10/5/2001
My Frugal Fridays file is bulging with useful gambling information. The downturn in casino business may see a flood of promotions and offers that savvy Vegas visitors can use to make their vacation and gambling dollars go further.
BRIEFS
The Hard Rock coupon sheet called the Six-Pack, which you can get once a month at the slot club desk, continues to be a good coupon play. The gambling coupons are strong: a matchplay for up to a $10 bet at the tables, a nice Hard Rock souvenir (lately it’s been an insulated logo travel mug or a T-shirt) for earning just two points, and a $10 free-play card for earning eight points ($100 coin-in on slots and $200 coin-in on VP earns one point; one point is worth $1 in cashback). The coupon for a $59 room rate for one weekday night is certainly a bargain for these famous digs.
Then there’s a discount coupon for the new Starbucks counter where you can look cool drinking coffee with all the beautiful people and a coupon for two complimentary drinks at the Center Bar, another chance to look cool and mingle with the young and the restless.
There’s no gambling requirement for the coupon to get your choice of a deck of Hard Rock cards or logo shot glass. However, there is a new wrinkle in this coupon. If you take a coupon to the slot club desk to get your Six-Pack, a coupon that you can get online at http://reservations.hrhvegas.com/hrh/specials/ecouponhrhi.htm or in some of the freebie magazines, i.e., Showbiz), you can get your cards or shot glass at the retail store inside the casino with no obligation. If you don’t have that coupon from a Hard Rock ad, you’ll still get all the coupons on the other sheet, but the free souvenir coupon requires a $15 purchase.
Speaking of Showbiz, this freebie magazine, often available in your hotel room, has a good selection of valuable coupons, as well as extensive information that will help you make your Vegas vacation more frugal. I especially like the pull-out map, which has some informational lists, plus a good chart listing the driving/walking distances between some of the casinos — to save you from some exhausting it-looks-like-it-is-just-down-the-street treks.
From the Las Vegas Review-Journal: The IRS has agreed to withhold a smaller percentage of casino worker tips so long as hotel occupancy rates remain below 80% because of the terrorist attacks.
WARNING: Watch for special blackjack games that have the word “”fun”” in their names. These may look attractive, because they’re often single deck and have lots of special “”generous”” rules that make it look like you would have a better chance of winning. However, if you read ALL the rules, you usually find that blackjacks pay only even money, instead of the usual 3 to 2. This one change is so hazardous to your bankroll that all the others can’t counteract it. This game is NOT fun unless you enjoy losing money faster.
Another WARNING: Be sure you check the WHOLE schedule of any video poker game you play, including the payout for a royal. A friend of mine told about a woman he saw at Terrible’s Casino who hit a royal and was “”really ticked off”” when she got paid only 2,500 credits instead of the usual 4,000. Although Terrible’s has some good VP and excellent promotions, I object strongly to their use of this “”dirty trick””: short-pay royals that may not be noticed on many of their 9/6 Jacks or Better VP machines where the rest of the schedule is a good one.
The Frugal Gambler Cruise is still on for Feb. 17-22 to Key West and the Bahamas, but the October 15 sign-up deadline is almost here. We still have some cabins left and Brad and I would love to have more new and old friends join us for the slot tournament and seminars on gambling, as well as just soaking up the sun. Call 800/659-2662 for more information.
I leave you this week with a news item from the Las Vegas Business Press weekly tabloid, one that I’m still shaking my head over, asking myself if it’s nice or is it cruel. “”Alliance Gaming wi
10/12/2001
This week I’ve put together some notes on comps. First, a few weeks ago I talked about comps and how they almost always depend on points earned, not points unredeemed in your account. I suggested that you not leave your points piling up for too long as they might be lost. I did point out an exception at Fitzgeralds, where as long as you leave a $50 balance in your account, you earn 4x points for all your play. A reader e-mailed me with another exception: “”If you are not “”in-house”” (RFB) at the Golden Nugget and you want a food comp, you MUST redeem cashback points to get it. For a comp for two, you redeem 50 points and receive $25 in cash plus your comp. Therefore, I’ve been leaving 50 points in my account whenever I cash out. Even if you ask a host for approval for a comp for more than two, you must redeem points (50 for 1/2, 100 for 3/4, etc.).”” Ah, casinos, the masters of exceptions!
