MGM casinos to begin charging locals for parking.

This Thursday all MGM casinos, except Circus Circus, will end their exemption for locals of their parking fee.

Source: MGM Resorts’ self-parking fees begin on Thursday.

That article says players attaining Pearl status may still park for free. It says one way to achieve that status is just applying for the MGM Life credit card.

You can also achieve Pearl status by earning 25,000 Tier Credits. Correct me if I'm wrong, but $1 in video poker play equal 1 tier credit. The expected loss of $25,000 in play on 9-6 Jacks would be $115.

I would be interested to know how they plan to enforce the Pearl card rule. Currently, for the Nevada driver's license rule you had to scan it entering the garage. If all you have to do is show one to a machine, then I imagine there might be a black market in duplicate Pearl cards.

The question for the poll is which statements do you agree with? Multiple votes allowed.

Or you could just walk around a casino and pick up a higher level card left on a machine

Caesars Windsor has free parking but a Diamond card or 7* gets you on the third floor of the parking garage which is the entrance floor to the casino.... any day of the week you can go around the slots and pick up a dozen of those cards left behind

Quote: coilman

Or you could just walk around a casino and pick up a higher level card left on a machine

Caesars Windsor has free parking but a Diamond card or 7* gets you on the third floor of the parking garage which is the entrance floor to the casino.... any day of the week you can go around the slots and pick up a dozen of those cards left behind

Do you just swipe the card or what? At some places in AC certain levels of card get you free parking, but you also had to show a picture id with a matching name.

I parked at Paris for free last week. Are all the other Harrahs properties still free? Looks like Wynn/Encore is still free, but I haven't tried it.

Note: Valet parking costs money at many places, but self-parking is still free.

Quote: mamat

I parked at Paris for free last week. Are all the other Harrahs properties still free? Looks like Wynn/Encore is still free, but I haven't tried it.

Note: Valet parking costs money at many places, but self-parking is still free.

The Harrahs properties will start charging sometime in 2017.

Quote: ams288

The Harrahs properties will start charging sometime in 2017.

"In the first half of 2017, select Las Vegas hotels will also begin charging for self-parking." CZR

It's just a matter of getting and installing the gates and payment kiosks.

I'm a local, and I play at places geared for locals: Stations' properties, and the Boyd Gaming/Cannery group.

Better off-strip odds, good comps, fine dining and free parking.

Like a wise man always says, the casinos are there to make money and you have to pay for the entertainment. You need to play by their rules or don't enter the casinos.

Yes.
Paying for parking isn't paying for action, entertainment.
Paying for parking = not a good rule.

Resort fees, paid parking: bah.

Not sure when I'll be returning to Sin City, with airfare and car rental expense thrown in.

While I can easily afford to pay the toll, I see little point in doing so.

I've gone to Las Vegas primarily to gamble; sometimes for entertainment (prize fight, concert).

Now I gamble in state: no resort fees, no parking fees, no air fare, no rental car fees, the same casino games are offered.

A new casino opens this spring just outside of Portland: a big one.

Las Vegas needs to become competitive: they're not the only option.

The bean counters should be discounting rooms, with no fees and free parking: the current business model seems to be a disaster ready to happen.

Hello. tourist trap.

Maybe someone can ask how much it costs driving through that balsa arm, vroom vroom.

No free parking means I will not be frequenting their establishment! That means less money spent at their tables, slots, restaurants, shows, and hotel.

No idea how they enforce all this. Maybe they don't let you leave until you pay. Smart way to generate revenue, but dumb way to piss off your clients. I use to do the taxi and bus thing, but when time and freedom mean more, it's just easier to drive everywhere you want to go. I can't imagine having to pay for parking at casino. It's like a freaking TAX!!! It's like we want your money, but don't drive here.

Of all the ways to raise a few bucks:
1.) Increased the room rate.
2.) Increase the resort fee.
3.) Raise the rent.
4.) Offer outside guests access to your pool.
5.) Charge an admission fee to get into the casino (Valley Forge in PA or certain casinos in Europe.)

