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Bob Dancer writes a video poker column for beginners to experts. He also writes a column with Jeffrey Compton, "Player's Edge", featuring information on promotions at various Las Vegas casinos. Player's Edge is published each Friday in the Neon section of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Click here to send Bob Dancer an e-mail.

For a 3,000-word preview of Bob's juicy new novel, "Sex, Lies, and Video Poker", visit www.bobdancer.com.

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May 22, 2007

Still More On When You Get the Runaround

A few weeks ago I wrote an article here (available a few mouse clicks away) about being shortchanged at the slot club booth and what to do about it.

In that particular case, I was getting no satisfaction from any booth employee or supervisor but the slot director was walking by, I recognized him, and he was willing and able to fix the problem.

Someone asked the question of what if the slot director had NOT walked by, or even if he had, what if you don't know him well enough to ask him to intervene. What then? I hinted at some remedies in the previous article, but let me expand on them a bit more by way of examples.

There was an invitation only drawing at a major Strip casino where the rules clearly stated you needed to have your tickets in the drum by 7:00 p.m. For whatever reason, they started the drawing at 6:55. A player, "Steve," with a lot of tickets showed up at 6:58 and demanded to know why they were drawing early. He told them he wanted them to start the drawing over with his tickets in the barrel. His opinion was that even though they'd already given out two prizes, they should give out duplicates because the first ones weren't handed out according to the rules. He became agitated and loud --- with some justification.

A high-ranking casino employee came up and told Steve that the casino would make it up to him but to please be quiet for now. Steve complied. After the drawing was over without further incident, they counted Steve's tickets and gave him comp dollars worth three times what his equity was worth. (They knew how many tickets were passed out and how much money was given away. It was an easy calculation to determine how much his tickets were worth.) He ended up buying golf clubs with his comp dollars, selling them on eBay, and making out quite well.

A similar situation happened to Shirley. At a Seven Stars only drawing at Caesars Palace for all of the Las Vegas Area Harrah's properties a year ago, Shirley played about $150,000 during the weekend to earn 150 electronic tickets, plus the one they gave her just for showing up. Just before the drawing, they told her she had one ticket in the drum. Somehow her play didn't get recorded properly.

Shirley made a scene. She'd lost $7,000 or so earning the tickets and now she wasn't even going to get them. Finally her host from Harrah's came over and told her that if she didn't calm down they'd physically remove her and nothing good could come from that. She was told that there was nothing that could be done about it before the drawing, but afterwards they'd check out the situation. By my estimates, her "equity" was approximately $1,500 to $2,000 in the drawing. Shirley saw some of the players win $50,000 and she believed her equity was worth a lot more.

The next morning Shirley got a phone call saying that they would give her $5,000 in cash if she let the matter drop and didn't make any more scenes about it. Gambling decisions are my responsibility in our family, but I wasn't there at the time of the phone call. Shirley was told she needed to make the decision NOW, so she decided to accept the offer. I would have advised the same thing had I been there but Shirley didn't know that at the time and was quite nervous about whether she made the right choice or not.

Both of these examples are from "higher end" events, but the same principle applies to lower end events. Most casino employees WANT to do the right thing. If you've been shortchanged and can convince them of it, they will likely do something to make it up to you. How much they offer you and whether you should accept the first offer or not depends on too many factors to discuss here because every situation is different. If you have lost recently at that casino (or can convince them that you have lost), it will frequently have an inordinate bearing on whatever settlement they offer you. It shouldn't, as everyone has wins and losses, but if you're a recent loser, make sure they know that.

No settlement is going to come your way though unless you demand it. If you're willing to ride quietly into the sunset without sticking up for your rights, the casino will be happy to let you go. They certainly aren't going to force you to take money from them. Those of you who avoid any sort of confrontation because you find them distasteful are going to get the short end here.

Convincing the casino of the correctness of your position is frequently tricky. Some people are more persuasive than others. Some people are better debaters than others. The game is to let them know that you are correct without being so obnoxious about it that they decide to penalize you somewhere down the road. Some players are able to play this game much better than others.

If you list the important skills a winning video poker player should have, usually people skills and negotiating skills aren't on that list. But they should be. These skills are not needed every day, but they are needed more often than many players realize.