VETERANS DAY – Monday, November 11

Boyd Gaming is offering a 11x multiplier for all players with a Sapphire tier card and above.

Silverton is offering 10x on reels and 2x on VP.  They are also advertising a BOGO buffet that day for all players club members.

Many casinos will offer a free buffet for military members and veterans on this day. Most require a players card and verification of their status to be shown at the cashier, with military ID, VA ID, or a DD-214.    This includes the Rampart, South Point, Silverton and Boyd Gaming properties.

The Station casinos also offer a free military buffet, but the procedure is a bit different. You have to swipe your military Boarding Pass at any kiosk to redeem voucher.  If you don’t have the military flag on your card, you can take your official documents to verify your active or veteran status to the players club and get that military card.  (That will also qualify you for extra benefits for the on-going Military Mondays promotions.)

South Point’s offer is the plum one since the buffet freebie is not only for the qualified person but he/she can bring a guest who can also eat free.  The lines are long at all the casinos offering this free meal, even at those who have separate VIP lines, but you might find the wait at South Point excruciatingly long all day long – there doesn’t seem to be any “off time.”

There is another plum offer for all active or retired military personnel with verifying credentials but it involves a bit of a drive for Las Vegas residents, about 90 miles.  The Virgin River and Casa Blanca casinos in Mesquite are offering free buffets all day for both the qualified person and guest.

No free buffet at the El Cortez but you might not have to waste time waiting in line that day to eat – free White Castle hamburgers will be passed out to the active players on the casino floor, both at the tables and the machines.  And you don’t have to even be military or a veteran!

THANKSGIVING DAY – November 28

Boyd Gaming is running their 11x multiplier all day – and as usual only Sapphire tier and above can take advantage of this bonus.  So sorry, Ruby players.

South Point is running a Hot Seat promotion from 8 a.m. until midnight Nov. 28.

And almost every casino restaurant is serving a special Thanksgiving menu.  The lines may be long everywhere – I think very few in Las Vegas cook a holiday dinner at home!

MONTH-LONG PROMOTIONS

Here is a newly-released promotion, one which was not mentioned in the monthly mailer but which I first learned about from an ad in the R-J.  The Gold Coast is continuing their mid-week multipliers for all of November:  11x all day Monday through Thursday.  Check Scot’s player club bonus list for the varying multiple-point days for other Boyd properties – they are not all the same!   The same warning for Station Casinos:  The Fiestas and the Palms often march to different orders!

South Point is running their popular 1/2 -price player club point “sale,” this month for Amazon gift cards.

Tuscany is having a “Play and Win” promotion:

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An important note for all players who are looking for extra value: Always check out possibilities for double-dipping, combining monthly and holiday promotions.

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And finally, a hint for getting around during the Las Vegas Marathon coming up later this month:

Once again, the Las Vegas Monorail will be the only Strip transportation option available during the 2019 Humana Rock ‘n’ Roll Las Vegas Marathon & ½ Marathon. The Humana Rock ‘n’ Roll Las Vegas Marathon & ½ Marathon event gives participants a one-of-a-kind nighttime running experience as the only private event to close Las Vegas Boulevard at night. The largest event on the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon Series tour will take place on the Las Vegas Strip at night on Saturday-Sunday, Nov. 16 – 17, 2019. Year after year, thousands of runners and spectators attend the Humana Rock ‘n’ Roll Las Vegas Marathon & ½ Marathon and its four days of events, relying upon the Monorail for getting to and from the start and finish lines of the weekend’s races. The Monorail also has a station at the Las Vegas Convention Center, which is the site of the events three-day Health & Fitness Expo, held on Thursday – Saturday, Nov. 14 – 16.

Stations

Wonder if business is down for Vegas casinos?  Full-page Stations ad in the R-J for “Bonus Multiplier Days!” Friday (today), Saturday, Sunday, and Monday (MLK holiday).  10x on slots (with no “up to”) and 6x WITH “up to” on VP.

Silverton

Silverton wants to attract customers but only those that play slots, according to their newspaper ad.  They title it “New Silverton Rewards Club” and list $1=1 point on reels, more multipliers, and less points required on promotions.  But there is no mention that it now takes FOUR times more coin-in for a VP player to earn a point: $4 = 1 point.  They do offer 2x points for VP on MLK day, but that is still a double cut from their previous rate.

One bright spot if you like their buffet is that they are offering BOGO for it for all card tier levels on January 21.  And if you play slots, you can enjoy 10x points that day.

