Free Drinks?

I saw this link posted on Lasvegasadvisor.com. If this catches on there are going to be lots of unhappy cocktail waitresses, bartenders, and frugal customers.



http://vitalvegas.com/mirage-las-vegas-tests-comped-drink-voucher-system-everything-is-ruined/

I saw this in another post about "loose machines"

Loose machine
8/5 db

Pick one

Another win for the bean counters. Problem is you have to plant seeds in order for future bean crops to grow. Casinos will eventually have such acidic soil nothing will grow and the bean counters will have nothing to count except expenses.

It is a shame. Just yesterday the Downtown Grand no longer validates parking with a player card. You have to be silver to park in the garage for free. Valeting requires the top tier black card. Anybody else must pay $7. Place looked like a ghost town. Restaurant recently removed their 10% players card discount. Drop off in business notable.

More and more people will decide to go to their local casinos in their home states if Vegas tries to go the captive audience route. First person to bring back the 80's - 90's experience with comp discretion and game rules will crush it. The place won't be big enough to service all the players that would flow through the doors.

Sucks to be a bartender at the Mirage now...LOL

Quote: MaxPen

More and more people will decide to go to their local casinos in their home states if Vegas tries to go the captive audience route. First person to bring back the 80's - 90's experience with comp discretion and game rules will crush it. The place won't be big enough to service all the players that would flow through the doors.

You do know that many local casinos in their home states charge for drinks, parking and they are even non-smoking.

I assume the point is, if Vegas becomes like that, why bother coming here?

Yea, I was a little slow on catching the point.

DTG is an awful casino. It is always dead, yet it takes an infinite amount of time to get your car from valet. Although it isn't their fault, location is awful. Every time I've tried to get a free bet voucher or promo chips, something's f***ed up in the system. The players club/cashier people look on the computer, insist I have nothing for free bets. I show them my mailed and tell 'em to keep looking. They guarantee me there's nothing there. Tell 'em to keep looking. Finally they find it and say, "Yeah we've been having lots of problems with the system where the free bet listing doesn't show up on the main page so we have to go back a page or 2.".....THEN WHY THE HELL DID YOU JUST TELL ME I HAD NOTHING, WHEN YOU DAMN WELL KNOW THERE HAVE BEEN PROBLEMS WITH THE SYSTEM AND YOU HAVE TO GO BACK 2 PAGES??!!


I've actually gone in there before, gave the cashier/club person my card+ID and said, "I should have XXX in a free bet voucher, you gotta go 2 pages back from the main screen in order to find it." And they were surprised and asked how I knew where they had to go on the computer.


DTG's 3:2 DD BJ game has been closed the last 4 visits I've made to that dump. Twice on a weekend night time, probably 8-10 PM, and twice during the day. It's never open. That 6:5 DD BJ game never has any action on it, either. I'm thinking the casino hates money and just wants to see how much they can lose before they go out of business. I hope they go out of business soon and let someone else take over.

Quote: MaxPen

More and more people will decide to go to their local casinos in their home states if Vegas tries to go the captive audience route. First person to bring back the 80's - 90's experience with comp discretion and game rules will crush it. The place won't be big enough to service all the players that would flow through the doors.

I find that the El Cortez is one of the only casinos that treats low rollers fairly. That's kind of sad.

Quote: MaxPen

Just yesterday the Downtown Grand no longer validates parking with a player card. You have to be silver to park in the garage for free. Valeting requires the top tier black card. Anybody else must pay $7. Place looked like a ghost town. Restaurant recently removed their 10% players card discount. Drop off in business notable.

Classic death spiral has officially begun ?

So where are the good places to park downtown now ?

Quote: JohnnyQ

Classic death spiral has officially begun ?

Don't worry. Who needs all that stuff, anyway?

Did you know that spirals are made up of the internal structure of the ellipses?

Quote: DRich

I saw this link posted on Lasvegasadvisor.com. If this catches on there are going to be lots of unhappy cocktail waitresses, bartenders, and frugal customers.



http://vitalvegas.com/mirage-las-vegas-tests-comped-drink-voucher-system-everything-is-ruined/

Love this blurb from the article:

"That’s right, your video poker machine decides when you deserve another drink. Not a person. Mirage now employs cocktail-deciding robots from Hell."

And this one too:

"Imagine being a Vegas bartender faced with customers who are gambling (holding up their end of the player-casino bargain), and you can’t serve a drink because a machine hasn’t deemed your customer worthy of one. Let the disgruntlement begin, assuming that’s an actual word."