Which reminds me. I just came across a new slot club system that takes redeeming your cashback points quickly seriously: Casino Royale will wipe out your cashback points if you don’t redeem them within 48 hours! Hey, this is taking things a little too far, in my opinion. Fortunately, your earned comps do stay in your comp bank to be used for an indefinite period of time, and you can use them at the Subway shop there, Denny’s, and the restaurant upstairs, where you can watch the Mirage volcano erupt every 15 minutes (from a window seat). Don’t go overboard on amassing comps, however. You max out at $500.
Staying on comps and complaints, a friend wrote this on Skip’s video poker Internet list: “”A few days ago, I asked for my comp balance at the New Frontier and was told I had ‘plenty.’ I later asked for my comp balance and was explicitly told that they weren’t allowed to give out that kind of information.”” Ah, another casino that wants to keep its comp system details secret. Anything to make my job of ferreting out useful casino information for frugal players more difficult!
I’ve heard that you can ask for a comp to the Subway inside Slots-A-Fun if you’ve played the machines or tables either there or at Circus Circus. I haven’t checked this out personally, but I will. It’ll bring back memories, from 15 years or so ago when I asked the pit boss at the blackjack table, as a joke, if I could get a comp for one of Slots-A-Fun obscenely big hot dogs. To my and Brad’s surprise, he gave me a comp to the snack bar that could have fed a hungry family of five!
I usually try not to slam casinos any more than is absolutely necessary, so I’ve refrained from passing along this joke. But it seems to fit here — and I hope the culinary supervisors at Circus Circus will take it in the light-hearted way I’m offering it:
Q: What do they do to customers who abuse the comp system at Mandalay casinos?
A: They make them eat at the Circus Circus buffet.
BRIEFS
I’ve been hearing good things about a not-so-well-known shuttle service from the airport to Las Vegas hotels. It is a company called Las Vegas Limo, and you usually get to ride (with others) in an actual comfortable limo — only occasionally do they use a shuttle bus. It’s about the same price as Bell and other shuttles, but since the limos hold fewer people and fill up quicker and have fewer stops, they often make the airport-hotel transfer a little less time-consuming. A friend of mine who has bad knees says she always asks to sit up front with the driver to make it easier to get in and out of the limo. Go out the baggage-area door marked Shuttles and look for the Las Vegas Limo booth. And if you want private luxury you can have the limo all to yourself for a rate around $30-$40 an hour!
Go to http://www.msnbc.com/news/626096.asp if you want to read a humorous article about real/artificial life in Las Vegas.
The Westward Ho frequently goes to cities around the country and holds an open house. Those who attend are sometimes offered free three-night stays and reasonable air/room packages.
10/19/2001
There are so many promotions this month that I’m finding it hard to do my writing assignments! Check the Slot Club Promotions on the home page here and you could easily figure out where Brad and I are playing. And by the way, when I have reliable advanced information, I put future months’ promotions in, as I’ve done with the Coast properties for November and December. I’d like to do more of that so you out-of-towners can do long-range planning, but casinos are notoriously short-term thinkers. I’m lucky to know about most promotions on the first day of the month!
BRIEFS
The Barbary Coast slot club’s brochure has an unusual item under its Rules: “Bonus points are transferable. Each club member involved must be present with Club card and ID at time of transaction.” Most slot clubs do not permit combining of points.
If you love to stay and/or play at the Suncoast (as we do), but are put off by its distance away from the airport and the Strip, be aware that it has regularly scheduled free shuttles to and from both places. The Strip shuttle stop is the Barbary Coast. You can call the Suncoast bell desk or front desk to get the shuttle times and exact pick-up point at McCarran. You can also pick up a printed schedule at the front desk.
Just saw a cool ride on a Vegas street, a stretch Hummer called—what else?—a Hummerzine.
Silverton has a unique patriotic promotion this month. You can redeem your points for a donation to the Red Cross: 5,000 points equals a $5 donation, which Silverton will match for a total donation of $10. Maximum one donation per person. Friday would be a good day to go do this, since you can get a free foot-long hot dog for cashing your paycheck, hitting any hand-paid jackpot, or hitting a suited blackjack from midnight to midnight every Friday.
Depressing reading for old women: “Older adults seem to be more vulnerable to problem gambling than other age groups for many suspected reasons, including age-related cognitive decline, boredom, and underlying depression.” See http://www.casinowire.com/archive/200107/2568.shtml for the complete story. Then, “Women may succumb to gambling addiction nearly three times faster than men, according to the results of a small study presented at recent meeting of the American Psychiatric Association.” See http://www.casinowire.com/archive/200105/2489.shtml.
