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Interesting Insight On Execs View of Comps

Discussion in 'Non-Vegas Chat' started by dragon7, Sep 27, 2013.

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  1. dragon7

    dragon7 Tourist

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    I was at the Hollywood Casino in St. Louis over the weekend playing Baccarat (formally Harrah's St. Charles). I played for around 8 hours with $100 average bet (every hand) + $10-$20 on the two side bets. This was an EZ Bac table so the game moves much faster then a normal table.

    They have this great Italian restaurant in there and when I was done playing I asked the pitboss if I could get a comp for two. After briefly looking she came back and said there was nothing she could do. Hmm... o.k. Maybe it's because she just came on shift and wasn't there all day with me. Go to the kiosk and scan my card and I have $1.72 in comps! That can't be right.

    So I head over to the rewards desk to activate my old comps when they were still Harrah's. When Hollywood took over they sent a letter out stating that they would transfer all of the comps over to your Hollywood card on your next visit. All you had to do was stop by the desk. I tell the person at the desk about the offer and she says that there is $200+ there from our last visit. Great! Problem solved... Not so fast. She tells me they have expired and I'm out of luck. How could they expire before my first visit? Hollywood decided to activate my comps without me being there after the switch thereby voiding my comps and anyone elses that hasn't been back in the last 6 months.

    At this point I head back to the pit to ask how I could only have $1.72 for that level of play. She agrees that it doesn't seem right but doesn't want to say anything. She stares at her screen for a while and finds an excuse to leave, passing me off to another pitboss. This is where it gets interesting. I tell him the story and how they voided my previous comps and gave me $1.72 for my level of play for the day. This guy was willing to pull back the curtain and let me know why.

    Turns out that when Hollywood took over the execs didn't like the comp balance that was outstanding from Harrah's. Harrah's, in order to try and build good faith with the customer, required each pit boss to write a minimum of two comps a day for the players, if not more. Because of this a lot of players comp balances kept growing since the hand-written comps weren't deducted. When Hollywood took over and inherited the comps they freaked out. They physically instructed all of the pit bosses to "put the handcuffs" (his words) on comps. They demanded the pit bosses to drain all of the existing comps and to make sure new comps aren't generated easily. That explains the $1.72. I mentioned how they took away my balance from last time and he said that when they saw the balances they immediately started the 6 month countdown, basically reneging their previous offer to transfer the balance on the next visit. They knew it wouldn't stop the regulars, but people like me who come once or twice a year would be SOL.

    You could tell it was a sticking point with him and he hated the policy but what could he do? I got the feeling it was one of those you're going to do this or else type scenarios. So basically what he told me was that they were going to do anything they could to pilfer the comp accounts even if that meant improper/no ratings, voiding previous comps and not issuing new comps under any circumstances. That's all I could get as two suits came over by his computer and he got real quiet. It was definitely an eye opener to know that a caino would go to these lengths to screw a customer out of comps.
     
  2. dankyone

    dankyone VIP Whale

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    None of this is too shocking. The acquiring company knew how much was on the books in terms of "bankable" comps when they made the acquisition. They gave players 6 months to use the points, which is the same policy Harrahs uses. A casino in St Louis must be targeting locals, not those who come in once a year.

    While your play should certainly have earned more than $1.72, their decision to not have pit bosses write food comps is in line with most major casinos today. Did you speak with a host about how the new system works and whether a dinner comp could be arranged? I know nothing about the specific property you are referring to, but in my experience (even in tribal casinos) a real host (not the player's club, not the pit) would have picked up the dinner.
     
  3. dragon7

    dragon7 Tourist

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    Right. The problem was that they went in and retroactively applied my comps to the new casino after the six months expired thereby voiding my comps. This was my first visit since the change of ownership and the letter they sent out clearly stated the comps would apply on my next visit.



    That level of play did not qualify for a host. The first lady I talked to actually said my level of play was pretty much bare minimum and that the bigger players there earn about $5 a day in comps.:confused2: Maybe they just don't care or have no idea what they should be getting.
     
  4. shifter

    shifter Degenerate Gambler

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    sounds like a joke of a casino.
     
  5. dankyone

    dankyone VIP Whale

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    It sounds like a joke alright. $100/hand for 8 hours AND PLAYING SIDE BETS is not bare minimum. If you are betting both side bets on every hand (or getting rated for it) that is generating more theo than the $100 bet on the main game. Not to mention, if their "bigger players" are only playing 2-3 times that they really don't have any big play.

