Questions about SUNDAY drawings at Morongo

[Alan Mendelson]

alpax or anyone else: Are there any strategies or nuts and bolts info about the Sunday night drawings at Morongo?

I hear their radio ads about a new car given every Sunday night at 10pm, plus free play awards.

Do you have to be actively playing with your card in a machine? Do you have to swipe your card to trigger your entries? Is everything given out at 10pm ? Does it matter if you play earlier in the day? Are the prizes awarded based on your play in that particular week or does play in previous weeks also give you "entries" in the drawings?

[Alan Mendelson]

No one responded so I called Morongo Rewards -- the players' club -- and I hope I got the correct information. Here's what I was told:

1. You must have your card in the machine and playing to be called for the prizes starting with a 6pm drawing for $1,000 of free play. What I tried to get was an answer as to what is considered to be "playing"? Can you play once every 5-minutes or once every 60-seconds?

2. For the car drawing at 10pm again your card must be in the machine and playing. Then I asked when must you start playing? For example, can I insert my card one minute before 10pm or must it be inserted 15-minutes before 10pm or an hour before 10pm? I was told the actual drawing is at 10pm and all that matters is that your card is in the machine and you are playing when the drawing is held at 10pm. The Morongo Rewards person I spoke to told me she has been there for the drawings and the drawings are held "live" exactly at 10pm.

The reason I asked question #2 is that at some casinos the actual drawing is held a few minutes before the "announcement time." For example, a casino says they are drawing for a big cash prize at 11pm but in reality the name was already picked at 10:45pm. I think Rincon does this.

Remember when Rincon gave away a million dollars and Robin Leach made the announcement at a big ceremony? Well, the winner's name popped up on a TV screen even before Robin Leach announced the winner's name.

And someone at Total Rewards at Rincon told me that the monthly $50,000 winner's name was actually pulled about fifteen minutes before the announced drawing time of 11pm.

This is why I questioned Morongo about when your card and play must be in effect.

[alpax]

I was preoccupied today. I will include details that you missed out on.

All the play you accumulate from Sunday 10:0pm through 9:59pm the following Sunday are eligible for the drawing entries. Every 1 point earned on the Morongo Rewards Card is 1 entry towards the drawings. So $10,000 coin-in session on the Video Poker would mean 5000 entries.

Winner MUST BE PRESENT to win and must claim their prize within 5 minutes of their name being called. Otherwise another name will be chosen until a winner claims their prize. The personal record I've seen was 9 names called, and since it overlaps with the next drawing schedule, another name was called right awy.

$1000 Free Slot Play Drawings happen 6pm, 6:30pm, 7pm, 7:30pm, 8pm, 8:30pm, 9pm, 9:30pm
The luxury car drawing is the 10pm drawing. You can substitute a cash prize of $25,000

All winners are limited to only one $1000 FSP prize, and will still be eligible to win the luxury car. Only one time where a high roller won $1000 FSP and the car, based on the stories I've heard.

Card must be entered within 2 hours of the scheduled drawings for the entries to be activated.

1. Put your card in
2. Play 1 point ($1 slot push or $2 video poker hand (50 cent max bet)
3. Put your card out
4. Put your card in

Playing 1 point at 5:30pm, 6:10pm, 8:10pm will allow you to be eligible for all the drawings at the minimal amount of action on the drawing day.. And you must stay throughout to claim the prize up until 10pm.

[RS__]

No one responded so I called Morongo Rewards -- the players' club -- and I hope I got the correct information. Here's what I was told:

1. You must have your card in the machine and playing to be called for the prizes starting with a 6pm drawing for $1,000 of free play. What I tried to get was an answer as to what is considered to be "playing"? Can you play once every 5-minutes or once every 60-seconds?

2. For the car drawing at 10pm again your card must be in the machine and playing. Then I asked when must you start playing? For example, can I insert my card one minute before 10pm or must it be inserted 15-minutes before 10pm or an hour before 10pm? I was told the actual drawing is at 10pm and all that matters is that your card is in the machine and you are playing when the drawing is held at 10pm. The Morongo Rewards person I spoke to told me she has been there for the drawings and the drawings are held "live" exactly at 10pm.

The reason I asked question #2 is that at some casinos the actual drawing is held a few minutes before the "announcement time." For example, a casino says they are drawing for a big cash prize at 11pm but in reality the name was already picked at 10:45pm. I think Rincon does this.

Remember when Rincon gave away a million dollars and Robin Leach made the announcement at a big ceremony? Well, the winner's name popped up on a TV screen even before Robin Leach announced the winner's name.

And someone at Total Rewards at Rincon told me that the monthly $50,000 winner's name was actually pulled about fifteen minutes before the announced drawing time of 11pm.

This is why I questioned Morongo about when your card and play must be in effect.

Although it's great to call the rewards desk and figure out the information -- in my experience, most rewards desk people ("boothlings") really don't know what they're talking about. Typically, if you ask several boothlings, you'll get a few different answers. You can usually rate them and have a certain amount of "confidence" in the boothling. At one casino, I spoke to 2 boothlings once each, 1 boothling twice, and another boothling 3 times. I got different answers from each of them. One didn't even know what VP was. Another one said "Yeah, lots of people will be here for this promotion it always gets busy." When I asked how long ago the last time they ran it, boothling said "This is the first time and I've been here XX years." A different boothling I talked to said they ran the promotion 3 months ago. Another boothling said it was 1 year ago. The guy I talked to 3 different times...he gave me 3 different answers! This wasn't at Morongo, though.

[Alan Mendelson]

So what is the LATEST you can insert your card and play for the 10pm drawing? Must it be at least two hours in advance, or what the Morongo Rewards person told me -- just a minute before the 10pm drawing???

[alpax]

So what is the LATEST you can insert your card and play for the 10pm drawing? Must it be at least two hours in advance, or what the Morongo Rewards person told me -- just a minute before the 10pm drawing???

9:59pm I would not risk it. Play ONE point within a 2 hour timeframe and you are eligible.