Details about mailers

I'm curious if anyone knows of, or has details, on mailers at various Vegas casinos. FWIW I mostly play video poker. I remember when I was reading up a while back I found this article: http://www.smartgaming.com/Articles/gambling_tips_calculating_cashback_offers.html

Notably it says:

Quote:

Currently at the South Point casino in Las Vegas, you can earn 4x $30 cashback (downloadable at the machine free play) monthly if your monthly coin-in is $20,000 (this will get you their A mailer).

South Point’s next Tier level is A+ and this requires $60,000 in coin-in to achieve $50x 4 in bounce-back cash. The ER for this benefit is 0.33%.

In my experience South Point does not work like this, though I know casinos change all the time and I'm not sure how old that article is. I have hit a couple of taxables, but in my biggest play month I gave them nearly 100k in play (on 10 total days of play), was a loser, hit no taxables, and even then 2 months later I got a bad mailer. I have never gotten above the C level mailer there, for sure. In fact, it's so perplexing to me to read some recent Bob Dancer articles where he talks about how if there's a 2x points day at South Point that he will cancel trips to play there. I don't know about how fast he can play QQ there, but if I assume he plays the single line $2 NSUD at 1000 HPH, with double points he's making $33/hr and if their top mailer is limited picking up $50 4x a month, is this really worth cancelling a trip?

In general for casinos I know that my play this month will typically get me offers 2 months from now. Some exceptions are for first-time trips. Yes, I do know that ADT is important -- so when I go to a casino I am either there just to play a lot or to just grab freeplay and take the ADT hit. However I recently read a post on here about casinos sometimes lowering their offers more gradually than others, and that was interesting to me.

For instance I have a play that, after mailers, is worth about $200. It would involve several trips to pick up all the freeplay, but more than that it's a high variance play that I'm not really bankrolled for. However, if I can just collect freeplay that gradually decreases for a few months and then do it again in 4 or 6 months instead of monthly, then the value of the offer goes up and the variance goes down, which is very appealing.

So I'm curious, does anyone have or want to share details about how fast or slow offers drop off at various casinos, or what some coin-in amounts are needed to get a level of offers?

Mailers change over time, for the worst because the economy, more ap, change in management, etc. When i first moved to vegas 2 years ago the Palms gave out points for fpdw, and now they dont. A few years before i showed up i heard they gave out full points, and had a progressive on top!

As far as bob dancer goes, i think he plays ddb qq for a return of 99.65%, with a 0.6% cashback on 2x days. The reason why he plays this over nsu is it only goes up to $10 a hand whereas on qq he can play multiline and the extra coin per hand adds to the return. I dont know what he plays but assuming a 10 play game on $1 on quick quads would be $60/hand. I cant imagine getting out over 500 hands an hour since he probably gets handpays and plays the machine next to it. His advantage is 0.25%, so 500 hands would = $75/hr. His handle per hr is $30k/hr. Im assuming hes playing perfect strategy and plays as much as he can for at least 12 hours a bonus day. $75*12 would be $900 in value, not including mailers. If he gets $100x4 next month then his 12 hours of play nets just over $108/hr. Not extremely great for the money coined in and risk but its an advantage. Also the easier the information to deciminate the less value.

Which brings me to my next topic. Information is king in this business. Say you dont have a bankroll to play a 3% game but its pretty juicy. All you have to do is find somebody with the money and buy yourself in for a %. The other way around is a lot harder. You dont know anything about good plays, and youll have to get information from sources.

Most people will provide you information, but you must be prepared to give something of equal value in exchange. Send me a pm if you want to trade.

Thanks for your reply. I guess the numbers for Bob make more sense -- he did say in an old article that he can play 30k coin-in per hour on QQ, and his mailers max out at $75/week. However I'm still slightly surprised that it's a trip-altering hourly for him. I don't know what his bankroll is but I've read about his big plays and I'd figure that with the levels he's able to play he would probably be able to make close to that on a semi-regular basis.

In terms of good plays, I'm pretty pleased with what I've got. Most of the information I'm interested in would be considered "meta" and with respect to individual casinos. Things like:

• What information is out there for a casino in terms of how mailer values are calculated, how fast do they drop off if one doesn't give them much play?
• Does a casino reward you with great offers if you drop a lot of play on them the first time you're there?
• What can you get from the host at a certain casino and how generous are the comps?
• Is it beneficial at a casino to maintain a low point balance when asking for a comp, or does it matter?
• Is there some known coin-in amount known to get the best mailer from a casino?
• How does play at different casinos in the same group affect your offers?
• Is a casino more concerned about ADT than total coin-in for a month?
• What casinos should you lay low at after hitting a taxable?
• What will get you no-mailed or no-promoed at a casino?
• Does picking up gifts, using your points to eat, or swiping at a kiosk affect your ADT at a casino?

Some of these things I learn more about by reading forums, some I learn more about by my own experiences. As I mentioned above, mailer drop off rate is something I just read about somewhere else and it made me think "hm, maybe I should pass up a high variance/low earn opportunity to just collect freeplay and see if I can make the play better that way." I was reading the Royal Flusher's blog the other day and he talked about complaining to a host that his offers had dropped. To me that was very shocking -- I try to stay off the radar as much as possible, but if such a request to a host is not sacrilege then I should look into it. However, Jean Scott and Bob Dancer are very visible and they're still able to play for a profit (and I've even seen Bob running around in a videopoker.com jumpsuit!).

This type of information is for trade. I wouldn't tell anyone about my plays unless I get information in return.

Keep in mind that at some properties VP does not generate the same offers as slot play does.

My guess is that dancer gets some leniency because of his following and radio show. If he is seen going to a casino then that is good press, if he talks about a play on his show then that is also good press. What would not be good press is if he went on his show and said don't play at x because they will 86 you.

Quote: GWAE

My guess is that dancer gets some leniency because of his following and radio show. If he is seen going to a casino then that is good press, if he talks about a play on his show then that is also good press. What would not be good press is if he went on his show and said don't play at x because they will 86 you.

Didn't he say this about Suncoast?

Quote: abacabb

Most of the information I'm interested in would be considered "meta" and with respect to individual casinos. Things like:

• What information is out there for a casino in terms of how mailer values are calculated, how fast do they drop off if one doesn't give them much play?

Did you ask a boothling?

I've had surprisingly good luck. Not everywhere, but sometimes you get info.

Sometimes you get the minimal answer "promotional offers are based on your play", sometimes they tell you the calculation periods, sometimes they tell you the tier levels.

Sometimes you can ask at one property and get information about the chain.