Here’s a holiday freebie for the children in your life – games, activities, and crafts in Santa’s Wonderland at the Bass Pro Shop connected to the Las Vegas Silverton Casino (and I think also in the Bass Pro stores in other cities). Featured are free photos with Santa through December 24 and free Christmas crafts on Saturday and Sundays, noon-5 p.m. through the 20th.
For more details, you can go to their Web site.
I used to use the points we earned at the Palms at their spa, but now that they can be redeemed for free play I had been looking for a good but reasonable place to get massages. I especially am “addicted” to reflexology treatments – working on my feet makes my whole body feel better!
Well, I have found a gem, just a few blocks from the Palms and around the corner from our condo, in the strip mall at the SE corner of Flamingo and Decatur – #1 Foot Reflexology. I had a wonderful treatment there with an experienced masseuse, Yuki, the owner, who has marvelously firm skilled fingers and hands.
Prices are reasonable: $19 for a ½ hour reflexology treatment. I had the one-hour treatment that includes 45 minutes on the feet and 15 minutes of a head, neck, and shoulder massage.
Tell them the Frugal Gambler sent you!
Of course, I, a gambling grandma myself, would love this story.
Tomorrow Brad and I will NOT be eating Thanksgiving dinner in a casino – for the first time in years. My sister, Starr, has now settled in Las Vegas and she loves to cook. So, although we have comps all over town, we are looking forward to joining her at her condo for a lovely home-cooked meal.
I wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. And if you can’t be with family, I hope you will be able to celebrate with friends, even if you have to make new ones that day.
A good thing coming out of the recession. Maybe Vegas can go back to having some class instead of just crass.
IF you can get to Laughlin in December and IF you want to get to the Harrah’s Diamond Tier, here is a promotion in which you might be interested: Earn 3,000 points in one day in December, from midnight to midnight, at Harrah’s Laughlin, and you will earn your Diamond card for the entire 2010 year AND it will be good until March 31, 2011.
Now I very well know that many players no longer play at Harrah’s because of some of their cost-cutting and player-unfriendly moves. However, for many, Harrah’s remains a good opportunity to snag free rooms at casinos across the country and that is important to them. Thus this may be valuable information since you usually have to earn 11,000 points to achieve Diamond status.
Please don’t write and ask me what the best video poker games are at Harrah’s Laughlin and where they are located. My goal is to teach you how to be a successful fisherman for life, not to put a fish dinner in front of you for individual meals.
You can go to the excellent VP resource at vpFREE2 and find out about the best VP in casinos across the country plus valuable information about their slot club benefits and comp systems.
Skillful luck on all your fishing trips!
“Gamblers get last chance to claim payouts in Atlantic City” Dig out those old, dirty TITO tickets stuck in your wallet.
“For those who want a deal on a Las Vegas show, discount kiosks can help”
“The Biggest Bet in Vegas” Will City Center be a hit or miss?
“Casinos Saving Face Online” Good way to tell the casino when they done you wrong!
I want to tell you about a new “frugal” book. No, it isn’t about gambling or casinos. And, no, I didn’t write it. But it is one on which I would have been proud to have my “trademark.” (Jeffrey, I would have let you borrow it!) I am talking about the new Huntington Press release Arts America, compiled under the leadership of my good friend Jeffrey Compton, Executive Editor.
I really thought I wouldn’t be very interested in this book, no matter how good it was. The subtitle was “Enjoying the Best Art Museums, Theater, Classical Music, Opera, Jazz, Dance, Film, and Summer Festivals in America” – and I am not really an avid “arts person.” I don’t live in or rarely visit any of the 20 cities covered in the book. But when I picked up the book at the Las Vegas Advisor office and began leafing through it as Brad and I were driving home, I realized once again you can’t judge a book by its cover – or in this case, by the title on the cover. Just during the quick scan in the car I was intrigued with sections like “Begging a Free Ticket” and “Cutting Down on Travel Costs” and “Googling Your Way Around.”
Once we got home, I immediately had to sit down and read the introductory chapter with the right-down-my-alley title of “Saving Money and Enjoying the Arts – At the Same Time.” So many frugal hints, many of which could be used even by those who aren’t “art persons.”
Then I perused the chapter on New York City, where I have visited off and on over the last 45 years or so. (Back in another lifetime, during military-family poverty, my first husband and I had been fortunate to be the recipients of many free Broadway show tickets offered to airmen when he was stationed at Newburgh Air Force Base.) Reading this chapter made me want to start planning a trip back to NY City right away. This is not your common dry “guidebook.” The writing is fresh and chatty, like a friend is trying to help you get the most bang for your buck. I like that style – maybe because that is the way I write! Easy-to-read is always good.
