The Joy of Recreational Gambling

Some of you may be surprised that I am writing about this subject. And I understand that; I’ve been talking primarily about advantage play for 30+ years. I’ve never said that it wasn’t fun, but sometimes it may seem more like work than entertainment.

The casino world, like all the other worlds in our life, has gone through major changes these last few years. It has become much more difficult to find good gambling options. Of course, many visitors have always considered casinos just a fun and entertaining recreational choice. But now, more and more players who used to concentrate on looking for good plays are switching their emphasis to just having a good time.

Now, I’ll probably never stop looking for good plays, but I want to tell you about a casino day trip I took just last week and a three-day vacation I’m taking in August. In both, my emphasis was or will be looking for casino fun. Some of you may need to sit down to read the rest of this blog, so the shock won’t bowl you over!

First, the recent day trip was with family to my nearest casino, Wind Creek, in Montgomery, Alabama. This is a Class II Native property that doesn’t have table games, just electronic gaming. They have all Class II video gaming machines that look very much like slot machines in other jurisdictions, but are really based on bingo games and the action on the screen is for “entertainment purposes” only.

A note is needed here: The federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act allows Native American casinos to negotiate a compact with their respective state governments.  However, there are no standard details, so the types of games offered vary from state to state. Many have slot machines only, but some also have table games and/or perhaps a mix of Class II and Class III games. To understand the complex differences between Class II and Class III gaming, you might want to do some Internet searching. I found a good explanation here.

When I first walked into Wind Creek, a large casino with over 2,000 machines, at first it seemed like any other casino I’ve ever visited, with lights flashing and constant noise.  There were rows and rows of modern-looking slot machines: multi-lines, progressives, and multi-coin denominations from a penny to $100. I looked in vain to see if I could spot any game titles I’d seen in other casinos. However, I later learned that the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act specifically excludes from Class II casinos any slot machines or electronic facsimiles of any game of chance (like those in Class III), so you’ll see many machines with similar motifs (dragons, buffaloes, Oriental objects, bubbles) that you can see in a Class III casino in Las Vegas and other non-reservation jurisdictions. But they’re not the exact machine name; they’re also not played the same way.

There are no video poker games at Wind Creek.  Okay, I hear your first question.  So why were you there?

We had out-of-town relatives visiting who love casino gambling and I’d been wanting to check out my nearest casino anyway. I knew it wasn’t a place to look for an advantage play, but I wanted to do some research for a possible future Legacy Reserve bus trip. I knew all my friends here would expect me to tell them how to win! But I’ve given up trying to explain the long term to novice casino visitors; it’s hard enough to convey the concept to many experienced gamblers. Still, I was going to see if I could glean enough details on this day trip that I could give a little pre-trip talk on how to lose less.

Another reason for this trip was really the most important one. Brad was excited to visit a casino. He has lost the ability to understand advantage play, but he still understands fun.  So fun was the  goal, and I wanted to see how we could frugally stretch our fun time with the smallest cost possible.

Before this family trip, I checked the Wind Creek website, always a good first step. I immediately noticed a first-visit sign-up promotion, so the players club was our first stop when we entered the casino. All five of us joined the club, which gave us each a $10 food credit on our players cards.  We could have used it as a discount in one of their full-service restaurants, but since we weren’t that hungry, it covered lunch in their snack bar. Now we were already “ahead” for this trip, with $10 for lunch that we didn’t have to take out of our bankroll.

While eating lunch, I went over how Brad and I would be frugal, since we knew the casino had a definite advantage over us and we didn’t want to lose very much money.  We were starting out with a $100 and my main goal was not to see if we could win a big jackpot, but see how long we could stretch that hundred so our fun would last longer. Here are some of the tactics we used:

1. Cut your losses in half by playing with a partner and a common bankroll. (Brad and I always played out of one bankroll, but friends could combine two bankrolls for short-term play.) Then take turns playing and watching one machine instead of both playing a machine at the same time. Looking for bonuses and jackpots is just as exciting while you’re watching as when you’re actually putting in money or pressing the Spin button. Plus, you now have a partner with whom to celebrate the wins and commiserate about the losses!
2. Move around from game to game. The more time you aren’t actually putting money in a machine, the less you’re fighting the casino edge and the less you’ll lose. Brad and I moved every time we hit whatever was a bonus jackpot or we’d won a nice enough jackpot that put us ahead after a losing spell. Some people set a loss figure and if they reach it, they quit that machine to “punish” it. Any reason to change machines is a good one!
3. Play slower. Same reason as #2.  You don’t get any credit for banging away at the machine like a madman!  You just lose money faster!
4. Play the lowest denomination you can find, again for the same reason as #2 – less money vulnerable to the casino edge. No longer can you play penny machines just one penny at a time; some minimum bet is required.  But this casino – like at most – has a range of denominations and a choice of how many coins you play of that denomination. Brad and I always played the minimum available at the lowest denomination, which was often just around 40 or 50 pennies a hand. There was still lots of action on the scene to watch. It’s always tempting to go up a level or two, so perhaps the bonuses will be bigger. Yes, that is true, but your bankroll will drop faster and your fun time will be decreased.
5. Look for machines with the lowest top jackpot.  There will be more little hits along the way. Those big jackpots are fed by fewer interim hits. Also, look for machines that say they pay jackpots at any level, not just with the maximum bet.

So how did Brad and I come out after a couple of hours of this very low-level  negative-expectation play? Not only did we not lose that $100, as we expected and were prepared for, it gave us two full hours of entertainment. Plus, even with our small minimum bets, we managed to win $111! Any win is good, but an unexpected one is a happy surprise. And we reached our main goal: We both had lots of fun!

And now for details about an upcoming casino vacation that may surprise you even more than this recreational-gambling day trip.  I got an offer for a CZR Air charter trip to Atlantic City August 9-12. This comp offer includes my being able to bring a guest, so since Brad isn’t able to fly, I’m taking a girlfriend who also lives here at Legacy. This will primarily be just a relaxing sightseeing and beach vacation for the two of us, since we’re staying at the Tropicana, which is right on the Boardwalk.

We know we’ll want to stop in casinos part of the time. However, since I’ve already reached the Harrah’s Diamond Elite tier level, my goal for the year, I won’t be chasing advantage plays or “working” to achieve a certain number of points. My friend, Susan, is not a gambler, so we’ll just be looking for casino fun, probably hopping from one game to another:  roulette, craps, BJ, and some low-denom exotic VP games that are fun to play, like Ultimate X,  but usually don’t have good schedules. And we’ll definitely be looking for slots that look interesting to play.

Yes, I said slots. I can call it “research,” because then I can write about them! But to be honest, I needing a relaxing get-away. I don’t particularly need it to be in or near a casino, but because of the comps, this is a very frugal vacation. And I already know I can find plenty of fun there.

This will be my first casino vacation in 38 years that is no “work” and all “play.” I can’t wait!

And to add to the joy of this trip, I’m planning a get-together for any and all of my frugalite friends who might be in town at the same time, August 9-11. I don’t have the exact details yet, but hopefully I’ll get them to everyone by the end of July. I’ll put them here in a future blog and on my Jean Scott Facebook page.  Hope to see a lot of you then!