Palms

The weirdness continues here.  I guess I’m just not artistically cultured enough to appreciate the finer things of life.  A dead fish cut in three pieces hanging from the ceiling costing I forget how many million.  Now they paid $14 million for a 60-foot-tall bronze sculpture of a naked, headless ogre who will grace their new pool.  I just wonder how much they will make on visitors who come to see these oddities and possibly will drop a few dollars in the slot machines but will never visit the Palms again.

What if they used these millions to put back in 9/6 Jacks of Better video poker machines – and floods of previously-loyal locals would come back to regularly play.  Maybe the casino wouldn’t make a lot of profit on their play, but it would be steady – and they would bring their friends and relatives who often play the games that are more profitable for the casino.  And they would eat in the restaurants and drink at their bars.

And many are seniors so they would fill the casinos in the daytime when the millennials are sleeping in or maybe some are working.  They would leave before dark – they don’t like to drive at night – so would not crowd out the younger kids who actually might leave the Strip to see a dead fish cut in three pieces or a naked monster and then stay to buy overpriced drinks and party down.

Maybe turning 80 has softened my brain – but I am just not understanding casinos these days.

SILVERTON

I should have known better!

When my January Silverton  mailer arrived the last week or so in December, I saw lots of dates with January 2x points on VP.  This from a casino that had excluded VP from multiple points for ages.   I thought, “Maybe a casino finally looked around and saw other casinos cutting benefits for VP players and decided to try a promotional grab for this large segment of local gamblers.”

Silly me!

I did have suspicions – I’ve been around the block enough times to watch for casino “tricks.”  But I had no letter promoting a “wonderful new players club,” I saw no changes on their website, and I heard no scuttlebutt on the gambling internet forums.  So I was looking forward to this new benefit.

But early in January the rumors started up and finally Silverton posted the scorched new data on their website:

$1 = 1 point on all video reels and slots

$4 = 1 point on video poker

$8 = 1 point on optimum play video poker

333 points = $1

Unless you were alert, you might have missed the change for VP players, since the point redemption rate hadn’t changed – you still get $3 free play or comps for every 1000 points.  However, now playing most VP games would take FOUR times the coin-in as in the past to get those 1000 points, dropping the VP earning rate from.30% to .075% (even lower for the few games they call optimum play).

This casino had already become a marginal option for many knowledgeable VP players.  Even though playing the best paytables, you would need to make several trips there a week and take advantage of every extra benefit/promotion/offer.  We had already crossed it off our play list since we don’t have the energy to chase extras like we used to.  I imagine more VP players may do so now since the downgrade may be too severe for even just recreational players.

They have also changed their FAB 50+ Senior Mondays program, details here.  I’m not sure if this is an upgrade or downgrade.  I would welcome any reader personal experiences to be described in the “Comments” section.

By the way, there does not seem to be multipliers – for slots or VP – for the general public.  Fine print on the mailer specifies multipliers are for “invited guests only.”

M RESORT

Change of owners brings a change in players clubs. Penn Gaming is phasing out Marquee Rewards at M and going to Pinnacle’s My Choice program.

We don’t play there so I don’t have personal experience about this changeover, but you need to check the website carefully because it seems to be a very complex and gradual 6-month process.  Some of your questions might be answered here.

Both programs will have the same tier point earning and benefits beginning January, 2019. All guests in Marquee Rewards and mychoice will also receive the same great benefits and all play at both Marquee Rewards and mychoice properties will count towards your 2020 mychoice status.

BOYD PROPERTIES

Check here for the new 2019 Young at Heart (YAH) rules for 6 non-downtown properties (now including Aliante and Eastside Cannery).  Most are the same – including that notorious “advantage player” one, but there is now a shorter time to collect your free play if you pick the right color in the Celebration Spin.

Check here for YAH rules for Boyd downtown properties.

A personal note: For the first time in I can’t remember how long – 20 years or more, Brad and I are no longer Emerald tier.  This is true for many of our former fellow Emeralds.  However, we have others, many who hadn’t played as much or as long, who were simply given extra tier credits the last few months – even as many as 10,000+ – and they are now Emerald for all of 2019.  Don’t ask me to explain this.  Actually, I know one person who had been designated as one of those notorious “advantage players” and had been no-mailed for the last year or so although he could continue to play and earn points and tier credits.  He was given around 10,000 points so he is Emerald for 2019 although he isn’t to get any mailed offers!!!!

Some Ruby’s have been given enough tier credits to put them to Sapphire – a welcome gift to them because they will start earning points on their play.  In all these upgrades, it was impossible to determine the reason why some got them and others didn’t.  There were some anecdotal details that perhaps these upgrades were for losers and not for winners, but even if that is valid information, no details whether this was determined for short-term or long-term look-back periods.

