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.

So how would you find out about it?  Well, although I am in GA on vacation at the moment, I always read the posts on the vpFREE forum and someone shared that info there. They also posted a special link, which was good info because it didn’t seem to come up under the regular promotional list on their website. Others saw it announced on the big marquee in front of the casino. And finally, wise scouts found it because they check Scot’s bonus point list often, where there can be updates all month as more players send in scouting reports.

Here is other news I have found by sitting at my computer, scouring many sources I have been recommending for years.  Some of this may be new information or just new to me – and perhaps to you.

Boyd Gaming – New terms and conditions in their players club rules specify that after 6 months of no activity all your B Connected points will disappear.  This is an important warning for those out-of-towners who don’t come to Las Vegas often or don’t play at Boyd properties regularly: Don’t try to stockpile your points!  You need to check the expiration rules at all the casinos where you play.

The STRAT Hotel, Casino and SkyPod, formerly the Stratosphere, Casino, Hotel & Tower – A new-member sign-up bonus.  Earn 300 points within the first 24 hours of membership and receive one buffet voucher.  Earn 600 and get a second one. Promotion good through the end of the year. (Hint:  when a casino changes ownership or introduces a new players club, this is a good time to check for new promotions.)

South Point – Seniors 50+ can get $4 movie admission all day on three days: Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday – not just on Senior Mondays.

Sahara Casino – After 5 years of being named the SLS, that good old name is back!

Technical note:  Some are still having problems subscribing to this blog.  We are still working on it and hopefully will have a good fix soon.  I’ll let you know.  In the meantime check the LVA homepage frequently.

However, we had to dump the whole corrupted subscription list. (Just the list was corrupted; you cherished readers are the best people in the world!) But what this means is that if you want to be notified when I post a new blog, you’ll have re-subscribe. Take heart! It’s easy to do: Just go to the sidebar on the right.

Actually, while we’re on the subject of blogs, I want to recommend some others you may have missed here:

• If you’re a VP player, you probably already check the one written by Bob Dancer each Tuesday. He covers a far-reaching range of VP subjects, some general that are helpful to players at any skill level and some more technical geared to those at the more advanced levels.
• One of the more recent blogs that has been very informative for me is “Living Local” by Jeffrey Compton. This has valuable details not only for those of us who live in Vegas, but also for those who are thinking about moving here.
• Another new blog is “The Travel Game.” You can access it from the bottom of the homepage. It’s chock full of detailed information on how anyone who travels get the most value out of airline miles, hotel points, credit-card promotions, and other travel deals. Casino customers who want to combine their frugal gambling with frugal traveling will love “The Travel Game.”

Click on “Blogs” in the top navigation bar of the LVA.com homepage to see these and other blogs that might appeal to you.

And in the same sidebar where you subscribe to my blog, you can scroll down to “Join LVA’s Mailing List.” There, you can check those that interest you, including “LVA Weekly,” a weekly e-letter with highlights from the Las Vegas Advisor’s blogs and website pages.

Sorry for this small technical matter, but if you want to be sent an email notification when I post a new blog entry, would you please go to the right side of my blog homepage and “Subscribe.”  Then  you will immediately receive a confirmation e-mail.  Click within that email and you are all set.  I usually only post about once  a week, so it won’t clutter up your Inbox.

One other note here.  Many of you read my posts frequently but say you don’t make an effort to go back in-between my postings to read the comments. I would encourage you to take the time to do this.  These comments often have additional helpful information, particularly giving more details on valuable promotions.  Perhaps a good habit would be to scan the recent past comments (again on the right side of the homepage) when you read a current post.

Coming up soon will be my blog on September promotions.  As usual, I hope this monthly blog will give you some ways to boost your gambling results!

Valet parking is available and the parking garage for the El Cortez is directly behind the casino with a security guard at the entrance!

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By the way, there’s been some work done here on my blog page –  and you may have noticed the new cleaner look.  So if you have had some technical problems here in the past, signing up for the notification e-mails or making a “Comment,” you might want to see if your problems have been solved.

