Originally Posted by
Rob.Singer
Originally Posted by
Dan Druff
I actually predicted that Rob would show up here and post something stupid, attempting to defend that awful Hooters promo.
Glad he didn't disappoint.
Rob, this wasn't a matter of me "not knowing what I was doing". In 2008, $100 loss-rebate freeplay offers (or ones even better than that) were SUPER COMMON at Vegas casinos upon new card signup.
So when I saw the one advertised in huge print on the side of Hooters, I had no reason to believe it wasn't legit.
This was NOT $100 freeplay. I'm not saying it just wasn't unrestricted. It simply wasn't $100 freeplay as they advertised. The "$100" part was completely phony, because it translated into phony credits which could not be cashed out, and could not be used to do anything but win $50 (and even that was a low chance).
Rob, let's say I challenged your long-touted "strategies" in VP, and offered to give you "$1000 freeplay" to prove it.
If you showed up to do the freeplay, and I directed you to a machine where I told you that you couldn't cash out any of your winnings on the $1000, but that I'd simply give you $50 if you managed to run it up to $17,000, you'd be furious. You'd tell me that I misled you and wasted your time, and you'd be right.
There might even have been violation of some consumer law here, but I know that Hooters wasn't violating NV Gaming laws because the promo was free.
Anyone who thinks that Hooters promo was okay is a chump and must get taken advantage of all the time.
You should always use "Dan Druff's Ripoff Rule" to figure out if you are being cheated/misled/scammed:
If a business does not give you the product or service you were expecting, and if at least 67% of people would have been misled/confused in a similar way, then you were being intentionally tricked, and the business did something shady.
Sure seems like you've been embarrassed and are trying really hard to wiggle your way out of it.
All that wordsmithing failed to address the most important issue: once the two of you were told the "bad depressing news" at the Hooters slot club, you found yourselves unable to just give them back your cards and walk away. That's what you should have done, and that's what anyone who is in control of what they do and how they do it would have done.
So who's the stupid one here?
Here's what I love about "Singer." He waxes eloquent as a pseudo-expert regarding something he knows nothing about. Then he accuses Dan of "wordsmithing" -- whatever the hell that is supposed to be -- while using quotations to suggest Dan said something directly that he never said. All the while, "Singer" misses the key elements of the Hooters promo, undoubtedly because he never played it or witnessed it.
So here we go.
First of all, I did the promo way back when. So I was there. I actually saw and experienced it. It was running, I think, about the same time that the Maxim incarnation did a legit promo. But before commenting, let me point to "Singer" saying, referring to Dan Druff's experience, that "once the two of you were told the 'bad depressing news' at the Hooters slot club" is an attempt to fictionalize and spin what Dan said. Nobody at the slot club told me anything about the promo. I was directed to the slot machine roped off area and was told that the person in charge there would explain it all. So leaving the slot club, I was still expecting free play.
Thus, to repeat, "Singer" was "wordsmithing" what Dan wrote. "Singer" was making shit up, in other words.
Back to the promo. Upon being directed to the slot machines, I saw there was a short line. I was there by myself. I had about a 10-minute wait, as it turned out. It was evident to me, as I stood in line, that it wasn't legit. It reminded me of the old Riviera gig where the street hawkers would get you to come inside with some "slot play." Anyway, had I been with someone, I would have walked away, but I was alone, so I figured I'd do the experience since I was there. If it had been football season, I would have walked -- can't waste 20-30 minutes during football season.
Anyway, once I stepped to the machine area, the person explained the rules, which, as figured, were crap. I couldn't believe how misguided the promo was, as it wasted an enormous amount of people's time, and there was a line. People could have been doing other things -- eating, gambling, leaving. Historically, promos like this take no more than five or ten minutes of an individual's time -- wasting the sign-up's time does neither the casino nor the new sign-up any favors.
I played the slot machine. I had decided I'd walk away after 15 minutes, no matter what, and it took about that long for me to tap out the credits. Other people were there considerably longer. It was bizarre. Some folks played a half hour or more. I don't think management had thought the thing through.
So that's the reality of it. There was no free play explanation at the slot club -- when asked, they just said they didn't know and pointed you to the person in charge of the slot machines. There was no written summary anywhere in view.