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how much do you spread your play around?

Discussion in 'Comps' started by AceRothstein80, Jun 29, 2012.

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  1. AceRothstein80

    AceRothstein80 Low-Roller

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    Just curious to see how everyone spreads there gambling out, with different properties and players card systems?

    I have stayed exclusively at CET properties my last 8 trips, and am a poker/blackjack/craps/video poker and occasional wheel of fortune slot player. Pretty much a low roller by comparisons to what I read mostly on here. I mainly got 2-3 free nights at Flamingo/harrhas/Ballys each trip and payed like $30 for additional nights.

    Generally, I would gamble 70-80% of my non poker gambling at CET. I'd usually play poker, and maybe 1-2 blackjack sessions at MGM places, usually Bellagio, Aria or Mirage. I'd also hit a 1 off place like Wynn, Tropicana or Palms for some video poker.

    In the past, i've never gotten many offers outside CET that were worth it. Wynn sent me 2 free nights before, but I could not go in the time frame they were in. For this upcoming trip, MGM gave me a sweet deal at Mirage. Since I like the Mirage, I plan on doing almost all of my non poker gambling there. All my craps, & BJ play for sure. I may do some gambling on the Mlife card at MGM or Mandalay also, since i'll be down there for UFC related stuff. I also have a friend who will be staying at Wynn, so that will probably be the only non Mlife gambling I do this trip. I might just skip CET all together.

    Just curious to see how ppl spread out there play, and how it affects there comp ratings. Even if it is strictly Mlife/Cet..do you stick to you home hotel, or bounce around alot?
     
  2. Polemarch28

    Polemarch28 Tourist

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    I like to spread my play around a lot. Mainly because I get tired/bored of staying in my home casino, and enjoy visiting other properties.

    On my last trip, I concentrated most of my play at MGM properties, but I still moved around from MGM Grand (home) to Bellagio, Mirage, and Aria (no interest in the others). I would estimate that 40% of my play was at MGM, and 60% was divided evenly amongst the other three.

    My main criticism of the MGM properties is that their banking systems are not connected adequately. While it is possible to bill to the room from any of their properties, it is NOT possible to draw markers off a front money account at any of their properties. This seems insane to me.

    I'm playing at the Bellagio and go broke. I want to draw another marker off my MGM Grand account, but doing so requires them to actually transfer money between the cages electronically, and to do this they need to fax an authorization form back and forth. This can take a couple of minutes - or if the staff at the other cage is not paying attention - can take an hour and a half. This happened to me twice on my most recent trip, until finally I decided to just withdraw all of my money and play cash the rest of the trip. At my level this is possible ($10K on deposit; table buy in at around $3,000), but for larger players, I don't see how that would be practical.

    Long story short, it's a big failure of the system. I sent them a lengthy e-mail about this and other issues, and got a fairly sympathetic, but general (we're sorry about your difficulty) response. I fired back, asking for a more specific answer to my question - still waiting for a reply.
     
  3. JosieCat

    JosieCat VIP Whale

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    I try to play 80% of my play at the casino that's comping my stay, usually at Mlife. I try to play enough at CET to keep free room offers coming though.
     
  4. weluvvegas

    weluvvegas Casino Countess

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    We aren't big rollers by any means but we tend to keep ours at MLife properties mostly. We've been staying on MGM/MLife offers for the past 10 years and most of our heavy slot play happens at night, which is usually at our home hotel unless we went somewhere else to see a show.

    We play a little at CET properties, mostly Caesars because we tend to walk through there to get to the Forum shops every trip. We've gotten a few CET offers but haven't used one yet.

    As long as MLife keeps sending us the good offers, we'll send them most of our play.
     
  5. Debh

    Debh Low-Roller

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    we were 100% Aria/mlife but now have decided to go back to Palazzo/Grazie as well, so now its 80% Aria/mlife, 20% Palazzo/Grazie.
    Rarely ever bother with Cet They never offer anything decent to us and honestly don't like their hotels.
     
  6. LV_Bound

    LV_Bound VIP Whale

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    Probably 85-90% at the casino where I stay and the remainder at the associated properties.
    Next trip staying with a CET property and will probably spread the play among numerous CET places.
     
  7. nhcris

    nhcris VIP Whale

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    I know I spread my play out too much, but coming from the east coast I almost always stay for a week. So I need offers from more than one place to cover me. Spreading my bankroll over a week is also a challenge.

    I keep trying to phase MLife out because their offers are very inconsistent but I always seem to end up there for part of my trips. Lately I am splitting the majority of my play between CET & Grazie as I am satisfied with their offers and I enjoy staying at Planet Hollywood and Palazzo. I also gave MSS some play last winter, and I am hoping to take them up on an offer next time as I want to see how I like staying downtown.

    I also get bored easily, so part of the fun for me is casino hopping :eek:
     
  8. ardee

    ardee It's only money.

