Caesars is denying free drinks to Diamond Plus members if they earned it through low house edge methods (poker, sports, tier multipliers, etc)

(Thread updated May 3, 2024)

Las Vegas Caesars properties appear to be denying the standard "4 free drinks per day" benefit to certain Diamond Plus members, based upon how they earned their status.

Originally this benefit was added to Diamond Plus in order to make up for the loss of the Laurel Lounges (formerly known as Diamond Loungers) in the Vegas market.

Now a number of people are reporting that, since May 1, they cannot redeem their free drinks at Las Vegas Caesars properties. While at first believed to only be affecting those who earned most of their 25,000 tier credits through poker or sports, I have a new theory.

It is my belief that anyone who had a "low theoretical loss" getting to Diamond Plus -- that is, people who reached the status through methods with a low house edge -- have been denied the drink benefit.

Every time you play anything at Caesars, they assign a "theoretical loss" based upon the amount the house would make from you at this particular game if your luck was exactly average.

Those who earned most of their tier credits through low theoretical loss activities, such as poker, online poker (WSOP.com), and sportsbetting, seem to have lost their drink privileges.

Additionally, those who got their tier credits mostly through high-return video poker and tier multipliers (remember, Caesars has had several 5x tier multiplier days), also seem to have lost their free drinks. Again, this is because getting to 25,000 tiers via a tier multiplier and high-return video poker would result in a low theoretical loss for your account.

It is likely that the Caesars computer has been reprogrammed as of May 1, 2024 to NOT grant the drink tickets to anyone who has a theoretical loss below a certain amount. Keep in mind that this is not about your ACTUAL wins or losses, but rather your theoretical loss, based upon what you played and how you earned your tier credits.

Here was John Mehaffey's original tweets about the matter yesterday:

https://twitter.com/John_Mehaffey/st...30159148007534



This is a first for Caesars, and not in a good way.

Unlike some other companies, Caesars never differentiated how you earned your tier. If you got to the tier, you were equivalent to everyone else of that same tier, and you got all the same base benefits.

This has not yet been explained, and apparently employees at the Caesars Rewards desk are unaware of the change.

Small chance this is a glitch, but most likely it's a change.



Even if you are not Diamond Plus, or if you are but don't care about free drinks, this is HORRIBLE news. If Caesars starts second-classing certain players based upon HOW they got to a certain status, then the status starts to become meaningless.

Hopefully they reverse course.



Also, it has been noticed that the webpage promoting the benefit is now completely gone. Perhaps it will soon be gone for everyone. Here is the old webpage from the internet archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20231128...-vegas/lvoffer

So apparently Caesars got a really good deal on hiring a new marketing VP that used to work for Bud Light.

She is trying to make Caesars more diverse & inclusive.

She felt that poker players are sort of out of touch, sort of fratty, & one reason the Caesars brand is shrinking.

The plan is to cut costs through reducing benefits to poker players & use the savings to hire transgender dancers to dance in the blackjack pits.

The goal is that this will grow this iconic brand by bringing in new players & a younger crowd.

https://www.8newsnow.com/news/local-...sars-ceo-says/

Tom Reeg has chased away all his long-term, loyal, Total Rewards players. All that's left are poker players, sports app players, tier matches and the diehards who think the LL will still reopen.
This guy lost $$ in the first quarter in Vegas with the Super Bowl in his backyard.

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Originally Posted by DGenBen

So apparently Caesars got a really good deal on hiring a new marketing VP that used to work for Bud Light.

She is trying to make Caesars more diverse & inclusive.

She felt that poker players are sort of out of touch, sort of fratty, & one reason the Caesars brand is shrinking.

The plan is to cut costs through reducing benefits to poker players & use the savings to hire transgender dancers to dance in the blackjack pits.

The goal is that this will grow this iconic brand by bringing in new players & a younger crowd.

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We all know of a certain BJ player who would appreciate a good transgender dancer....

UPDATE:

I have been told this by a Poker Fraud Alert Radio listener:

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Two people I know, locals currently living in Vegas who played exactly 4,000 base Tier Credits (plus the daily 5k bonus) on video poker on 5x TC promos in March 2023 to get to exactly 25,000 TCs, one did it in Tahoe (9/6 Jacks), another in Vegas (9/5 Jacks).

Both order 4 expensive Starbucks drinks or bottle protein shakes a day (over 1,400 free drinks in the past year), since they live in Meridian Condos on Flamingo/Koval and can walk to Planet Hollywood or Linq Starbucks. No surprise they got cut off, but just an example of a non-poker player, non-sportsbettor.

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This guy is reliable and would not make this stuff up.

Therefore, I am now changing my belief here. I don't think it was directly aimed at poker players and sportsbettors. I believe they removed the benefit from anyone with a low theoretical loss, who reached Diamond Plus!

This means that anyone who primarily earned it via poker, WSOP.com, sportsbetting, or high-return video poker with tier multipliers, are probably not getting their free drinks.

Additionally, it appears the offer may be out the door anyway.

