I was checking the market conditions on some bonus slots (at an unnamed casino); I turned to check the other side and there was a Free Play Whore (FPW) sitting down and hanging away. Our eyes then lock.

Cali casinos offer great free play mailers and offers. For example, Thunder Valley easily offers $400 twice a week ($800 x 52 weeks is $41,600 per annum). You add in Reno, Tahoe, and other North Cal casinos and a FPW could get $100K a year in free slot play (FSP) from points, mailers, promo’s, point multipliers, etc.

So what do FPW do? They have to put in huge coin-in and generate substantial ADT stats. Their game of choice is MH’s for the necessary coin-in. They will also play any bonus slot even if it’s marginal; they desperately need the necessary coin-in and make it up on those rare juicy plays.

So what is a marginal play? Suppose the play is $470 on a $500 Minor on an Ainsworth MH. They will jump on at $465. I play them at $490 (don’t worry, these will crack at $499 when I play them). Same thing with Big 5 Safari and their clones. Another example is Scarab, if there are enough wild symbols they will play it. They will bomb anything with a heartbeat. So if there is bank of 6 Scarabs (6 x 5 is 30 possible plays), all the marginal plays will be hit one by one.

Anyway, the FPW spotted me and then left the casino in disgust. When they play marginal games, they need the occasional juicy play to make up for the losses. I take down juicy plays leaving the marginal plays. I am a strong believer in the Pareto distribution. There’s no point for them to keep banging their head on marginal plays without great plays so they leave.

I was there on a recon mission ... I had no plans to stay after checking the market conditions. I was just passing through.