Question of the Day - 17 December 2018

Every day we field questions at whatever speed they're tossed to us.

We'll definitely own the fact that we favor some questions over others, but we don't believe we shy away from the hardballs. We tackle guns, taxes, parking and resort fees, the new Boyd players club system, 6-5 blackjack, the barring of video poker pros, MGM Resorts' countersuit against the October 1 victims, a four-part series on the downfall of Steve Wynn, Raiders fans descending on Vegas, casino controversies, and on and on. 

We also count on our readers to comment on the questions and answers, which you do regularly. It constantly amazes and pleases us how often you all show up with strong opinions on either side of the middle we traverse in the service of a certain amount of objectivity that we feel is important for an admittedly good-news website (and newsletter). 

We also have to weigh how labor-intensive questions will be to research and write. Though sometimes it might seem like we can simply reel off everything there is to know or say about Vegas and gambling, it often takes a lot of perseverance to get the answers you're looking for. QoD is a free feature for everyone and, frankly, it's expensive to produce, so we tend to keep the law of diminishing returns in the back of our minds.

Which leads us to our twice-monthly polls. Every one of them is instructive to us, first and foremost, in terms of a lot of internal discussion about what we do and why. They also come in very handy when we're called for comments about the Vegas consumer scene by everyone from The New York Times and Wall Street Journal to E! Entertainment and the BBC. It's hard to overstate the power of a poll with 16,000 votes (like the recent one about blasts from the past) or even 5,000 or 2,000 to back up our impressions and opinions when we're asked.

The polls are also highly useful in our interactions and negotiations with the casino companies, particularly this time of year when we're finalizing the Member Rewards Book. 

In addition, we know for a fact that many casino operations, marketing, and PR departments follow the polls to stay abreast of the pulse of Vegas aficionados and consumers; your votes for and comments on our 26 annual surveys really do count.

Otherwise, we don't get any support from the casinos or local businesses, other than their participation in our coupon program -- and that's much more an effort to support themselves than us. Other than a little advertising for good room deals and occasional promotions, plus our web affiliations, you don't see any local advertisers on this site and we don't take comps from the casinos. We pay retail for every meal we eat and show, attraction, and event we attend, and always have, and always will.

To us, it's the only way to do business in this town and goes a long way toward explaining why we've been around for nearly 40 years and are still going strong.