After another email conversation with my host earlier tonight, she told me pretty bluntly that they refuse to publish the numbers for MGM NH on what constitutes a base point (its considered proprietary for this property). She also repeated the company line (which I can't fault her for, several other hosts have parroted this verbatim to me) that MGM is doing this because of the slot taxes being charged to them by Maryland. I suspect they don't publish or admit the rates because they are so abnormally low, and it REALLY puts them at a competitive disadvantage to the other Maryland properties once it gets out how poorly they're comping people. I know my Express Comps are literally quarters on the dollar to what I earn at
Horseshoe.
The two pieces of information I did get were that the 4:1 tier credit to base point ratio is, in fact, correct. She also narrowed down "specialty slots" to slots that are branded, like TV Shows, characters, and Wheel of Fortune, but since they're not specifically labeled in the casino, it is pretty hard to know which ones actually do qualify in that category.
But it seems like the main issue here isn't really the 4:1 pay... its the fact that they've actually watered down the base point earning rate. Since most of us were operating on the assumption that MGM was fairly consistent across properties with the $3/BP rule, that's where everyone was getting taken.
If I take my base points and work them against my total coin in, with my rough math at MGMNH it comes out to about $15 in coin-in per base point. In my case this could be skewed a bit, and could also be the $10 slot/$20 VP/Specialty values someone else threw around as well, since its hard to know what a specialty slot is. Assuming that roughly $15 per base point value with a 4:1 tier credit earning rate makes all my numbers come out almost exactly. Since I play almost no video poker or tables, and arguably very few of the "specialty slots" by their definition, I'm pretty confident the $15/BP number is about right, or can at least be used to calculate a rough estimate.
That seems to explain the gross TC shortfalls that everyone is encountering. So if you go into it expecting about $15 coin-in/BP and 4 TC per BP... you won't be shocked. Its certainly not great, but it is what it is. The solution, I guess, is to hit Vegas a time or two a year and really pack in the play during that time and to keep complaining to mLife and NH about it. At least until MGM realizes how competitive Maryland actually is and wakes up.
