This one I literally refuse to believe. Blogger David McKee reports on the Las Vegas Advisor web site that MGM Resorts, owner of several major Las Vegas casinos, plans to convert all its remaining 3:2 blackjack games on the Strip to 6:5.
For those not familiar with blackjack, one of the basics of the game is that a player dealt a blackjack -- an ace and ten-value card -- is paid one and a half times his bet, or 3:2.
In the past decade, many casinos have reduced the payout for blackjack to 6:5, starting with single-deck games. Gradually the 6;5 curse has spread to other games, including some as bad as eight-deck shoes with no double after split.
I don't spend much time on the Strip, but unless things have changed drastically in the past year, there are still many good 3:2 games there, especially at MGM properties. Downtown and at the locals casinos, most games still pay the traditional 3:2.
It is sad but true that many ploppies will play a game that pays them $12 for a blackjack on a $10 bet instead of $15, robbing them of about $12 an hour based on the average number of blackjacks received by a player in a moderately fast game. To an extent, 6:5 games have gained acceptance by a segment of the gaming public.
But that is not to say that those who now play 3:2 games, especially for higher stakes, will acquiesce in a change to 6:5. A $100 bettor is being shortchanged $120 an hour by a 6:5 game, and it is hard to believe that that amount of damage won't soon be felt.
If MGM goes through with its horrible idea, it will present a golden opportunity for its competition to tout the availability of its full-pay blackjack games. Explaining the difference between a 3:2 game and a 6:5 game isn't that complicated and should be easily accomplished in newspaper, magazine, billboard and online advertising.
I predict that if MGM goes through with this plan, its blackjack play will drop off precipitously and it will be forced to relent. You read it here first.
The other item of interest is from Vegas Inc., also by way of Las Vegas Advisor. It's about a report commissioned by the Association of Gaming Equipment Manufacturers which suggests that the reduction in slot machine payouts in recent years has led to a decline in slot revenues. The Vegas Inc. story, including a link to the study, can be found at http://vegasinc.com/business/gaming/2015/aug/20/slot-revenue-drops-machines-get-tighter-industry/
The idea that people will play less if games return less is a subject of hot debate in the gaming industry. Some believe that variance -- the ups and downs of a game's return -- far outweigh long-term average return in most players' experience. Others argue that the effect of a reduction in return cannot be masked for very long as players experience less "time on device" for their money.
My opinion is that the first point of view made more sense when gaming was confined mostly to a few resort destination. Now that gaming is widely available, many more people are able to play more often and get a more accurate idea of how quickly their money is likely to disappear in a typical session.
Absent from both the study and the Vegas Inc. article was any mention of the growth of penny slots in recent years. These machines have become very popular despite the fact that they have the lowest payouts. So, at least to some extent, slot players have themselves to blame for the lower returns they are getting.
Both of these news items bring to mind two recurring thoughts of mine concerning the casino business. First, unlike other transactions in a market economy, all aspects of gaming are a zero-sum game. What the players get comes out of the pockets of the casinos and vice-versa. Second, except for the pathetic addicted degenerate gamblers that the industry claims it would never want as customers, no one has to gamble. Casinos are in competition not only with each other but with all other forms of entertainment. Try to take so much from the customer that the enjoyment from gambling is no longer worth the cost, and people will do other things for fun.
Perhaps the biggest threat to the future of gaming as an industry is the constant craving of Wall Street for earnings growth. In this era of gaming saturation, expansion can no longer satisfy this appetite. As the big casino companies try to increase earnings by further squeezing their customers, they will reach a point where they hurt their own bottom line. We may be near that point now.
Showing posts with label slot machines. Show all posts
Showing posts with label slot machines. Show all posts
Saturday, August 22, 2015
Sunday, December 28, 2014
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?
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?
Monday, February 27, 2012
Palms update
At the Palms the other night I bumped into a slot manager and started what became a lengthy conversation between him and my wife and me about the recent changes at the Palms. First, the good news: According to this particular executive, the removal of good video poker games is over. But like anything else said by any casino employee, this must be taken with a grain of salt. Everthing in a casino is always subject to change, and from my outside perspective, internal communication within casinos and casino companies appears to be generally terrible, so employees are not always aware of what is going on or coming down the pike.
