Monopoly lost

Quote: konceptum

I have no idea where this location is that you are talking about, having never been to that part of the country or to Atlantic City.

The billboard is a mile past the turn that you would take if you were going to Atlantic City. So 1) they think the billboard will make you turn around, or 2) it is meant to play on your mind and make you go on a future date, or 3) the marketeers are geographically impaired.

DJ's other posts seem to indicate that the marketeers are geographically impaired. He gets offers for reduced price bus rides, but only if he drives over half the distance in the wrong direction to meet the bus.

A few comments to ad to this thread:

1) Regarding AC: I got the chance to go out there this past February as part of a junket sponsored by Caesars/Harrahs. They paid for the flight, hotel room on a weekend at Bally's and provided shuttle service to and from the casino. I didn't really play as much as I should have, simply b/c I love being a tourist and I had to visit each casino while I was there.

I agree that the casinos are way too spread apart. If you like playing in each grouping of casinos, then stay in that area, I guess. For me, I like to see different places when I play at a resort destination (i.e. Tunica, Las Vegas), so for me, AC doesn't make as much sense unless I were to have my own car. I figured I spent at least $100 in taxi fares! That's silly, and I know they have the jitney, but frankly, that didn't seem safe, even in the middle of winter (although it was a balmy 32 degrees while I was there, much better than the -10 in Ohio at the time).

I wasn't really impressed with anything in AC, except for the poker rooms, and even those left a little bit to be desired. I played a while at Trump Taj and was sitting at a table where there were two elderly men who could start a sitcom called "Grumpy Old Men on the Jersey Shore." Those few hours at that table were some of the most entertaining I've ever spent playing poker. I'm a people watcher, so the bickering back and forth after every hand was hysterical. I was thoroughly disappointed with the dealers at most of the casinos (Borgata is the exception, and to a degree, Harrah's). At Caesars, they were downright awful. TWO dealers miscalled hands on the river that I had to correct. Pitiful...

The thing that got me the most in AC was food prices. For being on the ocean, I would have figured seafood prices would have been slightly cheaper. Everything was overpriced, given the nature of the resort. This would be the first thing I would focus on... among so many other things. Too many to continue to talk about this late at night...

2) Regarding funny advertising in odd places: I think the advertisement for a burger bar 150 miles away when it's not even open is classic. It just goes to show that some of these places don't really know what to feature, so they might as well feature future happenings.

Quick story, somewhat unrelated: On the drive between Kansas City, MO and Omaha, NE, you will see a lot of signs for casinos, as both Iowa and Missouri feature gaming. At one time, MO did not have 24-hour gaming (they pretty much do now, closing 5a-6a on Wednesday, what a joke!). However, Iowa has pretty much had 24-gaming now for at least 10 years, if not more. Some of the Indian casinos don't have it, but between KC and Omaha they pretty much do now. Argosy in Sioux City (which happens to be 120 miles north of Omaha) advertises about 24/7 gaming as their main feature. Why somebody would drive that far out of the way, when they can play at 3 in the Omaha metro area to me seems silly... once again, odd advertising in odd places.

Quote: pacomartin

The billboard is a mile past the turn that you would take if you were going to Atlantic City. So 1) they think the billboard will make you turn around, or 2) it is meant to play on your mind and make you go on a future date, or 3) the marketeers are geographically impaired.

DJ's other posts seem to indicate that the marketeers are geographically impaired. He gets offers for reduced price bus rides, but only if he drives over half the distance in the wrong direction to meet the bus.

There may be a 4th possibility, that the advertisement was not originally intended to be placed on that billboard. If there are billboards prior to the turn off that are owned by the same company, then there is a possibility that the advertisement was intended to be placed on one of those billboards, but through mistakes that can be made by various people, it was placed on the wrong billboard.

I could also add a 5th possibility, that whoever was in charge of advertising asked for the cheapest rate, and got that particular billboard. I did this one time. I wanted a billboard, but was too cheap to pay a rate that allowed me to choose which board I wanted the ad on. I said give me the cheapest rate, and they said that I wouldn't have a choice, and I would basically get whatever board was left over. I said fine, as I didn't see any issue, as long as it was within the city limits. And, you guessed it, it was perhaps the worst place for my ad to be.

It is not clear if Tropicana is still ahead with the second big win table game win in about 8 weeks. The latest numbers are not posted, but they may have made enough money on the publicity to be ahead even after two big hits. I suspect they are still ahead, because they were making serious bank when they started this policy.

In any case, I don't think the table games are that far behind. The publicity is wonderful, and they are back in the news. Bottom line is the casino is still not abandoning their policy.

It sure beats advertising hamburgers.

The reason the general manager wants the big winner to return is that he has their money and they want it back rather than being risked at some other casino. However, all the publicity about a Big Win only helps that casino and other casinos as well. Its not only free advertising its effective advertising. Ten thousand dollar bettors notice it, Five Dollar bettors notice it. Everyone notices it.
Alot of poor slobs with modest piggy banks are showing up ready to get themselves a five million dollar payout.