6/6/2002
Time again to clean out all the “briefs” in my file.
Useful to know: “Walgreens now lets you get $100 cash back using your ATM card when you make a purchase, even a small one. This way you can avoid paying twice to use the ATM, the site and network fees. For example, if you’re staying at the Stardust there’s a Walgreens across the street. Buying something for yourself that you’ll use anyway and then asking for up to $100 cash back bypasses the fees. There’s also a Walgreens near Sam’s Town.” From an Internet bulletin board.
A report in a journal for casino executives said that although most scientific research finds that about 1%-2% of adults are pathological gamblers, a poll by Harrah’s shows the public BELIEVES that the number is more like 16%. Whatever the number, it’s definitely a cause for concern — and I applaud any casino action that addresses the problem. And I encourage everyone to stop frequently, consider their own gambling habits, and look for any that might in the future lead to problems for you or your loved ones. Most bad habits are easier to break in their early stages.
A sign I like, seen on a popular progressive at Ellis Island: “1 machine per person when waiting customers.” I’d like to see this sign in more casinos. AND, if there is a sign, I would like to see employees enforce it.
Read in a good article by I. Nelson Rose about government and laws pertaining to online gambling, in Card Player: “Federal governments may be interested only in organized crime, but states are often interested in saving your souls. Every state has what is known as ‘police power.’ This is the right to protect the health, safety, welfare, and morals of its citizens. Of course, one man’s moral outrage is another man’s hobby.”
Henry Tamburin, on table games, in Casino Player: “There’s not a single side-bet paytable out there that doesn’t carry a high house edge, so skip the side bets and save those dollars for the main game.”
If you find an Orleans flyer that advertises “Blackjack Match Play — 2 for 1 on Blackjack, up to $50,” pitch it. Whoever made up the flyer obviously wasn’t a gambler — it’s a jumble of two entirely different BJ promotions. A pit boss told me that they were not honoring the flyer — actually they couldn’t, because it didn’t make any sense.
Seen on a T-shirt worn by a woman playing Wheel of Fortune: “If there are no slot machines in heaven, I ain’t going there.”
The New Jersey governor has proposed a new tax for the Atlantic City casinos on the comps they give out. Casino officials said they would then have to cut back on comps. Hey, I don’t like to hear talk like this. I might be demoted from Queen to Lady-in-Waiting!
“Laughter, the Best Medicine”: Our Joke-of-the-Week comes from that Reader’s Digest department: “”Las Vegas is loaded with all kinds of gambling devices,”” says Joey Adams. “”Dice tables, slot machines, wedding chapels.”
6/13/2002
BRIEFS
1. It happened again: A lady hit Megabucks and said initially she misread the meter and thought she’d won $2 million. Oops, make that $22,621,229.74. The casinos need to start a class for people who play big progressives. Hey, I’m not very good at math, but I could teach it well enough so people could count the number of places in their jackpot amounts! At least this newest winner admitted to putting more than $20 in the machine before it hit. She invested a whopping $170!
2. A deregulation bill making its way through the New Jersey Legislature would allow casino cocktail servers to say “”cocktail”” or use other words connoting alcoholic beverages.
www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/gaming/2002/jun/12/513570655.html””
3. The vpFREE video poker Internet group has recently elected five charter members to the vpFREE VIDEO POKER HALL OF FAME. The five charter inductees include Gary Catlin, the inventor of VP TUTOR software; the late Lenny Frome, who was a video poker pioneer; Si Redd who introduced and marketed the first video poker machines in 1978; Stanford Wong, the blackjack and sports betting guru who developed VPEXACT software; and Dean Zamzow, who created WINPOKER, the most advanced video poker software to date.
The five charter inductees are honored on the Hall of Fame Web site at: www.west-point.org/users/usma1955/20228/VP/HOF.html.
The vpFREE video poker group consists of 700 plus video poker enthusiasts who exchange video poker information via individual and Internet-based e-mail messages. The home page site for vpFREE is at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vpFREE””
The vpFREE VIDEO POKER HALL OF FAME was established to recognize and honor significant contributions to the playing, understanding and popularity of video poker. Future elections will be held annually every spring to induct others who have made or continue to make significant contributions to the world of video poker.
4. An interesting Web site: www.prairienet.org/~scruffy/e.htm. This is a map of past, present, and future casinos that are on, or fairly close to, the Strip (Las Vegas Blvd.) south of downtown. A list of the casinos, with some comments, is below the map. Other interesting links are below the list of casinos.
5. There seems to be a joker in the blackjack world these days. Watch for his tricks in the casino, especially tempting you with everyone-knows-a-single-deck-is-best foolers. How about a game called Fun 21, that’s only fun for people who want to give the casino a bigger edge with only even money given on blackjacks, more than wiping out the advantage of some extra good rules? How about games with nice big letters: SINGLE-DECK BLACKJACK? Watch for the kick-in-the-pants fine print: 6-for-5 for blackjacks.
6. I quoted myself, from More Frugal Gambling, on an Internet bulletin board: “Many players, myself included early on, are just too intimidated by the whole system or have the perception that you have to be a high roller to qualify for host treatment.”
