Truthfully, why do Casino's change payback?

I just was thinking about something the other day;
I'm noticing a downward trend in "payback" in Vegas (ie: 6:5 BJ, 2x 2/12 Field Payout, 6/5 VP, etc)
And it honestly wasn't as crowded as I expected in recent visits.
HOWEVER,
On a recent family vacation, I visited a tribal casino, and I noticed that it had fullpay on almost everything (3:2 SingleDeck, 9/6 VP, even had the super rare fullpay trips/pairplus bets!), and this casino was PACKED, and I read somewhere that it literally does a $1M PER DAY in gaming profits...

So, it made me wonder...do casinos really think tightening up is the way to go; when it's obvious this tribal casino is quite liberal, and doing QUITE well?

Tribal casinos have to satisfy their customers and often have some sort of monopoly status to boot.
Major casinos have MBAs that have to satisfy Wall Street types so it becomes 6:5 and make the rest up on hype!

Of course the tribal casinos are making money: they offer the better deal and they offer it closer to home!

Quote: FleaStiff

Of course the tribal casinos are making money: they offer the better deal and they offer it closer to home!

Usually, they're just as bad, if not worse...but this one example really shocks me.
Good games, good comps, and packed too. Weird, really.

The tribal casinos in Southern California are all very competitive, not only with games but also comps and cash back and bonuses, etc. Southern Cal is also the #1 market for Vegas and make no mistake about it, the competition of the Indian casinos plus the poker casinos around Los Angeles (the true poker capital of the world) Vegas is feeling a pinch.

My guess is Vegas has downgraded its games because gaming revenue has fallen off too much and they have figured that better games would not offset the convenience that the Southern Cal casinos have for getting players.

In other words, the Vegas casinos are stuck between a rock and a hard place.

If the Vegas casinos could somehow shut down gaming in California they would go so far as to dig up dead bodies in the desert to make it happen. (LOL)

To further Alan's argument, the strip is different than the rest of Vegas.

For example, there is plenty of 3:2 blackjack up and down the strip, and you can find plenty of low-limit 3:2 blackjack off the strip and even in the strip properties at the right time of day.

There are VP opportunities just off the strip at Red Rock and the Palms that offer far better than 6/5 JoB VP.

And in many properties along the strip you can still find 3:1 field pays on the 12 (at MGM properties I believe).

SoCal is extremely competitive to be sure and its existence detracts from people going to Vegas.

But Las Vegas is much more than a gambling destination now. It has shows, excellent food and the combination of all of the casinos along the strip make a synergy that can't really be replicated by the Indian casinos in SoCal. Now, if you're a gambling degenerate or someone who doesn't leave their home casino, you'll likely go to the casino that's closest to you anyway.

But the strip still has plenty of good gambling activities -- not as good as other casinos within Clark county.

I think FP and mailings have a lot to do with lowered paybacks. They used to call it whale treatment for regular people, but whales won't be fooled by giving with one hand and taking twice with the other. The general public will, so they do it. I would think the NA tribes which offer good gaming were smart enough with their debt, because the ones who overbuilt can be as bad or worse than any corporate owned casinos.

Quote: boymimbo

There are VP opportunities just off the strip at Red Rock

Red Rock is a bit further than "Just of the strip" LOL

Also here in AZ the indian casions are the worst. I never go to them and I have one 15 mins from my front door. I'd rather take the 4.5 hour drive to LV if I want casino action, they wont get one cent from me. Even worse is when the tribe members get thier checks for the quarter, they blow it in one weekend, sad.

Old timers losing thier retirement, tribe members blowing that money on crap and booze.