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Las Vegas chills out

A cool breeze is being felt throughout Big Gaming. It’s the sensation of consumers finally spending less at the casino, the stately winding down of a hot streak that continued longer than anyone would have expected—and which many didn’t. Don’t panic: With casinos at the hottest since forever, it was only natural that Americans’ fever for gambling would ease, at least a bit. Having burned through a remarkable amount of discretionary capital, Yanks are pulling back on our spending a wee bit … albeit not on the Las Vegas Strip. Of course, when the United States gets even a mild cold, Nevada contracts pneumonia … but we’re not there (yet).

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Use Your MRBs, Great Point Multipliers, and a Trick EV Question

Bobby Vegas: Friends Don’t Let Friends Play Triple-Zero Roulette

Happy ChanuKwanSolstMas. There. I think I got everybody covered.

Now onto my other religion, advantage video poker.

I’m coming in for the Plaza Bingo NYE Bash. Due to my medical misadventures, I haven’t been back since (OMG) August and I notice some of my unused MRBs expire BEFORE 12/31. Like the 27th and I arrive the 29th. Wannnh !

Have you used all your MRB coupons? Check the dates. It’s really tough seeing a valuable unused coupon expire. I mean it hurts! I might have to talk with my therapist about it. I’m kidding. Kind of.

Also want to alert you to specials at Four Queens and Rainbow.

The 4Q December offer of an extra $40 in free-play and $20 in comps for 600 points got me thinking.
4Q offers both cash and comps. Very nice. So (VP math nerd alert!), I found the following information on VPFree2.

The 9/6 JOB (99.54%) points adder for cash and comps is .9375% combined or $7.50 per $1,000 coin in. Total EV 100.48%. Niiiice!

The 10/7 DB (100.17%) adder is .4683% combined or $5.71 per $1,000 coin in for a total EV of 100.68% (.2% better than 9/6 JOB).

Here’s the trick question. Which game would you play?

I’d play 9/6 JOB and here’s why.

If I’m strictly playing long term for a total cash return, then 10/7 DB with a higher EV and a .2% higher total EV makes sense. But I don’t play that long. And I like the extra comps, $7.50 over $5.71 per $1,000 in. I’ll use them in combination with 2-for-1 Magnolia coupon, doubling their value to $15.

I also like the steady play of lower volatility: two coins for two pair at Jacks or Better over one at Double Bonus.

Again, this is a STYLE of playing choice. I’m just not a high-volatility guy.

And why am I playing? I’m coming to the realization that I win a lot in the short term and often don’t have the fortitude to play through the peaks and valleys of higher volatility to reach royal flush heaven. And I’m the king of 4-of-a-kinds, so there ya go. Your choice, just saying.

Now at Rainbow, they’ve announced their January 28 and 29 barrel drawing. Start earning tickets now. It’s for a Rolex ($6,500) Diamond Date Just watch, one each over four Drawings. Five second prizes at each drawing for steak knives. Just kidding. They’re actually for $100.

Add their amazing point multipliers and play between 4 and 6 p.m. EVERY DAY one hour each at Rainbow, then Emerald Island, to earn 75x points for extra comps, gifts, and cash. That’s adding an amazing 5% on your return making ANY VP over 100%

The drawing trick is you earn only one ticket PER DAY PER location. But it’s just $200 coin-in to earn a ticket. Obviously, they want you to come in every day. Go for it. And dine at Triple B on your comps.

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 Whose Chair Is It? Take Two

Bob Dancer

A few weeks ago, I described a situation on a cruise ship where I sat down at a machine just as a woman was sitting down at an adjacent machine. Her husband was about three feet behind the chair I now occupied, possibly headed toward the same machine I now controlled as I slid in from the side.

The woman told me her husband was aiming for the chair I now possessed because they wanted to play side by side. Would I please let him have it?

On this occasion I gave up the machine. I also wrote that I handled such situations on a case-by-case basis and sometimes I came to the opposite conclusion. Let me tell you about one of the times when I chose differently.

This happened at one of the casinos in downtown Las Vegas. I’ve experienced similar situations at the Fremont, Four Queens, and Golden Nugget in that part of town. I haven’t experienced it elsewhere, but I’ve spoken to other players who have.

As I was walking through the casino looking for machines to play, I see a “Green Bob” machine at the $6 level where the minor jackpot is at 35. This is a game where it’s a positive play if the minor jackpot is at 25. Suffice it to say, a higher meter is a better play. 