Are you in a casino with a cashless system? Have a number of tickets to cash in and you want to know the total before you go to the cashier? You can feed them all into one machine and then cash out one ticket to take to the cashier.
Single-Seat Blackjack Tables? “That’s right, a blackjack table that seats exactly one player who can play up to three hands heads-up with the dealer. This innovative blackjack table first surfaced at the Atlantic City Hilton (they call it their Chairman of the Board table). It’s plush, built in-house from mahogany with leather trim, and the chairs are built from ostrich skin. You’ll find the table in the baccarat pit. Resorts Casino also has a one-on-one blackjack table with two spots that’s available in the high-limit pit.” This report is from the free electronic newsletter Blackjack Insider, editor Henry Tamburin. Subscribe at www.casino.com.
Only in Vegas: We received this flyer in the mail from a car dealer: “You’re invited to play blackjack with our dealer at Desert Honda. The total amount of your two cards x $100 = your savings toward the purchase of a Honda or quality pre-owned vehicle! So come on in and Let’s Deal!”
10/26/2001
We were invited to a party at the Maloof’s soon-to-open Palms Casino last week–a reception held in the bi-level Garduno’s restaurant (one part of the casino that’s finished) in honor of the Sacramento Kings, also owned by the Maloof family. The Kings were in town to play the Lakers in a pre-season game at Thomas & Mack Sports Arena on Saturday night. (By the way, if you ever want to attend a sold-out event at this venue, start your journey early! We were in a 45-minute traffic jam on Tropicana and missed the first half-hour of the game!)
How did we get invited to a party with all the “beautiful people,” as the media described it? Remember how I often write about the importance of having a good relationship with a host? It bears repeating here: it’s important not only to get comp benefits at the casino where you currently play, but also because hosts tend to move around job-wise, and you may have “instant” benefits at a casino where you have never played, or one that hasn’t even opened yet.
And here’s a perfect example: Our former Hard Rock host, Mickey Petkus, has already started her duties as a host at the Palms. She’s familiar with our level of play at the Hard Rock and knows that we’re likely to give that same amount of play–or more–at the Palms when it opens. Therefore, Brad and I got what I call a “pre-qualified” comp–a party invitation and two tickets to a ballgame.
We were given a tour of some finished and almost-finished parts of the hotel-casino, including Little Buddha’s, a sister restaurant to the famous one in Paris with an interesting Oriental décor. The most spectacular stop was the Ghost Bar, 450 feet up from ground level, with an outdoor viewing area that seemed to slant downward and jut out from the building–and gave me instant vertigo. They haven’t yet put glass in the “hole” they’re cutting out in the floor so you can look straight down. I’m quite sure I’ll never be able to stand on this glass section. From what I saw in the few seconds before I staggered back to the safety of the bar area and recovered my sense of balance, the view from up there is probably the best in Vegas, especially at night.
Of course, the area I wanted to explore the most was the casino floor, but this was still off-limits, and even if it weren’t, there were no video poker schedules on the machines yet. However, if you read Anthony Curtis’ interview with George Maloof in the November issue of the LVA (already online and soon to be in your home mailbox), you’ll learn that there will be good VP schedules!
I’m excited that Brad and I are invited to the Grand Opening Party on November 15. Hopefully I can use some of that party time, from 7 to 11 p.m., to check out the video poker and choose a good machine so I can be one of the first to start playing when the casino is opened to the general public at 11 p.m.
Here’s my Tip of the Week. You don’t want to have to stand in line at the slot club when you visit the Palms for the first time, do you? Instead, you can go to http://www.palms.com/ and sign up online; I recommend you browse this Web site to find out all about this new casino and to get the slot club details. But here’s the best way to get your player’s card — and you can get your own personal host at the same time. If you’re an Orleans’ customer and had Danielle as your host, you already have a friend at the Palms. E-mail her at [email protected] and she’ll be happy to see that you get a card in the mail before the Palms even opens. If you’re a Hard Rock customer and had Mickey as your host, you also have an in at the Palms. If you don’t know either one of these hosts, you aren’t out of luck. You can e-mail Mickey at [email protected].
When you e-mail a host, be sure to include your title (Mr., Mrs., Miss, Ms.), full name, gender, birth date, snail-mail AND e-mail addresses, and add your phone number if you don’t mind the host calling you. And tell”