Albert Pearson wrote:
The
top 40 list over there, while interesting is just one mans'
opinion.
Hi Albert;
I've seen you make this same statement before, but your assumption
is not quite incorrect. The top40 is primarily determined this way
(and always has been done in a similar fashion, as far as I know):
1. Input from subscribers is the primary source of determining the
values assigned to each category for a casino:
a. VP best play (this is a fixed value based on the best game -
there is a list of games and their rating at the top of the top40
page).
b. VP overall Inventory
c. Benefits
D. Hotel
E. Food
F. Promotions
There are some additional categories but these are not used in the
overall rating category. They are:
Ratings for
G. Locals
H. Low-rolling Visitor
I. Mid-rolling Visitor and
J. High Rolling Visitor
and
K. Trend
···
----
Each of the categories, a-f, have a numerical value (shown as 1-5
stars). The overall rating is determined simply by adding these
together with a,b and c having twice the weight of other categories.
I don't go to the spreadsheet every time I adjust a casino's rating
when a serious report of some changes to but adjust the individual
category and the overall placement. Then every couple of months I
review the whole thing check the individual ratings to make sure
they appear to be in line with current information, adjust the
numbers in the spreadsheet and use the new numbers to make any
further changes, if necessary.
So it's far from simply "one man's opinion". Sure, my opinion (and
John's, when he was doing it) counts more than anyone else's when it
involves a place I am very knowledgeable about - but that's only a
small percentage of the total number of casinos in Las Vegas. For
the rest I depend on member input.
This whole system was John Kelly's invention and I think it's
brilliant and far and away the best way so far, to rate casinos.
Certainly better than a poll or "one person's opinion" .
--
Actually, there is an even better way, but that is not available
yet. This whole system will change soon. As a matter of fact, the
entire web site will change, as I am partnering with a well known
publisher and web site owner in the gambling area on a new web site
- vpinsider.com. This will replace the current web site and current
subscribers will automatically become members.
Although I have publicized the site internally to vphomepage and
Video Poker Player subscribers, I have not promoted it yet on the
"outside", excpet that our ad is in Steve Bouries 2005 American
Casino Guide. The new site will be up and running soon (hopefully
right around the first of the year). There is a great deal of design
and programming involved.
I will write more about this later, but the part that's relevant to
this note is that the ratings (and virtually everything else on the
site) will be driven by a relational database. So, if for some
reason, we change the rating of a particular category for a casino,
the overall rating will automatically change. But more than that,
the "top 40" (actually, it's been Top 60 for a while) will be simply
the default ratings. The users will be able to design their own
ratings using and weighting the categories which are most valuable
to them (surprise, everyboy's different). Each person would have a
different Top XX (you can choose how casinos many you want to rate -
most folks don't care about the "bottom 50"), customized just for
him, by him.
Similarly, there will be default automatic ratings for the G-J
categories using differnt formulas (for instance promotions would
have greater weight for locals).
There's a whole lot more, but that's pretty much how the ratings
part will work in the future.
Thanks,
Skip