This is not a guaranteed win situation. Without going through the entire range of possible outcomes, in order to simplify this discussion, assume that starting from where the machine is now, the player has two equally likely results — plus $1,600 and minus $800. This means the game is worth, on average, $400 plus slot club benefits if you play with your card.

While this is exactly the sort of situation I look for, many players do not have the bankroll to handle swings like this. Their total assets might be less than $800. Or maybe they are living “off the grid” and a W2-G of $1,600 would create an awkward situation for them.

The machine wasn’t being played, but there was a woman sitting in front of it. It was at least possible that she just needed to rest for a minute and randomly sat down at that particular machine. So, I politely asked her if I could play that machine? Often in response to an inquiry like that the person will stand up right away and let me play.

Not this time. She didn’t say anything, but a man came up and said I could play the machine if I wanted, but they would be my partners.

“What does it mean to be partners?” I asked.

“If you win, we split. If you lose, you’re on your own.”

“What about the W2-G, if one comes?” I continued.

“That’s yours. But if you win at least $1,200, you can easily afford the taxes.”

There was no way in the world that I was going to accept such a situation. The 50% of the time I won, I’d collect $800 and have a tax form to deal with. The 50% of the time I lost, I’d lose $800. 

“I’ll give you $20,” I offered. I recognized this as a negotiation. And I calculated the game as being worth $400, so if I could get it for less than $100, I was interested. In our example, we’re assuming we know exactly how much a game is worth. In the real world, it’s a guestimate. And even if my calculation is correct, I could still lose a significant amount. I’m not interested in taking on risk without believing I have the best of it.

He countered with $500. I don’t know if he knew what the game was worth. I don’t know if he thought I did. It seemed clear that I wasn’t going to be able to strike a deal that I liked.

As it happened, a slot floor person was walking by. I spoke up. 

“Excuse me. I want to play this machine and these people insist that I pay them money if I want to play it.”

“They WHAT?”

She looked at the man and woman and it was clear she recognized at least the man. “John, you’ve been warned about this. Either play this machine or give it up. Or maybe you want to be kicked out for a week again?”

The two players left wordlessly and I sat down and I began to play. 

I’ve seen this man subsequently, trying to pull the same stunt with other players. I’ve left him alone. I realize that I interfered with his “business plan,” and if I continue to do this, he could take countermeasures I didn’t like. I’m not really afraid of him, but why tempt fate?

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Anthony’s Prime Steak & Seafood Sunday Brunch (M Resort)

Remember the Bally’s Sterling Brunch? M Resort’s Sunday-only brunch in Anthony’s Prime Steak & Seafood (APS&S) is reminiscent in price ($99) and high-end buffet-style offerings. So reminiscent, in fact, that there was a two-month waiting list when it debuted. The mania has worn off, however, as we were able to book a reservation on two days’ notice. Was there a reason for that?

Getting In

We’d been wanting to try this brunch since we first heard about it in May 2023, but hadn’t because of the wait. It’s served Sundays only in a short window from 11 am to 1:30 pm, so there’s not a lot of availability. On a whim, hoping that things might have calmed down after a year and a half, we called on a Friday night and got a seating for two at 1 pm. (we had a woman who’s bubbly on the phone make the call, so that might have helped). Actually, we’ve heard that walk-ups are now being accepted if there’s an opening, but it’s certainly better to reserve, and the farther ahead the better your chances.

The Selection

Similar to the Sterling Brunch, the APS&S line-up is impressive. A big raw-seafood section includes crab legs and claws, peeled shrimp, lox, and sushi. There’s also a good charcuterie selection, deviled eggs, and different kinds of salads for starters. An egg station cooks omelets to order, and carving stations serve up prime rib, rack of lamb, and beef Wellington. The star of the show? Lobster tails (“roasted”)—all you can eat. Surprisingly few sides (couple kinds of potatoes and asparagus), some pasta, clam chowder and lobster bisque, fresh fruit, and a big dessert selection.

The Sampling

The legs are snow crab, but they’re big snow (blizzard crab?) that aren’t that far off king. The sushi isn’t primo, but it’s not grocery-store level, either. The lobster was a bit overcooked, which is gonna happen the way it’s put out in warm pans after being roasted. We took a tail to the eggs guy who made an excellent omelet out of it (he called it a “Dragon omelet”).

