Back in 1999, Brad and I had been having good success in casinos for 15 years and word was getting around about it, especially after we appeared on “48 Hours.” Friends were hearing about all the comps we were getting on our frequent Vegas trips and bugging us to tell them our “secret.” The problem was that there wasn’t just a one-ingredient hush-hush recipe for success that I could give them in a couple of sentences.
So being a former English teacher, I decided to write a book, The Frugal Gambler, that would be an end-all explanation about how we were able to enjoy this wonderful life full of freebies and how other gamblers could do it too. Then, I could go back to just enjoying our busy casino life.
Silly me!
In my defense, in 1999, almost no one could have predicted how fast and how radical the changes would come in the casino world in the new century. But I soon saw it beginning to happen and with it the need for frequent updated information to help casino visitors continue to play smarter.
Thus, in April 2000, “Frugal Fridays” was born, a weekly column – we didn’t call them blogs back then – on the LVA website. After eight years, I grew tired of deadlines and sent Anthony a resignation email. He was sympathetic, but offered me a new option. LVA was starting a new feature; would I be interested in writing a blog whenever I felt like it? I took a few weeks to rest and think about it and then came back on board with “Frugal Vegas.”
Funny, I often still wrote almost every week even with no deadline pressure; I was constantly finding new situations and ideas that might be helpful to others. Even when Brad and I moved from Vegas and our casino adventures became limited, I would, albeit on an irregular schedule, think of something I wanted to share with my readers. (I have no reasonable explanation why I also felt I needed to write four more Frugal books during this time!)
However, now, many factors in my life are coming together and compelling me to make the hard decision to put two last words, The End, onto this 23-year LVA writing project.
Actually, I won’t miss the actual process of typing the words on the computer keyboard. What I will miss is the wonderful communication with the hundreds of friends Brad and I made here. No, we haven’t met all of you readers in person, although it has been a joy when so many of us have been able to chat at get-together events. And what I loved the most were the many many times we unexpectedly met in a casino, sometimes side by side at a bank of good video poker machines, and it was such a welcome break when someone recognized us and came up and introduced themselves. However, there are so many of you that, although we never met in person, have also become friends through internet contact: Q+A’s, gambling forums, blog comments, personal emails, and social media.
I will miss you all immensely. You have lifted my spirits so many times during these last few years while I’ve concentrated on being Brad’s caretaker.
There is one major way we can keep in touch. I have a public Jean Scott Facebook page, where I plan to be more active in the future: posting pictures, answering questions, reporting on casino news, and maybe even sharing a new nugget of smart-gambling information I have run across. Go to my page and request to be my friend! Please!
Also, as LasVegasAdvisor.com transitions to a paid-subscription model, Anthony tells me that my past blog posts will be available for everyone to see for free in the archives. This fits perfectly with my own plans. Long-time readers might want to peruse them for the memories. New gamblers, although many of the specifics are outdated, will find a surprising amount of basic smart-gambling concepts that will always be helpful.
In my previous post, I shared the news that I’m retiring from advantage play this year. Several friends commented that they thought this would be hard for me. They know that I’m highly competitive and love pitting my gambling skills against the casino edge. I will admit it was a big adjustment when Brad and I moved into a senior facility far from any casino. But it didn’t take long for me to become the resident game instigator here. I rounded up everyone who was bored and taught them Phase 10, Mexican Train dominoes, and Rummikub.
I hear your next question. No, there is no money involved in any of these games. But you may remember how I began my first Frugal book, describing how I played Uncle Wiggley and Chutes and Ladders with intensity at age four and later our family played Scrabble “for blood.” Back now to just gaming, not gambling, I’m realizing that the challenge of competition had always been my fundamental joy; winning money is just one way to keep score.
Recently, I’ve also gone back to a game I hadn’t played for 50 years, and one that just might provide me a challenge as much as video poker did – mah jongg. It’s addicting and I’m already hooked! It’s sometimes played for very small stakes, although right now I’m only playing in social settings. However, there is the opportunity to play on the tournament circuits. I thought I ‘d developed some good skills during this last year of frequent play, so I entered my first tournament a few weeks. However, I was shocked at the expertise of the competition and was immediately hit with the stark reality that walking the path to great success in this game would take years of practice and experience. But that idea didn’t sound discouraging to me at all; in fact, it lit up some of the competitive fires within me that I thought perhaps were slowly being extinguished. Time will tell!
