Comments on: NOVEMBER PROMOTIONS

By: John G

John G — Fri, 09 Nov 2018 18:40:49 +0000

I was playing $ VP at the Suncoast on Wednesday and noticed a real change to the point system.
Prior to the “new and improved” tier system, $1 in equaled 1 Base point. Now $1 in equals 0.5 point.
Previous promos included 6x points for YAH VP players, now it has been “increased” to 11x. But it is all a sham.
Previously $10 in yielded 10 points with the multiplier: 60 points.
Now $10 in equals 5 points with the multiplier: 55 points.
I have been a Boyd player and stockholder for almost 20 years, but I am looking for a new home casino.

By: Kimo Keala

Kimo Keala — Tue, 06 Nov 2018 18:46:17 +0000

OMG!! I have more crazy news for you about the Boyd B-Connected program. I have been a 40+ year player at Boyd properties. Have always been full RFB status at their properties. But here is more disturbing news. I have two months of actual, live data from the so-called new program. Here are my comments and real and actual experience. Both months I play at least $50,000 in action in craps (each month). I should have received about 2500 tier credits for each month. I got 2000 in Sept and 1300 in October. Both low IMO. Both months I also got credited with tier credits for reel/keno play. Seems odd since I never played any reels or keno on those two trips. And in October I was credited with 240,000 bonus points for video poker play. Associated with this was 1920 tier credits. At $2 coin-in to equal 1 bonus point on video poker, that means my coin-in ratio to tier credits is 250:1!!! Wow!!! Better still, $480,000 coin-in for 3 days of $1 video poker play; assuming I play about 600 hand an hour, that means I played 160 hours — strange — isn’t three whole days constrained by the 72 hours? I conclude that the program is wacked and full of errors, flaws, and programming mistakes!!!

By: William Wingo

William Wingo — Tue, 06 Nov 2018 17:16:26 +0000

We are going to Laughlin in two weeks and then to Vegas the Sunday & Monday after Thanksgiving, staying at a Boyd off-strip property. In our two favorite Laughlin casinos, the point systems are next to incomprehensible–but the comp offers keep coming.

In Vegas it will be pointless to earn tier credits this trip since they all disappear at the end of the year; but I do plan to play a little just to reset the six-month limitation on my remaining points. Otherwise, we’ll probably just shuttle directly from the room to the poker room and back. Meanwhile the Boyd comp offers also keep coming, at least through February. I wonder how long we’ll be able to get away with that….

By: John M. Tamashiro

John M. Tamashiro — Tue, 06 Nov 2018 08:26:28 +0000

Dear Jean,

Thank you for all the energy that you expend to further the positive experience we seniors enjoy on our vacation retreats to Las Vegas. You seem discouraged by the inability to report on positive news because for the most part, there is very little to report. And, that is not your fault.

It is time for seniors to accept that Las Vegas casino management is unconcerned that our experiences are no longer enjoyable because we feel unappreciated and mistreated by the continuous effort to extract maximum income from all visitors and especially our target group. After years of loyalty to each casino brand with concurrent rewards for our action, we are now asked to play more and lose more for reduced complimentary benefits. Not fair.

Mature seniors should accept the new gaming policies and avoid becoming angry and resentful. Life is too short to waste time and energy complaining about something over which we have no control. Instead, we should embrace this change and look for other opportunities for spending our time and money. We could spend more time visiting with friends, or taking free classes at our local colleges and universities. We could attend more cultural activities such as concerts or plays and support local high schools by volunteering or attending school productions. We could spend our time and money on outings with children and grandchildren even if they are often too busy for grandparents.

We can meet with our friends and reminisce over coffee about the good old days when we traveled to Las Vegas maybe five or six times a year to gamble and have fun. Wow, those were the days.

By: TRISH VEGAS

TRISH VEGAS — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 22:57:26 +0000

DEAR JEAN,
I HAVE LOVED YOUR ARTICLES FOR MANY YEARS. I HAVE AGED RIGHT ALONG WITH YOU.
THE BOYD GROUP TELLS ME THAT $5 IN EQUALS 1 TIER CREDIT ON SLOTS. BUT ON VIDEO POKER THE GAME SWITCH IS very IMPORTANT. IF ON A GAME KING AND LIKE TO SWITCH GAMES ( LIKE ME ), ALL ACCRUED VALUE TOWARD THE TIER IS lost IF THE TIER IS NOT COMPLETED. THEY TELL ME IN THE NEXT FEW MONTHS IT WILL BE POSSIBLE TO TRACK TIERS AS YOU EARN. WE WILL SEE!!??? AS A RED CARD PLAYER, I FEEL REALLY DISCRIMINATED AGAINST. I CAN’T EVEN EARN ANY SLOT OR VIDEO POINTS! FORGET ABOUT MULTIPLIERS. NOT EVEN ON SENIOR CITIZEN DAYS…

By: Kevin Lewis

Kevin Lewis — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 19:44:04 +0000

To adopt your metaphor, looking for good promotions and decent paytables in Vegas is like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. It’s rapidly becoming futile. We should abandon ship and sail our lifeboat toward friendlier shores. We might find safe harbor in Reno, Laughlin, or the Midwest–but not on board the Vegas sinking ship, which is apparently captained by a madman who headed straight for an iceberg, obsessed with the Great White Whale of massive corporate profits, and, uh…OK, I’ll stop now.

By: Charles Adler

Charles Adler — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 16:45:46 +0000

My experience with Southpoint is excellent. VP is full play. Unfortunately the buffet and coffee shop are terrible.

By: Chucktaes

Chucktaes — Mon, 05 Nov 2018 15:30:53 +0000

Jean, we stay at the Gold Coast 5 weeks a year and we’re solid saphire. We play 95% video poker and as you know when it takes 30 to 100 $ to recieve 1 point we will not make Saphire again, therefore never be able to earn any slot points either. When it purges your tier points each year that guarantees your demise. We just got back from a two week stay and I will tell you all the employees from the valets to the bartenders are pretty upset including upper hotel management. The slot host we talked to didn’t seem to care, which amplified the situation. It’s hard to believe that upper management didn’t look at this harder. This could be a business disaster in the long run. We visited with the South Point host and will probably make a change after going to Boyd’s for 1o years.

By: Mark Ford

Mark Ford — Sun, 04 Nov 2018 22:54:19 +0000

Living in Florida, Laughlin looks more and more appealing.

By: Tom Scheffert

Tom Scheffert — Sun, 04 Nov 2018 22:53:43 +0000

We’re having the same problems in the midwest. We have to watch where we play and who rewards us. Love to play craps but both table games and machines are giving us nothing for points, compared to money risked. I can see the day when it’ll all dry up.