Charcuterie good. Desserts good. Meats mostly too done. Unimpressive eggs Benedict. Best was the raw seafood and the lobster omelet

Versus Sterling

It’s not as good as Bally’s Sterling, which had everything mentioned here and more: caviar, poached lobster, king crab legs, smoked fish, goblets of blueberries and raspberries, and flowing champagne (see “Flaw”). By the way, the Sterling Brunch debuted for $29.99 in the early ‘90s and gradually climbed in price until it topped out at $125 before closing in 2020.

Ambiance/Service

M Resort is beautiful and so is the APS&S room, with big picture windows overlooking the pool and providing a view of Las Vegas (M is elevated). Seating is out in the open, but it’s still a good date atmosphere. Service was excellent. We asked for rare lamb and the server requested it from the kitchen and brought a rack out to the table.

The Fatal Flaw

The big miss? No drinks component. How you put together this kind of offering for $99 and don’t even provide some cheap sparkling wine is beyond us (Sterling served unlimited Laurent-Perrier Brut). They at least have a drinks add-on—unlimited Mimosa’s, maybe—for an additional charge, right? Nope. All drinks come off the regular menu. We had a Heineken ($9) and a Mimosa ($15.85). No drinks at an elaborate Sunday brunch is a major buzz kill.

The Verdict

In Batman Forever, the Riddler (Jim Carrey) says to Two-Face (Tommy Lee Jones), “Your entrance was good, his was better.” That pretty much sums it up for APS&S vs. Sterling. Any way you cut it, this isn’t the Sterling reincarnated. But since there is no more Sterling, APS&S is it for the big brunch splurge, and all in all, we’re OK with the $99 per for what you get. The extra for just two drinks took the bill for two to $222.85, so after tax and tip, it’s $300 for a couple. A bit steep. Still worth it. Note to M: Add a drink component.

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Rooms for NYE

This year’s rate check was conducted on Dec. 2 and turned up 86 casinos that have rooms available for New Year’s Eve, compared to 91 last year. The number of nights is the minimum required stay; the dollar amount is the total cost; resort fees aren’t included. 

1 night: Buffalo Bill’s $148, Westin Lake Las Vegas $152, Sam’s Town $157, Railroad Pass $159, Longhorn $168, Hotel Jefe $170, Skyline $180, Hilton Lake Las Vegas $189, Circus Circus $197, Lexi $199, Boulder Station $199, Sunset Station $199, Silver Sevens $209, Santa Fe Station $219, Suncoast $224, South Point $225, Main Street Station $231, Cannery $239, Palace Station $243, Oasis @ Gold Spike $269, Aliante $276, Downtown Grand $276, Four Queens $289, Hotel Apache $289, Az. Charlie’s Boulder $298, El Cortez $299, Golden Gate $299, Tuscany $329, Strat $349, Westin Las Vegas $351, Az. Charlie’s Decatur $365, Westgate $390, California $399, English $399, Green Valley Ranch $399, Ellis Island $424, Sahara $424, Silverton $429, Gold Coast $475, Orleans $476, Red Rock $499, Rio $499, M Resort $509, OYO $605, MGM $649, Cromwell $721, Trump $730, Circa $799, Fontainebleau $944, Four Seasons $975, Caesars Palace $1,186, Nobu $1,311

2 nights: Golden Nugget $488, Plaza $510, Excalibur $520, Luxor $524, The D $568, TI $633, Fremont $693, Mandalay Bay $710, Flamingo $735, Virgin $740, Harrah’s $748, Delano $791, Palms $792, Palms Place $802, Resorts World $898, Durango $919, JW Marriott $933, Horseshoe $946, NYNY $1,018, Park MGM $1,018, Linq $1,046, Elara $1,152, MGM Signature $1,152, Paris $1,260, Vdara $1,354, Aria $1,359, Waldorf Astoria $1,490, Planet Hollywood $1,496, Cosmopolitan $1,680, Bellagio $1,708, Venetian $2,085, Palazzo $2,138

3 nights: Encore $2,297, Wynn $2,297

Sold Out or N/A: Casino Royal, Eastside Cannery, NoMad, Platinum, Primm, Serene, Whiskey Pete’s

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Karma’s a bitch; Hard Rock triumphs

If you rely on the sleepy, docile Las Vegas Review-Journal for your casino news, you missed a doozy. The local ‘dead tree of record’ still hasn’t picked up on a dispatch from Inside Asian Gaming about the dismal performance of Resorts World Las Vegas. The latter is reeling from its worst quarter since 20222. Between July and September, revenue averaged an unimpressive $59 million a month. Return on investment for the $4.2 billion metaresort fell from an insufficient $50 million per quarter to $15 million. Suffice it to say you’d need an electron microscope to find the ROI in that.

