Rumor: End of Free Drinks?

Vital Vegas is signalling the end of free drinks on the casino floor at MGM resorts.

Probably shouldn't share what a guest said he overheard a Bellagio cocktail waitress saying to a co-worker, but here it is: "It looks like we're gonna start charging out there [on the slot floor] in six months." Related: We don't just pull this stuff out of our butt, you know.

I know that this is a rumor as old as free drinks themselves, but how would the elimination of free drinks change your Las Vegas plans? It seems like a bad idea to me, but paid parking stuck.

 

I don't drink alcohol anymore, but if they denied me a free coke I'd be pretty pissed.

My guess is that if they end up doing this, they will ease into it by either still offering free drinks to everyone at tier 2 or above in the player's club and/or offering free drinks to those playing at machines or tables that have a certain minimum threshold.

 

I mean, why not, if people are willing to pay for parking and to use the fax machine via resort fees.

 

It would change my Vegas plans and I would not visit as frequently.

 

Stayed at Gold Coast two nights in Nov... I could have just sat at the bar without playing and they would have fed me drinks but I was nice and played 40 cent a spin keno and sucked down as many beers as my body could take.

 

If I have to pay to drink while I gamble?!?!
....Then I want Top Shelf or at the very least Call liquors, specialty cocktails, normal sized drinks & actual GLASS glasses!
I have zero desire to drink generic swill/backwash liquor. (sh*t alcohol headaches or hangovers aren't fun)
If the drinks are 6 oz or less, served in plastic or made with rotgut rail liquors then I'd rather not drink at all.

If I'm not drinking, how can I "DRAMBLE" (drunk gamble??)
If I'm not drinking, how can I get so blotto that I can't read the shitty pay tables?

If people have to PAY for drinks, many will bring their own liquors onto the casino floors and streets of Vegas.
Wouldn't that pose another problem altogether then?

Sometime in the very near future, I fully expect that I will ONLY be able to order a "free" drink through my slot machine.
My "free" drinks will get factored in as part of my account. (Gambling, property spend and credit card reward points)
Then the "free" drinks will be subtracted from my player's card account as COMPS.

 

The locals casinos have gotta love this, because it’s basically free advertising for them.

 

Isn't there another thread about this?
The rumor is they're going to charge for "call" drinks.
Well drinks are still gonna be free whilst gambling.

 

they have to start charging to pay for the robot bartenders

 

I would play even less than I do now, however it has been this way for a long time in a way. 15 years back at MB I was told I had to play a certain amount in a bartop to get a drink at one of their bars. At the Park MGM I got my first drink with 20 in but the guy told me I couldn't get a second until I got x number of points accumulated.

 

I'll ask my host at MGM Springfield when I get there later today. If he's not on duty, I'll ask Mike the bartender at the Long Bar what he's heard, if anything.

They do have a self serve soft drink set-up there.

 

I doubt this will happen to active players, however, if it did, my response would be simple- I would simply stop going to Las Vegas. If they don't want my yearly 5-7k contribution in exchange for a few hundred in drinks, have at it. In the aggregate, this would be the worst business move they could conceivably make as it would make them no different than local casinos in MD for example where you pay and I can assure you, people are not spending 4 nights at a Baltimore casino as there's absolutely nothing else to do worth staying 4 nights for.

 

"Free" drinks are one of the main reasons gambling in Las Vegas is way more fun than gambling in a casino in Canada. I don't care about fine dining and most shows are average, but a rowdy craps table... that's a good time. I really think I'd spend more time at the pool and walking around instead of gambling if this actually happened. That being said I really have a hard time imagining that Mlife would do this while CET doesn't. How many people would just walk across the street?

 

If this is really to happen (I remember rumors of this going way back to the Usenet days) all major gaming companies would have to adopt it, citywide, as the lack of free drinks would certainly drive the business to the more generous competitors.

 

Just do the same as Bartops for slots. And have free drink coupons loaded on your player card whenever you earn them. And you can ask 1 coupon for the shitty drinks, 2 for branded drinks and 3 for topshelf for example. Whoever plays will get all the drinks they want, others who don’t deserve them wont.

 

Wait, your supposed to get offered a drink while you play? I hardly seen waitresses on my last trip except at Cosmo

 

yeah for sure. Would be even more reason to stay local

 

Caesars, Cosmo and V/P are going to get awfully busy. Hopefully the CWs can pick up jobs at these places whilst MGM properties become ghost towns.

 

Then you're clearly not playing enough, on the strip you won't be ignored for hours.

 

Well, for us, that would put Vegas resorts on par with the Seminole Hard Rock. We just don't drink enough for this to be an issue. Once you get used to paying for what you order, you just settle into that groove.