I'm sorry if this post is off topic, but I earned almost all of my
rewards credits playing 9/6 JB video poker.
I usually gamble at Bally's in Atlantic City, but sometimes at the
Showboat and Caesars if they have special promotions there. With
reward credit multipliers and bonuses, I've managed to accumulate
216331 rewards credits ($2,163 comp dollars) since January. The
casinos periodically have special days where you can convert your
rewards credits to cash, but you only get 2 for 1 (50%). It seems
that most of these 50% offers are towards the end of the year. In
2007 I missed out on the 50% offers, and was able to take advantage
of an unexpected 1 for 1 (100%) cash offer from Bally's in January
2008, from which I collected $897. I know this offer wasn't extended
to everyone. Anyway, I'm debating whether or not to take advantage
of the Showboat's 50% offer on December 27, or hold out to see if I
get a 100% offer later on.
If it helps, although my gambling has stayed consistent (my tier
score this year is 42,491, higher than the 35,000 or so I had last
year), it seems that my offers from Bally's are dropping. I was
getting 2 $50 coupons per month up to November, this month nothing.
I was getting $35 per week for 30 minutes of play a few months ago,
then it dropped to $25, and for January it dropped to $20. I did
spend a few days recently collecting free money and perks without
gambling, but I still did a lot of gambling at Bally's.
I also noticed last Friday (11/29) that there was a drum for
postcards for a 10x comps offer that I did not get. Is Bally's
generally cutting back on their offers due to the tough economy, or
are they penalizing me in particular for perhaps not gambling enough
and/or taking advantage of too many free offers?
My thoughts are as follows:
- If I take the guaranteed 50%, I can lose out on the other 50% if I
get a 100% offer later on.
- If I don't take the guaranteed 50%, I can probably get the same 50%
deal late next year, but I may be forced to do some gambling in order
to be eligible (and I recently became unemployed and not sure if I
will continue my gambling at the same pace, especially since my
offers seem to be drying up).
- At the worst, if I don't get another cash back offer, I should be
able to exchange my comps for Shell gas cards at 50%, and sell the
gas cards for 82%. So I would end up with 41% of my comp balance. I
could also use the comps to purchase some overpriced item that I
don't need, and my return would probably be in the 40%-50% range (but
not in cash).
- I suppose that if there is a reasonable chance of a future 100%
cash offer, it would pay for me to wait. Without such an offer, I
would rather take the 50% in cash now.
Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated. It would also help
me if you know of any future Bally's 100% cash for comps offers that
I was excluded from.