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This seventh entry in our Vegas trip series depicts the actual dollar savings / earnings from coupon use and awarded comps during the trip. The intent of this article is to present potential comp and coupon savings scenarios for prospective Vegas visitors who are considered low - mid stakes level gamblers. Awarded comps entries and individual coupon info are presented separately below. A previous Examiner article depicted our planning efforts and process for this trip.
Comp Awards :
- Room comp value : We had received free room offers for 2 nights at the Flamingo (Harrah's Entertainment / Total Rewards) and a 3 night stay at MGM Grand (MGM Mirage property). These offers were of course based on previous player's club memberships and wagering at low-midlevel stakes blackjack, slots, and video poker. The total "retail" dollar values of these free rooms for the mentioned stays were approximately $135 at the Flamingo (included a strip-view room upgrade comp) and $240 at MGM Grand. Collectively, the comped value for the specific room accommodations under current conditions totaled approximately $380.
- Dining comps : In return for publishing an MGM Grand profile article based on the current trip's experiences, we asked for and received 6 comped buffets at MGM Grand's Buffet. The comp value of these 6 buffets totaled $141 excluding taxes. Additional dining comps included 40$ at New York, New York's America cafe (from blackjack play) and $28 for 2 comped meals (from accumulated player's club points) at Terrible's Bougainvillea Cafe. The total awarded meal comps were valued at $209.
- Comp accruals and associated player overall monetary expectations can be enhanced by playing casino games that offer better player odds (lower house edge) and by applying bankroll / wagering management. Awarded comps are nice enticements that the casinos offer but comped rooms, shows, and meals can be exorbitantly expensive for players who aren't attentive to their choice of casino games and for those who fail to keep tabs on their gambling outcomes. Our approach to these factors include play at blackjack games with player-favorable rules and attempts to identify higher payback penny or nickel denomination slot machines (plus a 50% initial buy - in, stop-loss axiom on slot machines per sit-down session) and full-pay video poker machines played with known strategy approaches for specific machine genres (eg deuces wild, bonus poker, jacks or better,etc.). Our play on this trip was characterized by blackjack play (with accurate basic strategy) involving an overall average bet per hand of $26 and 4 - 6 average total hours per day. Refer to this previous Examiner article for comp accrual specifics for blackjack play in Vegas.
- The overall dollar value specifically associated with awarded comps on this trip summed $589. The comped rooms were of course earned from previous Vegas trip gambling activity and we've already received e-mail and mailer offers for future comped rooms from our gambling experiences on this trip. An astute question would be "How much was spent to obtain these "free" comps?". In sum total terms , we incurred an overall win from our gambling activity on this particular trip though we experienced the typical up and down, roller-coaster results that accompany wagering at Vegas casinos and games. Blackjack play was the primary source of our winnings and it was quite apparent that slot conditions in Vegas have deteriorated in terms of payback percentages / payoffs and there were few opportunities to avoid losses despite application of the 50% stop - loss approach mentioned above. We eventually managed to identify a few machines that were somewhat consistent and they provided enough profits to render our overall slot monetary outcome as tolerable. The slots were quite "tight" on this trip and we sampled enough of them to be certain of that analysis relative to our last two Vegas trips. The fiscal conditions of the Vegas hotel-casinos we've all read and heard about have apparently forced them to squelch down slot payback percentages. At times I was personally frustrated enough to consider an orange-peel body buff spa treatment but my senses eventually returned.
Coupon Savings :
Our total savings / earnings from coupon use on this trip summed $275.80 and included both free and purchased coupons from sources listed in a previous Examiner article . Of that total, we earned $135 profit from use of eight $10 blackjack match play coupons (from Las Vegas Advisor and American Casino Guide sources) at four different casinos that included some split and doubledown opportunities on which we won the hands. Other represented coupons that we used, their sources , and savings follow.
Southwest drink coupons (2) Southwest Airlines $10
Ellis Island 50% off entree Las Vegas Advisor(LVA) $ 7
Restaurant.com dining (2 locales) Restaurant.com $40
Free drinks (3 locales) American Casino Guide(ACG) $14
Bella Panini deli (2 for 1) LVA $ 8
Haagen Daz (2 for 1) x 2 ACG $10
Misc hot dogs,pretzels coupons x 4 LVA / ACG $20
We have multiple coupons remaining for redemption in Vegas on subsequent 2009 trips from multiple sources. The above $275.80 total was the result of redeeming a total of 23 coupons. The total amount we have invested in 2009 coupons as of this writing is $124. We have redeemed only a small proportion of both purchased and free coupons valid for this year. It should be noted that we experienced particularly good luck on the specific blackjack hands dealt when using the match play coupons. These allowed some double downs and splits that turned out completely in our favor on 5 of 8 total hands. It often doesn't work that way but there is true value in using blackjack match play coupons.
Total Comps + Coupon Value : The dollar value of the above described combined comp awards and coupons totaled $864.80. As low-midlevel stakes gamblers we consider that a significant sum for a 5 day trip to Vegas. It's important to point out that the total amounts wagered to obtain comp awards have to be monitored and tabulated as time accumulates. A critical element is to know what gambling levels are required to obtain specific comps at specific casinos because they vary a bunch. Chasing comps (where potentially exorbitant amounts of cash are wagered to obtain a buffet, for example) is foolhardy and will drain bankrolls and any hope to enjoy a Vegas trip for the majority of visitors.
Cheers...
Charles Higgins
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