A Good Article Indicating That Las Vegas May Have Priced Itself Too High.

[dougp26364]

Not only did Vegas forget about the little guy... they forgot keeping the little guy drunk makes him gamble more. My family and I went in December and it was impossible to get our usual buzz from comped drinks. The waitresses at the Venetian Sports books requested a drink coupon each time they passed by or else pay for the drink. You get one coupon per bet. I was on a slot machine for an hour at the Tropicana and not once did someone pass by with drinks, same thing happened at the Palms. At Harrah's my cousin was betting the minimum on video poker at the bar and the bartender refused to give her a free drink unless she put in $20 in the machine cause she was up 108 credits starting from a $5.00 bet. We could not find a place to enjoy our gambling experience so we would leave sober and not spend as much.

We all had the general feeling that Vegas was getting stingy on us. Hey Vegas... last I remember a drunk gambler favors the casino's odds and revenue!

Yea, but a drunk gambler also sues the casino. There's been a couple of such law suits lately but I'm not certain how the plantiff came out on the deal.

At any rate, I'd never pay for a drink provided by one of the cocktail waitresses. Being a light weight when it comes to alcohol, I can easily tell when a drink has been watered down. Unless they serve beer by the bottle you're not getting a lot of alcohol in those "free" drinks.

Still, the cocktail waitress seems to be going the way of the change girls. You just don't see them as much anymore. It use to be that I could get 3 or 4 drinks in an hour. Now, if I'm on the strip I'm lucky if I ever see a cocktail waitress. Of course, with the odds the way they are, the most I'm willing to gamble is maybe $10 in a nickel video poker machine. I guess low end gamblers either don't deserve drinks or don't tip very well.

Now it's been a different story down at South Point. We'll sit down at the nickel machines and see the waitress several times before the machine eats our $10 or $20 bill. Not that we drink a lot but it's always good to at least know the option is there. It makes me feel as if South Point really does want my business more than the strip casino's that just want my money.

 

[davidvel]

Yea, but a drunk gambler also sues the casino. There's been a couple of such law suits lately but I'm not certain how the plantiff came out on the deal.

No gambler has ever been successful in this regard in Nevada.

Tahoe must be different. I was there 2 weeks ago, and you could have had 6 drinks an hour if you wanted them...

 

[Fern Modena]

South Point *is* different. Its my preferred casino. Michael Gaughan is a single casino owner, by choice. He knows his employees and has a good feel for who his customers are. He's good to both of them. I recently had occasion to talk to a Captain who had worked for Michael Gaughan for 22 years, and he said that even in these times Mr. Gaughan hadn't laid anybody off.

I was at the casino three days ago. It was crowded more than usual because it was the holiday season. The buffet line had perhaps a hundred people ahead of me, but we were let in about 12 minutes later. When gambling we were asked if we wanted a drink on an average of every 15 or 20 minutes.

Fern

Now it's been a different story down at South Point. We'll sit down at the nickel machines and see the waitress several times before the machine eats our $10 or $20 bill. Not that we drink a lot but it's always good to at least know the option is there. It makes me feel as if South Point really does want my business more than the strip casino's that just want my money.

 

[dougp26364]

South Point *is* different. Its my preferred casino. Michael Gaughan is a single casino owner, by choice. He knows his employees and has a good feel for who his customers are. He's good to both of them. I recently had occasion to talk to a Captain who had worked for Michael Gaughan for 22 years, and he said that even in these times Mr. Gaughan hadn't laid anybody off.

I was at the casino three days ago. It was crowded more than usual because it was the holiday season. The buffet line had perhaps a hundred people ahead of me, but we were let in about 12 minutes later. When gambling we were asked if we wanted a drink on an average of every 15 or 20 minutes.

Fern

Which is why we have been taking the drive down to South Point rather than gambling in the strip casino's when we hit Vegas. But, I wouldn't consider us the typical Vegas tourist.

I really like South Point. It still offers good odds to us low roller gambler. It's a clean casino with a light atmosphere compared to the dark, low ceiling atmosphere of many of the downtown casino's and, it offers a variety of activities and restaurants at different price points. Basically it's our home casino when we're in Vegas. We still don't gamble on anything more than the nickel machines but, when we're going to toss a couple of $20's in a machine, we'll actually drive to South Point rather than walk across the street to Planet Hollywood. In the end, South Point wins in that we rarely walk away with any money. At the nickel level we're paying for the entertainment rather than gambling. However I'm going to go someplace where my money will get me a little more time on the machine and has reasonably priced meal offerings for when we're finished.

I guess it's a good thing for South Point that all the strip casino's have forgotten the mid level and low level gamblers that gave them their start in the first place. We use to spend almost all our time in the strip casino's gambling but now rarely spend any money in them.

Case in point would be the Monte Carlo and NYNY. Both had a couple of banks of full pay JOB VP at the quarter level. We use to walk into those casino's with $100 each and sit down and play. While we usually didn't lose all our money, the casino's always got some of it in the end. We'd then stick around and eat lunch or dinner and maybe do a little shopping. With the Monte Carlo I'd always save a few quarters to put in the car carousels (they had the Z3 Beamers on them) and drop them in for the fun of it.

Now, we barely set foot in either casino. There's just nothing there for us anymore. About the only time we even venture in is if we're showing someone around. Even then no money changes hands anymore. When NYNY took out it's centeral park theme for it's casino, it took it down another notch for me. I use to enjoy having breakfast at Il Fonaio sitting on the patio by the little stream that was next to it. NYNY even took the stream out so it's nothing special to me anymore. NYNY isn't even a thought when we're thinking about where to go from Breakfast.

For the most part, these last two years we haven't shopped, gambled or dined on the strip. At least not like we use to. I'll even go off strip just to get a Starbucks coffee as the Starbucks in the casino's charge considerably more for the same product.

 

[JeffW]

I don't think I ever ate at that NYNY restaurant, though I did eat a few times at one in Caesar's Forum shops, which actually had an outside balcony which overlooked the strip. (It was a pastry shop with NY roots). I think I heard ~2 years ago it closed. It was ALL the way at the end of the Forum shops, either on the 2nd or 3rd floor, so I'm guessing maybe location (lack of good one !) did it in.

I haven't been to NYNY since maybe the year after it opened.

Jeff

 

[pfaff]

I never knew nickle poker machines existed. I know making nickle bets wont allow me to win big but it would definitely give me a reason to visit South Point. You gave me the inspiration to join their email list for their promotions.

I remember going to Vegas a few months after 9/11. Tourism seemed to have stopped all of a sudden and prices were very low. People were afraid to fly and most people that we met there had all driven. Airfare was as affordable as it is now. Vegas, aka the strip, adjusted accordingly to its economic downturn. However, now it seems the "Mega-Resorts" have over hyped themselves into believing they shouldn't lower their prices or possibly so over developed that it would be financially impossible for them to do so.

 

[dougp26364]

I never knew nickle poker machines existed. I know making nickle bets wont allow me to win big but it would definitely give me a reason to visit South Point. You gave me the inspiration to join their email list for their promotions.

I remember going to Vegas a few months after 9/11. Tourism seemed to have stopped all of a sudden and prices were very low. People were afraid to fly and most people that we met there had all driven. Airfare was as affordable as it is now. Vegas, aka the strip, adjusted accordingly to its economic downturn. However, now it seems the "Mega-Resorts" have over hyped themselves into believing they shouldn't lower their prices or possibly so over developed that it would be financially impossible for them to do so.

You can usually find nickle VP machines in most casino's. The pay table will make you cringe but, at that level could you really consider it gambling? South Pointe still has a better pay table on it's nickle VP than you'll find on the strip.