Poll : 12 January - 25 January 2011

Analysis

Many thanks for the feedback on this poll. We have no idea how we managed to blank three of the big "M"s, namely Missouri, Minnesota (these two we added as soon as we realized), and Mesquite, plus Delaware. Must’ve been one of those days, so our apologies if your preferred option wasn’t there. Aside from these, the majority of the "Other" votes went to Canadian casinos, which is no great surprise, considering how many of our members are from Michigan or thereabouts, not to mention the sizable group of Canadian members we have.

While our primary focus will always be Las Vegas (fear not, the reader who asked if we were planning on changing our name!), we recognize that many of our members also gamble in other jurisdictions, so why not try to get you additional offers for the other casinos you frequent, especially now as we’re expanding our Member Rewards Online program? This year in the MRB we already have offers from Barona in Southern California and Edgewater/Colorado Belle in Laughlin and a deal was in the works with a property in Reno but we ran out of time before going to press. We’ll keep you posted of new relationships we forge and deals we secure for our members throughout the year but in the meantime, here are some of your comments:

• "Living in Northern California with 2 young children whose grandparents don't really enjoy babysitting, visiting Las Vegas is a 10-hour drive or $1,000 in airfare away. However, Reno is an easy 2-hour drive away, so it can help to scratch the itch. We frequent locals' casinos when we are there, just as we do in Vegas, but it would also be nice to have a Reno Advisor and coupon book. The ACG doesn't do much in Reno either."
  
  
• "I go to Macau and Hong Kong twice a year. I know Hong Kong has no casinos, but I go to the horse races and they do have a form of lottery through the HK Jockey Club."
  
  
• "My Husband & I frequent Caesars Windsor in Ontario, Canada, as well as the MGM Grand and Motor City Casinos in Detroit."
  
  
• "’Other’: Vancouver, British Columbia and surrounding cities which are part of the Metro Vancouver area."
  
  
• "Luckily, we have a fine casino just a 3-hour drive away. It is Cactus Pete's, an Ameristar property, in Jackpot right across the Nevada border 50 miles from Twin Falls, Idaho. It is a great place to stay, good comps, and is on a par with our Las Vegas favorites for amenities, excellent restaurants, outdoor pool, golf course, etc. There are 3-4 other places in the tiny town if you want to wander but Cactus Pete's is the star."
  
  
• "As a Canadian, I visit our local casinos here in British Columbia. We have some very good ones and although it's NOT Vegas, it serves to fill the need between trips. Some MRBs for up here would be awesome!"
  
  
• "I chose Florida casinos because I live here in Florida. I can't afford to go to Vegas anytime soon which is where we would like to go."
  
  
• "With 4 major hotel casinos and 1 roadside casino motel, I visit West Wendover, NV on average twice a month. From Salt Lake City 3 separate bus companies offer twice-daily service to West Wendover. Also Xtra Airways, dba MAX Air, offers daily charter flights to West Wendover, which also has a great Concert Hall with top names."
  
  
• "I selected "Mississippi" and "Iowa" but that isn't quite descriptive enough. Mississippi has 3 distinct regions: Tunica, Pearl River and the Gulf Coast. Iowa is basically split into east (Mississippi River) and west (Council Bluffs). I visit the Gulf Coast of Mississippi and the Council Bluffs area at least once a year."
  
  
• "We are both retired and travel frequently including a three month stay each year at our summer home in New York State. Since we prefer driving and we both love casino gambling we plan our overnight stops at a casino whenever possible. Both Caesars Entertainment and MGM Resorts International have universal players cards for all their casinos so we enjoy their casinos as we travel across the country."
  
  
• "We play at Buffalo Thunder near Santa Fe and also at Inn of the Mountain Gods near Ruidoso."
  
  
• "We like to visit the Iowa casino because they have Harrah's related outlets so we can make double use of our players' club cards."
  
  
• "From my perspective, it's nice having a Vegas-only coupon book. The entertainment books do multi-city stuff pretty well. I'm not a big fan of adding more."
  
  
• "I chose Laughlin and Michigan for different reasons. Laughlin deserves some extra attention for the various good things it has to offer. They are aggressive in their player retention tactics and would probably be willing to work with LVA in this regard. Additionally, their low table limits and homey atmosphere would likely appeal to many of LVA’s subscribers. Lastly, many of us that travel to Vegas travel to Laughlin as well; it seems a natural fit. Michigan was picked because I live here!"
  
  
• "How about Delaware?? Those little casinos are the ones closest to home (AC is another 3 hours away) and even being very, very low rollers they still give us free rooms. I’d love to see a B1G1 for the buffets in Harrington and Dover. Thanks for thinking about us on the east coast! We appreciate it"