Dear Mark,
All casinos have slot
machines, blackjack tables, etc. Is there a difference between casino A,
B and C? Michelle R.
PLENTY, Michelle! My goal as a player-advocate columnist is to develop
players who can identify beneficial gaming situations, not only the bets
you make in a casino but the casinos themselves. So are all casinos the
same? No, no-the correct answer is this: No two casinos are alike. Some
are good, and some, well let me describe the differences:
The Good:
Though more come to mind, I'll give you two examples: the Club Cal Neva in
Reno and Binion's Horseshoe in Las Vegas. Here's what they offer their
cherished players-that's you and me, Michelle. Besides some of the
cheapest food prices-99¢ breakfasts and $3.99 steak dinners-they offer
great gaming plays like 25¢ crap games with up to 10 times odds,
single-deck blackjack with liberal rules, single-zero roulette,
excellent video poker pay tables, loads of loose nickel and quarter
machines and comps just for breathing.
These casinos, the ones that treat you
like a treasured commodity and are always trying to increase buyer
value, are casinos I hope you, Michelle, will migrate to.
The Bad
: Quite possibly, this is the casino you normally play in. Gouging table
limits on the weekends; tough getting comps (stale popcorn and lucky
dogs don't cut it); poor pay tables on video poker machines; and tight
slots. Basically, they put out games for your convenience and count
their money. Plus, the practice of my #1 rule of casino management-who's
the boss, you the customer-is limited. If your favorite casino has any
of the above symptoms, maybe it's time to change.
The Ugly:
Casino Windsor. Knowing full well they have the only game in town, Detroiters
who cross the river to Canada-and all players for that matter-are being
ripped off, big time! For starters, charging $40 for valet parking and
instant admission versus parking two blocks away and waiting up to two
hours to get in is absurd. Hopefully that has changed.
But I'm just warming up. They opened with
$15 table minimums/$200 maximums-which can deplete a modest bankroll in
mere minutes; zero nickel, very limited quarter and mostly dollar slots;
and very poor pay tables on video poker machines equaling what you would
find in airports and grocery stores. Finally the triple whammy: I found
food service at the buffet slow, quality only fair, and prices high.
Unequivocally, two thumbs down on Casino Windsor.
But even I get the worst of it once in a
while, Michelle. After spending the day lounging poolside at the Mirage
Hotel/Casino in Las Vegas, my friends and I decided instead of watching
a sporting event in their sports book-we were just too tired (lazy) to
leave the room-that some beer and a few snacks in our room would do the
trick. We each threw in a few bucks and sent our runner (scissors cuts
paper) down to a convenience store called "Impulse" in the Mirage Hotel.
Noting here that all the "buyer impulse" merchandise we purchased wasn't
priced, the cost of two six-packs, one small package of Jerky, and two
eight-ounce boxes of Cheese Nips: $29.43! Thought I would pass along my
lesson learned to you.
So, Michelle, the key here is shopping
for value, not only on your bet selection, but learning to shop casinos.
Warren Nelson, owner of the Club Cal Neva in Reno, has lived by a simple
principle most of his career: "Give the players the best bet (lowest
odds for the house) that you can while still making a profit, and they
will play longer, leave satisfied and come back bringing their friends."
I applaud his sound reasoning and, Michelle, that's the kind of casino
where you should play.
