November 27th, 2007 by Beat Casinos, How To Beat The Casinos, www.howtobeatthecasinos.com

Thank you, thank you, thank you! Today is a celebration – we’ve reached over 1000 unique visitors to these blog pages – in less than a month! For a new blog to have that kind of visitation is truly wonderful – and I’m very appreciative to each and every one of you for making it possible.

To ensure that the blog keeps going, please do tell your friends and colleagues about the blog, feel free to talk about it / promote it in gambling forums etc you contribute to (and you can even copy and paste parts of articles here – as long as you include the source address (beatthecasinos.blogspot.com). The bigger the readership the more I’ll be able to write about. The more I write about, the more people will be able to arm themselves with knowledge to Beat the Casinos!

Thank you again for your visitation and support! It is appreciated!

November 25th, 2007 by Beat Casinos, How To Beat The Casinos, www.howtobeatthecasinos.com

CasinoGamblingWeb.com notes the following in a recent article:

“Wynn Las Vegas Hotel and Casino is flouting venerable Las Vegas tradition by no longer comping drinks for bar customers who are playing machines. Vegas casinos have long honored the practice of giving a free drink in exchange for ten dollars play at the video gambling machines inset into the bars, but Wynn will now charge full price for cocktails, regardless of play.” – source: CasinoGamblingWeb.com

If this is true, it’s a terrible, terrible sign of possible things to come. If Wynn gets away with it, other casino groups will surely follow. The end of Vegas is nigh.

One of the staple “freebies” in most (but not all) casinos is the free drink. In the US it tends to be alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. In London (and elsewhere in the world) it tends to be non-alcoholic only (although Ladbrokes Paddington Casino does comp wine – well, I’ve had a lot of free wine there in the past…).

A free drink serves many purposes. 1) It helps get players into the casino, with the lure of “something for nothing”. 2) It helps players to keep refreshed and comfortable in the casino, so they tend to stay for longer. 3) It builds goodwill – “I lost $500 but at least I got a free drink…”.

Surely then, eliminating free drinks can only be suicidal for a casino – or have I missed the point here? Just because they’re giving you a “$5 dollar” drink doesn’t mean it costs them that to produce – the true cost is probably closer to 50c. So why would a casino turn down the chance to get a shot at a nice wallet of cash, to save 50c? That’s nuts. Heck, maybe I should become a casino operator!

That’s not to say however that Steve Wynn is nuts. I actually respect this guy. He’s got a beautiful casino (Wynn) in Vegas (and also in Macau), he’s made Vegas what it is today, and, for the record, I was treated VERY WELL at Wynn when I played there.

Anyway, my advice is this: Vote with your feet. Regardless of where you live in the world, if your local casino does not offer free amenities / drinks of any kind, DON’T PLAY THERE. Complain via email or letter also to let the casino know WHY you’ve stopped playing. And maybe they’ll rethink the policy. Certainly this worked in little New Zealand – our local casino stopped giving out free drinks (always soft drinks only in any case), and people voted by staying away. Now there’s a free drinks trolley available most of the time for players club members. So this kind of “player input” can work.

November 25th, 2007 by Beat Casinos, How To Beat The Casinos, www.howtobeatthecasinos.com

I published an article recently called “Current Online Casino Promos” – pointing out some of the current promos available online. Bear in mind that I never promote any casino I’ve not personally played at, won at, had quick payments from etc. For me, credibility in gambling is highly important – I would NEVER EVER EVER recommend any casino that had ripped me off, hassled me, caused me stress, or offered me lousy service. So if you do play at any of the sites I recommend (they’re all featured in my right hand navigation menu on the site at any time), you can rest assured that from a “professional gambler’s” perspective, they check out and offer good value.

Sophie, a writer for Associated Media sent me an interesting comment:

“I like your blog, great advice. You might like to read this article: Do You Think You Can Walk Away with a Free Bonus from a Casino?“

As the aim of my blog is to provide free, totally independent advice, I’m happy to provide the link for you to follow. Simply see above!

I’ll always try to be responsive to comments / feedback left – it’s only through this feedback and private emails that I know your thoughts about the blog! So feel free to read through the various articles on this site, and leave your own thoughts.

November 25th, 2007 by Beat Casinos, How To Beat The Casinos, www.howtobeatthecasinos.com

Virgin Casino has recently added to their slot bank by providing a range of very popular American slots online: namely Five Times Pay, Double Diamond, and Texas Tea.

All of these are slots that I’ve played in Las Vegas many times, with varying degrees of success. Texas Tea has always been pretty good to me – and I love the “oil” feature. Double Diamond is a little more volatile but can provide reasonable winning opportunities. For making the most of slot promotions, playing Double Diamond has always worked well – and better than the multi-line machines. Five Times Pay is the most volatile of them all – it’s worth a low denomination shot at the “big time” but only (in my opinion) if you have a fairly reasonable bankroll.

It seems to be a growing trend for UK / International casinos to be adding more and more IGT and similar US slot machine games to their portfolios – I noticed this same trend in UK casinos (before I was barred). Personally, I’m in favour of the move. The US have always (in my opinion) produced the best slot games!

Virgin Casino lets you play for free to trial the games, or play for cash. Don’t forget there’s an excellent promotion available with Virgin Casino – you’ll find the link in my right hand navigation area of the site. And do read my earlier blog ‘How Can I Beat Virgin Casino?’ to give yourself the edge!

Screenshot from Five Times Pay:

Screenshot from Double Diamond:

Screenshot from Texas Tea:

November 19th, 2007 by Beat Casinos, How To Beat The Casinos, www.howtobeatthecasinos.com

Further to my post on Friday, William Hill have now resolved the issue and paid me back my cash. It took 3 visits to the branch, and quite a bit of probing (and mention of my blog entry also I might add), but it’s now dealt with.

I promised on Friday to write an update if and when resolved – so this is it.

I’m still a bit peeved that William Hill didn’t do the right thing and resolve this first off – keeping players waiting for cash when there has been a machine malfunction is not ideal in my eyes. Still, credit where it’s due – it’s been dealt with and I’m again a “happy player”.

UPDATE 25 November: Email apology shown below, for those who were interested:

“Dear Mr XXXXX,

Thank you for your e-mail regarding your machines query in our XXXXX Street branch.

I have spoken to the manager of the branch who has informed me that the machines manager has investigated your query and authorised the return of £45 pounds which you collected this afternoon.

I apologise for any inconvenience caused in the delay of paying you your returns.

Yours sincerely,

XXXXX XXXXX

William Hill Organisation”