The Lastest on the Best Deals Casino Consumer by Steve Bourie
Las Vegas — The Stratosphere Casino Hotel and Tower has a great slot club program where you are guaranteed to win money. The program only applies to new slot club members, it’s not valid for greater Las Vegas area residents, and you can only use it one time.
Here’s how it works. Just sign up for a slot club card and use it every time you play any slot or video poker machine. The casino then guarantees to return any loss you may incur (up to $125) during the first 30 minutes of play, plus they will give you an extra 10% of those losses. This means that if you lose the maximum of $125 in the first 30 minutes the casino would return to you $125, plus an extra $12.50, for a total of $137.50. That’s the good news.
The bad news, however, is that the money is mailed to you in the form of a voucher at your home address and you have one year to bring it back to the casino in order to get your cash. You will also receive some sort of discounted room offer along with your voucher. If you know you’re going to return to Las Vegas then this is a great program because you know you can walk away a winner. If you’re not going to go back to Las Vegas then the program may be worthless to you.
I signed up for the program in July 2000 and was fortunate enough to have won money on a $1 9/6 Jacks or Better machine, so I didn’t get a voucher. I did, however, receive a room offer for two nights at $29.50 per night weekdays, or $57.50 per night on weekends. A friend of mine tried out the program the following month and he lost $30. He received a voucher for $33 along with an offer for a free room for three nights on weekdays, or $19.50 for two nights on weekends, plus free admission for two to the Stratosphere Tower. His offer was better than mine but, according to some casino discussion groups out on the Internet, the Stratosphere doesn’t necessarily send the better offer to losing players. Supposedly, some players have won money and also received the free room offer, which makes this a truly great deal for them.
If you sign up for the Stratosphere program the best strategy seems to be to start on $1 machines and if you get close to losing the maximum $125 then move down to quarter machines until you’ve fulfilled the minimum 30-minute requirement. This way, if you get lucky and win early, you’ll be hitting on a $1 machine, which could produce a good-sized win for you. If you’re unlucky you’ll just end up losing the maximum $125 and still walk away $12.50 ahead.
Las Vegas — Looking for a free lunch? Then head to the Wild Wild West Casino at 3330 W. Tropicana Avenue, make a minimum buy-in of $20 at the bar, and run it through any video poker machine. That will entitle you to receive a free item from a special lunch menu that includes hamburgers, sandwiches and finger foods such as chicken tenders.
Atlantic City — The Claridge offers a free slot tournament every Tuesday from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. You must be a slot club member to participate and each player gets 10 minutes to accumulate credits. The prize structure is: Grand Prize — $1,000; 2nd Prize — $500; 3rd Prize — $150; and, 4th through 10th Prizes — $50. Win-ners must be present between 6:00 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. to claim prizes on the date of the tournament.
Reno/Lake Tahoe — If you’re surfing the Net be sure to make a trip to the following page: http://www.renotahoefun.com/funbook/index.htm. You can then sign up to receive a free funbook with some good two-for-one offers valid at Reno/Lake Tahoe area casinos.
Tunica — Bally’s has two good offers in play. First, every time you valet park your car you’re given a $5 match play. Since it’s free to valet park why would you even consider self-parking? Second, once a month you can you can get $15 in non-negotiable chips for just $10, plus you’ll receive a set of Win Cards that show you the basics of how to play blackjack, craps and roulette.
Biloxi — The President has a free slot tournament each week. If you’re a slot club member just show up any Wednes-day from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. for your chance to win $800 in cash prizes. Also, on Wednesdays the President has a Blackjack Challenge Tournament from 6:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. offering $2,000 in prize money. There’s a $10 entry fee but the casino gives all entrants either a free buffet, or a $10 match play, so it’s an almost free tournament!
