Which Is It?

A few weeks ago, I wrote an article about a casino running a food drive for the local food banks and offering free play to players who donated the most food. For those of you who listen to the Gambling with an Edge podcast, you now know that was the Hollywood Casino in Toledo, OH and the player who brought it to my attention was Jimmy Jazz.

For both Jimmy and me, the question was, “Is this promotion beatable and if so, what’s the best strategy?” One of the items we addressed was, “What is the least expensive food weight-wise?” because the size of the donations was measured in pounds.

There were comments after the article was published on the order of, “This was a charity function, not a money grab.” When you have that attitude and think of the welfare of the food bank, you want a diversity of food, not tons and tons of the same food item. I can understand that point of view, but it’s not mine.

Let’s look at the charity aspects of the event first. The casino is to be commended for supporting local food banks. But without knowing any of the decision makers, I believe it was also a business decision.

The casino received good press for this. Players are more likely to play at a casino if they believe the casino is run by “good guys.” There were likely pictures taken and they’ll be hanging in the “trophy case.” There were extra visits generated on Thursdays during the promotion, and it could very well be (just a guess) that giving away free play for the donations was less expensive than offering double points, and both generated similar amounts of play.

For players, participation in this promotion may or may not be related to the fact that this is related to charity. If players decide to give more because they support this particular charity, great. If the charitable aspect to it is not important to a particular player, that’s okay too.

Insofar as I’m concerned, the fact that the casino labeled this as a charitable event was largely irrelevant. I have charities I support. Announcing which ones or how much I donate would make it about me rather than about the charities. No thanks.

I have participated in a number of promotions in and out of casinos that are similar to “Bring a new, unwrapped toy and get something free.” This is often a cost-benefit analysis to me.

I know people who will support anything sponsored by someone they admire. For example, the United States Marines Corps is behind “Toys for Tots.” For some people, this is a sufficient reason for them to always participate in this charity. One of the square dance clubs in Las Vegas holds an annual “Toys for Tots” dance. Some years, when we like the caller, Bonnie and I participate. Other years, we don’t. This is something we neither automatically support nor avoid. To us, the fact that the Marines are involved is not an important part of our decision.

Whether you should support a particular charity is sort of like the discussion of “How much should you tip?” It’s an individual decision and it’s hard for me to fault someone who makes a decision different from mine.