It's YOUR Money

            Over the years, I have frequently written about the value of comps.  Comps generally come in two different versions.  One is cash back.  The casino returns a percent of the total amount wagered in the form of additional play.  They do this because the odds are that any Player who plays that much is likely to play the additional money more than a minimal amount and will in the long run lose that money back to the casino, along with more of his own money.

            A second type of comp is that the Player can earn free items, meals or entertainment.  Sometimes, these may be earned on top of cash back and sometimes they are instead of cash back, meaning that a Player can essentially use his cash back to 'buy' something else. 

            Since both of the aforementioned comps are based on the amount a Player plays, you can really look at this as a form of rebate and that in many ways the Player has actually paid for these items.  There is another form of 'comp' which is an entirely different category.  This would be 'free play' that the casinos send out.  While there may be some correlation between how much they give each Player and his actual play, this is not a direct mathematical computation.  Casinos may throw a Player $5 or $10 or $20 just to entice you to come into the casino. 

            The question now is what you choose to do with these 'free plays'.  Unlike 'match plays', they do not require that you put up ANY of you own money.  A 'match play' coupon will pay you an extra $5 when you wager at least $5 on an even money wager (i.e. a hand of blackjack).  This still requires you to wager your own $5.  It is a great play if you are a good (or at least decent) Blackjack Player.  You'll win $10 if you win and lose $5 if you lose.  Again, the hope is that the Player will play the match play coupon and then stay and play for a while.  If you're planning on playing anyhow, that is fine.  If, however, you are not a knowledgeable Player and wind up sitting for an hour at a game that you don't know, the casino will more than get its $5 back.  Also, a match play coupon is generally only worth about half of its face value.  The coupon is surrendered whether the Player wins or loses.  Since most even money wagers are approximately a 50-50 shot, the Player will win about half of the time and lose half the time.  So, a $5 coupon will only be paid out half the time, making its value $2.50.

            That brings us back to the free play coupons.  While the mechanics of a free play coupon work differently in different casinos, the basics are the same.  You get a certain amount of money to play on a slot machine or video poker machine.  This money must be played at least once through the machine.  So, if given $5, the casino doesn't care if you play $1, quarters or nickels.   You can Play 100 nickels or 20 quarters.  You can play one at a time or max-coin.  Now, if you choose to play one round of video poker at max-coin $1, you'll play one hand.  For most games of video poker, the Player will 'win' about 45% of the time.  This means that 55% of the time, your $5 will result in absolutely nothing.   Another significant portion of the time, you'll wind up with a High Pair and you'll get to keep exactly $5.  The remaining times you'll win anywhere from 2 to 800 per unit and have a rather nice win.  If you had an unlimited number of these free plays, it wouldn't matter much how you choose to play.  But since you get only one of these every so often, it is my opinion that your goal should be to turn the free play into cash which then puts all the choices in your hand.   Unlike the match play, proper use of free play can result in the return of 95-100%+ of the face value most of the time.  Assuming identical paytables, I try to play the lowest denomination available, which allows for the most hands.  The more hands, the more likely you will approach the theoretical payback.  Thus, playing $10 on a 98.6% machine will on average result in a return of $9.86.

            If you are disciplined, at no time are you putting your own money at risk.  Thus, even if you are a bad video poker Player and play the same game at 94%, you should still expect to come out with $9.40 of the $10.00.  Not a bad deal.  I know some of you won't believe to hear me say this, but you'd be better of playing the money through Slots than not using it at all - again, assuming you are disciplined and don't keep playing the money until you lose it and then put more of your own money in.

            A friend of mine recently told me that every time he goes to Reno on a business trip, he stays in a casino that gives him some amount of money in 'free play'.  It doesn't expire for a year and in the past 12 months, he has amassed $400-$500 in 'free play'.  I asked him how come he doesn't play and his response was that he doesn't know how to play video poker and he knows that Slots are not a good play.  I did give him a copy of both "Winning Strategies for Video Poker" and "Video Poker: America's National Game of Chance" to help him along.  But, I also told him that it didn't matter how bad he played.  Even a basic understanding of Poker could probably earn him a 90-95% payback on a jacks or better video poker machine which means he should win back at least a few hundred dollars.  Better in his pocket than the casinos!

