4/5/2007
Time flies when you’re having fun!
I know how worn a cliche that is, but I can’t believe that seven years has passed since I volunteered to write a short weekly column “for a little while” to draw more hits to the newly reorganized LVA Web site. Since April 2000, I’ve threatened to quit several times when I’ve been overwhelmed by book-writing projects, and I’ve taken a couple short vacations. But the truth of the matter is that I’d miss being able to hold forth in my little niche in cyberspace. Casino gambling is such a challenging and ever-changing beast and I love staying in the fight, trying to tame it so it doesn’t devour its prey.
People often ask me if I have a hard time thinking of something new to write about every week. The answer is “No.” I often leave the task until right before the deadline, but that’s because I’ve been busy, not because I couldn’t think of anything to say. I have a hard-copy file that’s stacked 14 inches tall (I just measured it) with notes and clippings of ideas I want to discuss. Plus the Frugal Friday folder on my computer desktop has scores of subfiles containing hundreds of ideas that beg for attention.
How long will I keep writing Frugal Fridays? I really can’t say for sure, but I imagine I’ll write it as long as I think I’ve something interesting and helpful about casinos to share and as long as my fingers can navigate a computer keyboard. And since I often write a bunch of columns ahead, I might even speak to you, my frugal friends, from the grave!
“”You’ve achieved success in your field when you don’t know whether what you’re doing is work or play.”” — Warren Beatty
4/12/2007
Hopefully, most of you have already submitted have your income-tax returns and some of you speedy filers have already received — and spent! — your refund. (I hope you didn’t have too big a refund, though. I hate letting the government have very much of my money for very long without paying me interest.)
Some of you, I imagine, are still struggling with your gambling figures. I gave you some help back in the March 22 column. Here’s some more that might be of benefit when doing this year’s return or those in the future.
W-2Gs
Always check any W-2Gs you receive to make sure that all the information is correct and ask for a correction if needed. This probably won’t make casino employees happy, since they must redo the whole slip. However, slot-machine attendants can be very rushed, especially in a crowded high-limit room, and mistakes, although rare, happen, like the wrong amount or wrong date. Another mistake can be made if you’re playing on someone else’s card. Occasionally, because it’s connected to the players club system, machines in an office will spit out the W-2G before the attendant has gone to check the ID of the player. This may not matter if you’re playing on your spouse’s card and you file jointly anyway; otherwise, you may want to correct this information.
Even if you don’t bring this to their attention, casinos are usually strict about enforcing the gaming regulation that the W-2G go to the person whose actual fingers played the hand that resulted in a jackpot, not to the person whose players card is in the machine when the jackpot is hit. Telling them you’re married and filing jointly so it doesn’t matter or pointing out that you’re playing out of the same bankroll usually cuts no ice. However, recently I’ve come across a few instances that if you’re playing side by side, they’ll relax this rule.
The reason that you want your W-2Gs correct is that the IRS may want, at some point, to match up your reporting information with the copies of all your W-2Gs. You don’t have to include your W-2Gs with your federal return unless you’ve had federal tax withheld, but you’d want to keep them with your gaming diary (which you also don’t have to include), so you’d have this information to prepare for a possible audit in the future.
Casino Win-loss Statements
You also don’t need to include your casino win-loss statements with your federal return, but they’re valuable supporting evidence in any future audit of your gambling figures. Therefore, even if you’ve already filed your 2006 return, I highly recommend that you get win-loss statements from all the casinos in which you played in 2006 and file them away with your W-2Gs and gaming diary.
Getting these statements is much easier now than it used to be. Most mega companies that own more than one casino will send you one statement, with a breakdown of your win-loss figures for each individual casino. MGM Mirage and Harrah’s are the biggest help here. Most mega companies and many individually owned casinos now allow you to request these statements online and some give you the figures online as well so you can print out the statements. Others who give online capability to request the statements will send them by snail mail. Only a very few, I’ve found, now require you to request the statements by phone or in person.
Tax-Time Promotions
Okay, your return is in. Now’s the time to check out the casinos that are going to try to make paying your taxes a little less painful. In Vegas the Gold Coast is having a “1040 EZ Tax Giveaway” April 10-16. Twenty winners will receive $1,040; one winner will receive $10,400. Binion’s is having “Tax Relief” day on Tuesday April 17. Present proof of your tax refund or payment and the casino will double it in player’s club points.
Local newspapers are a good source of info on these kinds of promotions and many of you may have received details from casino mailers. As usual with all kinds of promotions,
4/19/2007
I don’t save all my casino mail, but I read every word of it. And a month doesn’t pass that I don’t make money or enjoy some extra benefit because I do this. Sometimes it’s cash I pick up in a drawing or a promotion that I learn about through a casino mailer. Sometimes it’s a date I need to save on my calendar so I won’t let holiday points go to waste. Sometimes it’s about changes in a slot club that require me to adjust my playing schedule for that casino. And of course, the biggest moneymakers are the bounce-back coupons I need to clip and/or put on my calendar.
