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Thread: Valley View Casino prohibits big winners from gambling

  1. #1
    I ran into this tidbit from the vpFREE California yahoo message groups today. I really thought it was worth mentioning here.

    The original message from the player "vegasvpplayer"

    This was my first experience being kicked out of a California Native American casino for winning. I had played video poker at this casino on and off for a few years now. For the past year I have been playing the $10 NSUD and had not hit a Royal Flush until this past November. Then in December I hit a second Royal Flush. (Iggy don't get on my case, I was trying to hit wild royals!). I was only playing about 800 hand sessions 3 or 4 times a month so this was obviously a fluke occurrence.

    Last week I got a phone call from a casino manager saying they didn't want me to play there any longer and my account had been closed. He said they review accounts quarterly and mine had been chosen for termination. I asked about my unredeemed points and he said the account was already closed. He said I could speak to the GM and I said I would also take it to the tribal Gaming Commission if necessary since the points were worth about $3000. They called back in about 10 minutes and said they would pay me by check for the value of the points.

    When I went in to get the check, everyone was very nice but I was made to sign a letter that I would never gamble at Valley View Casino again. It was not a trespass and I was told I am welcome to come back for the hotel or restaurants. BTW their buffet is probably the best food quality I have ever had anywhere and I don't even eat the lobster. They stressed I hadn't done anything wrong or illegal, but was just too good a player.

    If the problem is $10 NSUD or JoB, there are only two machine with these games. It seems likes eliminating the games instead of the players might be a better solution. I see lots of people playing the $5 NSUD there. Perhaps you are OK if you only hit one or two Royals in a quarter. Maybe you might want to take a Valley View vacation after hitting a Royal so as not to risk hitting another and getting singled out in their next quarterly review. Better luck!

    Sent from my iPhone

  2. #2
    Interesting. After I hit two $20k royals in three months at Pechanga they reduced my free play but I wasn't asked to stop playing. I wonder if there's more to the story?

  3. #3
    In the few years I've paid attention to the message group, the poster "vegasvpplayer" carries a lot of credibility in my opinion and is the first to report changes to VP games on the Caesars properties on the strip.

    A $10 royal is $40k each, and getting two of them in under 30 day span would have put the person up near $70-$80k on the "quarterly" report. 800 hands per trip for 3 or 4 times a month in 3 months is way below the royal flush cycle let alone 2.

    Judging by the amount of casino card cash that had to be paid out, seems like the person was a professional gambler. Players must have at least $1 in gains to be able to file as a professional gambler, if they are in a deficit nearing the end of the year, they will use up the free play to overcome the defect. I do not know what a professional gambler can write off on their taxes.

    There have been replies by others stating that the casino should have handled this issue differently (e.g. revoking mailers), but being bounced from a player's perspective is unfortunate.

  4. #4
    I don't doubt that the player was told not to play there anymore. I just find it unusual.

    But then Rincon removed its $100 VP machines because too many royals were hit in a short time span and the casino (Indian Tribe) didn't want the exposure. The Caesars manager at Rincon couldn't persuade them that it was just "variance." (We talked about this at dinner when it happened.)

    Anything can happen with a casino. Look at me: I lost a bundle of money at Rincon and they cut off my $40 a week (or whatever it was) of free play because I made some trips and only used banked free play.

    These aren't geniuses working in the casino business.

  5. #5
    When the casino operators used to understand gambling and gamblers, they would have invited this guy back, with good offers, knowing that the odds were in their favor and that he would likely lose a good portion back. Years ago after my hour twenty minute roll at the Flamingo, I had missed my flight out of town. They gave me a suite for the night and paid for a new ticket back the next day with the hope that I would lose it back. When I instead had another huge roll--40 minutes--they didn't bar me. They kept sending better and better offers to get me back.

    But that understanding has been lost over the years. Corporate zombies have no understanding of gamblers or of the games themselves.

  6. #6
    Valley View is an Indian Casino. So is Rincon and Pechanga. They don't "think" like Vegas casinos.

  7. #7
    I think the Indian casinos have to provide much more revenue to their respective state than a Vegas/Reno/Tahoe/Laughlin casino does to Nevada. Hence they might be more reactive towards winners.

    I find it odd that Harrah's Southern California at Rincon limits having big winners outside of their million dollar drawings. Pechanga has the capacity to pay out 6 figure jackpots. In their high limit room, they have signs on the $25/$100 slot machines that say $100,000-$250,000 was won here. They have one VP machine at $25/$50/$100 and a 10 play $5 machine (all short pay schedules). There is also a screen that shows that they paid $1million+ jackpots 33 times since 2002.

    I lurked on the Vegas Message Board recently and I heard a family from the Pechanga tribe gets cut a check of $25k every month from the casino.

  8. #8
    I was told that members of the Rincon tribe get weekly checks from Caesars -- as if they were employees. But it's their "profit." I don't know what the amounts are but just the idea that they get weekly checks surprised me.

  9. #9
    Sounds like the same deal our ex-wives get Alan.

  10. #10
    Fortunately I have never had a "long term" marriage, so my liability for alimony has only been a short time with each ex. With Ex #2 the marriage was so short she actually got no alimony -- unfortunately I had to pay her some money while we fought in court over a LEASED Mercedes. This battle took no less than two years.

    She (her lawyer) claimed that the Mercedes I leased for her to drive was a GIFT. And she wanted me to buy the Mercedes at the end of the lease.

    I maintained it was a leased car and at the end of the lease it had to be returned.

    Bottom line: judge sided with me. But it took TWO YEARS to get a court session to settle that. That's how backed-up the courts were at the time. During that two years I had to give her monthly payments. On the same day that the judge decided that the leased car was not a gift, the judge also said I didn't have to give her any more payments and the divorce was final.

    Oh... and during that two year fight, the Mercedes was in a garage and I couldn't drive it, while my soon to be ex was living it up in Miami with her girlfriend who was also divorcing her husband.

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