The webpage promoting this benefit is completely gone. The URL was this: https://www.caesars.com/las-vegas/lvoffer

Here is the old webpage, from the internet archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20231128...-vegas/lvoffer

According to John Mehaffey, two people DM'd him on Twitter that they still have the drink benefit. So it really does seem like it's only been removed for select people, probably based on theoretical loss.

Very strange that they'd do this mid-year, instead of just killing it on 2/1/25 when the new benefit year started.

Caesars has long been slowly cutting benefits from their gambling patrons. Since the strip has become more of a tourist attraction with families pushing strollers instead of gaming, they figure there is more profit in getting people to pay for overpriced food and hotel rooms. I have a friend who was a legit Seven Stars and she stopped giving action to Caesars long ago.

I supposedly had reservations for a premium room at Paris last year and they put us in some renovated old Bally's tower room. Huge PITA to get to, Paris reception was useless and the host on duty was downright rude... never again with Caesars LV. Their cost cutting is bound to catch up to them. One thing they don't understand is even if Caesars is not making much money off some of their elite tier holders, pissing them off means they won't bring their friends and family to their properties either.

I'm about 99% sure that not all Caesars properties rate the same way. The strip may very well be strongly theo but in Reno you can get pretty good offers on coin in alone. Their New Orleans property seems to rate more on actual losses.

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Originally Posted by jdog

Caesars has long been slowly cutting benefits from their gambling patrons. Since the strip has become more of a tourist attraction with families pushing strollers instead of gaming, they figure there is more profit in getting people to pay for overpriced food and hotel rooms. I have a friend who was a legit Seven Stars and she stopped giving action to Caesars long ago.

I supposedly had reservations for a premium room at Paris last year and they put us in some renovated old Bally's tower room. Huge PITA to get to, Paris reception was useless and the host on duty was downright rude... never again with Caesars LV. Their cost cutting is bound to catch up to them. One thing they don't understand is even if Caesars is not making much money off some of their elite tier holders, pissing them off means they won't bring their friends and family to their properties either.

I'm about 99% sure that not all Caesars properties rate the same way. The strip may very well be strongly theo but in Reno you can get pretty good offers on coin in alone. Their New Orleans property seems to rate more on actual losses.

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I’d be really curios to know what their actual marketing strategy is.

As near as I can figure their target customer is someone who likes horrible payback slots, aging run down properties, and mediocre to awful customer service.

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Originally Posted by DGenBen

horrible payback slots, aging run down properties, and mediocre to awful customer service.

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LOL... pretty much.

Seems the bigger a company gets, the worse their decision making gets. They were already heading a bad direction but once Eldorado took over (plus Covid), it's been cutting every corner possible in the name of short term profits. You can tell most of their employees are miserable too, probably a horrible company to work for.

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Originally Posted by jdog

Their New Orleans property seems to rate more on actual losses.

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May have spoken too soon on this. Caesars corporate (or Vegas) ratings seem to adjust almost instantly, but after we visited N.O. over a week later there was a regional adjustment made only to our New Orleans (or Louisiana) property ratings. Since my wife beat them on BJ two trips in a row but now they seem to love her, losses can't be a factor. So I'd tend to agree with more of a theo rating for this property.

It's odd to me that some Caesar's properties will offer me rooms having never been there, based solely upon my corporate rating and some do not. It seems there is some regional independence in terms of what criteria they use to calculate comps, and then once you visit a given property, their own take on rating you.

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Originally Posted by jdog

May have spoken too soon on this. Caesars corporate (or Vegas) ratings seem to adjust almost instantly, but after we visited N.O. over a week later there was a regional adjustment made only to our New Orleans (or Louisiana) property ratings.

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I'm probably unclear on your terminology.

I commented on hotel comps in the other thread:

https://vegascasinotalk.com/forum/sh...071#post176071

Their system has a lot of complications imo. For example, this is my hotel comp calendar for the Row in Reno:



Almost any date is free. But they cut me off completely from mail offers, and I rarely receive an invitation. Occasionally they'll blast something out to the entire Seven Stars tier, but usually I'm excluded.

Reno seems one of the most lenient regions to give both room and freeplay offers, you must have done something they didn't like. At New Orleans I put my play in the day before I stayed so they no-roomed me but freeplay is the same. The complexity of their comp systems makes it challenging to figure out promo plays.

Booth review found an unintended pun:

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Originally Posted by Don Perignom

Their system has a lot of complications

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Sorry about that.

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Originally Posted by jdog

Reno seems one of the most lenient regions to give both room and freeplay offers, you must have done something they didn't like.

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The GM was NOT in earshot when I called him a f***ing moron.

I play a lot of different casinos, and don't understand any of them :o. It's difficult because any outcome you get can usually have multiple possible explanations. It could possibly be useful to seek info from a host, but they're usually not very clued in themselves.

I meant to post this a few weeks ago.

In August, a Seven Stars member told me he lost his drink privileges.

Seven Stars!!

So they're not just going after Diamond Plus anymore. Basically if they don't like how much play you've put in (perhaps compared to your drink redemptions), it gets cut.

I have also been told a rumor that Caesars is fed up with this entire situation, and will be reopening the Laurel Lounges in 2025.