We're Mad as Hell and We're Not Going to Take it Anymore!

            Thanks to Facebook, the average person now has the opportunity to reach out to many people very easily.  Many companies have a presence on Facebook, so if you want to ask a simple question you can do so easily and probably get a quick answer either from the company itself or another customer.  Of course, you also have the opportunity to let a company know when you are disappointed in its performance in some way – although, I can’t promise that they won’t quickly delete your post if they don’t like it. 

            Of course, a single person saying they don’t like something about a particular company probably won’t be very effective at getting the company to make changes.  Sometimes, what occurred was an aberration and a company will quickly rectify the situation in some way.  Unfortunately, many times, companies simply put policies in place that don’t really put their customers first.  They somehow get the idea in their heads that they can treat their customers any way they want and they’ll just keep coming back.

            The question is did they get this idea based on past experience or are they just using wishful thinking?  It is probably a combination of both, which has always bothered me quite a bit.  Why do people allow themselves to be treated poorly by a company that they are paying to do something?  It seems like as customers we have set our expectations so low that we’ll take anything that comes our way.  We have lost the art of a good effective boycott of a company that chooses to abuse its cash-paying customers!

            No, I don’t have a particular company in mind (at least not a Las Vegas casino).  We did just finish a rather eventful trip to Las Vegas, with both highs and lows in customer service.  In the end, our rental car company (mostly) came through after a flat tire left us stranded on I-15 near Flamingo.  A very heartfelt “THANK YOU” goes to the NV-DOT worker who came to our rescue!  As a result of the way we were treated by the rental car company, we very nearly were in a position to find a new regular company to use on our trips.  Fortunately, the manager stepped up and made amends for one of his employee’s poor behavior and judgment. 

            Still up in the air (pardon the pun) is how our airline will deal with a far worse situation.  I’ll save these details for a future column (or my blog!).  The bottom line is that the airline will either make the situation right or we’ll be looking for a different airline to use when we travel.  If you allow a company to treat you poorly and you just keep using them, then the company learns that they can treat you poorly with no consequences.

            So, what does this have to do with casinos and gambling?  Casinos are companies.  You are their customers.  If you don’t get treated the way you want to, you are well within your right to ask to be treated differently.  If what you are complaining about is a specific rude occurrence or employee, don’t hesitate to speak to a supervisor or manager.  While the casinos have tightened their belts greatly recently, most do not want to be known as a place that treats people badly.  A few years ago, I complained that my non-smoking room smelled a lot like smoke and I even found a cigarette butt near the window.  A half an hour later, my wife and I were being moved to a 1 Bedroom suite on the top floor.  All I asked for was a replacement room for the one I had booked!

            Sometimes, the problem is a casino policy.  These can be far tougher to get changed on short notice.  If the casino has decided to make significant changes to their cashback or comp policy, or slashes its paytables, you can voice your dislike, but it is not as likely that a manager can just restore your prior level of either.  They might be able to do something to make you feel a bit better if you ask, but at some point you will have to ask yourself if you want to ‘agree’ to this change by continuing to go to that casino or if you want to make your unhappiness clear by going elsewhere.  Just keep in mind that if you change nothing about your habits – that is you keep going back just as often and play just as much, you will be quietly telling the casino that the change is completely acceptable to you.  On the other hand, if enough people reduce or eliminate their trips to this casino, you may just find them changing their policy again – but this time in your favor.

            The bottom line is that every dollar you play is like a dollar spent at a retailer.  You choose where you play and how much you play.  There are literally dozens of casinos in Las Vegas, and although many are now owned by the same corporation, there is still enough competition to let a casino know that you’re not going to take it anymore and take your business elsewhere.  Don’t be afraid to speak with your dollars!

            Speaking of Facebook, if you get a chance, go on over to my FB page and ‘like’ it!

(http://www.facebook.com/pages/Gambatria/153757698005564).  You can also do this from my website at www.gambatria.com.

How About a Comp System that works?