Someone replied: “It boggles the mind to think that Jean Scott was ever intimidated!”
I’m still trying to figure out if I should be flattered or insulted.
6/21/2002
Physician, Heal Thyself — A Story
For several months after the Palms opened, Brad and I got frequent e-mail offers from them for “Free Play” cash on specified days. A neat high-tech way to promote, we thought. Then, a couple of months ago, these e-mails stopped. We figured that they must have stopped that form of promotion.
Wrong!
We started hearing that others were getting e-mail offers — plus we’d be at the slot club desk for other transactions and the boothlings would remind us that we had Free Play that had to be claimed that day — Free Play we didn’t know about. I was puzzled, but for several months just chalked it up to the usual mysterious vagaries of casino marketing departments.
Finally, remembering that some gambling writer continually recommended questioning casino employees about matter of consequence or curiosity, I thought to ask if the boothling would check my e-mail address in their computer. Duh! Some computer gremlin had removed the dot before the com — on both Brad’s and my accounts. A missing dot — and lost money! That hurts!
I tried to excuse myself on the grounds that if the Palms had my correct e-mail address for several months, I couldn’t be expected to know that their computers were invaded by dot-eating bugs. But I’ve been dealing with casinos for 18 years, so I should know that a glitch is possible — actually, probable — whether there are computers or humans involved.
We haven’t received any e-mails yet; there seems to be an on-going computer problem. But now Brad checks every day to see if we have any Free Play on our card. This is no bother for him, since he visits the Palms almost every morning anyway, routinely getting a $3 comp from the slot club (he’s at the “HotShot” level, so he can use the special “express” line), taking it to the Coffee Bean for a cup of coffee and one of his favorite foods, a raisin bran muffin.
If you aren’t getting any e-mail offers from the Palms, first you need to check, by phone or in person, if they have your EXACT e-mail address, including the proper dots. Then, if you don’t live close to the Palms as we do and a daily personal check on your card would be inconvenient, I suggest you make a quick phone call every few days until the computers start working correctly.
There’s a lesson here for everyone, whether you’re a local Palms customer or a player in ANY casino anywhere in the U.S. You must keep on your toes at all times to be sure you’re digging out as much casino information as possible so you can maximize your slot club benefits.
By the way, Brad read over the rough draft of this column and wanted me to add his two-cents worth: “For all those people who might think that my getting such a small comp every day is a lot of bother, especially since I always have money in my pocket and could easily afford to pay cash for my daily snack break, all I can say is that association brings assimilation. After 18 years around Jean, in spite of my best efforts to resist, I’m afraid that sometimes I’m starting to ENJOY getting frugally nutty myself.”
6/28/2002
Although I’m known primarily for encouraging smarter gambling, I want to make it clear that my goal is not to promote gambling to people who do not already visit casinos. I never encourage people to start gambling; my purpose is to help those who do gamble to do it smarter so they won’t lose as much money.
But some people should never enter a casino, those for whom gambling stops being entertainment and becomes an obsession and wreaks havoc in their lives. If you find that gambling is causing you problems and you cannot control it on your own, there’s help. Call the National Council on Problem and Compulsive Gambling’s toll-free hot line (800/522-4700) and they will point you to a help program in your area.
Recently I saw an ad in the newspaper that might interest a local Vegas resident who’s having gambling problems:
Problem gambling can:
* cause you to lie
* cause financial ruin
* cause distortions in thinking
* cause restlessness and irritability
* cause you to obsess about gambling
* jeopardize relationships, career, and education
If this sounds like you or someone you know, Dr. Howard Mason with Trimeridian Gambling Treatment Program is offering screenings for participation in a research study for individuals experiencing problems with gambling. Participants will receive a comprehensive psychiatric examination and study medication at no cost. Call for more information 7 days a week, 702/369-8491
Gambling should be fun whether you do it for profit or entertainment or a combination of the two.
BRIEFS
There’s finally a way in Las Vegas to get rid of all those pennies you have been collecting in a jar, without the tedious work of putting them in coin wrappers, which banks require. Most casinos have a sign up that says they do not take pennies or dimes. This post from Skip’s VP List (subscribe at www.vphomepage.com) gave welcome information: “Success! While I was in L.V., I went with my mother (during daylight hours) to the downtown Gold Spike and I can now confirm that they do accept and will cash in pennies. She ended up turning in over $32 worth of them.””
One advantage of casino loyalty: Many casinos send better offers to their long-term customers even if their play per day is less than the play of a newer customer.
From vpFree (subscribe at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vpFREE), this interesting exchange:
First poster: “I always wonder why guys jump people in the casino garages who are on their way HOME. Half of them are probably broke. I guess that’s why they’re pulling robberies instead of working a real job.”
Second poster: “Last year I shared a house with an Atlantic County prosecutor. I said that I thought that her job must be interesting. She replied that 99% of her cases were easy. To quote her: ‘Most of the criminals here in Atlantic County are pretty stupid.’