Quote: teddys

I find that the El Cortez is one of the only casinos that treats low rollers fairly. That's kind of sad.

El Cortez is a good fair joint. Only problem I have is the perfume they pump in to mask the smoke smell. That shit gives me a headache.

Quote: JohnnyQ

Classic death spiral has officially begun ?

So where are the good places to park downtown now ?

Plaza or D valet. I don't mind saying this because I'm only 5 blocks down from the 3rd street stage. If worse comes to worse I'll leave my car in my buildings garage and just walk when I go, which I have been doing alot lately.

99% of the time I'll just use a cocktail waitress to get my drinks.. never did like the idea of being hassled by a bartender about "not playing fast enough" or whatever that means, nor do i like risking asking for what would hopefully be a free drink... only to get a $10+ bill for it

Quote: JohnnyQ

"Imagine being a Vegas bartender faced with customers who are gambling (holding up their end of the player-casino bargain), and you can’t serve a drink because a machine hasn’t deemed your customer worthy of one. Let the disgruntlement begin, assuming that’s an actual word."

I think the real question is how much play should it take to get a comped drink? I think the only way it could be measured is casino EV. If we assume a comped drink costs $2 on average how much win would the casino need to cover the cost of the drink, employees, plus normal overhead, and a small profit? Let's assume $5. If you are playing a 98% video poker game at the bar you would need $250 coin in for each drink.

Quote: DRich

I think the real question is how much play should it take to get a comped drink? I think the only way it could be measured is casino EV. If we assume a comped drink costs $2 on average how much win would the casino need to cover the cost of the drink, employees, plus normal overhead, and a small profit? Let's assume $5. If you are playing a 98% video poker game at the bar you would need $250 coin in for each drink.

I don't know much about the beverage business, but I think it's opportunity cost. The entertainment industry looks at liquor as one of their largest profit centers. A call drink at El Cortez is $7. A cocktail at MGM properties on the Strip is probably $10-$11, at Wynn and Venetian $12-15. (I don't know if that's correct; I've never paid for a drink in Vegas in my life). So the margins are huge. So I suppose it's not the question of whether we are losing $2 worth of drink, it's whether we are losing the opportunity for a $9 drink.

Not sure if that makes sense. I know if I were faced with the question of a $9 drink or no drink, I would take no drink. I'm very elastic. But apparently a large proportion of people don't think that way. On my last flight to Vegas the couple next to me ordered five drinks each. On Frontier Airlines, this came out to about $70 total. That was more than the cost of my round-trip ticket.

I wrote an Article of my own about this:

https://wizardofvegas.com/articles/Cocktails-Anyone/

There's the casino EV of a particular drink, then there's the quality of the Vegas experience that brings people here in the first place.

The basic idea seems to be that you spend big on rooms, $20 cheeseburgers, clubs and -ev games, but you get treated well. Free drinks are the number one symbol of this.

If they make a conspicuous practice of scrutinizing you to see if you have given them enough money in the past 20 minutes specifically to deserve one particular drink, it kind of kills the whole vibe.

It's like, if you have a fishy player all in in poker and he asks if he can tip the cocktail waitress with a 1$ chip. You'd have to be an idiot and a jerk to say no. You're (supposedly) there to have a time. Not ring every penny you can out of him as rudely as possible.

I do think there is a danger of this stuff adding up over time. The terrible games, stuff like this, -115 lines in sports books, etc. etc. At some point it feels like someone holding you upside down by the feet and trying to shake the change out of your pockets.

It won't be a mass boycott that happens over night, but maybe 20 years from now, with ever more legalized gambling, a lot more people will just be staying closer to home.

On the Strip a lot of people want a luxury experience and they're willing to spend money to have a good time. A lot of them don't even care about gambling they care about the shows and shopping and the restaurants and night clubs. Those people are willing to pay $15 for a cocktail, so that's why the casino has no problem charging that much.

If you're in Las Vegas and want drinks to be comped while you play games go to Dotty's. If you're on the strip and want everything the resort has to offer you'll have to pay for it

Quote: TomG

If you're in Las Vegas and want drinks to be comped while you play games go to Dotty's. If you're on the strip and want everything the resort has to offer you'll have to pay for it

Dotty's has the best drink comps of any casino in the universe. Most people don't know that.

Quote: teddys

Dotty's has the best drink comps of any casino in the universe. Most people don't know that.

To round out my casino experiences, I may just have to pop in to a Dotty's and check it out next trip.

Quote: teddys

Dotty's has the best drink comps of any casino in the universe. Most people don't know that.