I’ll do my final signoff here with the same words I’ve used when I autographed so many of your Frugal books down these last 23 years. It will never need updated: The more you study, the luckier you will be!
Hints and Pics from the Frugal Files
Some of you told me that my last blog was depressing.
I feel your pain. I realize that hearing about negative changes in the casino world is anything but uplifting. I also fear the future of downgrades, like when I just ran across this article that gave me more details about how artificial intelligence (AI) can be used in casinos.
I can’t give you one big piece of Pollyanna advice on how to cope with these changing times. I’ve never been able to do that on any gambling issue. However, I have written a lot about how different kinds of gamblers might modify their play as the casino environment evolves. One of the most detailed discussions of this was a four-part series on this blog back in March and April 2015: “When Casinos cut VP Benefits.” See Part 1 here and you can click forward (using the link to the right above the comments on the Part 1 page) for Part 2. For Part 3 and Part 4, it’s easier to link from here.
I can’t believe that I’ve been writing about this for eight years. Even then, I probably would have found earlier blogs on the same subject if I’d scrolled back through the Archives (which you can also do right here on my site for any month I have been blogging since 2000). I’m not surprised that a lot of my old posts are still relevant today. Although specific details may be outdated, many of the basic concepts are still valuable keys to success.
Despite many negative factors these days, you can still come across some positives when doing your casino scouting and research. Not all casinos are using the newest software. Smaller companies especially might not have the budget for them and still reward you in the more traditional ways. Some casinos might consider some of the “old ways” to still be a good fit for their market.
Here’s an interesting article that discusses the subject of free play and how not all casinos follow the same views on how it should be used.
Also, some casinos are still giving their hosts broader authority to extend comps, with a range of numbers and factors, rather than one can’t-be-changed schedule. Just asking, but doing it nicely, will always work better than a demanding attitude and you might land in the top of that range.
Another good host hint I’m finding out about in my own casino visits and from the experiences of others is that all properties under one big umbrella company don’t necessarily have the same policies. Therefore, don’t assume you already know all the details about getting comps, just because you’ve played at sister casinos. Check with a new host or, better still, have a chat with several hosts to get the big picture and/or more details. Sometimes you’ll find more generous territory!
If your personal circumstances are flexible, broaden your search to include casinos you haven’t considered before. Your long-time favorite casino may no longer be the best choice for you.
And here’s a new transportation option that might open up some new good casino opportunities for some of you readers out west, from a press release from Megabus, one of the largest bus companies in North America. They have announced a new partnership with Salt Lake Express, a popular shuttle service along the northern I-15 corridor. This partnership will allow for expanded service options to and from 75 cities in the Northwest across Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming, including daily trips between Las Vegas and Mesquite and Pahrump, Nevada. Additional service will be offered from Boise, Helena, Salt Lake City, and Reno.
And now changing the subject: For some of you who’ve asked for current pictures of Brad and me, here they are. They also answer someone’s question about whether we do any non-casino gambling these days. These were taken recently when we attended two Kentucky Derby parties. One was here at Legacy Reserve, where we have a party for everything! The other was at the home of friends. Most at the party were spouses and retired Army and/or present government employees who work with son-in-law Steve at Fort Benning (recently renamed Fort Moore).
Now, our parties at the Legacy bar (yes, the only senior facility in Georgia with a licensed bar) are lively, fun, and full of noisy chatter, but sometimes it’s great to get together with the younger generation. Those Army guys really know how to party down and they swept these two oldsters right into the rowdy action. We’d never played Left-Right-Center before and didn’t know how boisterous 25 people surrounding a long table could get, while fiercely defending their $3 bets. Even Brad, who usually sits silently on game sidelines, joined in the action and was just as shocked as I was when, after being “out” for many rounds, I ended up winning the $75 final pot!
His surprising engagement in the activities lasted all evening, even after we got back home. And for a short time, he remembered what he’d had done for 35 years, but has forgotten these last four: counting the organized stacks of little bills, then giving me the total of our day’s gambling results.
I had to retreat to the bedroom to hide my tears.
This is a time of mixed emotions for me. Dementia is such a cruel condition. There are so many long days of silence when he’s in his own world, thankfully peaceful, but not “with me.” And again, thankfully, I’ve been able to adjust and to make for myself a different but happy world. However, I’m thrilled beyond words when his memory unexpectedly wakes up and we can, even just for a few hours, re-live some of those joyful times we shared in the past.