I have had a number of people tell me that they usually don’t go back and read the comments that my readers post. I try to encourage them to do so because there are often helpful hints there, ideas and techniques that might make their gambling more successful. A case in point is the comment by Kevin Lewis on the recent blog entry “VP Questions” He suggests that a player might receive better mailed offers if he mixes in a little slot play with his video poker play.
This has been a subject on my mind recently because of several long-term players relating that they have recently been “no-mailed” and they don’t know why. Not getting offers from a casino, especially one where you have played for a long time, is always a painful blow. And with good playing opportunities decreasing rapidly, this can really impact your recreational and/or financial lifestyle.
Sometimes we know why we are no longer a welcome customer at a particular casino because an employee will tell us when we inquire. But most of the time we have to guess – or just wonder. Here are some of the reasons I have found out through personal experience and talk from other players:
- You only play on multiple point days.
- You only play the best video poker pay schedules
- You don’t tip and the bartenders are getting upset.
- Your play is too strong for us – translated, you have been winning too much/too often.
- You hit one big jackpot.
- You abuse the comp system, i.e., selling comped items on eBay.
- You play so many hours/days that you must be a pro – and you win too many drawings and other customers complain.
- You play progressives on a team.
Looking at this list – and I’m sure there are many other reasons – may give you some ideas on how perhaps you might be in a danger zone at your favorite casino. Never forget that casinos like “recreational” players best. There are some things you can’t or don’t want to change – most people aren’t going to lose on purpose or throw away the chance for a big jackpot so they will continue to get good mailers. But look at some of the other factors. Perhaps you could modify your play a bit without the cost being too much?
Speaking of tip hustling, here is something worse. I recently won $1000 on a 25 cent VP machine in one of my favorite Las Vegas casinos. This casino still does hand pay for jackpots even though all machines are TITO. She counted out my $1000 in my hand and I put in in a separate pocket as I always do. When I got back to my hotel and counted the money there was only $900. She had doubled counted me. There were a couple clues that didn’t occur to me until later. I could see her when she got the money and she did some shuffling around with it before coming over to me. In her defense she must have had to practice for hours to be so good at it. She looked a little guilty when I gave her a tip so there must be at least an ounce of common decency left in her. Please do what I should have done and recount the payout before the attenent leaves.
VP takes thought, concentration, and keeping all your faculties in order which I enjoy and have so for many years. However, I’ve always mixed in some slots play because it’s mindless, there’s no thought, and I can drink as many free drinks as I want without lowering my already low chances to win.
VP played properly is an effort, slots are never an effort, a drunk chimp has the same odds at slots and sometimes I like being that drunk chimp!
What about a CASINO who doesn’t care whether they stay in a CUSTOMER’S good graces? I played and lost about $20,000 over 4 mos at Sunset Station, from Oct 2015 thru mid Jan 2016. I am a Chairman player there, but don’t have a host there. I phoned and asked for the host office. I got Nino. I explained that my brother was coming in from New York and he had already paid for his room. I asked if very recent play and losses there would qualify him for an upgrade to a suit. After a very long hold on the phone, Nino says, he’s sorry but the hotel is sold out in a mid January MONDAY AND TUESDAY? WTF? NO reason for them to be sold out,. If it was any other day, he said, they’d do it. Ok, I go away. So what happens when I accompany my brother to his registration? The clerk asks him if he wants to upgrade to a suit for $75. I have made sure Sunset Station knows I’ll never play there, again and Nino should know he was the one who single handedly lost my business. What about customer retention? Why do they treat high rollers who play there AND LOSE like they don’t want them to come back? I’ve been Chairman at Stations every since I moved here and never ask for anything. It will be a cold day in Henderson in the summer before I ever give Sunset Station a penny.
I only play full pay video poker and I win more than I lose, having spent countless hours using video poker tutor to sharpen my skills. I have found that the more I won the less comps I was offered. I now receive no offer Dfrom the casino I play at the most. Here’s what I wish the casinos would realize. When you lose my business you lose the dollars I spend on food and entertainment. My frequent gambling companions are strictly slot players, you are losing the revenue they generate also. Just seems kind of short sighted to me.
