Best Casino Promotions

At work we are encouraged to come up with possible new promotions to be implemented. At the moment I am off work due to having hurt my back. I am hoping to impress the management when I go back with some ideas and have proper plans made. Its not just general brown nosing, but I am in line for a slight promotion, so would like to give them something extra to think about to counteract my recent absence.

So Im just curious as to the best promotions you have ever seen in a casino, so if I find one that could be used here, I could steal it.

Thanks in advance people.

EDIT - I should also point out that we do not as yet have a formal points based comps system (but it is coming), the comps are given out by managers discretion. We also do not have free drinks (legal reasons) and only have slots, blackjack, roulette (including electronic terminals) and 3 card poker, so if the promos dont apply to these, dont worry. I might be able to steal the idea anyway :D

No points, meaning no slot cards yet? The Western Village in Sparks is like that and it's the biggest clusterf*** of a comp system I've ever seen. They hand out comps to their friends and relatives and if you pressure them and lie about how long and how much you've been playing.

For an idea, how about some special perk/promo for when you get that points based comp system in place? Like have your patrons show you their cards from other casinos, and the higher their tier the more generous the gift (actual gift, freeplay, cash coupon, room and/or food comps, etc.) at YOUR casino.

For something more immediate, come up with an event that'll reel in as many advantage players and people who think they're advantage players, such as double jackpots for royals on certain machines and denominations, card-of-the-day quad bonuses, bonuses for back-to-back Blackjacks, etc.

The promotion we like best at our local place is when they have random drawings throughout a day, only they merely select you based on your card being in the machine at the time. All of a sudden someone will come up and hand you $50 bucks and congratulate you. This is always a nice surprise. It does not have to be a large amount and that way you are pleasing a large amount of people.

I suggest you do a search of this board. There have been lots of questions about promotions of all kinds, and many of them have answers involving mathematical details of the promos.

Beyond that, an easy promo for three card poker would be a kind of imitation of Harrahs' six-card bonus bet with a twist.

The Harrah's bet is made separately from the ante/play and Pair+ bets, it pays even if you fold, and it has its own paytable. The bonus pays, when it does, for the best poker hand you can make with the player's cards and the dealer's cards. So if you draw three kings, for example, and the dealer has a king, ten and six, you are paid for four of a kind.

Here's the twist. Since it's a promo, it won't require a special bet (no changes to the layout on the table), but it does require a play bet, so if you fold your hand, you don't qualify for the promo. Next you ought to decide whether to emulate Harrah's paytable or merely set up a jackpot for a set of hands (say 4 of a kind, straight flush and royal flush).

I ahven't done the math because I just thought of this, and because I wouldn't even know how. So that's up to you. My intuitive feel is that a paytable would work best, as hopeful gamblers would make play bets on really bad hands (4, 5, 10, for example). essentially this would be a six card bonus bet paid for by the play bet.

You can find Harrah's paytable in my trip report here:

https://wizardofvegas.com/forum/las-vegas-attractions/other/1774-trip-report-5-9-10-5-15-10/

The best promotions I have seen (from the casino's POV) are where you get rewarded on a sliding scale based upon your play during a specific promotional period. Of course, this means that you must have some mechanism in place to pay the reward - either additional points or some sort of cash back/coupon redemption.

An example would work something like this:

All play from 6:00am Monday to 6:00pm Tuesday will earn double points! If you earn 10,000 points during this time period, we'll match it with an additional 10,000. If you earn 50,000 points, we'll match it with an additional 50,000!

What you want to do is have a promotion that will bring in your established players, and give them the incentive to play more. Promotions that merely reward people for showing up (e.g. 2 for 1 coupons) might have worked somewhat in the past, but in these economic times I think their value (to the casino) is dubious at best. Too many players are like the players on this board, and only look to cash in on the EV of the promotion rather than really give you the action you are trying to cultivate.

The sliding scale promotions based on action are clean, simple to administer and really reward the kind of action you are seeking.

