MGM
From a news release:
Created in appreciation for our nation’s active military personnel, veterans and their spouses, MGM Resorts International’s new Military & Veterans Program (MVP) recently launched. MVP provides special recognition, offers, discounts and benefits at MGM Resorts destinations throughout the U.S. With a military ID, they can sign up for the program on-site at MGM Resorts destinations. An extension of M life Rewards, the company’s premier loyalty program, MVP distinguishes service members with a dedicated M life Rewards card identified with the MVP logo and provides access to all of the available military benefits throughout MGM Resorts destinations via a new convenient, comprehensive and easy-to-find central location – mgmresorts.com/military.
In addition to M life Rewards’ existing benefits, new Military & Veterans Program cardholders are automatically upgraded to the second Tier Level, Pearl, with benefits including complimentary self-parking at MGM Resorts properties at all MGM Resorts destinations across the U.S. including Bellagio, ARIA and MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Beau Rivage in Biloxi, Miss., MGM Grand Detroit and MGM National Harbor in Maryland.
CAESARS PALACE
The Forum Shops at Caesars Palace is now charging for parking. Valet parking had been free, but they soon realized that people had discovered this “trick” to park free but go to other casinos. There’s now a flat $7 charge for everyone, a charge still less than most other places. And they have started issuing vouchers to waive the fee for local repeat shoppers.
WYNN/ENCORE
We will need to add to our list another Strip casino that will charge for parking, beginning August 7. Check out the rate chart here.
CZR PROPERTIES
We got this reminder e-mail recently, reviewing our CET parking benefits:
With all of the parking updates happening at Las Vegas casinos, we want to make sure locals are taken care of at our Total Rewards®properties. Don’t forget: Nevada residents can continue to self-park for FREE for up to 24 hours. Platinum, Diamond and Seven Stars® Total Rewards members also receive complimentary valet services by using their Total Rewards card when parking.
They also listed the link for the complete Caesars Entertainment Parking Policy, including the parking rates for each property, the details for the credit card free-parking option, and a helpful Q+A section on the subject.
July 4 Celebrations
Big brother, Asher, always taking care of Bo
Cleaning Out My Inbox
Time to clean out my Inbox, answering your questions, addressing your concerns, and passing on shared information.
Good info, since this frugal trick is sometimes usable at other casinos than those mentioned above. If you have reached a high tier at any one casino, it pays to check at the players club at other casinos to see if they have a matching program. Although you probably won’t immediately get all the benefits of that higher tier at a new casino until you have put in the requisite play requirements, you will usually be able to enjoy some of the perks right away, i.e., VIP lines or discounted food comps.
This won’t work for all players in all casinos, but might be an option you want to remember.
A: You are right. So to keep the free play value as high as possible you look to play it through on the highest EV machine you can find. Playing it on slots will reduce its value significantly because of the high house edge there. So to keep more of it many will choose a VP game, looking for the highest EV paytable. However, you will need to consider your bankroll so you might have to choose a lower-EV video poker choice at the lower denomination you can handle. And many consider volatility for short-term play and would choose a lower-EV game that has lower volatility – like 9/6 JoB (99.5%) – instead of, for example, NSUDs (99.7%), that is more volatile. However, players who look at gambling with a long-term view often choose the highest EV, knowing all those short-term plays blend together for the higher long-term results.
A: As with almost all casino subjects, this answer must be qualified with a “usually.” You can usually do this with no problem, but you need to register at check-in for each room under the invited player’s name; you can add non-playing family names to the room as needed so they could be given keys. Then who sleeps where is a private matter. You definitely would need to do play under both names to continue getting invitations in both names. We do this all the time where we both play at high levels and have a long-term relationship with a host who can arrange for adjoining rooms. If you play at a lower level and are uncomfortable about this situation, you and your wife might want to check in at different times and thus avoid any questions. But in any case, you are not doing anything illegal or even unethical, and I have never heard of this being against any casino policy if you give enough play to cover the comps for each room.
A favorite quote of mine.