This is a reply to several threads. I'll give you an analogy. I picked up a
thick catalog from a Las Vegas RV dealer's tiny parts store. I understood the
tiny store couldn't stock every possible accessory for an RV like the
catalog reflected. Are you still with me on this? I'm not sure I'm with me so I
hope you are. A few weeks later I needed an item so I called the store. The
phone number given was the main RV dealer number. The operator said she would
switch me to the store extension. I had to listen to a two minute infomercial
about the latest RV deals on the lot. Exactly when the advertisement recording
ended the operator came back to me and asked, "Didn't they pick up the line
yet? I'll try again. They must be very busy." I knew I was being had because
I've been the tiny store many times and the phone just doesn't ring for two
minutes. They answered on the second try by the operator. They took my order
and told me the item would cost $30 like it said in the catalog. When I went in
to pick up the item a few days later the price and gone from $30 to $36. The
salesman pointed out the small vertical print on the side of the page.
"Prices subject to change." [or was everybody in the store told in a sales meeting
to automatically mark up all ordered items by 10% and they could have 5% of
the mark up as a commission?] The salesman gave me several "tells" that my
paranoid assumption was valid. And, when a price increases it usually isn't
exactly 10%.
Another analogy then my conclusion [hey, I'm trying to be as intelligent as
Harry Porter and this is the best I can do, and anyway Harry is not so smart,
he does a lot of crossword puzzles and looks up all those big words in the
crossword dictionary] I ordered a download of a Scrabble game from Toshiba.
They promised in huge letters "This product is spyware and adware free" By the
fifth go through on the game I counted eighty spyware cookies removed by my
virus checker. And... the version of Scrabble is an older one with less
features from the kind I could buy at Walmart for less money. Yes, I'm trying to get
my money back.
My conclusion: Look anywhere in big business and you see these little tricks
to make extra money in this day of rising costs of doing business. So, why
not casinos lowering the Video Poker payouts as far as the public can stand. I
refer you to the post about the Florida racino:
"The renovated Gulfstream Park Racing & Casino opened today in
Hallandale Beach with Florida's first Class III Las Vegas-style
slot machines, the 1st of 4 "racinos" to open in Broward County.
Of the 516 slots there, a mere 20 are video poker, and despite
long lines of persons waiting to play these 20 machines, the
paytable are shockingly awful and, in my mind, totally
unplayable."
JT
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