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    We try to give our "home" casino the majority of our play. That's usually Wynncore. We'll head next door to V/P to see what they have, slots-wise (which is usually a better selection of the "older" machines), but our serious play will always be wherever we are staying that trip. This next one, for example, we'll probably never leave M, or jump over to GVR one afternoon at most.

    Ya dance with the one what brung ya.
     
  9. thecarve

    thecarve Misanthrope

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    As a BJ player, it's hard to stay away from MGM joints - their rules are just so far superior to everyone else's. So if I'm staying at a Milf property they probably get a good 85+% of my action. If I stay at Wynncore, I'm probably 50% Wynn, 40% MGM and maybe 10% elsewhere (usually TI for good BJ and Cosmo 'cause it's a lot of fun).
     
  10. thenuke1

    thenuke1 High-Roller

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    Being a low roller I honestly budget myself to 20 a night out of my pocket. Luckily most nights I come out 10 bucks ahead so thats extra playing money there are times when I lose all 20 before an hour, so I just sit back and drink long islands while my girl playsplays

    Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk
     
  11. mark338

    mark338 Tourist

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    Going off on a tangent from the original post - I'm interested about depositing cash at the cage for drawing off for gambling. Living in the UK, when I come to Vegas I bring the max amount of cash that you can bring into the US - $10K and keep it in the room safe, bringing out my daily gambling money as and when.

    From what I read, is it possible to deposit most of this with the cage and draw it off when I need?
     
  12. ttom

    ttom Low-Roller

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    There is no maximum amount you can bring in.
     
  13. mark338

    mark338 Tourist

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    In filling out the landing card it asks if you are bringing in more than $10k in currency - if more you have to inform someone and complete another form - is this just a formality and you can bring in any amount, but its just for monitoring purposes, money laundering etc?
     
  14. Chuck2009x

    Chuck2009x VIP Whale

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    I usually stay at both chains during a trip and I only play at their casinos when I'm staying at their hotels.

    CET, I don't think it makes much difference if you spread your play around within CET.

    MGM, I think it makes a big difference. MGM I think the strategy should be to give all your play on a given day to one casino to maximize your ADT at that property.

    I almost never get offers from CET that are individualized to one property - the availability of comps on the calendar may vary by property (but that ties in to play level, not where I played), but the "offers" always apply to all properties. From MGM, ALL I get is property offers, I haven't even gotten an MGM corporate offer the last two quarters. I know I can call MGM and get comped at any of their properties even without an offer, but it reveals how their marketing system is set up, the individual properties do their own marketing in addition to corporate, whereas it appears to me that at CET, it all gets generated by a single corporate algorithm.
     
    Last edited: Jun 30, 2012
  15. domeboy

    domeboy VIP Whale

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    I enjoy both the MGM and CET properties. Since I also go to Atlantic City, I am concentrating my play at CET properties. If there was an Mlife property in AC, I might have a different take on this.

    So far, I have been very happy about how I have been treated in Vegas by CET. I have found that in general customer service is a priority in Vegas, and if you treat staff well you will get treated well in return.
     
  16. nostresshere

    nostresshere Mr. Anti Debit Card

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    You should play where you want.

    BUT - keep in mind what your play does for comp purposes. Everybody looks at your play and assigns you a magic number, which then translates to comps. CET does it on average daily play. MGM appears to do it on your average trip (multiple days). No matter what is used, if you normally put $1,000 into play on a visit, but stop in and put $20 in play... well, you do the math.

    When doing those LOW play visits, you might be better off to NOT show them your players card.

    With just a LITTLE thinking, you can help yourself out.
     
  17. leo21

    leo21 VIP Whale

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    There was an older thread where it was discovered that CET does look at play as trip when you are checked into their hotels. I am not clear if that was Vegas only, but they do evaluate trips.

    All that being said, I usually stay at CET and play on average about 80% in their hotels. I don't really spend a lot of time in MRI hotels but I make a point to visit off strip hotels. I don't get room comps from M Resort but I have gotten some good rates offered from them. I started getting offers from Boyd even before I started visiting them locally. I find that you can't just make one trip to a locals casinos to get them to take you seriously. It may be the third or fourth time before you see anything worthwhile from them.
     
  18. nostresshere

    nostresshere Mr. Anti Debit Card

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    This may be true. But, I am thinking it is sort of right. As you are checking out, and go to a host or VIP or whatever and ask what they can do for you. At that point, I would guess they looking at your current trip. After all, your expenses and your play is spread out over a few days.

    But, I think their big master computer may still do average day. I can no longer confirm this though.
     
  19. Reed

    Reed High-Roller

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    I used to spread out my gambling and hit up as many casinos possible. After several trips, the wow factor wore off and I started concentrating more on MGM properties for better comps. Now that I have a host at NYNY I focus my bankroll there, but do casino hop up and down the strip just for fun.
     
  20. Dean Martin

    Dean Martin VIP Whale

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    Ditto:nworthy:
     
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