Advertising a "good game" on the Vegas strip

This idea came up on a previous thread. The question is have you ever seen an advertisement from a strip casino making the claim that the odds of gambling at their casino are better than other places on the strip?

I am not interested in third party analysis, only in a casino advertisement that they offer better odds or looser slots or even a lower rake. The question is about Vegas Strip casinos (see definition below) since these claims are frequently made about off-strip casinos. If a casino said "fewer or no 6:5 blackjack tables" that would be of interest.

The only exception I can find (which may be grandfathered in) is the Casino Royale website which has a single line: 100X odds on craps!. They fail to mention the 100X odds are at only one craps table.

A Vegas strip casino is defined (using the Gaming Commission Definition) as starting at the Sahara and going to Mandalay Bay. Palace Station, Gold Coast, Palms, Rio, Wild Wild West, Terrible's, Hard Rock, and Ellis Island are considered part of the strip. Orleans and Stratosphere and the very southern casinos on Las Vegas Blvd like M Resort and South Coast are not considered "strip casinos".

The idea in question is have the casino corporations colluded (possibly an informal agreement) not to compete on "house average" in public advertisements. We all know that they offer better odds to whales on a case by case basis. Ads are strictly to be about amenities, price value for rooms and food, sex, luxury, class, variety of gaming options and liberal comps.

I consider the billboard that Palms took out trumpeting the results of the Wizard's Slot machine Analysis to be exploiting a 3rd party result.

Yes, there used to be just such an ad on the face of Bill's Gambling Hall, viewable from the Bally's side. Or maybe it was while it was still Barbary Coast. For all I know, it's still there -- can't remember looking lately.

As a side note, every time I see an ad for "Loose slots", I think I am seeing an offer of "Loose sluts." (Hope that doesn't cross the new line, Wizard.)

It's not so much the result of collusion per se, but a realization that the casinos pretty much all offer the same product, so they concentrate on selling the sizzle, since everyone is selling a steak. So rather than engage in an "arms race" of advertising: "we offer better odds on blah blah", the Strip casinos concentrate on intangibles (i.e., bullshit).

It wasn't this way, not so long ago. In the days before three giant megacorporations owned the entire Strip, competition was cutthroat and fierce, and you did indeed see much touting of "the best odds in Vegas yada yada". I fondly remember the marquee above the Barbary Coast touting "double odds on breakfast", indicating that they should probably make sure the sign guy has his morning coffee before he starts work.

You do see displays that IMPLY one casino's gambling offerings are better than another's, such as "337.5 million paid out this month!" or (my favorite) "Single deck blackjack--back by popular demand!!" (6:5 blackjack, that is, in demand about as much as battery-acid enemas).

Fitzgerald's keeps an ancient 17/10 Loose Deuces .05 video poker machine that returns 101.6%, for the sole purpose of being able to say that they have "the best video poker in Vegas". Which, as long as that machine is plugged in and operational, is technically true. But does that mean bloody all? No. Similarly, most casino advertisements don't mean anything substantive.

Quote: mkl654321

It's not so much the result of collusion per se, but a realization that the casinos pretty much all offer the same product, so they concentrate on selling the sizzle, since everyone is selling a steak. So rather than engage in an "arms race" of advertising: "we offer better odds on blah blah", the Strip casinos concentrate on intangibles (i.e., bullshit).

The argument is not convincing. Downtown casinos have huge signs offering the extra odds in craps, as does Eastside Cannery on the Boulder strip. As we said earlier, El Cortez trumpets their loose slots. It is just the strip casinos that seem to exempt themselves from this kind of advertising.

Quote: pacomartin

The argument is not convincing. Downtown casinos have huge signs offering the extra odds in craps, as does Eastside Cannery on the Boulder strip. As we said earlier, El Cortez trumpets their loose slots. It is just the strip casinos that seem to exempt themselves from this kind of advertising.

That's exactly what I said--"Strip casinos".

Quote: mkl654321

It's not so much the result of collusion per se, but a realization that the casinos pretty much all offer the same product, so they concentrate on selling the sizzle, since everyone is selling a steak. So rather than engage in an "arms race" of advertising: "we offer better odds on blah blah", the Strip casinos concentrate on intangibles (i.e., bullshit).

Whether its a formal agreement, an informal one or simply a collective wisdom of knowing not to start a war that is costly and unwinnable, I don't know. The Gaming Commission will not allow a casino to say "loosest slots". Even Casino Royale's less than fully informative sign only touts its own offerings and doesn't denigrate other casinos odds. A hop, skip and a jump off-strip is Tuscany Resorts and they hired a firm to redo their website so that utterly absurd phrase "where the odds are in your favor" is no longer there.

What would a "we have better sizzle" ad do for a casino. They only want to say " we have sizzle". Bright lights, beautiful women, sound of dropping coins... does it really matter which casino you are in? I doubt the strip casinos are ever going to start a war. The Gaming Commission surely doesn't want one licensee criticizing another licensee. I don't know if their regs prohibit it though.

Its probably just a common sense realization. If one casino keeps putting up bigger and bigger signs about how good the odds are there and some other casino keeps putting up bigger and bigger signs about how good the odds are there... the casino in the middle can make alot of money with a large sign saying: "Main Entrance".

Back when some Strip casinos still had real single-deck blackjack I think those that did indicated so on their signs. To name two: the Slots-a-Fun and the Silver City. Strangely, two fairly recent boasts is the big sign at Bally's that said "We pay a whopping 6 to 5 on blackjack," and the recording outside the Casino Royale said, for years, that in blackjack "you can even hit a soft 17," as if other casinos prohibited that.

I know I have seen ads promoting blackjack and loose slots on the marquee at Slots-a-Fun. But that was at least 3 years ago, maybe more.

That "whopping 6 to 5" sign made my stomach turn when I saw it.

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