DECEMBER VEGAS PROMOTION NEWS

Everything cowboy the first 10 days of December when the rodeo takes over the town.  Holiday special offers all month. Check all your usual sources for related promotions all over town!

CZR PROPERTIES

Play for a Buffet is a Tuesday promotion for Las Vegas CZR casinos that is continuing in December. Earn 50 tier credits in a day at any of our Total Rewards casinos in Las Vegas and get one free entry to the Rio Carnival World & Seafood Buffet. (This voucher does not include the Seafood section – that requires paying a $25 upcharge!) Much fine print on this offer – so check the rules at players club at any CZR Vegas property.

TUSCANY

Senior Thursdays feature food discounts, special gambling offers, and a free slot tournament. Plus seniors receive 20% off rooms for the entire month of December.

GOLD COAST

If you like to shop, you may want to check out the Macy’s gift card promotion here from December 1-12. For every 5000 base points you earn you receive one $25 Macy’s gift card, max of 10 cards per account. I don’t know any fine-print warnings yet, but it always pays to check at the players club before you start playing for the written rules for any promotion.

PALMS

In my last blog entry I discussed the transition of the Palms to take its place under the Stations umbrella. There are still some issues to solve and some programs that have not as yet crossed over. I expect changes to proceed slowly over the next few months – and perhaps some programs will not transfer at all, with some Palms-specific ones appearing. (Many multi-property “mother” companies have property-specific programs, offers, and promotions as well as some that are universal throughout all the “children” properties.)

If you were already a Stations player, you probably knew most of the details of its Boarding Pass players club program. But here is a summary for Palms players who are trying to learn the details for the first time. This is information for most video poker games. (Check for labels on machines that contain “good” VP schedules. They may require more coin-in to earn a point and often are not eligible for multiple points or other promotions.)

$1 Coin-In = 3 Points because they run “regular” daily 3x Points.

1000 Points = $1 Cash, Free Play or Comps

Thus, play on regular days earns you .3% in players club benefits.

The Boarding Pass system is much different than the players clubs in most other casinos and is very confusing to “figure” multiple-point promotions because of that basic daily 3x points. Station casinos often run 6x multipliers for VP, but that isn’t nearly as good as it initially sounds! That daily 3x disappears on multiplier days, not added on to the 6x. So if you want to compare it to the way most other casino players clubs work, this is a double-point VP promotion, adding a .6% benefit. (For slot players, the 10x multiplier translates to a 3.3 multiplier when the daily 3x evaporates!)

This is a good time to put to work the math skills I have been discussing these last few months.  Here are some examples of players club benefits you can add to the EV of the game you choose to play and then you can compare it to the new Palms benefit above and to other examples I have given or to another casino of your choosing:

Example #1 – the former Palms players club:  $1 coin-in = 1 point; 400 points = $1

.25% base benefit; 2x points = .5%; 3x points = .75%

Example #2 – South Point – .3% base benefit; 2x points = .6%

Example #3 – Boyd properties – .1% base benefit;

Emerald Tier, daily 3x = .3% (disappearing on multiple-point days); 7x = .7%

You can go to vpFREE2 and find out this club information for any casino where you want to play VP.  Click on the casino and then on the “Players Club” tab.

As I have talked about in past blogs, there are other factors you may want to consider when you choose where to play VP.  However, a wise first step is to figure the math base of any play – game EV + players club benefits – and then consider the value of those other factors.