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Miss Behave’s Mavericks

Plaza

Wed – Sun 7 p.m.
Sat 7 & 9 p.m.

$35-$99

“Miss Behave” is the stage name of Amy Saunders, a British-born performer, comedian, and producer best known for her sword-swallowing prowess. Self-taught in the skill (it’s not an illusion; sword swallowers actually take the sword up to the hilt — down the esophagus and into the stomach), she started swallowing swords in London in 1996 and has set several records for the feat. She’s also a producer who’s been running her own variety revues since 2008, including Miss Behave’s Game Show, which appeared at Bally’s (now the Horseshoe) between 2018 and 2020.

Miss Behave’s Mavericks launched in March 2022 at Cheapshot, a Fremont East bar and small theater, and lasted nearly a year. In August 2023, it was announced the Mavericks was moving to the Plaza Showroom, where it opened late last month. We’d heard intriguing things about Miss Behave and her shows over the years and we like the showroom — small but spacious and comfortable, excellent sound system and acoustics — so we attended a Saturday early show shortly after it opened.

Saunders was described by the BBC as “a live cartoon with a late-night attitude” and she lives up to the characterization, emceeing Mavericks in her lilting British accent, cracking jokes, ad libbing, stepping off the stage and prowling the audience so you almost feel part of the show, and generally keeping things moving along at a rapid clip — in her words, “lubricating the situation.”

This is a variety show with a number of sharp edges. Acts we’ve never seen before include a woman twerking to Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, a prima ballerina and a lady in a gorilla suit doing stripteases, the hula-hoop artist performing in a duck mask to the Vietnam song “Bird Is the Word,” and another stripper riding an oversized bucking spinning balloon dog.

Two acrobats, one aerial, the other on a four-handed platform, demonstrate what Miss Behave described as “the ultimate in what’s possible to do with the human body.” Speaking of which, she swallowed a sword and one of the legs of a stool while balancing a champagne bottle on the seat.

Our favorite segment was the singer who did an absolutely fierce rendition of David Bowie’s “Rock ’n’ Roll Suicide” off Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars (in our top-five albums of all time); to us, she stole the show.

Also different was the intermission about 60 minutes in. It was great to get up, stretch, go for a walk to the restroom just across the casino, and brace ourselves for the last 30 minutes.

All in all, Miss Behave’s Mavericks is a rousing good time in a great room downtown at an affordable price and you’ll definitely feel in with the in crowd when — not if, we recommend — you see it.

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Fail, Caesars; Taxation vexation

Sorry, imperator. The votes have been counted in Missouri and the initiative Caesars Entertainment tried to block, Amendment 2, has eked out the narrowest of wins. With victory within its grasp, Caesars told its troops to stand down three weeks before the vote. Now it emerges that the Roman Empire’s real motive for throwing in the towel was opportunistic and hypocritical: It could get one online sports betting license for every casino it has in the Show-Me State plus one, not the feared single license. Considering that Caesars has more online brands than it can shake a fasces at, this is good news for CEO Tom Reeg and his digital minions. However, had they sought a legal opinion sooner they might have saved themselves $15 million in wasted campaign money.

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A Cold Night in Reno

Bob Dancer

On Monday, November 11, Bonnie and I flew to Reno to play at the Eldorado, one of the three casinos that make up the ROW, which is the only Caesars Resorts property in Reno.

We go often enough to get monthly mailers, so those offers were part of the reason we chose to go then. Plus, Mondays in November offer mystery Reward Credit multipliers between 4 p.m. and midnight.

The multipliers don’t seem to be much of a mystery. It’s a frequent Monday promotion there and the last dozen or so times we’ve been there for this promotion, as Seven Stars video poker players, the multiplier has always been 7x and the limit is 30,000 Reward Credits. In the Caesars system, this means you get your original points plus 6x more — so 4,285 or more base points earn you an extra 25,715 Reward Credits. That’s $257.15 in comps (or sports bets) or half that amount if you convert it to free play. 