Not all the information do I use for my personal benefit, but many times I tuck in my memory (or write it down, since my memory isn’t what it used to be) some promotions or cut out some coupons that some of our out-of-town guests can take advantage of.
Here’s a sampling of our April casino mail:
Terrible’s
– Their quarterly oversize magazine is full of information and coupons. They run many promos at the same time and a savvy player who is detail-oriented can sometimes put together some good plays.
– New-member special – free T-shirt or hat
– Free play – they’re starting a new slot club benefit, where 2500 points = $5. Points to game credits right at your machine.
– Car, cruise, and cash drawing details
– Double-pay royal promo continuing through June
– All-new players club in Pahrump
– Bingo and food coupons
– Bonus-point days
– Free-gas promotion details
Luxor
– Dates for Holiday Gift Shoppe – Nov. 25-Dec. 2
– List of upcoming entertainment dates
– Neat new idea: reserve your own table – play where everybody knows your name – To reserve a table game for your group, contact the table game shift manager on duty at 702-371-7741.
– Special room packages for your friends and family
Station
– Tucked in the envelope with our April free-play pickup calendar and hotel, food, and gift offers was a flyer for a neat vacation benefit. If you’re going to be out of town, let them know before you leave and they’ll adjust your rewards-earning time period when you return. See Rewards Center for details.
NY-NY
– sent a calendar of future special events for the rest of the year. I like that; I’m able to plan ahead.
These are examples from snail mail, which is the primary source of casino information. We also get some from the local newspaper and the Internet. We’ve registered on a few casino sites and receive e-mails from them. It’s often “canned” information that we already know or aren’t personally interested in (like discounted room rates, since we can always get comped rooms). However, sometimes the e-mails detail offers for comped shows, room nights, or food specials and occasionally for extra free play. The Palms in Vegas does this occasionally. Wynn has started sending out free play offers to locals via e-mail rather than their usual snail mail. And lastly, we occasionally get electronic phone messages from our host or another hotel executive, giving a special invitation to a VIP event or letting us know about a special promotion.
As I’ve often said, there’s no such thing as casino junk mail – at least not until you’ve given it a read!
4/26/2007
Of all the products that have the Frugal name on them, I’m probably proudest of my latest baby, “The Frugal Video Poker Scouting Guide.” It’s not because I was “in hard labor” for so long, although this was certainly the project that drove me the most crazy with so many minute details. I would’ve never made it with out some major help from Viktor Nacht and Bethany Paige and the input of many of my video-poker-playing friends.
However, the main reason for my pleasure with this work is that it’s a tool that video poker players have really needed for many years, and especially now that good games are rapidly decreasing in casinos all over the country. I’ve said so many times in my writings that choosing a good paytable is the cornerstone of smart VP play. All the skillful strategies you learn and big bankrolls you amass, although helpful, can’t overcome a bad game in the end.
Casual recreational players will love this guide, because they certainly don’t have all these almost 200 pay schedules in their head and now they can scout a casino and don’t have to guess what’s the best game to play there. And the volatility ratings further help them choose a game that fits their financial and psychological bankroll.
However, many serious VP students have told me that they’ll love this guide, getting rid of all the papers they carry around, on which they’ve scribbled notes and/or printed off the Internet to aid them in their scouting. They especially like the breakeven information for almost any royal progressive they might come across and the returns for Multi-Strike and Super Time Pay games. Now it’s all accessible in a single sturdy compact booklet they can carry in a shirt pocket, fanny pack, or purse.
You can order “The Frugal Video Poker Scouting Guide” to add to your VP Tool Kit at www.shoplva.com/ or queenofcomps.com/.
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Now for a personal note. Many people have asked about my Army Ranger son-in-law, Steve, wondering if he’d be going back to Iraq for a second tour of duty.
Well, we thought this wouldn’t happen. After almost 19 years in the Army, going to almost every trouble spot where the U.S. was involved, he was assigned, when he got his E-8 rank, as a First Sergeant in charge of a basic infantry training unit at Fort Benning. That was a non-deployable position and we all felt he was doing his duty by training the younger soldiers to take the place of the older ones who would be retiring. So the whole family was happy to know that he’d stay in Columbus, GA, where they’ve bought a home, for the rest of his Army career.
Wrong! The “surge” caught up so many and changed so many plans. Steve was pulled off his “non-deployable” job and is now in Iraq – and for a 15-month assignment instead of the usual 12.
I must confess I’m not taking this very well, and I walk around the house muttering not-so-nice words about Bush and politicians in general. Why do old men continue, as they’ve done since time began, to send young men out to do battle and risk their lives? But I’ve decided I must put on a stiff upper lip for Angela’s and the kids’ sake. They’re a good Army family and they’re coping bravely. They’re concentrating on their pride of Steve’s devotion to duty and country – and not watching any TV news.
I’ll post an APO and e-mail address for Steve as soon as he gets settled – for those of you who might want to send some cheery messages.