Instead, you tax my ability to actually get to your hotel and stay there. ANNOYING!!! No more MGM for me I guess. Plenty of other action in town. So which casino's does MGM control?

I could have probably recalled this from memory (M-Life is/was the primary sponsor for myVegas), but I went with Mr. Google to get my list:

ARIA,
Bellagio,
Vdara,
MGM Grand,
Mandalay Bay,
Mirage,
Monte Carlo,
New York-New York,
Luxor,
Excalibur,
Circus Circus

http://www.mgmresortsvacations.com/resorts.aspx

Quote: MrV

Now I gamble in state: no resort fees, no parking fees, no air fare, no rental car fees, the same casino games are offered.

A new casino opens this spring just outside of Portland: a big one.

Las Vegas needs to become competitive: they're not the only option.

The bean counters should be discounting rooms, with no fees and free parking: the current business model seems to be a disaster ready to happen.

I agree with the in state option for most...Ilani will be nice and the tribals west of Portland (Chinook & Spirit Mountain I believe) are going to feel pain.

Las Vegas is going to lose some multiple trip per year players that will cut down to one trip per year...Vegas is still Vegas vs. any local option.

I think I may sign up for the MLife Credit Card and use it for whatever minimum is required to maintain the account. It appears to have no annual fee and maintains Pearl status which gets out of the cost of parking. I normally drive to Vegas from So Cal and having a car in Vegas is something I require...not a big drinker so driving myself is normally not a problem.

I think PGD is correct though...some visitors will look to Red Rock and local casino hotels as options over this. I think the Rio and Palms will likely stay free parking and there is definitely a shuttle to the Strip from the Rio...Uber is likely less than $10 from either location to the Strip if you need to get that experience.

People that it matters to will adjust and the others will just pay...meanwhile look for MGM stock to get to $35-$40 in 2017...I would be a buyer here at a $28 handle, it is going north over the next 12 months.

In Florida you pay for parking at some malls just for the right to shop- I see nothing wrong with it- get the higher level card and no issue-
Atlantic City had paid parking almost full time and many other states have paid parking. I have never seen any casino charge with a higher level card
And that's the players the casinos want anyway

Quote: Wizardofnothing

In Florida you pay for parking at some malls just for the right to shop-

I sure do not and never will patronize a shopping center that charges for parking.

Bal Harbour in Florida for one

You pay to park at sporting events and numerous other things that use to be free.
Even new meters are added daily to park on streets the use to be free

Quote: Paradigm

I agree with the in state option for most...Ilani will be nice and the tribals west of Portland (Chinook & Spirit Mountain I believe) are going to feel pain.

Spirit Mountain was a nice place I used to drive to all the time. 9/6 JoB progressive 25c was my joint4lyfe. RIP to that though I heard they made it 8/5

Quote: Asswhoopermcdaddy

5.) Charge an admission fee to get into the casino (Valley Forge in PA or certain casinos in Europe.)

Instead, you tax my ability to actually get to your hotel and stay there. ANNOYING!!! No more MGM for me I guess. Plenty of other action in town. So which casino's does MGM control?

I cannot speak for any of the casinos in Europe, but respect to Valley Forge and at least one other casino (Lady Luck Nemacolin) in the State of Pennsylvania, that is actually by law as they are classified as Resort Casinos.

The reason for that is the casino is meant to be ancillary to the rest of the Resort, so in order to get into the casino, one must either be staying overnight at the Resort, be attending a conference, or spend at least $10 elsewhere at the Resort that day and provide a receipt.

Furthermore, you are not actually paying $10, on direct, to get into the casino, per se. You are purchasing a $10 Gift Card which can theoretically be used at many, if not all, locations in the Resort in question. That satisfies the $10 purchase required to make you a, 'Patron,' of the resort.

