$1-million drawing at Rincon. Reports?

[Alan Mendelson]

I didn't go... saw no point in going since I figured I had zero chance of winning plus there was no free play and the usual last Saturday of the month free play drawings were not being held.

About my "zero chance" of winning: I figured 6,000 players would show up and at least 500 would have more play and entries than I had.

Overall I figured my chances at one in 100,000.

[Alan Mendelson]

Question: did Rincon earn one-million dollars in profits on Saturday, June 28 -- the same day it gave out a million dollar prize?

Consider this: Rincon, according to its website, has 1,700 slot machines. (See: http://www.harrahsresortsoutherncali...l#.U7CUII1OXIU )

Various industry reports put the daily profit of a slot machine at $220 on a normal day. Doing the math 1700 X $220 = $374,000.

However, I was told that the casino was mobbed and it was almost impossible to find an empty seat in the casino for much of the day and the night (the drawing was at 11pm). One of our forum members who was there sent me a message that the crowd there surpassed any New Year's Eve. It is not impossible that Rincon doubled a normal daily "take" at its slots which could mean 2 X $374,000 = $748,000 in profits on its slot machines.

But wait... there's more! Rincon also has various table games and while I can't find an accurate count on the number of table games we can make the assumption that they all delivered profits on Saturday.

This is why I think Rincon might have indeed covered the million dollar prize just with the day's revenue.

Now, let's add in some of their extra marketing costs: the party, the drawing event, extra personnel. Remember, the end of the month normal $50,000 free-play drawings were not held. While "free play" doesn't necessarily translate into $50,000 of losses we can make the assumption that some of the employee costs normally associated with the free play drawings were shifted over to the cost of covering the million dollar event.

Let's not forget the added revenue of having every hotel room sold out, plus the added revenue at the restaurants and at the bars.

If I'm right, perhaps in 2015 Rincon will have three million dollar events?

[Aaron]

The casino was packed not an empty slot or an open seat at the tables between 9:30 and midnight.

I was playing a slot by the ATM in the high limit room and there was never less then 10 people in line.

There were no food vouchers available on Saturday!

I don’t know why the offered the 10x\5x Bonus RC on that day. I earned over $1000 in RC on Saturday.

[Nash]

My husband davo wrote this.

June 28th visit to rincon

a friend of ours asks us to write about our visit to rincon (harrah’s southern california resort) on the night of the millioniare maker drawing.

The following is a short play by play.

We arrived at rincon around 3:00 pm on saturday the 28th.

The first thing i noticed was the extra parking on valley centre road was starting to fill up. Normally this only happens when there is a concert going on and the head liner is pretty popular. As we pulled in the “sign said” the valet was full except for the diamond, 7 stars members and hotel guests only and no freaky people allowed.

Upon check in we were able to switch our room from the new north tower over to the dive tower. When receiving our 7 stars basket we were told that they ran out of regular coke and only had diet coke left. My lovely wife doesn’t care for diet coke and neither do i. You may wonder why i chose the dive tower over the new north tower. The simple answer is that i like being close to video poker machine area. I also enjoy listening to the music coming from the pool area during the afternoon and later in the evening should i run up to my room.

About 3:30 pm we hit the casino. Just from observing the casino i could quickly tell that there was going to be a large group of people coming down to the casino for the millionaire drawing. At this point a large number of the machines were being occupied. This was just the beginning.

Around 3:45 pm i ran into our hostess. She alerted me immediately that the dinner was being served at 5:15 pm promptly. She then said that they will be closing the doors at 5:15 pm. If you had registered to attend the dinner at 5:15 pm and showed up at 5:20 pm i guess that meant that you were out of luck. Just to play it safe we entered the event center at 5:00 pm. When we walked into the event center it appeared that they had about a hundred tables or more with seating for 10 at each table. We were seated at table 45. The event center was decorated tastefully.

The dinner was served promptly at 5:15 pm. For starters we had a salad (gourmet style) consisting of mixed greens served in wrapped tortilla with a couple of grape tomatoes on the plate. There was italian dressing on the table to use. There were fruit tarts in front of each plate for dessert. The entrÉe was served right away consisting of an ice cold 6 ounce filet with green mashed potatoes, 2 carrots and 2 asparagus sticks and 2 poached shrimp. I have to say honestly that the filet appeared to be a nice cut of meat however; it was definitely not prepared for eating. The entire piece of meat was completely red. For a lack of other words it was still alive. It was kind of funny but my wife and i looked at each other and said the words……”we can’t eat this.” i was happy with the salad and vegetables however, i wasn’t taking any chances on the meat or shrimp. We excused ourselves, offered our tarts to the nice couple sitting next to us and said “lets go get something to eat.” on the way out we ran into our host in the lobby of the events center. She asked us how the dinner was. Robin didn't sugar coat it. She told her the presentation was very nice but the meat was raw and the other people at our table couldn't eat it. She also told her it was a was a shame because they would have to throw it out.

At 5:30 pm we walked back into the casino. The entire casino had changed as the crowd had increased. I would say that there were twice as many people in the casino now. Originally there were few machines available. Now there was nothing available and in some cases you had 2-3 people waiting in a line behind there favorite machine. This actually became frustrating because some people like to play certain games and machines. If you were not on a machine all i can say is good luck because there is no place to sit and the temperature is starting to rise. The casino after about 15 minutes left me with this very wet feeling of sweat. I did manage to find a machine to play but sadly it was a machine that i don’t care to play and consequently i did not do very well nor did it allow me to play for a reasonable period of time. I could now see the writing on the wall.

