Are casinos cutting promo offers again?

In another thread I posted how the dollar value of my offers from Caesars/Harrah's were cut starting in September. Free play and "gift" offers were both reduced.

I sent an email to my host seeking a reason why? It's possible because my play in LV has dropped from previous levels, and it is also possible that offers are being cut for the fall when visitor traffic normally increases because of the Vegas convention business.

Has anyone else seen a reduction or change in their "offers" starting in September?

It's also possible that this might the start of another "tightening" of comps and offers as the casinos try to boost profits.

I've heard this and seen similar comments every year since I've been involved with playing professionally. All I've ever been able to determine is my offers always have seemed to flow with the type of play I've given the various casinos, and never had anything to do with seasonal ups & downs or convention activity etc. It may be a little different now because of the economic problems, but by & large I think it's got mostly to do with where and how much play you've put in.

Difficult to figure those folks out at times. When I play at a location frequently, the offers sometimes get better as if to say "this is our way of rewarding you for your patronage" or the offers decline as if to say "we know you like us and you'll be visiting, so why should we give you anything since you'll be here anyway".

However, for some locations I HAVEN'T visited in a while, the offers generally dry up because I haven't given them any play. I suppose it's beyond their marketing plan mindset to go in the other direction and offer me something really good as an enticement to bring me back.

In my personal case, I know that Pechanga has reduced my "free play" offers to only $5 because they got no action from me, except for running my free play through their machines for the last year or so. For a while, my free play was as much as $75 a week, then $50, then $25 and it was $5 per week in August which wasn't even worth the gas to pull into their garage on my way to Rincon.

Earlier this year Rincon reduced everyone's free play because they were just "tightening up" after they determined they had some losses in their VP section. I got hit a second "reduction" because I started playing 8/5 Bonus instead of their 9/5 Double Double Bonus and I wasn't as "profitable" as I was before. This came from them directly and it is not my conjecture.

Caesars has just reduced me up to 60% on various offers for September vs previous offers during this year. I'm really curious why? While my number of trips has been fewer, my "action" hasn't changed.

I will let you know what my host says.

Gee Alan, you gambled less and you're getting lower offers. I'm amazed.

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Originally Posted by arcimede$

Gee Alan, you gambled less and you're getting lower offers. I'm amazed.

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While the number of trips was fewer, the $$ value of "coin in" or average bet at craps did not change. So what I want to find out is if the number of trips was an issue? My understanding is that the offers are not based on the number of trips, but the theoretical or dollar value of each trip.

Example who is worth more to a casino:

Player A goes to the casino once a year and puts through one million dollars in video poker.
Player B goes to the casino 100 times a year and over 100 visits puts through one million dollars in video poker.

the way I understand it, Player A is more desireable because Player A only requires comps and offers for one trip, while Player B requires comps and offers for 100 visits for the same "action."

Anyway, it's all conjecture at this point. I'll soon find out. In the meantime we all know the screws are getting tightened all the time. Are you still getting what you used to get Arc??

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Originally Posted by Alan Mendelson

Are you still getting what you used to get Arc??

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No changes in the last 3 years to the basic rewards after a significant improvement. They did go away from gift a month promotion to giving nicer gifts on a longer time scale. A good change.

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Originally Posted by arcimede$

No changes in the last 3 years to the basic rewards after a significant improvement. They did go away from gift a month promotion to giving nicer gifts on a longer time scale. A good change.

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Well good for you. Obviously you are not talking about Total Rewards. LOL

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Originally Posted by Alan Mendelson

Well good for you. Obviously you are not talking about Total Rewards. LOL

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Good things don't last forever. Some day it will change for the worse.

I play at a few LV Harrahs places, and I haven't noticed any changes yet. I don't play at Harrahs outside of LV. In my opinion, they've always been very generous with their offers. I know they're having their financial troubles but maybe they're gettin smarter when it comes to keeping their players.

I'm very interested in hearing what your host has to say Alan. I just tried to call mine at Imperial Palace for some general questions about this but she wasn't in today.

Caesars/Harrahs has always offered free/low cost rooms. That's their marketing strategy -- to get you in the door and play. Where they have cut is the $$ value of free play, gifts, shopping vouchers. This has been done steadily.