MGM Lobby Bar - Drink Tickets

Stopped in a week and a half ago to play some VP at MGM and the Lobby Bar has now gone to drink tickets. It's spreading.

Strange thing is that coin-in didn't seem to matter. I play much faster than my wife and we got a drink ticket after about 15 minutes of play at the quarter level within 10 seconds of each other.

Bartenders hate it there but did tell us about it when we sat down. We only stayed for one drink to see how the system would react. Small data point but hate that its coming to this.

 

These morons don't even realize they are running a gambling joint. Your average gambler is fascinated with and motivated by the "possibility" of something happening despite the fact that the "probability" is not in their favor.

"I might win a slot jackpot"
"I might get a good run of cards and win big"
"I might get comped a suite if things go right"
"I might be able to drink on the house for free"

The "possibility" AKA "the fiction of casino gambling" is worth more in the gambler's mind than the actual probability of those things happening is worth in reality. That disconnect is the reason that people are willing to risk money gambling at negative expected return games in the first place.

Nobody would play Blackjack if you sat down and the dealer said "Let's just cut straight to the chase. You give me half your money, I'll kick you in the nuts, and then you can be on your way".

As far as this story goes, they are taking another element of "possibility" out of the fiction that is casino gambling. Now it's just a matter of you need to play X number of hands or time to get a drink...period.

The other aspect to it is that comps make people feel more important than they really are. People want to feel like hot shots in a casino and they are more likely to get loose with their gambling when their ego is properly stroked. I'm pretty sure Benny Binion had a clever quote to the affect which someone will be shortly along to post.
Getting handed free drinks simply for being a gambler inflates people's sense of self importance. Milking drink tickets and waving them at a bar tender does not. It's just one more thing to take customers out of their Fantasy experience.

 

Very well said woodsie. The psychology of feeling like a High Roller getting drinks handed to you left and right leads many to play slightly beyond their means; partly from the alcohol itself and partly because you are caught up in the glimmer of it all. Now it will feel like I'm cashing in a food stamp to get my next drink!

 

Thanks for sharing the intel bjpcyclone.

 

Sucks to hear that, but it's spreading and it's rumored to be coming to all of CET too. But I don't mind this type of metering if they expect very little play. I heard bond bar at cosmo mostly wanted you to play at least a hand every minute for 15 minutes. I can handle that much.

Any other notable vp bartop info I should be aware of bjpcyclone?

 

Agreed, a hand every minute for 15 minutes is easily done and a drink every 15 minutes is more than reasonable. I guess I just don't really like how it turns the exchange into a kind of weird transaction handing over a voucher to get a drink. Would rather it be a little more seamless like the light up system I have heard mentioned elsewhere. Something to indicate that I am due a drink without having to pull out a ticket and hand it over. The only other part of it I would find annoying is at that 10 minute mark where I find myself wanting to look up away from the machine or perhaps have a small conversation with someone next to me. The idea that the timer will start over because of that bothers me a bit...especially if I have been sitting at that machine for hours. I guess in theory, if I have been there hours I should have collected a 4 tickets an hour and should not be lacking a beverage ticket to spare. I notice it says non transferable, I would guess that means I can't use it to get my friend a drink while they may be hanging around while I play? My go to place is bond bar. I usually spend the evenings there posted up on a machine for 3 or 4 hours enjoying the scene and playing at the same time.

 

I have some photos of pay tables for you but learned its mostly the same junk tables at each MGM property. 7/5 DDB at the quarter level everywhere I looked. A few notables:

• 8/5 JOB at the $1 level and up at most MGM places I looked. 9/5 DDB most places.
• Ignite Bar at the entrance to Monte Carlo (really enjoyed playing there) does have quarter royal progressives at all levels making them a little better (royal was at $1,140 when we were there).
• Gem Bar at Aria strictly follows the 25 minute rule - bartender flat out told us we can't order another drink until X:XX.
• TAG still at 8/5.

 

I can almost envision myself... sitting at the bar playing video poker with some friends and screaming like I just won the lottery because I got a drink ticket