Watch for St. Patrick’s Day promotions on and around March 17th. Casinos celebrate this holiday with gusto! Plus festivities continue as March Madness begins on the 20th. Food and drink specials abound all over town.
TUSCANY
In March seniors with players cards continue to get a 20% discount off “EVERYTHING, EVERYDAY!” This includes retail, restaurants, the gift shop, bars, lounges, the spa, and rooms. Until special players cards for seniors – or senior stickers on your regular cards – are issued, you might need to ask for this discount if it isn’t automatically given to you. Last time we were there, the gift shop gave it to us automatically but when Brad picked up some take-out at Marilyn’s Café, he didn’t get it and he had forgotten to ask. I guess he just doesn’t look like a senior! 🙂
PALMS
“Play, Earn, and Win” continues, but it seems you can earn every day of the week. The mailer isn’t really clear on these details but it doesn’t mention the former Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays earning days. It says “earn March 3-14” and “earn March 17-28.” Then under the Redemption details it says “Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m.-10 p.m., Fridays 10 a.m.-midnight.” Then it has this confusing statement: “Combine and use points on any day.” Hummm…I’ll sure have to check this out on the 3rd or later and I suggest you do the same before you play! By the pictures it looks like all gift cards on the earlier dates and “stuff” and gift cards mixed on the last.
Drawings continue on Fridays at 7 p.m. The mailer doesn’t mention that the everyone-wins feature continues in March. It does mention a “grand prize of $10,000” on March 28.
Palms Power Pulls continue on the new days, Wednesdays and Fridays, “and will now be automatically loaded to your card and available from 10 a.m-8 p.m.”
We like the Brenden Theatre and Drift Spa coupons we get some months but it is frustrating that the mailer does not give the dates for which they can be used and the kiosk doesn’t list them until the first of those eligible dates. So, to keep from having to go to the kiosk every day to check, you can go to the players club and they will give you the dates. One note: although the mailer lists Drift Spa, the coupons in the past could also be used at the Kim Vo Salon, for services only, not products.
ELLIS ISLAND
Not much new here in the promotion arena except for 17x points on St. Paddy’s Day – but for reel and video reel machines only (some machines excluded). However, as usual, they celebrate every holiday, large and small, with good food and/or drink specials. In the lounge during all Men’s NCAA tournament games you can find $1 20oz EI beers, $1 hot dogs, and five wings for $2. All during March Madness, March 18-April 7, $1 EI beer is available in the casino bar and lounge. And on March 17 you can enjoy a traditional Irish meal in the café, 11 a.m.-10 p.m., for $10.99. Of course it includes corned beef and cabbage and a complimentary green EI beer.
BOYD PROPERTIES
I’m learning more about the tier system at the Boyd properties. First, there are two categories, based on whether you are a local or non-local. If you live out of state and have a “destination” casino as your home casino, then you have 12 months to earn and keep your tier. The “destination” casinos in Vegas are the three downtown properties.
The other Boyd properties in Las Vegas are considered “locals” casinos. Locals earn and keep their tier status for only 6 months. I’m not sure just how the non-local system works but it is probably similar to the local one which is sometimes referred to as a “rolling system.” After a period of play over 6 months, those first month points “drop off” from your tier score (they call it the Card Score) the first day of month 7. This continues the first of each new month; the points six months old drop off.
In the past if you didn’t play the same amount each month or skipped playing some months – or you didn’t keep accurate coin-in amounts each time you played – it was complicated to figure out how much you needed to play to renew it the month your tier card expired. It also made it “impossible” for the clerks at the players club to explain it or to tell you how much you needed.
Well…I have very good news – a rare opportunity to talk about a new development in a casino that actually is good for players! Go to the Boyd properties players club Web site, https://www.bconnectedonline.com/ and establish an account if you have not already done so. Then click on “View Card Score History” and presto!–there is all the information about your play for the last 6 months AND how many points you need to renew your tier if it is expiring soon.
Previously, this Web site did not always update promptly and we would have to wait until the 4th or 5th of the month to see current point balances and tier status. Now there is an “Update” button that will give you this information more promptly, perhaps within a few hours of active play if not instantly.
There had been a question, discussed on vpFREE, how multiplier bonuses worked at Sam’s Town on the over-100% games which now take $4 to earn one point. Dan Paymar, an expert at video poker, gave this helpful example:
You get the point multipliers on sub-100% games but no bonus multipliers at all on any of the 100%+ games such as FPDW or 10/7 DB. On those games it takes $4 action to get one point. A while back I questioned whether we were getting the “normal” triple points for an Emerald card on 100%+ games. On Sunday I racked up 757 points on the FPDW (that’s at 1 point per $4 action). The next morning I checked and found that I had gained 2271 bonus points (3 x 757) and my card score had gone up by 3030 (equal to the actual dollar action).