Does Dotty's have craft beer? lol

I drank about 30 different beers comped on my last trip...lol Trip report coming soon.

Quote: tringlomane

Does Dotty's have craft beer? lol

They have craft sodas. Also the big Starbucks Frappucino and DoubleShot drinks, Monster and Red Bull, and premium liquor. A good selection of bottled beer.

Holy Mackeral, check out the # of locations they have ! I've seen one driving around, but haven't ever had a reason to stop in:

Dotty's 1 Tropicana & Maryland
Dotty's 3 Sahara & Ft. Apache
Dotty's 4 Charleston & Bruce
Dotty's 5 Green Valley & Sunset
Dotty's 6 Craig & Las Vegas Blvd.
Dotty's 7 Decatur & O'Bannon
Dotty's 8 Boulder Hwy & Warm Springs
Dotty's 9 Sahara & Maryland
Dotty's 14 Tropical & Centennial Center
Dotty's 15 Sahara & Richfield
Dotty's 16 Desert Inn & Pecos
Dotty's 18 Decatur & Spring Mountain
Dotty's 19 Sunset & Marks
Dotty's 21 Highway 160 & Basin
Dotty's 22 Flamingo & Maryland
Dotty's 25 Eastern & Tropicana
Dotty's 28 Charleston W of Decatur
Dotty's 29 Tropicana & Tee Pee
Dotty's 30 Flamingo & El Capitan
Dotty's 31 St. Rose & Bruner
Dotty's 32 Eastern South of Owens
Dotty's 33 Beverly Shopping, Pahrump
Dotty's 34 Charleston W of Arville
Dotty's 36 Windmill & Jones
Dotty's 38 Rainbow & Wigwam
Dotty's 39 Rainbow & Robindale
Dotty's 40 Jones & Blue Diamond
Dotty's 42 St. Rose & Maryland
Dotty's 44 Russell & Grand Canyon
Dotty's 46 Lake Mead & Eastern
Dotty's 48 Sahara & Boulder on Palm
Dotty's 49 Lake Mead East of Hollywood
Dotty's 50 Blue Diamond & Decatur
Dotty's 51 Charleston East of Fremont
Dotty's 52 Flamingo & Jones
Dotty's 53 Cheyenne & MLK
Dotty's 54 Tropical & Losee
Dotty's 56 Decatur & Washington
Dotty's 57 Rainbow & Twain
Dotty's 59 Flamingo & Sandhill
Dotty's 60 Rainbow & Oakey
Dotty's 61 Mesquite & Falcon Ridge
Dotty's 62 & 80 Desert Inn & Boulder
Dotty's 64 Sahara & Decatur
Dotty's 67 Lake Mead & Simmons
Dotty's 68 Serene & Eastern
Dotty's 69 Washington & Lamb
Dotty's 70 Jones & Lake Mead
Dotty's 72 North Rancho & Vegas
Dotty's 73 Decatur 7 Meadows
Dotty's 76 S Boulder Hwy & Major
Dotty's 77 Nellis & Van Buren
Dotty's 78 Rancho & Cheyenne
Dotty's 81 Lake Mead & Nellis
Dotty's 83 Charleston & Jones
Dotty's 84 Charleston W of Durango
Dotty's 85 Decatur & Ann
Dotty's 86 Blue Diamond & Valley View
Dotty's 87 Las Vegas Blvd & Silverado Ranch
Dotty's 90 S Boulder Hwy & Nellis
Dotty's 92 Eastern & Warm Springs
Dotty's 93 Horizon Ridge & Horizon
Dotty's 95 Hualapai & Tropicana
Dotty's 96 Tenaya & Arroyo Crossing
Dotty's 97 Tropicana & Pecos
Dotty's 98 Ann & Centennial Center
Dotty's 100 Nellis & Stewart
Dotty's 101 Durango & Edna
Dotty's 102 Durango & Warm Springs
Dotty's 103 Hwy 160 & Wagon Pass
Dotty's 107 Sahara & Boulder Hwy
Dotty's 108 Decatur & Vegas
Dotty's 110 Sahara & Hualapai
Dotty's at Hoover Dam Lodge
Dotty's at Laughlin River Lodge
La Villita Casino

Non-smoking Dotty's
Dotty's at Kmart (K3095)
Dotty's at Kmart (K3592)
Dotty's at Kmart (K3680)
Dotty's at Kmart (K3719)
Dotty's at Kmart (K3857)
Dotty's at Kmart (K4369)
Dotty's at Kmart (K9389)
Dotty's at Kmart (K9819)

Wow, that's a lot of Dotty's! La Villita Casino in on Boulder Highway where the former Terrible's Town Casino & Bowling used to be. It appears they have a decent Mexican restaurant there.