Therefore, it is actually not a casino cash grab, but something they must do in accordance with PA state law. Alternatively, one may purchase a, 'Membership,' to the Resort, which to the best of my understanding, only enables the purchaser to get into the Resort without the need to purchase a $10 Gift Card. That could be worth it if you believe that you are going to go to the Resort a sufficient number of times that year, but I would not set the bar at, 'More than four,' because certainly the $10 Gift Cards have some (though less than $10) value.

In the case of Lady Luck Nemacolin, the $45 membership gets the member and one guest unlimited casino access for the twelve month period, as well as some unspecified discounts on other stuff. If you think you're only going to go to one of these places once or twice that year (even if you have a guest) I would go for the $10 Gift Card option.

Add the Cosmopolitan to the list of properties that charge or plan to charge for parking.

More information: The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas begins paid parking.

Quote: Wizard

Add the Cosmopolitan to the list of properties that charge or plan to charge for parking.

More information: The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas begins paid parking.

Sad but they probably had to based on others using it to visit other properties that charge.

They are sheep, born to be sheared.

Quote: ronnief

They are sheep, born to be sheared.

Just get the MGM credit card, problem solved. No one is actually asking you to use it either!

Quote: ronnief

They are sheep, born to be sheared.

Poker legend Amarillo Slim told folks, "You can shear a sheep many times, but you can only skin it once." All the howls from Vegas gamblers suggests to me they are being skinned alive, and the casinos seem not to care one tiny bit... bite... Bite... BITE!

But, don'cher see? It's really OK, because out-of-town convention and meeting attendees can write off the cost of hotel rooms, meals, parking costs. So, the LV Convention and Visitors Bureau thinks it's just fine.

Anyone taking bets on when a Las Vegas casino opens the first 1-1 BJ table? Or the first craps table allowing only single odds? The handwriting is on the wall, but it's a little hard to read from out of state.

Most of the howling I see is from people in forums such as this. From my limited observation, most people on the strip do not care. For the fist time ever in all of my trips to Vegas, I was denied access to a parking garage because it was at max capacity. And other garages were so full that I had to park at the very top.

Next, they'll start charging for admission to the casinos because it'll improve the experience. But locals will be free to get in.

Even FREE parking is a problem for casinos. Some customers didn't even realize that the parking lot they used in front of the old Imperial Palace belonged to the adjacent casino. One casino in Vegas got pissed off at a competing casino's employees parking their cars and had them towed. This rash act included one poker dealer from the neighboring casino who had just dropped 800.00 at their craps table much of it into the toke box.

Now I can understand some MBA looking at parking slots as things that should turn a profit, but in a casino all those large Bingo rooms turn a profit largely during the 'off game' hours when Bingo players hit the slot machines.

Sure we often park free of charge and often have token parking charges but in reality no one really likes it even if they know their expense account will cover it. It becomes a 'nick'... sort of akin to a mosquito. You hate the mosquito and its bite but you don't really worry about the minute blood loss. Parking fees are the same way, its annoying and grates on your sould only because you are used to it being free.

Its just that at some point in time, you get to the stage where enough is enough.

I've used the analogy of 'showing home movies about your trip to a Big Strip Casino' but not even taking home movies about your trips to a 'little strip casino' or to an in-state Indian casino. More and more there will be Vegas-goers who stop and pause before planning their next trip. Airfare, rooms, resort fees, parking fees, nicked for this, nicked for that..... it becomes a why bother, the nearby casino may not offer all that much but it sure offers enough.

I would often go to wine tastings where the parking fee is reimbursed if you buy a bottle of wine. Well, that is fine. Annoying but okay. I know I'm going to be buying a bottle of something anyway. I'd occasionally attend an exotic fruit show where the parking is likewise reimbursed with a minimal purchase.

No one entering a casino should worry about the parking fees but its wrong for the casino to saddle their customer's minds with thoughts about unpleasant nicks. Parking fees are akin to time share hawkers. Annoying.