Like with so many of these recent drastic downgrades, not just at Boyd but at so many other casinos, people are starting to shake their heads and wonder if the powers-that-be have any idea how gamblers think. They might be surprised how many even avid casino players might decide that they can’t take all these cuts and start some cutting themselves, perhaps even looking for another entertainment option that doesn’t “cost so much.”

Will this generate even more extra fees to try to pump up a casino bottom line – or perhaps lead to more and better promotions to increase customer visitation?  I am cautiously optimistic about this latter result. Although our regular monthly mailers are pretty much as they have been for quite a while, we are finding a few extra offers mid-month in our snail-mail box and computer Inbox.  Maybe this is the beginning of a long-lasting trend?

Now for some promotions you might have missed or ones that didn’t show up during your casino website scouting.  You do scour casino websites, don’t you?

El Cortez

From an ad in the R-J, a good idea for casinos that have limited in-house options for utilizing the comps you earn:  “Club Cortez comp dollars can now be used at all of these downtown dining destinations:  Eureka!, The Naked City Pizza Shop, Siegel’s 1941, Rachels Kitchen, Subway, and Tazueria El Buen Pastor.”  Check players club for details and locations.

Tuscany Suites and Casino

Check out promotions at their very-detailed website, including some of the following:

Walmart Gift Card Give-away – An earn- and-redeem promo on Wednesdays and Saturdays.

Tuesdays 2-for-1 promo for Tuscany Gardens and Pub 365. You keep the points for this one.

Senior Thursdays, with new and increased benefits. The all-month 20% senior benefit moves to the gift shop in August.

SILVERTON

Have brunch or lunch with a mermaid – now there’s a new and unique casino promotion!  For adults and children!  See the details at the Silverton Casino website.

BOYD GAMING

I won’t be giving any details here since we don’t know much yet, just the big news that they are introducing a brand-new casino management system that will make major changes to how they track customer play through their B Connected players club.  It will be set up, not only in their older established casinos, but will fold into the system those recently-acquired Vegas properties, like the Cannery and Aliante, as well as new sales pending in the Midwest.  This roll-out process at 29 gaming properties will take time, the company says, lasting the rest of this year and well into 2019.  When completed this will be one of the largest player reward systems, topped only by the one of Caesars Entertainment.

I have always feared how “new and exciting” changes a casino touts will affect me personally.  I usually am not excited about them!  However, maybe one of my pet peeves will disappear with these new changes – the” slowest kiosks in the West” at the Gold Coast!

There doesn’t seem to be a limit on this.  Brad and I each got about $1000 in FP.  But you have to do it right when you open the pull-tab at the players club booth – you can’t run out and play a lot more!!!!

P.S.  Someone just informed me that there is a limit – $1000 in free play.  I guess that’s why Brad just got $1000.  I hadn’t checked, but now that I checked my records I do see that he had over one million points.

I am no authority on how casinos could/should run their business during this severe economic downturn, but it seems as if they shouldn’t be making cuts that say to old loyal customers, “We don’t want your business any more.” And it looks like they should be doing more to attract new customers. 

Among the casinos that are making a good effort to keep existing players and attract new ones, Silverton stands high. You see their advertisements every time you turn around, in the newspaper, on TV, and on billboards. Here are some of the promotions they are running in February: 

–A good no-risk signup bonus. Join their players club and they will give you $50 in free slot play – $25 on the day you join and $25 on your next visit within the next 30 days. 

–Earn a “Snuggie.” You know you have seen these advertised on TV and wished you had one! I had! Earn just 250 points on reel slots or 500 on video poker and you can feel warm and fuzzy on your couch in one of these. And the casino doesn’t even take away those points – so they stay in your account and add to your comp balance. You can earn only one Snuggie a day, but you can do this promo every day –a chance to work ahead on your holiday gift list 

–Two-for-one restaurant deal (4-10 p.m.). This promotion has been running for a couple of months, but it proved too popular and the lines became impossible. So this month they have changed it and you can get this discount only if you have a players card at the silver or higher level. However, this is not a big hurdle if you plan to put some play on your card anyway. Ordinarily it takes 5000 points to reach the silver level but this month you can get there with only 1000 points. 

–Nightly drawing at 8 p.m. Big plus here over past drawings – the entries are generated electronically. And another convenient feature of Silverton drawings: You don't have to be present to win; they give you 3 hours to collect your prize! 

As I always warn, you need to check at the players club for the details of any of these promotions. And another warning, especially during these bad economic times, don't gamble with money you need for life’s necessities.