$150 to Only Play in Our Casino

Let's say you were planning a 5 day long trip to Las Vegas. You are planning on bring up a bankroll of $10,000 in travelers checks.

Your host casino offers you a free $150 (cash) with the rule that you can only play in their casino if you accept their offer. Would you take their deal?

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This is the senario that one of my friends Ann posed to me. Ann's bank is charging her $150 for $10,000 of travelers checks. Her other option is to take send her host casino $10,000 in front money or get a line of credit for $10,000. If it makes any difference, Ann's host casino is the Mandalay Bay.

While Ann likes playing at different places, she is also happy giving all of her action to the Mandalay Bay. Ann plays good basic strategy blackjack (0.5% house edge) at about $100 a hand or craps passline/come (1.41% house edge) at about $50 per roll with full odds behind. I estimated that her $150 savings would give her a therotical 4 more hours of blackjack or 4 1/2 hours of craps. Please check math below:

Blackjack - ($150 / 0.5%)/($100 * 70 hands per hour) = 4.28 hours

Craps - ($150 / 1.41%)/($50 * 45 points per hour) = 4.72 hours

I know Ann has to make her own decision, but do you feel this value is worth it you? Personally, I think it would be for me.

I live in St. Louis. Within a 30 minute drive, I can get to seven different casinos. When I go to Vegas, the best part is being able to walk around, see the sights, eat great food, and do whatever I want, because I'm on vacation.

There's no chance I would take the deal.

But if your friend is content with spending the whole trip at Mandalay (I can think of much worse places to spend 5 days), then I guess it's ok. Not my kind of Vegas trip though...

(long time reader, first time poster...)

How many hours of action would be required? I assume Ann would not be wearing an electronic ankle bracelet that would alert her host Ann is at Caesar's.

If it's as many hours, (or a few more) as she would normally spend at her "base" casino then it's a good deal.

If this is a theoretical question where she PHYSICALLY couldn't leave Mandalay then forget it.

There's nothing worse than staying in the casino when you just KNOW a dealer 6 is going to turn into a 21 when you have a $350 hand (that started at $50 with splits and doubles...)

In Ann's case, the $150 is the cost her bank is charging her for $10,000 of the travelers checks. If Ann takes out a line of credit for $10,000 with the Mandalay Bay, it would cost her $0. Therefore, it is almost the same as if the Mandalay Bay gave her $150 to play only at their casino.

She is not required a minimum time playing, but she is fairly hardcore and plays 8 hours or so a day. So 8 hours * 5 days = 40 hours during her trip. Of course Ann can walk around to other casinos, but if she does not take up travelers checks she can not play at them.

While I am expressing this as a hypothetical question, it is an actual thing that my friend is considering.

Quote: gambler

... She is not required a minimum time playing, but she is fairly hardcore and plays 8 hours or so a day. So 8 hours * 5 days = 40 hours during her trip. Of course Ann can walk around to other casinos, but if she does not take up travelers checks she can not play at them.

While I am expressing this as a hypothetical question, it is an actual thing that my friend is considering.

I think this scenario is definetly NOT worth $150! Either way good luck and enjoy Ann!!

I've never had a casino credit account but....

Is there any requirement to play the credit money only at their casino?

What's to prevent you from taking out a marker, and taking the cash to another casino?

I got a free cashier's check from my bank and deposited the 5K @ Planet Hollywood on arrival. They had me fax a copy of it to them and they verified it with bank before I arrived.

I took markers and played there until it was not fun...losing and the atmosphere was "weird" that weekend...then I just took markers and went elsewhere to play.

I would think this would save the $150 and allow her freedom to play wherever...

I would get the line of credit and stick mostly to the Mandalay. Your friend will get treated a lot better by sticking to one property, wherever it may be, than spreading her action around. If she gets restless at the Mandalay, she can cash small amounts of chips (like $500 or less) without getting questioned about markers at the cage. Basically, for high rollers, my advice is keep your play wherever you're staying, use a line of credit, and do non-gambling activities outside of your home property if you get restless to leave. Switching to another property to change your luck will not help. If you're tired of losing, stop playing. Finally, 1.5% for traveler's checks is much too high. I'd take my chances carrying cash before I did that.

The Wizard is 100% correct--I didn't get treated as well at P Ho as I would have had I played everything there. The fact is that I left not necessarily to change my luck (though it did change when I left), I left because the entertainment I was buying with my gambling dollars was not a good value. I lost at other properties, too...but I had a lot more fun. I left because I felt all I would be doing by remaining at P HO that night would be chasing comps or losing my session money too quickly.

The Wizard is 100% correct--I didn't get treated as well at P Ho as I would have had I played everything there. The fact is that I left not necessarily to change my luck (though it did change when I left), I left because the entertainment I was buying with my gambling dollars was not a good value. I lost at other properties, too...but I had a lot more fun. I left because I felt all I would be doing by remaining at P HO that night would be chasing comps or losing my session money too quickly.

Quote: Wizard

Your friend will get treated a lot better by sticking to one property, wherever it may be, than spreading her action around. ... Switching to another property to change your luck will not help.

I think there is a general understanding that its going to be better for the player to keep all her action at one casino, I think the issue is more having the player feel she is tethered to one particular casino. The bank fee on the checks is high and establishing a good credit relationship with the casino is "in the cards" eventually so it might as well be used promptly. I think the best would be: forget the bank fee, do the wire transfer, stay at one casino... and if things really and truly are not going well for you there and you insist on going elsewhere, be honest with them about it, but first be honest with yourself about it. Going to the au naturelle Mandalay Beach or having some Mandalay Martiniis will probably be more enjoyable than going to a different casino and having bad luck there too. I'd accept both the financial and psychological implications of the tether and have fun.

Most gamblers are highly superstitious as your friend might be. Whatever calculation you propose won't mean much if she loses $5K in her first day, and every ounce of her being wants to change to a different location.

I'm surprised she can't transfer her money and have it valid at any MGM MIRAGE casino. I thought they accepted each other's chips.

I wrote about this somewhere already, but you can fairly easily transfer a line of credit between MGM properties. It takes just a verbal request. It takes them about an hour, during business hours.

It seems to me casinos are cracking down on accepting each other's chips. When I was playing at the Pala casino I asked if they would accept a Pechanga chip (I think $25), and the dealer examined it like it was turd, gave it back to me and said, "This isn't Pechanga." Then I tried to get the floor supervisor to over-rule that decision, but she didn't. I've tried other times here in Vegas, but usually get rebuffed. I think if you asked say the Bellagio to take an MGM chip, they would refuse.

In Atlantic City, they specfically have signs that say they will not accept other chips. I think it's the right call. Casinos have to spend time instructing their employees to recognize THEIR chips and make sure they aren't fake. Expecting them to ID the chips from the other ten properties in the city seems unrealistic.

I remember Foxwoods has similar signs, which I believe included the phrase "violation of federal law".

What I don't recall is whether the violation was the customer attempting to redeem foreign chips, or the casino actually redeeming them.