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TR Vegas Casinos Monitoring VP Play For Comp Drinks

#1

The days and nights of wine and rows of bloody marys, in other words,
unlimited free drinks for some Las Vegas gamblers are over. A color-coded
light system has been installed on the back of video poker machines at
casino and sports book bars in all Total Rewards casinos. No longer will
it be up to a bartender’s discretion when to comp a cocktail for someone
sitting at the bar playing VP – though, supposedly, that discretion still
exists for some Diamond and Seven Stars cardholders. The system actually
was introduced at the sports book at *Caesars Palace* earlier this year,
but few noticed. The website VitalVegas.com <http://vitalvegas.com/>
claims to have “personally verified the comped drink system is in place at
*Bally’s* (Sully’s Bar and Casino Bar), *The Cromwell* (Lobby Bar),* The
Linq* (Tag Sports Bar, Catalyst and 3535 Bar), *Flamingo* (X Bar and
Bugsy’s) and *Harrah’s*.” Regular visitors to the site claim the system
also is in place at *Rio*, *Paris* and *Planet Hollywood*. According to
one bartender – who agreed to speak anonymously for fear of reprisal from
his bosses – to activate the system, players must insert a minimum of $20
into a machine and a blue light will turn on. To get a green light – which
tells the bartenders they can serve you a free drink – you need to play a
few hands at the machine’s maximum bet. To keep your juices – or gin and
tonics – flowing you have to continue playing at a steady pace or you get a
red light (and no more free drinks until you get another green light).

Darryl

*Darryl D. McEwen, Publisherhttp://www.sevenstarsinsider.com
<http://www.sevenstarsinsider.com>*

*Click here
<https://sites.google.com/site/sevenstarsinsider/latest-news-about-caesars-entertainment>
for latest news about Caesars Entertainment*

*Follow me on Twitter: @7StarsInsider
<http://www.twitter.com/7StarsInsider>*

*Read my Mr. AC Casino
<http://www.atlanticcityweekly.com/blogs/mr_ac_casino/> column in the
Atlantic City Weeklyand my travel articles at TravelZork.com
<http://www.travelzork.com>*

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#2

Darryl D. McEwen wrote: "According to
one bartender – who agreed to speak anonymously for fear of reprisal from
his bosses – to activate the system, players must insert a minimum of $20
into a machine and a blue light will turn on. To get a green light – which
tells the bartenders they can serve you a free drink – you need to play a
few hands at the machine’s maximum bet. To keep your juices – or gin and
tonics – flowing you have to continue playing at a steady pace or you get a
red light (and no more free drinks until you get another green light)."

LOL! That reminds me of certain slots where you have to play at a certain rate to stay qualified for the bonuses. The bartenders must love this system, no doubt they get docked if they screw up. I thought they tried this system before and it becomes unreliable after a few months of heavy use/abuse as you find on a bartop. Probably a bartender helps one unit to misfunction and the word gets out to all the "advantage drinkers".

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#3

Great example of why so many casinos going belly up. Gamblers don't run casinos, bean counters running things. These jerks are turning millions $$ and worry that someone will get over on them for a bucks worth of booze . Bartenders time lost policing the "system" to check on players makes free drinks a losing deal for casino. Geeze! Just check for credits on machine and customer playing game, as in old days. Remember sitting up at bar and saying, "Give me a roll of quarters and drink." Casinos cost 500 million to billion + & bean counters nickel dime casino out of business. An old saying from past; "Penny wise and pound foolish." , if iI remember right.

Sorry for the rant. But, I really think many of the managers of casinos are morons. They hide out in job till owners or stockholders see even deeper down turn. Again , new manager. Unless they land a good operator, the cycle continues till closing.

Have good evening....Jeep

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#4

Won't discount your argument, jeep, but I welcome the new system (and expect there are at least one or two others here who do as well.

The problem this potentially serves for me is when I want to play at a bartop with a good game on a night when the bar traffic is heavy and I can't score a seat. Tends to be more than one player who has a few bucks in a machine and plays single coin for a couple of minutes whenever they want a refill.

Bartenders tend to turn a blind eye so long as the "player" is tipping respectively. "Winners" all round, except for me, who slinks back to my room in frustration, returning in 30 or 60 min for another check.

---In vpFREE@yahoogroups.com, <whitejeeps@...> wrote :

Great example of why so many casinos going belly up. Gamblers don't run casinos, bean counters running things. These jerks are turning millions $$ and worry that someone will get over on them for a bucks worth of booze . Bartenders time lost policing the "system" to check on players makes free drinks a losing deal for casino. Geeze! Just check for credits on machine and customer playing game, as in old days. Remember sitting up at bar and saying, "Give me a roll of quarters and drink." Casinos cost 500 million to billion + & bean counters nickel dime casino out of business. An old saying from past; "Penny wise and pound foolish." , if iI remember right.

Sorry for the rant. But, I really think many of the managers of casinos are morons. They hide out in job till owners or stockholders see even deeper down turn. Again , new manager. Unless they land a good operator, the cycle continues till closing.

Have good evening....Jeep

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#5

Could not agree with you more. This is a major problem at the B bar in Borgata. In the B bar it is often a couple with two machine with one chair tipped up while the other roams the casino. Most of the players are short coin quarter players that play when they are ready for a drink.

RM

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#6

Reno (Atlantis) has been doing something like this for years. They have some sort of counter behind each machine at a bar, so a bartender can keep up with those that are not really playing.

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#7

The casinos have a major problem. The free alcohol is supposed to get customers drunk so they lose all their money. Instead, those that are gambling significant coin in are not drinking significant alcohol and those that are drinking significant alcohol are not gambling significant coin in. I suppose you could call that "gaming the system" or even "advantage play".

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#8

Another problem is multidenominational machines and tables with wide spreads, these tend to get occupied by minimum betters - casinos should have more machines that don't have the silly minimum bets, by silly I'm referring to bets of 5 cents or less on machines or $5 or less on table games. Some of these types of loss leader type games are fine in a casino, but they shouldn't be found on virtually every machine or table. A potential customer who wants to bet larger bets shouldn't have to wait for a minimum better to clear a machine.

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#9

I don't see any material problem with the monitoring equipment; in fact, I wholeheartedly welcome it and look forward to its adaption at the casinos I play.

I play a small number of casinos where the best game is found on bartops. I've encountered no end of frustration on Fri/Sat nights, waiting for a machine to open while watching the bartender in question gladly refill a free drink for someone who wagered a couple of credits for a minute or two, happy for the flow of tips.

I have reasonable confidence that such "monitoring" will be implemented in a practical manner.

---In vpFREE@yahoogroups.com, <nightoftheiguana2000@...> wrote :

Another problem is multidenominational machines and tables with wide spreads, these tend to get occupied by minimum betters - casinos should have more machines that don't have the silly minimum bets, by silly I'm referring to bets of 5 cents or less on machines or $5 or less on table games. Some of these types of loss leader type games are fine in a casino, but they shouldn't be found on virtually every machine or table. A potential customer who wants to bet larger bets shouldn't have to wait for a minimum better to clear a machine.

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