This manager admitted that many customers have complained about the changes and that the Palms has recently lost some business to the Gold Coast, a casino across the street that now has a generally stronger video poker lineup than the Palms. He also said that many of the complainers are still coming to the Palms, out of habit, if nothing else. Significantly, while defending the changes from a business point of view, he admitted that they were handled poorly from a public relations point of view. I'm not sure what the best way is to handle a situation where you're taking something away from people, but the Palms has done little to soften the blow, making at least some longtime customers feel their business is no longer appreciated (the executive made it clear that concerning some customers, this is in fact the case).
He also said that machines have been removed because too many were underused. Casinos pay a state fee for each machine on the slot floor, and of course have many other expenses, so a machine that doesn't get enough play is less valuable than empty floor space (maybe that explains the open prairies at the M Resort). Separted from the issue of the types of games and pay tables offered, this strikes me as simply good management and was an aspect of running a casino I had been unaware of. Of course, players don't care if machines they don't play are removed.
But there's no question that games many serious video poker players played are now gone, including the 25-cent full-pay deuces wild progressive, the 10/7 double bonus progressive and, now, all the 16/10 deuces wild on triple play/five play machines. The Palms was the last casino in Vegas to offer the latter, and they were what I usually played. I mentioned this, and my disappointment, to the slot manager, and he replied that some players had "hammered" the casino on these games. I pointed out that they are negative-return games (to the players), even with perfect play and taking into account the value of slot club points. Further, play on these machines has long been ineligible for qualifying for promotions, and for point multipliers. A few players might have been able to gain a very slight edge if you included the value of their mailers and promotions such as free pulls on Megabucks and Wheel of Fortune, but I can't see how anyone could have "hammered" the Palms on these machines. He really didn't have an answer when I pointed this out. In my opinion, the value to the Palms of continuing to be the only casino offering these enormously fun-to-play games would have been worth any small losses the casino might have incurred as a result of the play of a very few people.
One interesting thing the slot manager shared was his view of the difference between slot (reel) players and video poker players. He described slot players as seeking entertainment and excitement, and not concerned about coming out ahead in the long run as long as they get the excitement of chasing after (mostly small) bonuses and jackpots and occasionally winning. Video poker players, on the other hand, he clearly saw as economic adversaries -- people who expect to win and to get everything they can from the casino. For example, he said that many, many more reel players play without a players' club card, giving away any comps and marketing offers they might be entitled to. Many more video poker players use a card, he said, and use all the points they accrue. I think his views may be colored by the Palms' history as a mecca for serious video poker players. What he says is undoubtedly true for a segment of video poker players, but they are probably a small minority in most casinos. Many, many video poker players don't use players' cards, don't know much if anything about pay tables or game strategy, and believe that winning is just as much a matter of luck in video poker as it is in playing reels.
Still, his attitude is one that seems to reflect the thinking in the industry, which has become less generous to video poker players in the six or so years I've been playing that game. Video poker players used to get the same benefits as reel players -- the same point multipliers, the same coin-in requirements to qualify for gifts and benefits, etc. This has changed at most casinos, and I can't say it's entirely unfair. Even bad video poker players playing bad games lose less than most reel players, and video poker machines are generally faster than reel machines, meaning players can accumulate points faster. But casino mangers should keep in mind that the reel players who lose more may lose interest in gambling -- or run out of gambling money -- sooner. To the extent that the industry squeezes video poker players it jeopardizes a part of its customer base that is likely to provide a more stable, long-lasting source of income.
So what am I going to do now about the Palms? Barring further changes in the video poker lineup, I plan to continue playing there. The Palms still has a couple of games I'm interested in playing -- 16/10 deuces wild at $2 and 9/6 jacks or better at 25 cents on 10-play machines. Both of these games return more than 99.5 percent (the Palms' slot club points add 0.25 percent), and play on the jacks qualifies for promotions. At least one positive game is still available -- 10/7 double bonus. Compared to what the Palms used to have, it's current lineup is very disappointing. Compared to what most other casinos offer, its lineup is still competitive, especially combined with its promotions, even just those available to players of "non-promotional" machines. And I was surprised to find in my March mailer that my free play and dining offers had doubled in value from February. Of course, it doesn't hurt that the Palms is only a short walk across the street from the Gold Coast, a casino I usually visit several days a week.
However, just about any further cuts to the video poker at the Palms could change my plans. The slot manager I spoke with pointed out that players have a right to vote with their feet. That's a right I reserve, but hope not to have to use, concerning the Palms.
