Casino gifts

One of the standard marketing tools of casinos, particularly locals' casinos, is gifts. Typically, a particular gift will be offered to invited guests on a particular day. Other customers may have an opportunity to earn the gift by playing a certain amount.

There's no doubt that gifts are popular. They get people through the door, a big part of the job of increasing a casino's business. But I have often wondered whether, from the casino's point of view, the typical gift program is worth the trouble.

Regularly giving gifts puts a casino in the retail business, along with all the other businesses its in -- hotel, restaurants, banking (the cage and credit), entertainment, etc. The stuff must be stored somewhere, and employees must be paid to distribute it.

Most locals' casinos do not require that customers entitled to a free gift (is it really a gift if it has to be earned?) to play on the day they pick up their present. If the guest doesn't play, what has the casino accomplished? Not much, I would say. And what about all the customers who don't want the gift? They won't come in, defeating the purpose of the offer.

And then there are mystery gifts given in various promotions. Sometime customers get a choice, sometimes not, Either way, they are often disappointed, again defeating the purpose.

This time of year, the two high-end Stations properties, Red Rock and Green Valley Ranch, are running a special gift program called the Holiday Shop. Adopted to year-round use, this idea could be the basis for a better-than-usual kind of casino gift program.

This is how the Holiday Shop works. A variety of gifts are offered, ranging in price from 750 points to 500,000 points. Players get one Holiday Shop point for every regular point earned ($1 coin-in). Players keep their points. All gifts must be earned in a 24-hour period. There is a limit of three gifts per day. All players can get a minimum of 250 free points a day by swiping their card at a kiosk.

This system benefits customers by giving them of a variety of gifts from which to choose on any one day. It benefits the casino by giving customers an incentive to play.

If this approach were to be adopted year-round, players could be awarded differing amounts of credits on depending on their level of play, as opposed to the usual system on which everyone gets the same gift. They could also be given additional credits for their play. Casinos might allow regular player club points to be used to buy gifts.

Another alternative I'd consider is doing away with gifts and awarding player club points or gift cards instead. The idea to is give customers something everyone can use, and to eliminate the trouble and expense of an ongoing gifts program.