When you list the financial reasons to intelligently gamble at video poker, it starts with the return on the game itself and the slot club. Promotions get added in, and it\u2019s not too long before you consider mailers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mailers aren\u2019t guaranteed, and if a casino decides to reduce or eliminate your mailers, you have no recourse. From the casinos point of view, mailers are a way to encourage you to come and play again — and hopefully lose. From the player\u2019s point of view, mailers are a reward for past play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you quit playing, the mailers will stop. If you stiff the casino, meaning you go and pick up goodies but don\u2019t play, the mailers will stop. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In my case, as regular readers know, I was planning on giving up gambling forever because of the new tax bill. It was only a matter of time before all my mailers disappeared. Still, collecting a few of them before they were cut off seemed to be a potentially lucrative approach. So how would I go about it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My biggest mailers come from Harrah\u2019s Cherokee, where Bonnie and I make 4-or-5-times-a-year visits. Typically, we stay 10 or 12 days and play considerably more than $1 million in coin-in split between video poker and slots. We get sizeable mailers for doing this — which figures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Picking up the mailers isn\u2019t easy. It\u2019s a four-hour flight to either Atlanta (three driving hours away from Cherokee) or Ashville (one driving hour away but far fewer flights). Would I be better off coming in and staying a few days without playing, or do a quick hit-and-run and not stay there? Renting a car and a hotel room elsewhere are relatively small costs compared to the size of the mailers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While the casino offers free rooms, it does so with the expectation that you\u2019ll play. If I don\u2019t play, possibly they\u2019ll charge me for the room — at not-so-friendly prices. To get around that, perhaps it makes sense to book a room somewhere else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I considered flying in on the last day of a mailer time period, arriving at the casino at 10 p.m. and picking up the expiring mailer money and sticking around for the new mailer time period that begins at midnight. And then leaving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I could do that, I suppose, but the mailers will be coming in wintertime, and Cherokee is in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains. Weather can play havoc with airline schedules. A plane delay could remove my chance of getting there before the free play period ends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I usually get free food \u201con my card.\u201d Probably I could redeem that while I\u2019m there, but I\u2019m not sure. While I possibly wouldn\u2019t check into the hotel and leave a credit card, I\u2019ve been there enough that there\u2019s one of my credit card numbers \u201con file.\u201d How much they would charge me, if at all, for eating on the comp without playing is an unknown,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have a line of credit at that casino. At no time did I consider taking out a marker for, say, $50,000 and then not repaying it. Markers are negotiable instruments. Not only would the casino collect, but my credit score would take a significant hit. No thanks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Plus (in the hypothetical world where I would be quitting gambling), there\u2019s always a chance that the law would be changed, and I\u2019d want to go back there in the future. They would remember if I had significantly stiffed them before. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I didn\u2019t reach any conclusions as to what I would do. I have thought about it, but am still not sure what I would do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I suspect I would do nothing of the kind of things I\u2019ve been discussing here. At the end of the day, my integrity is important to me. Hustling an extra few thousand dollars out of a casino on my way out the door doesn\u2019t feel right to me. I might get away with it, but if I felt bad about doing it, what\u2019s the point?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I understand that not everybody would reach this same conclusion. What would you do?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When you list the financial reasons to intelligently gamble at video poker, it starts with the return on the game itself and the slot club. Promotions get added in, and it\u2019s not too long before you consider mailers. Mailers aren\u2019t guaranteed, and if a casino decides to reduce or eliminate your mailers, you have no […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15763,"featured_media":843442,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[601,558,557],"tags":[561,585],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/spinach-2.png?fit=500%2C300&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/903530"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15763"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=903530"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/903530\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":903531,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/903530\/revisions\/903531"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/843442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=903530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=903530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/shop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=903530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}