The Dotty's at Hoover Dam Lodge and Dotty's at Laughlin River Lodge are full-on casinos with table games (I think). Doc will have to make a trip out there to get new chips.

Dotty's is building a empire, slowly.

Quote: teddys

Wow, that's a lot of Dotty's!

Yeah, I know. It took a long time to type all that in (j/k).

Quote: teddys

Dotty's is building a empire, slowly.

AND a good topic for one of those patented M146 in-depth articles.

Some Interesting Dotty's History from Wikipedia

If you're in Las Vegas playing video poker, do alcoholic drinks ever get comped at places that aren't casinos? Like at the Peppermill lounge? How about just a regular bar that has VP?

My only experience of being at a non-casino bar is at the Golden Tiki, where the Mrs's soda got comped, but my tiki drink did not. But what if I had been playing a lot of VP and ordered something cheap like a beer? Would that have gotten comped?

Quote: smoothgrh

If you're in Las Vegas playing video poker, do alcoholic drinks ever get comped at places that aren't casinos? Like at the Peppermill lounge? How about just a regular bar that has VP?

My only experience of being at a non-casino bar is at the Golden Tiki, where the Mrs's soda got comped, but my tiki drink did not. But what if I had been playing a lot of VP and ordered something cheap like a beer? Would that have gotten comped?
link to original post

I haven't been at a bar with VP in several years but depending on your play food and drinks were comped.

I'd like to see a new survey of the big bar/restaurant chains with bartop gaming.

I'm sure it's all changed post pandemic with inflation hitting food prices hard.

Just about every neighborhood bar in Las Vegas will comp your drinks when playing video poker assuming you are playing at least $1.25 per hand.

Quote: DRich

Just about every neighborhood bar in Las Vegas will comp your drinks when playing video poker assuming you are playing at least $1.25 per hand.
link to original post

Are they still comping food?

I don't drink alcohol so I enjoyed when they comped my bar food which was usually a cheeseburger or whatever the menu special was.

My meal tab was usually in the range of $10.

Thanks for the replies!

I forgot that I also visited Frankie's Tiki Room. I walked in, ordered a drink, and then started playing VP. I just assumed they wouldn't comp a tiki drink.

Quote: smoothgrh

Thanks for the replies!

I forgot that I also visited Frankie's Tiki Room. I walked in, ordered a drink, and then started playing VP. I just assumed they wouldn't comp a tiki drink.
link to original post

On Charleston near the Strip? And you lived?

Quote: AlanMendelson

Quote: DRich

Just about every neighborhood bar in Las Vegas will comp your drinks when playing video poker assuming you are playing at least $1.25 per hand.
link to original post

Are they still comping food?

I don't drink alcohol so I enjoyed when they comped my bar food which was usually a cheeseburger or whatever the menu special was.

My meal tab was usually in the range of $10.
link to original post

Most of them will comp your food if you play enough. There are a good number of bars with higher-end fancy dining that will comp your meals.

It's great when you are playing with an advantage and you are getting comped. I bet there are no less than 10 places in town that severe really good food, have +EV stuff going on, and they will comp your food. You don't even have to be a high roller, they are oftentimes fairly generous, more so than casinos. Of course, it's really never free since I tend to tip more generously as well.

Quote: AlanMendelson

Quote: DRich

Just about every neighborhood bar in Las Vegas will comp your drinks when playing video poker assuming you are playing at least $1.25 per hand.
link to original post

Are they still comping food?

I don't drink alcohol so I enjoyed when they comped my bar food which was usually a cheeseburger or whatever the menu special was.

My meal tab was usually in the range of $10.
link to original post

Obviously, most will if you are betting huge. The problem is that each bar is different and will have different levels for food comps. I would say that most do not if you are playing $1.25 a hand for an hour or two. At a lot of bars the bartenders may not even have the discretion to comp food unless a manager approves it. If you are an unknown customer and only playing a short amount of time you are more likely to get comped if you lost a lot. If you are playing an hour or two and lose $500 you are more likely to get comped than if you lose $100.

I guess things changed. My late wife Janet and I were comped food and my diet coke, her glass of wine, and we were just 25-cent VP players ($1.25:per hand).

But it was about 4-5 years ago.

