Stupidity at the Plaza

Last night my spouse and I made a rare Saturday night visit to downtown Las Vegas. One of our goals was to use an American Casino Guide coupon for $5 free play at the Plaza, and the check on whether the $1 full-pay (10/7) Double Bonus video poker gives full player club points (some games there that pay less give no points).

After redeeming the coupon at the players' club, we found the two machines carrying the game we were looking for. They had signs on them saying free play was not available. This was not a major surprise because some casinos make free play unavailable on their best games (10/7 pays back over 100 percent with max coins bet and optimum play, which isn't easy to achieve). My spouse put some money in, played a few hands and determined that the game did indeed pay full points.

That was the last good thing we saw at the Plaza.

We still had the $5 free play to use, and started looking for a video poker machine that would allow that. All the machines we saw were labeled ineligible for free play. I went to the players' club and asked whether there were any VP machines that allowed for free play. I was told that as of two months ago, the answer is no. Management decided to exempt all video poker from use of free play.

So we tried to use the free play on a couple of slot machines, and then on a video keno machine. Each time the card reader said my spouse's account was already in use, apparently as a result of having stuck the card in the machine to test the Double Bonus game. We didn't know how long we'd have to wait for the card to be usable again, but we quickly determined that it wasn't worth it to find out.

The Plaza does allow points to be used for cash back instead of free play, but only if you have one of the two top tiers of players' card. If you don't, you're stuck using your points for free play on a slot machine. And if you get promotional free play in a mailer, you're stuck using it on a slot machine no matter what level card you have.

Why, you might ask, would the casino do this? Why would it care what machine its customers play? The answer is that in general, slot machines have a much higher hold for the house than video poker. So by getting video poker players to put some money through on slots, the house can keep a higher percentage of that money.

Great in theory, but the problem is that many video poker players don't want to play slots, either because the the lower return to the players or because they just don't like playing what many of them consider a mindless game of chance as opposed to a game of skill.

And I think it's fair to say that most people don't like to be bossed around. This is a form of bossing around that no other casino I am aware of is engaging in. I am constantly amazed by the arrogance of some casino executives who are apparently blissfully unaware that they are in a highly competitive business that relies on discretionary income. You'd think they's be more concerned about not ticking off their customers, particularly in ways their competitors aren't doing.

The best games at the Plaza are 10/7 Double Bonus and 9/6 Jacks or Better. Both are offered at other downtown casinos where you can earn full points and use free play on the machine of your choice. Where would you rather play these games?