Saturday, May 24, 2008

A Free Play Whore No More in Las Vegas

I've always been a free play whore. If a resort
offers me free play and free rooms, I'm there.
No more. I just got back from Las Vegas and was
offered free play at MGM properties. I checked into
Treasure Island and New York New York for the
free play. Waste of time and effort.

I've been a die hard MGM resort fan. I always liked
the treatment and the amenities from the hosts and
the staff. I also liked the points that you can redeem
at the end of the year at their Players Club
Holiday Gift Shoppe. In the past, I've scored some great gifts
using my accumulated points. I played at different MGM resorts
and couldn't hit a thing. I didn't see any jackpots, either.
The machines were tighter than a
bad face lift. I couldn't get my points to rack up. Sigh.

Something has changed and I can't put my finger on it.
I went for my birthday and the usual champagne wasn't
offered, nor was the usual snack basket from my host
and my play hadn't changed. Hmmmm. Cutbacks, maybe?

New York New York has at least a third of their casino
under construction. I peeked behind the curtained off
area and there were piles of dirt and holes cut in the floor.
No construction was going on. It made the casino
claustrophobic and darker.

TI was not busy at all. It was empty all the time we were
there. Not one machine was hitting, didn't see one jackpot
the entire time we were there. I always hit something on
the video poker (usually a jackpot) and couldn't even hit
quads on anything!

Now back to my free play. Didn't win a nickel on it either
place. Makes me wonder if your machine goes into a different
mode when you are playing free play. I know all about the
number generator. I know its not easy to manipulate the
payouts, but it still makes me wonder. As soon as I pulled
out my players card and reinserted my card to stop the
free play, I hit something. It was little, but it was a hit.
Weird coincidence or is it a conspiracy to get us in the door to
play by dangling free play money in our face?

What do you think?

My free play whore days are over. I could have stayed
free at Red Rock Casino which is way more fun and way
more luxe than either TI or NYNY. But I went after
the free play, gambled and lost.