Question of the Day - 08 January 2020

While I understand the answer I don't necessarily agree that the casinos are correctly acting. Walk through any casino on the Strip and what do you see ... banks of video poker machines sitting idle. I'm one of those people who loves to play video poker but walks past those idle machines because of the pay tables. How much does it cost the casino to host a machine that isn't used?

"Why don't Strip casinos offer 100%-payback video poker?" -    

For the same reason they now charge to park your car and they add on a resort fee to your hotel room. GREED. They are more interested in fleecing visitors than they are in cultivating long-term customers. And as long as people continue to pay the fees and play the lousy table games/machines with bad payoffs it won't change. They are all about making the most money they can in the short run. Too many of the Strip visitors act like sheep and spend all their vacation money on the Strip, if they'd seek out better places to gamble the Strip would respond by offering better deals. 

That's the ultimate answer. They don't have to offer better payouts. Just like non-Las Vegas casinos (I've been to IL, IN, IA, WI, MI, OK, NM, AZ). Vegas, and other gambling destinations, don't depend on smart gamblers, because they can depend on all gamblers. And if the only gamblers they lose are the "smart" gamblers, they haven't given up much.

It might get people upset. But of course, it is greed and the need to feed the bottom line. But is it not our own fault? How hard is it to go enjoy the strip the free shows the sights but to take our gambling dollars to the 3:2 tables and full pay. When we choose not to learn then we allow it. I know people here know better, but I am talking in general. I mean how often do we buy the brand name when right next to it is the same quality for a few bucks less. I am happy to pay extra when it means people get more for their money or when the people making it get a full wage. But I like most people reach for the name brand too often. Ever heard of the Bose tax on Bose speakers what about Wine brands etc.  

is that out of state visitors "feel" safer on the strip.  I've hosted several friends of a friend who came to Vegas when I lived there and asked me to show them around.  They always wanted to do the strip only and when I asked why, the answer was always the same, other non Nevadans had warned them about rampant crime away from the strip  You can't fight fear, reasonable or not.  No matter what I said or did would not alleviate their fears of going off strip.  I've even heard strip casino employees warn out of towners to not wander away from the strip or they will get mugged.

I think there IS "rampant crime away from the Strip."

I'm sure that the overwhelming majority of Las Vegans are law abiding, hard working people who love their families etc., but I often watch the Las Vegas local news online, and I am astounded at the amount of violent crime that is reported there on a daily basis. The news is mostly about car-jackings, murders, shootings, robberies. Much more than even in New York City where I live. The number of transients, desperately poor, rootless people, mentally ill people, people with rage issues who own and use guns seem to move to Vegas in disproportionate numbers.

Off-Strip casinos may be as safe as Strip casinos, but the city has a serious violent crime problem that, fairly or not, will tend to keep visitors on the Strip with its private security, video surveillance, and Metro presence.

I used to visit Las Vegas 4 or 5 times a year. I've cut back considerably because of all the poorly paying games, resort fees, parking fees, etc. In 2019 I travelled to Vegas exactly once, for only 4 days. Instead I've been going to the Gulf Coast, to Biloxi and Gulfport, where I feel much more appreciated. I still get comp'd rooms and most of the casinos don't charge me the resort fee when my room is comp'd. They also still have free parking and I seem to win at least some of the time there. I find it to be a much more welcoming atmosphere.

The Sundance Grill at the Silverton has a late night special from midnight to 5am,you get a 7oz New York Steak,2 eggs,hash browns and toast for 5.99,..you really can't beat that deal

Whenever you have money like in Las Vegas you can assure yourself that there will be crime in the city.Crime is everywhere these days,you just can't avoid it,all you can do is be as cautious as possible about your surroundings.In las vegas you have to know where you can go and where you shouldn't go.Hotels have people who will answer your questions whatever you may have,but off the strip,on the strip,it don't matter anything can happen at any time even with the presence of metro or not.They just can't be everywhere so you must watch yourself on the strip also.Going thru a alley along side casinos where its dark to maybe take a short cut might just be a big mistake.You can't be on edge all the time though cause then you will not have a good time,and you are there to have a good time so just be yourself and have fun 

You really shouldn't watch the news to gauge violence, crime, etc. in a city. Every large city has these problems, but I've never felt unsafe near casinos off-Strip unless they were in some dark alley away from people. You miss out on a lot of hospitality at locals casinos too.

Anyone else wonder why KL hasn't weighed in?

................Sportsbooks offer the Cubs to win the WS at, say, 10-1 odds, when the real odds should be 15-1 or higher. They know people are too stupid to know what they should be getting and will bet it anyway. Smart move on their part. Take advantage of the dummies and the few smart ones out there - they suffer and lose a little to - but a fraction of what they gain from the dummies

To expound upon Ray's right-on explanation of "They don't have to": Part of the reason they don't have to is because the patronage of Strip casino/hotels is highly composed of "impulse" visitors as opposed to regular and/or knowledgeable gamblers. The #1 constituent of Strip casinos' patronage is Southern Californians, who go in droves, any way they can (mostly via cars) just once or twice per year, and most of them are not knowledgeable gamblers. They want to get out of town and go to someplace where they can smoke tobacco (which is prohibited in California restaurants and bars) and drink alcohol and get wild while being dazzled by glamour, and that means Vegas. Not a one of these people knows anything about video poker, much less pay tables or strategies; they just know that they can win 4000 coins for hitting a royal flush, and so they sit down at a machine and start playing it without knowing how. Because the casinos know all about this, why wouldn't they select poor pay tables?

Perhaps he got tired of beating the same dead horse ad nauseum.