At 7:30 pm we went into the buffet to eat. They were making announcements every few minutes that you only had till 8 pm to activate your card for the drawing. We finished our dinner and walked back into the casino. The crowd was still growing. I decided to head back up to my room. I needed to escape the crowd and the heat in the casino. It was pointless for me to stay in the casino because all of the machines were taken and the lines were getting longer.

At 10:15 pm my wife and i decided to go back to the event center. Now the casino was really crowded. I’m not sure of the count but i personally had never seen this casino this crowded. We made our way from the video poker area over to the event center. Twice i was hit by people pushing other people in wheel chairs. When entering the event center i was able to see robin leach sitting down in an area for people who wanted to have there picture taken with him. I thought this was kind of cool so i grabbed my wife’s hand and we made our way over and got in line. The line wasn’t really that long. When called we walked up and i introduced myself to robin leach and the fake joan rivers. I actually enjoyed talking to both of them. Robin leach was very gracious and wished us well and the fake joan rivers was a barrel of laughs. If i ever have a party i might consider hiring her. At one point robin leach had to get her attention and get her out of character so we could take the picture. The pictures were being given away free at the total rewards center. Meanwhile all of the tables were removed from the event center and other furniture was brought in for people to sit down and enjoy the band before the drawing. Unfortunately there wasn’t enough sitting area so we were forced to stand for another 30 minutes. They did have a couple of bars but i’m not sure if they were being hosted by the casino.

At 11:00 pm robin leach took the stage and warmed the crowd with who wants to be the next rincon (harrah’s southern california resort) millionaire. This went on for a couple of minutes and then he was handed the envelope. It was interesting to us that the monitors went on with the winners name before the actual announcement was made. The winner was a lady from the escondido area. The announcement was made on stage however; the winner was not in the event center at the time. It took about 2 minutes and then the stage announced that the prize was won and claimed by a lady over at the total rewards center. She eventually made her way to the event center and stage surrounded by what appeared to be the secret service. All and all the lady appeared too happy and surprised. In this case i’m not sure if she was a 7 stars player. One would think she would be in the event center for the announcement.

At 11:15 pm we made our way out of the event center. As we entered the casino i could clearly see that the casino was an absolute mad house. This house was rockin and all of the machines were taken so i decided to make it an early night.

The next morning (sunday) we decided to get a bite to eat and then possibly play a little. Now the casino looked more like it always looks. Lots of places to play and no effort in moving around. I played a little and was up about $500 while playing bonus poker and then i switched to ddbp and hit four aces with a kicker. When i was being assisted by the casino cashier i asked her how it went last night. She said she felt like she had run into a brick wall! I also asked her if she knew how many people were here.
She said to ask her supervisor who was on the way over to see me. When i posed the question to the supervisor she told be the casino was up about 113%. I’m not sure exactly what that means however, i think the casino did very well for the day in addition to paying out a million dollar winner. The supervisor also told me that june the 28th had more people attend than any other new years eve event.

[Alan Mendelson]

I don't know why the offered the 10x\5x Bonus RC on that day. I earned over $1000 in RC on Saturday.

Are you sure this was a bonus in "reward credits" or was it a bonus/multiplier in entries for the million dollar drawing?

Thanks for the reports Aaron and Dave, and the more I read the happier I am I didn't go. I was toying with the idea of driving there at about 7pm but from what I understand the two lane road leading to Rincon was packed with cars and even though 7Stars parking was available, I might never have even reached the casino.

Requiring the "winner" to be present was a marketing monster for Rincon -- genius for generating extra revenue. As I wrote previously I think my chances of winning the million were probably one in 100,000 but based on what you guys wrote I now think my chances of winning were probably more like one in a million.

I wonder if this event backfired for Rincon and will diminish participation in the future? I know that based on these reports it becomes ludicrous to even show up to play at a mobbed casino -- never mind the slim chance of winning.

And I am curious if anyone commented about the lack of the $1,000 free play drawings?

[Nash]

I never heard a thing about the lack of $1000 free play drawings.

[Alan Mendelson]

I never heard a thing about the lack of $1000 free play drawings.

Well, Rincon might have dodged that bullet.

[Nash]

Alan,

I think it's fair to say that Rincon made a lot more than a million dollars on Saturday.

With the Casino being up 113% or better I would think the numbers are closer to 2-3 million.

Who really knows? The place was packed with people and like others indicated the lines for the machines and tables were extremely long.

I'm going to take a guess and say maybe 4 million.

Some machines were getting hand pays however; I didn't see many.

I think you made the right move by staying home.

Dave

[Dan Druff]

He definitely made the right move by staying home.

What a mess.

[Aaron]

Are you sure this was a bonus in "reward credits" or was it a bonus/multiplier in entries for the million dollar drawing?

It was a reward credit multiplier until 8pm.

[Alan Mendelson]

Aaron, thanks. I did confirm today that it was a reward credit multiplier.

I had a conversation this morning with an insider (I will not release the name) who hinted that for the New Year's drawing for a million dollars that they will ALSO have the hourly drawings. They admit that for some of the regular players not having the hourly drawings was a mistake.

But if you recall this past NYE the winner didn't have to be present to win. What kind of a mob scene will it be this coming NYE if the winner must be present and you have that additional crowd over and above the "normal" NYE crowd?

So, $50,000 of free play drawings or not, I doubt Rincon is where I'll be for New Years Eve. Maybe Caesars will have Katy Perry again?