Slot players get bigger multipliers and higher limits than video poker players do, but you have to pick one or the other before you start. While I play both games there, I play mostly video poker, so that’s the one I pick. Our offers also entitled us to some Resort Credits, which basically means Bonnie got to go shopping. (Reward Credits and Resort Credits sound the same, but they’re not. You cannot convert Resort Credits to free play or sports bets, but you can use them for other things Reward Credits are good for.)

I went upstairs for a nap. I was tired and didn’t need to play until later in the day. I didn’t set an alarm. I knew I wouldn’t sleep all day and since I play $50-a-hand machines there, it doesn’t take long to maximize the promotion.

Around 4 p.m. I woke up shivering. Although Reno itself was around 30 degrees outside, I set the room temperature to where we like it before I started my nap. But it was much colder than that now. Maybe 55 degrees. 

There were a few lights in the room still on, but the other light switches wouldn’t work, and the thermostat seemed broken. We looked outside the room, and most of the lights in the hallway were out.

We decided to descend the stairs to the casino level. I figured that the casino would have its own generator and even if the hotel were blacked out, the casino itself was the cash cow of the organization. Surely the casino would still be going despite any city power outage. I was so confident in this that I left my heavy jacket in the room. Bonnie is 81 years old and I’m 77, but we figured going downstairs wouldn’t be a problem. Surely this issue would be fixed before long.

Down on the casino floor, nothing was working. There were a few lights on, including some slot machines, but none were operational. The slot machines provided some warmth, so we sat down next to some to wait things out. Nobody knew for sure what had happened, but the casino employees were pretty sure this was a blackout over a part of the city and not specific to the ROW properties. Slot techs and floor people were manually turning off machines one at a time, but we talked them into leaving the machines close to us turned on so as to provide warmth.

Restaurants were closed as well, of course. We needed to eat. The only restaurants I know about in Reno are in other casinos. 

I don’t have comps at any other casino in Reno, so I figured we’d pick a place a few miles away, call to verify they were open, and catch an Uber or Lyft. We’d have to pay retail for food in a casino (a novel experience for me), and maybe the lights would be on in a few hours and we could Lyft back. We hooked up with a player we knew and took a Lyft to the Peppermill. 

Even though it wasn’t far from the casino to the Lyft to the new casino, it was cold outside. I do wish I had brought my jacket with me.

Over dinner, we discussed where to sleep if the problem didn’t get resolved soon. The other guy with us was enough of a player at Atlantis (about a mile away from the Peppermill) that he was able to get the casino rate for two rooms at $80 per night. The host said she’d be there only until 11 and and since we needed her help to get the rooms at that rate, we shouldn’t wait until after that.

We called back to the Eldorado about 7 p.m. and the operator said the power was on in her area and she thought the entire problem was solved, so we headed back. 

When we looked into High Limit slots, there were players playing, so we figured we were okay. I sent Bonnie up to the room and got to work gambling. I was playing $10 NSU, and in 20 minutes hit a $1,250 wild royal. It took 20 minutes to be paid. Not all machines were totally connected to the player system, and on some, any cash out at all required a hand pay. So, the slot employees were slammed. I was having doubts that I could get in my play for the promotion before midnight. The only way to guarantee it was not to hit any more taxables, but that would mean a loss of $10,000 or so, which wasn’t very attractive either.

Eventually, machines opened up in the High Limit slot area and when I hit a W2-G, I could move over to an adjacent machine and continue my play while I waited to be paid. I shared the “extra” machine with another player, who was also using it for overflow purposes. Fortunately we didn’t hit our jackpots simultaneously.

I finished playing at 11:30 p.m. or so and headed up to the room. When I got there, it turned out that when I had gone to the high limit slots area leaving Bonnie to go to our room by herself, the elevators weren’t working yet. So, she walked up 11 stories! 

As she started her journey, she connected with a casino employee who walked with her. Bonnie is an octogenarian with a cardiac history. This walk could have turned out to be fatal for her, but everything turned out okay. She didn’t want to bother me with this information while I was playing, so I never knew. Afterwards we had a talk about priorities. Yes, taking the time to help her could have caused me to miss out on part of the promotion, but her safety is much more important than that.

I don’t blame the ROW for this blackout. It hit much of the downtown area. This was a Reno infrastructure problem. It’s a fairly rare occurrence, and it just happened to bite us when we were there. Other than not getting our Monday night meals comped, and throwing our schedule off a bit, there was no harm to us.