{"id":119719,"date":"2019-06-04T09:10:38","date_gmt":"2019-06-04T16:10:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/?p=119719"},"modified":"2019-06-04T09:10:38","modified_gmt":"2019-06-04T16:10:38","slug":"counting-it-once-or-twice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/counting-it-once-or-twice\/","title":{"rendered":"Counting it Once or Twice"},"content":{"rendered":"

In June, the South Point is having a \u201cHalf Price Gas & Goods\u201d promotion. This is a promotion that, with slight variations, is run there one month a year.<\/span><\/p>\n

The way it works is that you play enough to earn $25 in cash or free play, namely $8,334 of coin-in because the cash or free play is redeemed at a rate of 0.30%, and redeem those points for a $50 Chevron or Walmart gift card. The points must be earned in June and redeemed before July 4.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is not a \u201cyou keep your points\u201d promotion. You must give up your points to get the card. Each person is limited to 10 gift cards, in any mix between Chevron and Walmart, for the month. If you consider these cards as good as cash, this is a form of double points for the first $83,340 you play in June. Since most people play less than that, it basically means double points all month.<\/span><\/p>\n

To wallow in this a bit more, let\u2019s assume you decide to play NSU Deuces Wild for this promotion. This is a game that returns 99.728% with perfect play, but to make the math easier, we\u2019ll call it 99.70%. Virtually nobody plays perfectly, and calling it worth 99.70% makes it a dead-even game with the 0.30% slot club.<\/span><\/p>\n

Playing to get the maximum, you play $83,340 and receive $500 worth of gift cards. With normal luck, you\u2019re going to lose $250 playing that much. We\u2019ve all been around enough to know that it\u2019s very unlikely that we\u2019ll lose exactly $250 on the play, but it\u2019s the best estimate we have before we actually sit down and play.<\/span><\/p>\n

On your records (you DO keep records, don\u2019t you?), recording the actual loss is appropriate. Most players do NOT record the $500 worth of gift cards as a \u201cwin.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

So, are you scheduled to lose $250 (which is the average cash loss you can expect) or make $250 (because you received $500 in gift cards that only cost you $250)?<\/span><\/p>\n

There is no unique answer to this question, just like there is no unique way to keep records. <\/span><\/p>\n

As for me, my records will not reflect the gift cards as a win, so I will likely lose on the play. That said, I consider it a play worth $250 and the gift cards are the major reason I\u2019ll be playing. (I also get a small monthly mailer, and playing $83,340 in a month will slightly increase the mailer.)<\/span><\/p>\n

Once I have the cards, I\u2019ll treat them as \u201cregular Walmart money.\u201d We go there periodically, and so the cards will be used. I do not see the cards as \u201cfree money\u201d to be splurged, any more than the money received from a royal flush is immediately spendable. You know the swings go up and down, so you need to keep a bankroll \u201cbuffer.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Part of my buffer is gift cards. Spending gift cards instead of cash allows my cash to last longer. <\/span><\/p>\n

Some people keep \u201cbankroll money\u201d and \u201cregular money\u201d in two distinctly different categories. I don\u2019t do that. It\u2019s all in one pot. And gift cards are in that pot too. <\/span><\/p>\n

A Walmart gift card isn\u2019t really as good as cash — because I can spend cash at more places than I can spend Walmart gift cards. But it\u2019s \u201cclose enough.\u201d I\u2019ll be glad to get them.<\/span><\/p>\n

(In actual fact, this past weekend the $2 9\/5 Double Double Bonus game with three progressives, got up to $22,500 before it was hit. I got on it at about the $15,000 level, where the two lesser progressives also chipped in to make it a lucrative play. Although I collected few W2Gs along the way, somebody else hit the big one. The $1,000 worth of gift cards cost me considerably more than $1,000.<\/span><\/p>\n

(Still, if I found the progressive in a similar state again, I would jump right on it again. It was a far higher EV than other games I could play, albeit one with a higher variance.)<\/span><\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"youtube\"<\/a>\"instagram\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In June, the South Point is having a \u201cHalf Price Gas & Goods\u201d promotion. This is a promotion that, with slight variations, is run there one month a year. The way it works is that you play enough to earn $25 in cash or free play, namely $8,334 of coin-in because the cash or free […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6498,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[29,2],"tags":[428,196],"yoast_head":"\nCounting it Once or Twice - Gambling With An Edge<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/counting-it-once-or-twice\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Counting it Once or Twice - Gambling With An Edge\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In June, the South Point is having a \u201cHalf Price Gas & Goods\u201d promotion. 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