I was recently playing $1 Jacks or Better at Hooters in Las Vegas when I hit the deal button and a royal flush popped up. That's a rare event -- about once in every 600,000 hands, or once a year for a full-time player. But what happened next was even more of a surprise.
When a jackpot of $1,200 or more is hit on a machine, it's supposed to lock up. That's because such jackpots are taxable, and casinos have to issue tax forms to the player and the IRS. Employees pay such jackpots by hand, then adjust the machine to remove the equivalent amount of credits.
But the machine at Hooters never locked up -- it just racked up the 4,000 credits for my royal and let me keep playing. I was getting double points, so I kept going for a while. When I was ready to leave I hit the cash out button and the machine printed out a ticket for $4,100.
My intent was to take the ticket to the cage and explain what happened. But before I could leave the machine, a slot attendant approached. I told her what had happened, and she called over one of her co-workers. The two of them reviewed the hands played on the machine as far back as it would let them, which wasn't all the way back to the royal. They then got a supervisor involved and didn't tell me anything about what was happening (language was at least part of the problem). I asked to see a manager and told them I was losing patience and wanted to get the matter resolved.
About a half hour after the royal the slot people reached a manager. They were told to issue the tax forms for the jackpot, pay me by hand and take my cashout ticket. This is exactly how the matter should have been handled, only without the half-hour wait. After I was paid the manager came over and we had a brief chat. I asked him what the maximum ticket amount the cage at Hooters will pay without a hassle, and he said $1,200. Taking my $4,100 ticket to the cage would have set off a process that would have taken longer than what I experienced, he told me.
While I was waiting to be paid, a troubling question crossed my mind: Would the casino claim the machine malfunctioned and refuse to pay me? I was prepared to argue that any malfunction involved only those parts of the machine that are supposed to lock it up for a hand pay, not the random number generator that dealt me the royal. Fortunately, I never had to make the argument because the issue never came up.
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Food stamps
Among the kinds of comps casinos provide their regular players are food credits. These are usually coupons -- my spouse and I call them "food stamps" -- that are part of a monthly calendar of offers sent by the marketing department.
These coupons have advantages and disadvantages over the other common forms of food comps.
At many if not most casinos, table game players (and sometimes slot players) earn comps that can be issued only by a host or pit boss, a process that can take some time. And often players aren't informed of their balances, so a request can result in a frustrating and embarrassing rejection. Using food stamps avoids these difficulties.
Slot points are the other way many players "pay" for food. The advantage of using points is that its easy for players to determine their balances and redeem them. But at most casinos points can be used for other valuable things, such as free play and cash back. So it's smart to use other kinds of comps to pay for food.
Food stamps typically come with conditions. Usually they are valid only on certain dates, or invalid on certain days, such as holidays or weekends. Often they are valid only at some of a casino's restaurants. Sometimes they cannot be combined with other food stamps or other types of comps. They are almost always for a specific player, who must provide ID and sometimes a players card to redeem the coupon.
For us, the most troublesome restriction -- one that's on almost all food stamps -- is that they cannot be used for takeout. This does not mean that you can't order more food than you can eat and take the rest home, but you do have to be seated in a restaurant and eat something. This might seem like it would be embarrassing, but we do it all the time, and have found that servers are more than happy to cooperate in the belief that a bigger check will mean a bigger tip.
But you can only so many meals a month, and with the amount of gambling we do, we always wind up with food stamps we can't use for sit-down dining. Fortunately, we've discovered some ways to get around the dining-in restriction.
At the delis at Sam's Town and Green Valley Ranch the employees have been happy to pull together big orders of stuff for us to take out. One big advantage of being able to "shop" at the delis is that they carry canned and bottled beverages and other items that won't spoil, so we can stock up if we have enough credits to use. Other deli items we buy with food stamps include prepared salads, fruit plates, cakes and pies. Sometimes deli employees spend considerable time helping us make good use of our food stamps. To be considerate of other deli customers, who are often in a hurry, we let them cut in and ask the employees to stop what they're doing for us and take care of the others. We also tip employees who have helped us with a big order.
At most casinos food stamps cannot be used at food court outlets, but in Las Vegas there is at least one exception -- the Palms. All of the outlets there accept Palms food coupons. Also at the Palms, the 24/7 Cafe now has a case displaying sandwiches, salads, fruit plates, pastries and Krispy Kreme doughnuts. Food stamps can be used to pay for these items for takeout.
One final tip regarding food stamps: Don't be afraid to ask for exceptions to the rules. We have had some success getting restaurants to accept food stamps from both my spouse and me despite rules against using more than one coupon per party. Signs that appeared within the past few months at the M Resort suggest that expiration dates can also be overlooked: "Unfortunately, we no longer accept expired or post dated coupons." Unfortunately, I never thought to try to use an expired or post dated food stamp at the M when they were being accepted.
These coupons have advantages and disadvantages over the other common forms of food comps.
At many if not most casinos, table game players (and sometimes slot players) earn comps that can be issued only by a host or pit boss, a process that can take some time. And often players aren't informed of their balances, so a request can result in a frustrating and embarrassing rejection. Using food stamps avoids these difficulties.
Slot points are the other way many players "pay" for food. The advantage of using points is that its easy for players to determine their balances and redeem them. But at most casinos points can be used for other valuable things, such as free play and cash back. So it's smart to use other kinds of comps to pay for food.
Food stamps typically come with conditions. Usually they are valid only on certain dates, or invalid on certain days, such as holidays or weekends. Often they are valid only at some of a casino's restaurants. Sometimes they cannot be combined with other food stamps or other types of comps. They are almost always for a specific player, who must provide ID and sometimes a players card to redeem the coupon.
For us, the most troublesome restriction -- one that's on almost all food stamps -- is that they cannot be used for takeout. This does not mean that you can't order more food than you can eat and take the rest home, but you do have to be seated in a restaurant and eat something. This might seem like it would be embarrassing, but we do it all the time, and have found that servers are more than happy to cooperate in the belief that a bigger check will mean a bigger tip.
But you can only so many meals a month, and with the amount of gambling we do, we always wind up with food stamps we can't use for sit-down dining. Fortunately, we've discovered some ways to get around the dining-in restriction.
At the delis at Sam's Town and Green Valley Ranch the employees have been happy to pull together big orders of stuff for us to take out. One big advantage of being able to "shop" at the delis is that they carry canned and bottled beverages and other items that won't spoil, so we can stock up if we have enough credits to use. Other deli items we buy with food stamps include prepared salads, fruit plates, cakes and pies. Sometimes deli employees spend considerable time helping us make good use of our food stamps. To be considerate of other deli customers, who are often in a hurry, we let them cut in and ask the employees to stop what they're doing for us and take care of the others. We also tip employees who have helped us with a big order.
At most casinos food stamps cannot be used at food court outlets, but in Las Vegas there is at least one exception -- the Palms. All of the outlets there accept Palms food coupons. Also at the Palms, the 24/7 Cafe now has a case displaying sandwiches, salads, fruit plates, pastries and Krispy Kreme doughnuts. Food stamps can be used to pay for these items for takeout.
One final tip regarding food stamps: Don't be afraid to ask for exceptions to the rules. We have had some success getting restaurants to accept food stamps from both my spouse and me despite rules against using more than one coupon per party. Signs that appeared within the past few months at the M Resort suggest that expiration dates can also be overlooked: "Unfortunately, we no longer accept expired or post dated coupons." Unfortunately, I never thought to try to use an expired or post dated food stamp at the M when they were being accepted.
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