Quote: AlanMendelson

I guess things changed. My late wife Janet and I were comped food and my diet coke, her glass of wine, and we were just 25-cent VP players ($1.25:per hand).

But it was about 4-5 years ago.
link to original post

It still exists but is less common on the low end plays. A typical bar customer probably plays 400 hands per hour. At $1.25 per hand times 400 hands that is a bet of $500 an hour. If we assume a 4% hold on the game that is a $20 win for the bar. You can't give too much away when making $20. Most people will have two or three drinks in that hour which is about as much as they can give away.

Quote: DRich

Quote: AlanMendelson

I guess things changed. My late wife Janet and I were comped food and my diet coke, her glass of wine, and we were just 25-cent VP players ($1.25:per hand).

But it was about 4-5 years ago.
link to original post

It still exists but is less common on the low end plays. A typical bar customer probably plays 400 hands per hour. At $1.25 per hand times 400 hands that is a bet of $500 an hour. If we assume a 4% hold on the game that is a $20 win for the bar. You can't give too much away when making $20. Most people will have two or three drinks in that hour which is about as much as they can give away.
link to original post

When you're eating you dont play that quickly, at least I don't.

One of these days I'm going to go back to the old place and see.

Thanks for the info.

Cold VP machines don't pay anything above 3 of a kind. I'm losing my free play in this cycle. I'll have to try $2 VBJ for 20+ hands.

Quote: AlanMendelson

Quote: DRich

Quote: AlanMendelson

I guess things changed. My late wife Janet and I were comped food and my diet coke, her glass of wine, and we were just 25-cent VP players ($1.25:per hand).

But it was about 4-5 years ago.
link to original post

It still exists but is less common on the low end plays. A typical bar customer probably plays 400 hands per hour. At $1.25 per hand times 400 hands that is a bet of $500 an hour. If we assume a 4% hold on the game that is a $20 win for the bar. You can't give too much away when making $20. Most people will have two or three drinks in that hour which is about as much as they can give away.
link to original post

When you're eating you dont play that quickly, at least I don't.

One of these days I'm going to go back to the old place and see.

Thanks for the info.
link to original post

Very few places will comp you food as you sit down to play. They will need to see enough play to justify it before they comp your cheeseburger. I have worked with 100's of bars in Las Vegas and think my statements are accurate for most of them. Many will look at your play after you finish playing and eating and then determine if they will comp it.

A bar I used to play lots at would comp almost anything to a big player. This particular bar I was able to order 20 filet cut sirloins cooked rare and take them home for a BBQ I was having. I just finished them off on the grill and they were excellent.

Quote: ChumpChange

Cold VP machines don't pay anything above 3 of a kind. I'm losing my free play in this cycle. I'll have to try $2 VBJ for 20+ hands.
link to original post

Are you trolling? Many of your posts are from left field, and I'm never really sure what you are up to. Hopefully, you don't take offense to this, but I just assumed you were a little crazy.

No. I lost $40 in Free Play in 20 minutes at 5 coin quarters 8/5 JoB, then lost another $50 free play the next day in 15 minutes, well, I cashed out with $20 left because I was not going to take this to $0 this time. So $20 ahead on $90 of free play. I could have won anywhere from $50-$2,000 in free play with their random spinners; but really, could it land on anything other than the bare minimum? Totally rigged!

Quote: DRich

Quote: AlanMendelson

Quote: DRich

Quote: AlanMendelson

I guess things changed. My late wife Janet and I were comped food and my diet coke, her glass of wine, and we were just 25-cent VP players ($1.25:per hand).

But it was about 4-5 years ago.
link to original post

It still exists but is less common on the low end plays. A typical bar customer probably plays 400 hands per hour. At $1.25 per hand times 400 hands that is a bet of $500 an hour. If we assume a 4% hold on the game that is a $20 win for the bar. You can't give too much away when making $20. Most people will have two or three drinks in that hour which is about as much as they can give away.
link to original post

When you're eating you dont play that quickly, at least I don't.

One of these days I'm going to go back to the old place and see.

Thanks for the info.
link to original post

Very few places will comp you food as you sit down to play. They will need to see enough play to justify it before they comp your cheeseburger. I have worked with 100's of bars in Las Vegas and think my statements are accurate for most of them. Many will look at your play after you finish playing and eating and then determine if they will comp it.

A bar I used to play lots at would comp almost anything to a big player. This particular bar I was able to order 20 filet cut sirloins cooked rare and take them home for a BBQ I was having. I just finished them off on the grill and they were excellent.
link to original post

True but we were regulars and stopped in two or three times a week.