In a recent online blog, Jean Scott wrote how she’d run a slot club.
Among other things, she said: “I’d never run an unfair promotion, like a slot-point marathon where quarter players are competing with $5 players. People like a promotion where everyone has at least a chance to win.”
If she owned a casino she could run any promotions she wanted. If she ran a casino without owning it, it’s hard to imagine her keeping her job. With suggestions like she put forth here, it’s hard to believe any casinos would seriously consider her suggestions. Let’s look at what her ideas would cover:
- Assume a casino executive wants to get more play out of his $5 machines. He believes giving $25,000 away to players for a slot marathon might be a good way to draw in the players he wants. Jean would tell that casino manager not to do it because a 25¢ player wouldn’t have a chance. If I were advising the casino, I might tell him to go ahead — depending on a variety of factors. I’d also advise any 25¢ player who asked for my advice not to bother competing. It’s not smart to bring a knife to a gun fight.
- Jean advocated doing away with all promotions geared for seniors because players under 50 have no chance to win. Personally I think senior drawings make sense for players and casinos.
- At the Palms, on certain days of the week, if you play $500 in coin-in you get either a movie ticket or car wash coupon. Jean would do away with these promotions because some people can’t afford to play that much.
- Caesars Entertainment awards Seven Stars players a free cruise every year. Jean apparently advocated that Caesars stop doing this because it discriminates against players who aren’t Seven Stars.
- The South Point invites almost 1,000 of their top players to a player appreciation party every year — where you get a nice dinner including an open bar, some chance at door prizes, $500 in free play, and some new electronic something. One year it was a top-of-the-line iPad. One year a Kindle Fire. One year it was a computer tablet. One year it wasn’t electronics but dinner for two at Michael’s, the South Point gourmet restaurant — where ordering $300 in entrees and a $200 bottle of wine — or more — was quite acceptable. I would tell Michael Gaughan that this is a fine gesture and is appreciated by these players. According to her words, Jean would tell him to stop it because it’s unfair. If you can’t invite everybody, you shouldn’t invite anybody.
- I presume she would do away with VIP check-in and rules that allow VIPs to stand in much shorter lines at the buffet, the cashier, and other places. And VIPs should pay the same resort fees that everybody else does. And while we’re at it, let’s forget about their amenity baskets (not that there’s much in them anymore.)
Do I seriously think Jean advocates these things? No. Of course not. It’s what she wrote many years ago in an article she recently found when cleaning her computer files. She may have meant it long ago, but if actions speak louder than words, she doesn’t mean it now.
Jean used to be a quarter player (weren’t we all!) and probably wrote the first draft of this back in those days. She saw the world through the eyes of a quarter player and believed the casino should go out of its way to take care of quarter players. It was a ridiculously self-centered idea then — and much more so today.
Now she’s accumulated some wealth and knowledge and plays for bigger stakes. Today she takes advantage of senior promotions, free cruises, VIP check-in, and sometimes participates in promotions where she has to play a certain amount to receive certain benefits — which her earlier words said were unfair promotions. If she’s invited to a VIP party she thinks looks interesting, do you really think she’s going to pass it up because other players weren’t invited? If you do, you have a much different opinion of her than I have.
Possibly she was desperate for a column and borrowed an old one without thinking it though. I truly understand sometimes having nothing to write about — and on occasion I have recycled some of my own. But I always try to proof them first and bring them up to date.
In this blog, Jean seemed to lose sight of the fact that casinos are in business to make money. Casino promotions are geared for the benefit of the casinos, not players. Jean seemed to think that casinos should make all promotions for the benefit of players — especially low limit players. Why on earth would casinos want to do that?
Although this was originally written maybe 20 years ago, quarter video poker players today are not particularly valuable to casinos. Casinos make more off of bigger players — and slot players — and so reward them accordingly. Many casinos today reward players based on Average Daily Theoretical — which means the amount a player can be expected to lose playing particular machines.
The ADT on quarter video poker machines is very small. I’m not putting down quarter players, and casinos put out machines for them. But quarter players shouldn’t expect the casino world to revolve around them. And this entire article was geared towards giving the quarter players the best chance to win. Of all the things casinos worry about, that’s pretty far down the list.
Players who want to advise casinos how to operate have to get out of their own narrow perceptions and try to see what motivates casinos. If a player can’t do that, he/she should know the proffered advice is going to be laughed at ignored.
