Paying a discounted price for casino action.

"Casino action" is a term that is used to describe promotional chips or free play that casinos give their players. I am using the phrase "casino action" because I don't know what other phrase to use to discuss a promotion at Pauma Casino in northern San Diego County.

Here's how Pauma describes the promotion:

Tuesdays & Wednesdays • 8AM-10AM
Fridays • 4PM-6PM
Give us $20 Cash, and we'll add $30 in Free Slot Play to your Players Club account!

So let's go over this: you give the casino $20 cash, and they give you $30 of casino action -- free slot play.

That's really not too shabby a deal because it certainly turns any negative expectation video poker game into a positive expectation game because each dollar bet is actually costing you about 66-cents. That 33% savings on each dollar bet certainly offsets the house advantage on most video poker games which is usually about 1-2%.

The downside is that it appears this is only good for one purchase of $30. However, the mailer doesn't say anything about this being a one-time transaction. Does anyone know if multiple transactions are allowed?

Heck, I'd gladly give the casino $2,000 in exchange for $3,000 of casino action -- or free play (whatever you want to call it).

That deal doesn't sound very exciting. There is no chance they let you buy multiples of $30 for $20.

It's not even worth driving the extra few miles to Pauma for that deal.

I did do a similar deal on my recent NCL cruise, but it was better than this. I got $125 in freeplay for $65. I did this by combining 3 offers. This was worth the trouble, and I ended up ahead like $45 when it was all said and done, even with the horrible VP machines on board.