Here are a few tips to maximize your fun and your return while playing slots, with the goal of improving your image at a given casino:
1. Find a machine with a fun bonus game, like the various iterations of Monopoly, or one based on a TV show or movie that you like. Ideally, this will be a new machine, as many slot managers initially set the returns on new machines to the loosest possible to encourage play (and tighten them up later). Often, the better return is generated by more frequent bonus games. If you watch some people playing a “theme” slot and they seem to be getting the bonus frequently, that’s a good indication that the game may be fairly loose. (The sundry variations of “Gold Fish” are a good example of a frequent bonus game slot–I have a blast playing them.)
2. You should play the minimum amount to be eligible for the bonus game. This will usually be thirty to fifty cents. It will more often than not be maximum lines at one coin per line plus the amount to pay for the bonus. Do NOT, EVER, play more coins per line than this! These machines make a lot of money from people who wind up playing $3 or $5 a spin (often on a “penny” slot!).
3. Your goal is to draw out your play and have fun. Though you are primarily rated on coin-in, time on the machine often counts as well. Don’t bang away at the machine like a woodpecker on speed. Pause often, chat with your fellow players, stop to watch them play their bonus games, and play your own bonus games slowly and with a sense of suspense and fun. Order drinks!–after all, unlike with video poker, getting a little tipsy can’t affect how well you play (as long as you continue to stick to small bets).
5. You will play about ten spins a minute, slowed down by the bonus game(s) (during which you will not be playing any additional money). Call it about 500 spins an hour. If you are playing fifty cents a spin, that’s $250.00 coin-in; thirty cents a spin, $150.00. Penny/nickel slots in Vegas return about 90% (with locals’ casinos giving back more like 92%). So your expected loss is about $15-25/hour. But:
6. You earn players’ club points. Unlike with VP, you aren’t scrutinized and penalized for playing on multiple-point days. If you, for instance, play on a 10x point day at a casino that normally offers 0.1% points, then you are getting a 1% rebate. Multiple-point days are plentiful at Boyd and Stations properties, among others.
7. If you’re losing $15 an hour, having fun, slurping down a free drink every half hour or so, and earning a few bucks in comps, how much are you really losing?
I want to reiterate that it’s never taken me more than $200 or so worth of play to generate some very worthwhile offers as well as to improve the offers I get from casinos where I previously played only VP. After all, the casinos’ computers examine my play and determine that I’m worth $25 an hour to them–that’s several hundred dollars in a weekend! (I will confound that, of course, by only playing penny slots for an hour or so and playing VP the rest of the time–but even then, my value to the casino will be overrated due to the algorithms the casinos use.)
(It’s sobering to think of how much blood the players who play maximum coin on those machines are shedding. A max-coin penny slot player is worth more to the casino than someone playing blackjack at $50 a hand!!!)
One definitive thing I’ve learned: using FSP or picking up a giveaway on getaway day without any other play can cost you. My FSP and other offers were drastically reduced when I did this a few times at a particular casino. When I inquired about this to my host, he was nice enough to go through the mechanics and explained.
On a 2 night trip where you earned 100 points each day, your daily average is, of course, 100 points. But using anything that cost the casino such as FSP (debatable, I know) or a giveaway, your trip became a 3 day trip, and your average dropped to 66. The difference between 66 and 100 put me into a different, obviously lower, tier for offers.
Cutting out the getaway day promos for just a couple of trips restored me into their better graces.
Another tip he passed along was that, at least in that casino, they look at a yearly total points earned vs. total FSP used ratio. If it is roughly even, your FSP will stay about the same. But if it tips toward more FSP than points, your FSP amounts will be reduced to try to balance. If you go the other way, more points than FSP, it will probably increase your FSP amounts.
These casinos are illogical. When you win a tournament, a drawing or hit a progressive jackpot, it is clear that someone is going to do it and a logical casino shouldn’t care who it is, Another thing I can’t stand is tip hustling and an employee that engages in said behavior should be immediately fired.