            A lot of noise was made recently by Las Vegas Sands announcing that they were making significant changes to their comps program.  They were going to greatly reduce the number of free rooms and other things they give out to the masses.  A couple of months ago, I wrote a column about this, expressing that under the conditions that the Sands operates, it really may not be a bad move on their part.  While I think it is a bad idea for casinos that cater to locals to cut back on things like this, I think that the casinos that rely on the out-of-town tourists should have a very different model.

            A few weeks ago, I saw an article that talked about how the Sands was changing its cashback as well.  If I recall correctly, they would now be giving video poker Players back 8% of the theoretical house advantage.  So, if the machine you’re playing has a 1% house edge (99% payback), you be getting back 0.08% of your total wager.  If you’re a max-coin quarter Player, playing 800 hands per hour, you’ll get 80 cents back for each $1000 you drop into the machine.  The expectation is that you’ve lost $10 of that $1000 over the hour.

            I saw a tweet that commented on this, using a full-pay jacks or better as an example.  With a house edge of just 0.4%, the Player will be getting back 0.032% of his total wager.  In my prior example – 32 cents per hour or just under $1 for a 3-hour session.  So, if you go to Las Vegas and play at the Sands, you’ll get back just over $6 if you play every night for 3 hours per night.   I responded to the tweet that this case was non-existent.  Las Vegas Sands does not offer full-pay machines, so their Players will get back far more.  This really is not a good thing, on the whole, for Players.  I’d rather play a full-pay machine then get 3 times the cashback by playing a poor machine.

            That said, I have to go on the record as saying that I think this is the most ridiculous way to calculate cash back.  I’m not blaming the Sands.  Casinos have used ‘cash in’ as the deciding factor for years.  They combine this with a more generic ‘payback’ of a game to determine a percent of ‘cash in’ that Player should receive as a rebate.   To figure out a better system, we should first ask, what is the point of such a rebate?

            Over the past decade or two, many companies have instituted similar such rebates of one type or another.  I have a key ring full of ‘loyalty cards’ that I carry – from my supermarket, drug store and other retailers.  One drugstore gives me a 2% rebate on most of my purchases.  Does this really make me go there for my purchases?  I don’t think so.  But, once a quarter, I get a coupon for a couple of dollars and I feel compelled to use it before it expires.  If I’m disciplined, I buy only things I truly need or buy something that costs only the amount of the coupon.  Of course, we know that it doesn’t always work out so well.  The goal of this cash back is to get me back into the store at a time when I may not really need much of anything and then spend more than the coupon is worth.  This would seem to be similar to the casino model.

            There is, of course, one major difference.  When I buy something in a store, I bring home something tangible.  In the casino, it is not quite the same.  I hope you all enjoy the entertainment you get there, but you’re not bringing a specific item home.  Also, the need for discipline is far greater in the casino.  $2 is $2 in the drugstore.  In the casino, some can make their money last much longer than others.

            So, if we have two players who play identical video poker machines and one plays it ‘Expertly’ and plays at 99% and the other plays it rather poorly and plays only 95%, why should they receive the same cashback.  Mind you, I’m not talking about how they ACTUALLY do with their bankroll.  I’m talking about the theoretical payback of how they play each hand.  The machine can be easily programmed to keep tabs on this.  In this scenario, the Player who plays poorly will actually receive more money than the one who plays properly.  From a casino perspective, I would think this would be a no-brainer!

            Let’s be real, here.  If I’m playing the machine, why would the casino want to give me much money back?  I’ll drop $30 in 3 hours and then they’ll give me $2.40 cents back.  Realistically, they can’t give me much more.  Also, if I’m a good Player, I’m losing relatively little and just how much incentive do I need to come back?  Will $2.40 really bring me back to this casino?

However, if I’m a bad player and my play would dictate that I should lose $150 in those 3 hours, I would now get back a $12 rebate.  If I’m that casino, I want to bring back this Player more than the Expert Player.  Give him $12 to play with.  He’ll likely lose far more than that while playing at 95%. 

            So, yes, I AM advocating that bad Players get more cashback than good Players.  However, I’d still rather be a good Player getting less in cash back than a bad Player getting more.  Some of you may wonder about a system that pays cashback based on how much the Player actually wins or loses.  In a future column, I’ll discuss my thoughts on that.

            I’d like to hear what you have to say about this, so PLEASE feel free to leave comments – but let’s all be civil!