At any one time there are hundreds of thousands of casino promotions available across the United States – probably millions if you count every room offer, food discount, entertainment special as well as gambling bonuses, incentives, and special events. Obviously, no one could take advantage of every one of them even if they wanted to. So, most casino visitors are interested in those near where they live or in places where they plan to visit.
Many readers visit the Internet, including this blog, to get information about good promotions that will be suitable for their circumstances, including their location, travel plans, and their gambling goals. But I know by the comments here and e-mails and personal conversation with gamblers from all over the country, many are facing the growing problem of not being able to take advantage of all the promotions they find that would definitely be attractive to them.
In this blog I am going list some of the reasons why all players can’t take advantage of all promotions. This list will just skim the surface of this subject, with few details, since situations differ from one casino to another and from month to month in the same casino. Some will affect a lot of casino customers; some just a few. Some will necessitate major changes for a gambler; some will have only minor effects. Remember, I have often said that the only constant in our casino life is “change.”
- Some gamblers can not take advantage of a promotion because of their address. Although this can affect players who live anywhere, it is a common problem for out-of-towners who want to play at a Vegas locals casino. Many of these locals casinos restrict their promotions, like multiple-point days, to those who get their monthly mailer. And these mailers only go out to those players with local addresses. (It also affects locals who haven’t played enough at that casino to get to the minimum mailer level.) Less often, but a problem for Vegas locals, is a property that sends out offers geared only to out-of-town visitors.
- Some gamblers have ended up on a casino promotion-exclusion list because of “breaking the rules.” Usually the casino will inform the customer of the reason, i.e., playing on someone else’s card, picking up free play for someone else, cheating. This sometimes might be part of 86ing the customer completely – banishment from the property – or just taking away their players card so they wouldn’t be able to participate in any promotion or earn any extra benefits although they could still play the games. A related situation , with similar results, has occurred when a player has not technically broken any written casino rule, but has “made an issue” of a matter in a gray area. Casinos will often rule in favor of a customer to solve a “technical” difference of opinion, but then ban them from any future opportunity for benefits. It sometimes pays to surrender in one small disagreement, so you can keep in the game!
- More frequently than the situation in #2 – and a problem that is becoming more and more widespread – is finding yourself on that dreaded casino “no-mail” list. What this means varies greatly from one property to another. You for sure will face the problem I described in #1 above, the inability to participate in mailer-only promos. You also will miss out on any free play that is offered in the mailer. Some casinos will also “deactivate” your players card at the same time so earning extra benefits will be gone. If you are lucky enough to be able to keep your players card, there may be promos open to the public that will still be available to you.
Don’t ask me why you get on a casino’s “no-mail” list or how you can stay off one. Casinos might tell you – but they usually won’t. Actually, most of the casino employees don’t know the answers unless they work in that big mystery department of Casino Marketing where “big data” is king.
- Even if you don’t end up on the “no mail” list I described above, you will soon find out that you can’t depend on any casino to keep the same promotions and benefits you enjoyed in the past. The good promotion you played at Casino X last month might have been changed and it is no longer a “good” one for you this month. Also, you can’t depend on sharing promotion information with other players like we used to do in the old days. An example that highlighted this problem for me: Brad and I regularly play about the same amount and the same games. We have friends who play in a similar manner in the same casino. We compared our June mailers. Now we know that very likely this casino takes into consideration whether we won or lost and what games we play but we don’t know what other “big data” factors enter in here. We have no clue as to why many of us got the same amount of free play, but on different schedules. The multiple-point promotion amounts were all over the place, not seemingly coordinating with the direction of free play – some got 5x, some got 6x, and some got none at all. One person said the casino explained to him that this last situation was “because he played too much.”
That made me throw up my hands and give up trying to figure all this out – at least for the moment. Maybe I can get back on a more positive path next week!
I am not sure about the waiving of resort fees at Treasure Island, but they do have free parking.
Not Las Vegas, but a Gulf Coast casino. Coupon for $60 if I present a travel receipt, e.g. gas receipt or boarding pass, etc. “after 2 hours of tracked play.” No problem. I played longer to be sure I got the 2 hours in. But…nope, the boothling looked at my account, said “You have only played one hour and 42 minutes.” Something like that. I guess every second spent ordering drinks, taking sips, changing machines, quick trips to the restroom…no good, must be continuously banging away at the play button. I left, not my favorite casino anyway.
These days a lot of casinos punish you for getting a W2G, so you’re best to make it a big one, $5 jacks with the 239 straight flush is a good play, also play the strategy that maximizes the return of the non-royal hands found by setting the royal to zero, you may as well get the most of your play before you hit that eventual royal and W2G. Some casinos have a “timeout period”, they’ll let you know when they want you back, in the meantime play at the other casinos, at least there’s no shortage of casinos these days. Consider it a challenge to get a W2G at every casino in the US, then branch out to the world.
Is it true that “Treasure Island” Casino is allowing customers to WAIVE their resort fees if they book directly through the casino?? Also free parking???
Another type of promo that you often can’t take advantage of is a bounceback promo. “Play $100 on Saturday, get $10 free play on Tuesday” is worthless if your flight leaves Sunday night. Also, most new member loss rebate promos force you to come back at intervals to pick up the rebate–but in increments, spread over several days, which you may not have available. You also can’t take advantage of a promo if it’s so hyper-specific date- and time-wise that you simply can’t get there in the narrow time window available to you (“Why wasn’t Fred at the wedding?” “He had $50 free play at the Rampart, and it was only good today.”)
On the East Coast the mailers are about the same except:
The “vacation tourist season” starts about the end of May so hardly anyone gets free rooms during those times, I have asked and been told that availability is based on whether or not there is an expected large tourist time. The tourist will pay top dollar because it is a” vacation. ”
No problem if they don’t want to give us good or free rates, we can always save up and come to Vegas!!!!
Mo
So true. I use to get flight to Laughlin, until last year about this time I won a hand pay about 1,500….now, Harrahs has removed Laughlin from my choice of city online and no more mailers. After lots of communication to correct the situation, I was told it was because I won to much….1,500.00. Ha! I hate to think what they do if you win double that!