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Originally Posted by Dan Druff

I meant to post this a few weeks ago.

In August, a Seven Stars member told me he lost his drink privileges.

Seven Stars!!

So they're not just going after Diamond Plus anymore. Basically if they don't like how much play you've put in (perhaps compared to your drink redemptions), it gets cut.

I have also been told a rumor that Caesars is fed up with this entire situation, and will be reopening the Laurel Lounges in 2025.

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What am I missing Druff? How would reopening the LL’s help the situation? They were where the majority of “problems” started? By problems I mean what they considered the abuse by certain locals.

Unless the plan is you get a certain number of passes per year based on your tier level. In that case the tourists would be fine and the locals screwed which I assume is the goal.

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Originally Posted by The Boz

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dan Druff

I meant to post this a few weeks ago.

In August, a Seven Stars member told me he lost his drink privileges.

Seven Stars!!

So they're not just going after Diamond Plus anymore. Basically if they don't like how much play you've put in (perhaps compared to your drink redemptions), it gets cut.

I have also been told a rumor that Caesars is fed up with this entire situation, and will be reopening the Laurel Lounges in 2025.

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What am I missing Druff? How would reopening the LL’s help the situation? They were where the majority of “problems” started? By problems I mean what they considered the abuse by certain locals.

Unless the plan is you get a certain number of passes per year based on your tier level. In that case the tourists would be fine and the locals screwed which I assume is the goal.

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Because most people are taking bottled drinks to go. These are expensive, as Caesars has to buy them, and has to also go through the hassle of repeatedly restocking them.

Caesars would much prefer that people just get drinks from the bar, in normal fashion.

There's a ton of people who go to Caesars properties specifically to get bottled drinks, then take them home. These are locals, but there are also people from out of the area who do it and just take the stuff back to their room. These people would NOT be showing up much to the Laurel Lounges, as their entire purpose is to hoard bottled drinks, not to drink alcohol at the bar.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dan Druff

Quote:

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Originally Posted by The Boz

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dan Druff

I meant to post this a few weeks ago.

In August, a Seven Stars member told me he lost his drink privileges.

Seven Stars!!

So they're not just going after Diamond Plus anymore. Basically if they don't like how much play you've put in (perhaps compared to your drink redemptions), it gets cut.

I have also been told a rumor that Caesars is fed up with this entire situation, and will be reopening the Laurel Lounges in 2025.

---

What am I missing Druff? How would reopening the LL’s help the situation? They were where the majority of “problems” started? By problems I mean what they considered the abuse by certain locals.

Unless the plan is you get a certain number of passes per year based on your tier level. In that case the tourists would be fine and the locals screwed which I assume is the goal.

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Because most people are taking bottled drinks to go. These are expensive, as Caesars has to buy them, and has to also go through the hassle of repeatedly restocking them.

Caesars would much prefer that people just get drinks from the bar, in normal fashion.

There's a ton of people who go to Caesars properties specifically to get bottled drinks, then take them home. These are locals, but there are also people from out of the area who do it and just take the stuff back to their room. These people would NOT be showing up much to the Laurel Lounges, as their entire purpose is to hoard bottled drinks, not to drink alcohol at the bar.

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Last time I was in N. Nevada they weren’t offering the 4 free drink coupons anymore.

They were offering a $7 voucher for Starbucks drinks each day.

This was both in Reno & Tahoe. I’m 7 Stars with most of the tier credits from slots.

This was a couple months back.

Interesting.

I didn't even know they had the 4 drink thing in Northern Nevada. I thought it was only Vegas.

Anyway, this has got to be a huge burden for Caesars. Not only is it a real hard cost, but it's a pain for employees, as they have to keep ordering these bottled drinks to keep up with the demand, plus probably replace the stock at these little counters several times a day.

Not that I feel bad for Caesars, as this was a result of them being cheapskates in the first place -- failing to reopen the lounges after COVID, in an attempt to save money. It backfired. I do feel bad for the employees, though.

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Originally Posted by Dan Druff

Interesting.

I didn't even know they had the 4 drink thing in Northern Nevada. I thought it was only Vegas.

Anyway, this has got to be a huge burden for Caesars. Not only is it a real hard cost, but it's a pain for employees, as they have to keep ordering these bottled drinks to keep up with the demand, plus probably replace the stock at these little counters several times a day.

Not that I feel bad for Caesars, as this was a result of them being cheapskates in the first place -- failing to reopen the lounges after COVID, in an attempt to save money. It backfired. I do feel bad for the employees, though.

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You know, now that I think about it, I don’t think Reno ever had the 4 drink offer.

Tahoe definitely did in at least 20-22 then I think starting around 2023 they started the $7 daily Starbucks vouchers for awhile in both Tahoe & Reno.

Last trips there I had neither the 4 drinks or the Starbucks voucher.

That could be because I don’t play at any of those places much anymore because for the most part, the games they offer are shit, & the properties are decrepit & falling apart.

Most of the lower level employees are pleasant & friendly but once you run into any sort of problem you will surely run into some godawful shitty service too regardless of your card status.