The book covers the “big five” art cities in depth: New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Washington, D.C. Then they cover Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Hartford/New Haven, Houston, Kansas City, Miami, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, San Diego, and Seattle. I am going to presume that anyone who lives in any of these cities and/or visits even one of the major cities or several of the smaller ones will easily get back the price of this book – and be able to save hundreds of dollars – even thousands over time – if they really work at it.
If you want more information about the book, plus updates, you can go to the companion Web site, http://go-artsamerica.com/. Here you can also check out the cultural arts in more than forty additional cities not in the book and read the latest art news.
Sounds like the perfect holiday gift for your art-lovin’ relatives and friends! You can order at http://www.shoplva.com/.
If you play video poker at any Station or Fiesta Casino and have felt a lack of love there these last months, you aren’t being paranoid. The trend to reduce the rewards for video poker players has been quite noticeable – and discussed with increasing frustration on the Internet forums.
This lack of love for video poker players had even crept into Station promotions. Many VP players were being banned from the Wednesday Senior Days, unable to earn point bonuses. Then came their mailer about the November drawings. Whereas in the past, those holding higher-tier players cards (meaning they had played more in the past – on video poker or slots) might get extra entries, this month those who played video reels and reel slots would earn double entries.
And now today I see a full-page ad in the Las Vegas Review-Journal that plainly shows the new direction in which Stations is going – and I quote from that ad – “A NEW JUMBO only for REEL PLAYERS.” (This replaces their old Jumbo Jackpot that they discontinued some months ago.)
I know the company is in deep financial straits. And I realize a company may have to make deep and painful cuts and perhaps change their marketing tactics. But a locals casino that is cutting themselves off from a major segment of their customer base – I find that hard to understand.
Of course a casino makes more profits from slot machines than from video poker machines. But does a promotion that is open only to slot players going to cause enough people to switch from VP to slots, enough to cover the loss of the play of thousands of VP aficionados (most who will still provide the casino some profit) who will simply go to another casino – one that will reward their VP play.
It seems like a terrible PR move. I guess I will just wait and see how it works out for them. But in the meantime, I hope this full-page ad in the newspaper might just convince some players I have not been able to “convert, “ even with four books and never-ending articles and blogs – that you will, in the long run, lose less money in a casino sticking with video poker rather than hitting the slots. And, remember, you can’t study to improve your results on the slots – you can on video poker!
Brad and I really love the M Casino buffet. Although we like Wynn’s as well, we usually take our out-of town guests that we want to impress to M. They are especially amazed at the unlimited beer and wine at the drink station!
This month M is running a great buffet promotion. Earn a specified number of points and get a comped buffet. The key here is “earn” – you don’t have to redeem the points so they are saved for you to use another time for cash, free play, or comps.
Lunch Monday-Friday – 250 points
Dinner Monday-Thursday – 400 points
Brunch Saturday-Sunday – 500 points
Seafood Dinner Friday-Sunday – 600 points
Here are the details:
1. Points must be earned on the same day the free buffet is used. Great planning by the casino – you don’t have to go to the players club to pick up a comp first. Just give your card to the buffet cashier, who will check to see that you have earned enough for the free buffet.
2. Limit of one meal per players club member per meal period. If you have more than one person in your party, each person must earn his own free buffet on his own card. That means no free meals for children – although there are children’s discounts.
3. Offer is not available on holidays. (No getting out of cooking Thanksgiving dinner by doing this promo!)
4. Offer uses only base points – multipliers won’t get you there faster.
5. This offer does not include a line pass. So here is a heads up on planning. The lines are always brutal, and unbelievably so during peak meal times. I’m talking about one or two hours waiting time! Even the VIP line for Platinum Level and above gets very long. So to reduce your wait time, plan to eat a late lunch or an early dinner. And avoid Sundays completely – it is a zoo that day!
6. Points may be earned on any slot or video poker machine, usually at a rate of one point for every $1 coin in. The only exception is on the Optimum Play video poker machines where it takes $4 to earn one point.
Bon appétit!
Valuable Comments
If you haven’t been clicking on “Comments” above each blog entry, you might be missing some valuable information. And it pays to check back even on older entries since I notice people don’t always add their comments right away.
I do encourage reader input, particularly if it contains additional information or corrections that will help us all be better gamblers. If there are questions in any of the comments, I try to answer them within the “Comments,” rather than in a new blog entry, so that is sometimes another source of new information.