That’s kind of a hard view. Jean’s old fashioned views are excellent and should underlie business – pretty rare today. And it’s also true business reality always rears its ugly head. A sometimes difficult balance has to be effected.
Quarter players have always had to work long hours to get VIP benefits. In many areas, the quarter machines dominate the available action. When we were raising a family, quarters were the only option for our bankroll. In retirement, it is much easier to reach VIP status playing dollars. Non-casino owners rarely know what is best for the casino business.
I’m pretty sure that quarter players remain important to the casinos’ bottom lines. Plus, that’s where dollar and higher players come from.
I’m sure VP machines have a software add-in feature that tells the casino how close to perfect strategy the player is playing.
If the quarter player is playing poor strategy, that player would be very welcome.
Anthony wrote: I’m pretty sure that quarter players remain important to the casinos’ bottom lines. Plus, that’s where dollar and higher players come from.
If that was Jean’s argument, I would have no debate with her. But her article implied the casino should revolve around quarter players. She said:
1. “I’d never run an unfair promotion, like a slot-point marathon where quarter players are competing with $5 players.”
2. “ And every casino employee would be well briefed on all promotions. My players would never learn, after the fact, that they qualified for a bonus, which no one told them about.” (Presumably this means housekeeping, food and beverage employees, and surveillance workers as well, because they are all casino employees. And how on earth is she going to make sure that every customer knows about every promotion? Is she going to tell every player 15 times to make sure the slow ones finally get it? If so, she’s going to piss off the not-so-slow ones.)
My opinion on those items is that:
1. There’s a place for promotions that affect different groups of players differently. If a casino makes more money off of a $5 player than a quarter player, why on earth shouldn’t that casino give more back to the $5 player?
2. It’s the player’s job to read the rules — carefully — of every promotion. Most casino employees do not understand the distinctions between various video poker pay schedules and why one promotion would be better for one game than another. Many employees in casino restaurants don’t even know the soup of the day. Jean wants them all to be up to date on every promotion out there.
That’s really interesting. Obviously the software is out there, and I know it has been experimented with in casinos, but I hardly ever hear of it anymore. At first I assumed that it was in place, but was being ignored by the casinos (too busy, understaffed). But is it?
Everybody should get a trophy for participation.
A very recent conversation with the slot director at my home casino about this very subject revealed that “more than 80% of the casino take comes from the few X ( top tier) card members.(Less than 800, invitation only)
I may not like the perceived discrimination, yet I do understand the reasoning behind it.
I avoid promotions that are weighted, and concentrate on one’s where my equity is much higher.
No big deal, and no sour grapes.
The CET machines have gotten so tight, I, a 25 cent player, easily lost $1,000/day on my recent week long trip to Vegas. Maybe that’s chicken feed to casinos but not to me.
I definitely understand. CET is not a quarter-friendly place on the Strip. A case could be made that there are NO quarter-friendly places on the Strip.
The actual amount you lost is clearly important to you — but it is largely irrelevant. What is more important is the EXPECTED loss — which would be the average loss assuming neither good luck nor bad. In video poker, this can be calculated beforehand easily enough. If the price is too high for the benefits you’re scheduled to receive, simply don’t play.
Jean was very likely NOT talking about any Strip properties. In Vegas, local casinos have MUCH better video poker games for low stakes than the Strip properties do — although that is more true today than it was 20 some years ago when Jean wrote that article.
The flip side of your viewpoint is when a casino holds a promo drawing and the number of entries a player gets is based on play. The drawing is going to be virtually worthless to the quarter player who “only” runs through 3 or 4K a day. Case in point: this month, South Point has drawings that are worth $500K total, and entries are based on play. Does this promo get me to drive across town to play there? No, because I know that Bob Dancer is running through $100K a minute and my puny little action will get me about the same chance of being drawn as hitting Megabucks on a single pull.
And frankly, if Big Bob is playing any game at all, he’s probably worth LESS to the casino than one of us quarter players, so the argument that promos should cater to the big player doesn’t really hold up in this case.
at south point the maximum entries are 1600 per day per person. bob hates this promotion!!
a .25 cent player has to only play about one and one half hours ($1600) per day to get the maximum number of entries allowed per day.
” A case could be made that there are NO quarter-friendly places on the Strip.”
That pretty much sums it up.
Bob is correct. You need to sit out in the casino parking lot with your computer to determine whether or not you should play. You may start with 9/6 jacks or better, but that is only the beginning. The slot club and the promo determine the final decision to play, and I know a computer is required for that.