discounted comp benefit and in this case let us keep hundreds of dollars in our pockets to spend for other expenses.

I must make an important observation here.  It is unlikely that we will be able to take this luxurious a vacation and have so much comped in the future.  Caesars has made major cuts in their higher-tier benefits for 2018.  And we have found that the perks and what hosts can do for you vary greatly from one property to another even within the same company.  And it is not just the bigger Strip companies cutting comps.  Casinos that serve mostly locals are also cutting benefits right and left.

We still play the “comp game,” but just as it is for the actual casino games we play it takes more work these days to find advantage situations.  I constantly research casino players club details and look for changes that affect extra benefits.  I talk to other players, who sometimes give me little-known information about various comp systems.  And I am continuing to develop friendly relationships with hosts.  Even though at many casinos their “power” is limited, we still use the Just-Ask maneuver and at times see surprisingly positive results. Some of that is probably due to the accompanying Be-Nice-and-not-Demanding attitude.  I find that grousing to hosts about casino cuts is not an effective technique, even sometimes having a negative impact.

Gaining an advantage anywhere in a casino has never been easy.  And today you just have to work harder than ever!