This manager admitted that many customers have complained about the changes and that the Palms has recently lost some business to the Gold Coast, a casino across the street that now has a generally stronger video poker lineup than the Palms. He also said that many of the complainers are still coming to the Palms, out of habit, if nothing else. Significantly, while defending the changes from a business point of view, he admitted that they were handled poorly from a public relations point of view. I'm not sure what the best way is to handle a situation where you're taking something away from people, but the Palms has done little to soften the blow, making at least some longtime customers feel their business is no longer appreciated (the executive made it clear that concerning some customers, this is in fact the case).
He also said that machines have been removed because too many were underused. Casinos pay a state fee for each machine on the slot floor, and of course have many other expenses, so a machine that doesn't get enough play is less valuable than empty floor space (maybe that explains the open prairies at the M Resort). Separted from the issue of the types of games and pay tables offered, this strikes me as simply good management and was an aspect of running a casino I had been unaware of. Of course, players don't care if machines they don't play are removed.
But there's no question that games many serious video poker players played are now gone, including the 25-cent full-pay deuces wild progressive, the 10/7 double bonus progressive and, now, all the 16/10 deuces wild on triple play/five play machines. The Palms was the last casino in Vegas to offer the latter, and they were what I usually played. I mentioned this, and my disappointment, to the slot manager, and he replied that some players had "hammered" the casino on these games. I pointed out that they are negative-return games (to the players), even with perfect play and taking into account the value of slot club points. Further, play on these machines has long been ineligible for qualifying for promotions, and for point multipliers. A few players might have been able to gain a very slight edge if you included the value of their mailers and promotions such as free pulls on Megabucks and Wheel of Fortune, but I can't see how anyone could have "hammered" the Palms on these machines. He really didn't have an answer when I pointed this out. In my opinion, the value to the Palms of continuing to be the only casino offering these enormously fun-to-play games would have been worth any small losses the casino might have incurred as a result of the play of a very few people.
One interesting thing the slot manager shared was his view of the difference between slot (reel) players and video poker players. He described slot players as seeking entertainment and excitement, and not concerned about coming out ahead in the long run as long as they get the excitement of chasing after (mostly small) bonuses and jackpots and occasionally winning. Video poker players, on the other hand, he clearly saw as economic adversaries -- people who expect to win and to get everything they can from the casino. For example, he said that many, many more reel players play without a players' club card, giving away any comps and marketing offers they might be entitled to. Many more video poker players use a card, he said, and use all the points they accrue. I think his views may be colored by the Palms' history as a mecca for serious video poker players. What he says is undoubtedly true for a segment of video poker players, but they are probably a small minority in most casinos. Many, many video poker players don't use players' cards, don't know much if anything about pay tables or game strategy, and believe that winning is just as much a matter of luck in video poker as it is in playing reels.
Still, his attitude is one that seems to reflect the thinking in the industry, which has become less generous to video poker players in the six or so years I've been playing that game. Video poker players used to get the same benefits as reel players -- the same point multipliers, the same coin-in requirements to qualify for gifts and benefits, etc. This has changed at most casinos, and I can't say it's entirely unfair. Even bad video poker players playing bad games lose less than most reel players, and video poker machines are generally faster than reel machines, meaning players can accumulate points faster. But casino mangers should keep in mind that the reel players who lose more may lose interest in gambling -- or run out of gambling money -- sooner. To the extent that the industry squeezes video poker players it jeopardizes a part of its customer base that is likely to provide a more stable, long-lasting source of income.
So what am I going to do now about the Palms? Barring further changes in the video poker lineup, I plan to continue playing there. The Palms still has a couple of games I'm interested in playing -- 16/10 deuces wild at $2 and 9/6 jacks or better at 25 cents on 10-play machines. Both of these games return more than 99.5 percent (the Palms' slot club points add 0.25 percent), and play on the jacks qualifies for promotions. At least one positive game is still available -- 10/7 double bonus. Compared to what the Palms used to have, it's current lineup is very disappointing. Compared to what most other casinos offer, its lineup is still competitive, especially combined with its promotions, even just those available to players of "non-promotional" machines. And I was surprised to find in my March mailer that my free play and dining offers had doubled in value from February. Of course, it doesn't hurt that the Palms is only a short walk across the street from the Gold Coast, a casino I usually visit several days a week.
However, just about any further cuts to the video poker at the Palms could change my plans. The slot manager I spoke with pointed out that players have a right to vote with their feet. That's a right I reserve, but hope not to have to use, concerning the Palms.
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