SOUTH POINT
Check http://www.southpointcasino.com/upcoming-events.php for promotion details.
RAILROAD PASS HOTEL AND CASINO
Details on promotions at http://www.railroadpass.com/promotions/
NON-CASINO BONUS
Tuesday, March 4, IHOP guests all over the country will be able to enjoy a free short stack of the restaurant’s famous buttermilk pancakes on National Pancake Day. Remember, all donations raised in your area will directly benefit your IHOP’s local charity partner The free pancake fundraiser will benefit St. Rose Dominican Hospitals in the Las Vegas area.
The web sites for the downtown Boyd casinos say that you can reach Emerald faster there because your tier points are doubled. It does not say if this is only for those that their CORE casino is one of the downtown properties or for any BConnected member who plays there. You may have to have your core casino changed.
After I made numerous inquiries about the card score at the IP in Biloxi (a Boyd Property)I received a letter from the office of The Director of Finance . It said among other things the following: “We follow the same guidelines as all Boyd Gaming Casinos regarding card score . Card score is based on a six month’s rolling calendar and it is updated at the end of each month .” I’m not a local in Biloxi either and my card score is purged every month . (we usually travel there once every month and stay for 4 days)Since KJ gets a rolling 12 month period for his card score and we only get a 6 month period at the IP Boyd property in Biloxi all Boyd Gaming Casinos obviously DO NOT follow the same guidelines as I have been told . It’s almost impossible to get a straight and honest answer from any casino . They either don’t want you to know or their staff is not familiar with their own policies .
I’m not a local and my home casino is Orleans. I get a rolling 12 month period for my card score.
This is for John Nitrox . We play at the IP Casino in Biloxi , a Boyd Property . We too are Sapphire . That level receives 25% Bonus Points every day . The slot points reflect your comps , such as food or the amount can be downloaded and played on the machine . Lets say you have 200,000 slot points (1000 points = $1.-), you can download $200.- or any part of that amount and play it same as freeplay . If used for food this same amount doubles to $400.-. That’s the way we mostly use our slot points unless they get higher than we can use for food , then we play some of the money . – Your card score (tier) is based on a 6 month rolling calendar and is updated at the end of each month . There is a monthly purge in card score earned more than 6 month ago , so it’s a constant struggle to keep the card score at or above 100,000 (Sapphire Level)Your monthly offers , including freeplay , are based on a daily average over a six month period . Hope this helps . The Players Club at any Boyd Property should be able to explain any part of this . I understand all Boyd Properties use the same system .
Dear Jean,
I want to thank you for all the information you have shared through the years. It is much appreciated. My wife and I are Sapphire card holders at the Boyd properties. We are not locals. We visit Las Vegas three or four times a year. We have never gambled at the Boyd properties downtown. We gamble at either the Gold Coast, Sun Coast or the Orleans depending upon the available promotions. Per the “View Card History History”, it shows a 12 month rolling period to maintain the Sapphire status. When we first qualified for the Sapphire status a couple of years ago, our cards showed the status was good for one year. I don’t know if this helps you but this is our experience with Boyd.
I played at Sam’s Town a week ago. I put $4000 through the Deuces Wild .25 machines. I am Sapphire level (don’t have the time, money, or inclination to play enough to get Emerald, since the required play to move from Sapphire to Emerald is about ten times that needed to move from Ruby to Sapphire, and the benefits jump is the same in both cases). So I would have expected to get 1,000 points (1/4 the regular amount, paying the penalty for playing on good machines), but multiplied by two for Sapphire level. I actually got 500 points for my play, or 1/4 of what I should have gotten. I checked this later using Dead Boid’s helpful website. This isn’t the first time I’ve played the FPDW at Sam’s and been screwed out of even the feeble (0.0025%!!) return I was supposed to get. This may have something to do with the seven sets of deuces (no royals) I hit there in a single weekend last summer. The deuces frenzy also cost me my monthly mailers; I used to get three free nights a month but now, I get free use of the men’s room. Dead Boid is one of the least abusive locals’ casino entities out there, but the message is still the same: feel free to play, but don’t you DARE win, you good-VP-playing scum!
Dear Jean,
It is impossible for me to figure out how the points work at the Boyd Casinos. I saw you and Brad last year at the Gold Coast and you were playing on a multiple points day with an Emerald card. I’m a senior on a Sapphire card and when I play on a multiple points day I’m always surprised by what I get in bonus points. It’s always enough to eat at Ping Pang Pong which is wonderful, but I’m always worried about my Tier points, and I am going to the Gold Coast or Sam’s Town twice a year to keep them up. I wish it were easier to figure things out.