The point of a promotion is to increase the frequency of casino visits. This can be done either by targeting people who would not have come at all, or rarely, or by targeting existing customers, with the goal of getting them to visit more frequently. I feel that the latter is the better strategy, as a one-shot promo like a free buffet or $10 free play for new signups is likely to only generate that one-time business.

Our sort-of-local Injun casino has cooked up a rather interesting promo. Every Tuesday in a given month is "up the ladder day". You get 2X points for playing on a Tuesday, and then the succeeding Tuesday, you get 3X, then 4X, etc., with a maximum of 5X. If you miss a Tuesday, you drop back down to 1X. This gets the customer "invested" in coming back, which seems to be the cornerstone of most successful promos. In Vegas and Reno, there's a lot of "play on Day X, earn free play redeemable on Day Y" promos, designed to keep 'em coming back to YOUR casino rather than the guys down the street.

Quote: mkl654321

The point of a promotion is to increase the frequency of casino visits. This can be done either by targeting people who would not have come at all, or rarely, or by targeting existing customers, with the goal of getting them to visit more frequently. I feel that the latter is the better strategy, as a one-shot promo like a free buffet or $10 free play for new signups is likely to only generate that one-time business.

Our sort-of-local Injun casino has cooked up a rather interesting promo. Every Tuesday in a given month is "up the ladder day". You get 2X points for playing on a Tuesday, and then the succeeding Tuesday, you get 3X, then 4X, etc., with a maximum of 5X. If you miss a Tuesday, you drop back down to 1X. This gets the customer "invested" in coming back, which seems to be the cornerstone of most successful promos. In Vegas and Reno, there's a lot of "play on Day X, earn free play redeemable on Day Y" promos, designed to keep 'em coming back to YOUR casino rather than the guys down the street.

That seems like a good promotion you do there...two questions
1. Do you do this every month?
2. Are all games entitled to be used, or do you exclude video poker?

It seems like the promotions that do the best here are the ones that involve dice. Craps are not allowed here, and I think people enjoy the opportunity to roll dice to win a prize after they're selected in the drawing.

Quote: mkl654321

The point of a promotion is to increase the frequency of casino visits. This can be done either by targeting people who would not have come at all, or rarely, or by targeting existing customers, with the goal of getting them to visit more frequently. I feel that the latter is the better strategy, as a one-shot promo like a free buffet or $10 free play for new signups is likely to only generate that one-time business.

Our sort-of-local Injun casino has cooked up a rather interesting promo. Every Tuesday in a given month is "up the ladder day". You get 2X points for playing on a Tuesday, and then the succeeding Tuesday, you get 3X, then 4X, etc., with a maximum of 5X. If you miss a Tuesday, you drop back down to 1X. This gets the customer "invested" in coming back, which seems to be the cornerstone of most successful promos. In Vegas and Reno, there's a lot of "play on Day X, earn free play redeemable on Day Y" promos, designed to keep 'em coming back to YOUR casino rather than the guys down the street.

One problem. The thread originator explained that there is no slot club card yet. That automatically eliminates free play, 1X, 2X, 3X, 4X & 5X points promos.

Gee I guess there's not much left.

How about the Croupier returns to work promotion!

Thoughts: A no zero day on Roulette (maybe a last day of the month "welfare" special).
- triple down promotion a la the Mohegan Sun promotion.
- one day increased pay back from 1/3/6 to 1/4/6 on 3 card.
- draws: you get a free entry with a suited blackjack, straight or higher in 3 card, or everyone at the table gets a draw when the 0 / 00 comes up at roulette. Draws work out well when you have to return for the draw.
- random slot draws where once an hour, a random slot player wins a prize consisting of free play, food, etc.

my local casino had a once per day promotion, where a random player is chosen to 'dig for gold'.

there is a BIG pile of one dollar coin
the player is given a very small bucket and a very small shovel
10 meters away,there is a 'bank'

the player shovel the coin into the bucket, runs to the bank, come back, shovel more coin into the bucket...repeat... until 1 minutes is up.
you cannot dig with your bucket, must use the tiny shovel.

whatever is in the bank after 1 minute, the player keeps.

I cant remember how much is the average win, but girls on high heel wins a lot less. Some player run as if their life depend on it, some even fall :)