    The confusion is between "bankable points" and discretionary comps. I have never been in a casino in the US which is not able to issue discretionary comps above and beyond the earned bankable points (like ECs or RCs at MGM or CET.) Your play may very well be the "bare minimum" at which they are willing to do that, but host will be able to explain how that particular casino operates. Even if you don't qualify to be assigned to one, you can figure out where they sit and go talk with one. Push them until they come up with something reasonable.

    Problem may be that in St Louis if there is no other local competition they can get away with being exceptionally tight on comps, but that $1.72 can't be where it ends. If nothing else maybe you will get some interesting mail in a month or two.
     
  6. Jerseyguy

    Jerseyguy MIA

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    Hope you won at least,they really suck!!

    A hundred a hand seems like a whole lotta money to me anyway. Mrs JG and I play 25 cent VP ,usually .75 a hand at the GN in AC. They gave us a free room and we had $20 built up in food comps over two visits plus we each get two free buffets each month. They should give you all the food you can eat plus whatever else you want. Hell, one hand you can buy a nice dinner. If theres a next time I would ask for a comp before I was done ,if they deny you I would say,color me up, I can to buy my own dinner.
     
  7. shifter

    shifter Degenerate Gambler

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    sure it can. if the bean counters that run the casino take the shortsighted view that that they can increase the bottom line by reducing comps. that's the view so many of these local joints have. they feel that they are doing the gambling community a service by being there, since there's no real competition, and so there's no reason not to be tighter than hell with the comps. they really do think that players should feel lucky that the casino exists and they can play and the players are greedy bastards if they think they should get decent comps to go along with the play.

    the Beau is going the same direction. they continue to change the gaming rules to increase the HA, come up with new policies to make it harder to use comps, decrease the total amount of comps given out, decrease the payouts in tournaments and giveaways, etc. and when you talk to them about it, they freely admit that they do these things because they can. they have an extremely high view of themselves.

    but the thing is they're right. no matter all that shit they pull, the players still keep coming. gamblers are gamblers and if it's the only place to play, they're going to come no matter how shitty the rules. until a good number of players refuse to return and it hits their bottom line, they're going to continue to screw us. there's really only been one case of that recently when V/P pulled that shit a few years back with reneging on booked reservations and people deserted them. they took it too far and people actually stopped coming. but until these other casinos take it too far and alienate enough players, we're going to continue to take it up the ass.
     
  8. luvstp

    luvstp High-Roller

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    Couldn't agree with you more about the Beau. When it first opened back up after Katrina, we went a few times to "support the community rebuild". And then, they started reducing the paytables for the dollar video poker to 8/5 for DDB and even some 7/5. These are dollars and not quarters. And let's not forget that if you hit a taxable jackpot there, you get to donate 3% of your jackpot to the state of MS and you can't get it back. :grrr:

    They have some of the worst payouts for slots (according to Casino player's listing each month) and it isn't going up.

    We recently received another of those "fly the junket with us and get your rooms comped", but threw it in the garbage. I'd rather pay for a flight to Vegas than deal with the Beau and their poor comps and crummy pay tables. But, they have a captive local audience and they are certainly making the most of it.
     
  9. shifter

    shifter Degenerate Gambler

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    yeah I forgot to even mention that. several years ago they used to have pretty good payouts and you'd see jackpots hit all over the place. these days it's few and far between. I wouldn't doubt they have most/all of the machines set to ungodly low payouts. even in the HL room. I've had FP at other properties and been able to play them pretty well. at the Beau the FP might as well be 0 because I've never ended up with anything remotely decent. in fact several times I've played through dozens of spins and not hit a single payout at all.
     
  10. luvstp

    luvstp High-Roller

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    shifter:
    It would be interesting to know whether the Beau is the most profitable of the MRI casinos. I'm guessing that it is, but haven't tried to find the data to see if that is true or not.
     
  11. Dean Martin

    Dean Martin VIP Whale

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    That's all good info to know. We haven't been to the Beau for a few yrs now and have actually been thinking of making a trip down there.

    Scratch that off the list...:poke:

    Maybe it's an MGM thing because we got blanked at Bellagio too. Not that it doesn't happen some trips but we did not see anybody get a hand pay in 6 days.
     
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