Most evenings, 25-28 – probably in the casino, in or nearby high-limit

Tuesday, the 27th – in cabana #8 at the pool – 6p-7p and perhaps earlier and later also

Wednesday, the 28th – off and on in casino from noon on

Hope to see some of you there!

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Now some questions you have had recently:

Q:  Your blog site used to have a list of recent comments, but now this feature is missing. It was very helpful to those of us who read not only your great blogs, but all the readers’ comments as well. Now we cannot tell whether new comments have been added. Anyway, I wish it were back.

A:  I want it back too, but there are some technical problems on the LVA site causing this.  (In the meantime, just click on past blog entries and scroll down to the comments on each one so you don’t miss important information that is often in these.)  Another problem that some of you have noticed is that Scot Krause’s bonus point list is not always being updated. These technical problems are being worked on and hopefully fixed soon.  I’ll let you know.

Q:  How does one go about documenting the exact number of hands played? I wouldn’t be able to retain the number of hands while thinking about strategy. What’s the secret?

A:   There are several ways to do this.  I will throw this question out to the readers here.  How do you figure this out?  Put your “secrets” in the Comments below or send them to me in an e-mail and I will list them in a future blog.

On another technical issue:  It has just been brought to my attention that some people are missing out on reading many of the “Comments” because they never go back to a blog entry after it is first published.  They are thus missing  out on a lot of good information because many of the comments are being written for several days after the entry is posted.  There are a couple ways you can keep up.  First, look on the right hand side of the blog page where comments show up as soon as I approve them.  But perhaps the best way to keep up is to go back an entry or two and scroll down to read the comments before you read a new entry.

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I try to keep this blog “non-commercial” but sometimes I can offer a frugal option that is not free, but greatly discounted.  Here is one for those who  like to be frightened out of their wits.    Available  for the discounted price of $45 are three Groupon vouchers for general admission to the Goretorium, the year-around haunted house on the Strip.  They expire October 4.  General admission price for 3 people would regularly be $90.  E-mail me privately if you are interested.  queenofcomps@cox.net

Another issue I find is that a lot of people who have “Subscribed” to my blog (so they get an e-mail when I post a new entry) must have changed their e-mail address or their Inbox is full, perhaps because that is an e-mail account they don’t check very often. So I receive many bounce notices. If you do want an immediate notification, be sure you subscribe with a current active e-mail address. And you might want to unsubscribe from any old inactive ones.

Unrelated to this blog, but a question I get off and on is about the chances of getting autographs for the books of mine you have purchased. I don’t have as many public appearances as I used to, but I am always glad to autograph your books wherever and whenever you see me. In a casino Brad and I are always happy to stop playing video poker and chat with frugal fans who want to meet us in person – and that is a good time for autograph signing. People also ask about buying books from me personally. We aren’t in the book marketing business anymore but there are many places on the Internet where my books are for sale. However, I usually do have a couple in my purse for frugalites who don’t want to pay postage! I always have at least one copy of the Frugal VP Scouting Guide, and right now, because it is new, I have a copy of the updated Tax Help for Gamblers. Just ask me for a “frugal price.”

And one last comment on O’Sheas closing. I just read in the newspaper that all their employees have been offered positions in other company casinos.

On another technical note:  I will never be an electronics expert, and I am forced to learn more technical stuff than I really care about.  However, I finally broke down and bought a smart phone (a Droid) and after I got over the shock that it was smarter than I was, I am learning how to do some really fun things with it, thanks to some help from my tech-savvy granddaughter.   Shazam solves many who-is-singing-that-oldie-song-on-the-radio disagreements – friendly ones, of course – that Brad and I have.  And I love talking to instead of writing to Google.

And here is a little trick my long-suffering Huntington Press IT guy e-mailed me – probably one many of you already know but was new to me:

I have added a QR code to your blog to facilitate  phone owners getting to your site.  It is pretty slick – go to the Android marketplace (on your phone) and search for the ixmat scanner. Install that.  Then use your computer (not the phone ) to go to your blog. Use the ixmat application to scan that code and it will open the phone’s browser to your blog page!  ixmat will scan barcodes (then let you search for the product online!!) and other 2 dimensional codes. It can get addicting.