After I posted about the $1 TITO FPDW machines at the Reno Silver
Legacy (message #24298), I received several private emails regarding
the merits in making public such a high profit play. The common
concern seems to be the worry that the pros/vultures will decent
upon the SL and kill it immediately. The following is an open reply
to what I considered to be just criticism:
Thank you for your email. I do understand your concerns about
posting such a positive play. Indeed, I agonized over this dilemma
for several days, weighing the pros and cons before decided to post.
The following considerations (sometimes self-contradictory) went
into my decision:
1) The pros have a very extensive information network, and this
play, if worth their while, will be pounded into extinction
regardless of my actions. Therefore I might as well post this
information to vpFREE and benefit our members here.
2) From my experience, a play like this will probably last for
about 2 to 3 months, again regardless of my actions (remember those
brand new $1 FPDW Fast-Metered Progressives at the Atlantis when it
first opened the Oyster Bar and Sky Terrace?). I think this is
another promotional decision very deliberately made by the
management of the SL.
3) This play is worth about $400 per day plus full RFB in a
suite----A borderline case for the pros. I don't envision pros
flying in from all over just to take advantage of this; and if I'm
wrong, my post at vpFREE will alert them to the possibility that
they may not have a monopoly over these machines when they arrive.
4) I am not a pro (nor was I meant to be/ Am an attendant lord,
one that will do/ To swell a progressive, start a scene or
two/....QOC: eat your heart out), but I don't loathe them; indeed, I
sort of admire them: "it's a hard way to make an easy
living", "anyone who can make money playing video poker can make a
lot more money doing something else", I certainly admire Royal Cat.
Pros need to make a living too, so if $50 an hour plus room and
board minus RT airfare and w2-g's is attractive to you, come on
down! (QOC=Queen Of Comps)
5) I recall the fuss our members had this summer over the $1
FPDW at the Rainbow Club, including the open plea for QOC to
adjudicate the case, and this reinforced my trust in our esteemed
Administrator's foresight in promoting a "sunshine policy" regarding
good vp opportunities.
6) As mentioned in (2) above, the SL didn't just "happen" to
install these machines, or gave "everybody and his brother" $500
just to come visit. At the face of declining revenues, Reno casinos
first tried to tighten their games and comps, that didn't work; now
in desperation, they are going the other way; that's probably not
going to work either. Everybody says that in order for Reno to
survive, it has to "reinvent itself", but nobody knows what that
MEANS (how can you reinvent cheap food, cheap rooms, and a cheap
gamble?) Third quarter net profits for the casino mall in downtown
Reno was down by more than 60%; and the worst is yet to come, with
inclement weather (chain requirements, road closures) in almost
every weekend and in the Holidays, the fourth quarter may very well
show a net loss. I predicted the closures of the Sundowner, the
Fitzgerald's, the Siena, and the stillbirth of the Golden Phoenix;
but that is not going to be enough. The SL, being jointly owned by
the Mandalay Bay Group and the El Dorado, may not have the stomach
to endure a continuous decline with no end in sight. The current
situation is simply not sustainable. And if one of the three casinos
in this casino mall is going to be closed, it will have to be the
SL. So once again, come on down, while the good times last.
Am I being too gloomy or just being realistic? Make no mistake about
this: my relationship with the casinos is definitely not symbiotic;
I am a parasite, but I am a considerate, non-virulent parasite. It
does me no good to intentionally hurt my host without a huge gain in
return, and I certainly will not kill my host. The problem here of
course is not Reno, but the proliferation of uncontrolled,
unregulated, and untaxed Indian casinos in California. When
California voters approved the Constitutional Amendment (Proposition
1A) in 2000, the common consensus was that "let the Indians have
their casinos, as long as they don't build one in MY neighborhood".
Well, there is one in my neighborhood now (Thunder Valley) that is
taking $700 million dollars from my community (instead of from
whales from Singapore or farmers from Iowa) and returning less than
10% of that in the form of low wage service-oriented jobs. The
impacts are predictable: lower property values, higher crime rates,
higher bankruptcy rates, and higher divorce rates. It will take
decades for the residents here to learn how to live near and with
the casinos. In the meantime, my hosts in Northern Nevada are being
strangulated. To this parasite at least, this is a matter of great
despair.
I will be delighted if the above generates further discussions, in
public, or in private, concerning the posting of good games in
general, and in particular the game in question, as well as the
future of Reno, and the proliferation of Native American gaming in
California and in other States.
L. Wluiki
