Scarlet Pearl Biloxi

[alpax]

[QUOTE=alpax] KILLED as in too many people played it to a point where it did not generate enough revenue to meet operational costs + profit margin?

Basically. Killed as in most people don't give a **** about VP is my guess. And the ones who do like VP a lot don't make horrible mistakes like they used to. Also casino markets are pretty saturated now. VP games that are 99%+ are definitely "loss leaders" now, imo.

Tunica is a the deadest market I've ever seen for VP. Tons of idle machines wasting electricity. Slots are pretty idle too.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the clarification. I learned more about the Mississippi market, and it is sure different than what I experience. I always thought casinos were guaranteed profit year in and year out, and the best business entities if one can operate one outside of being a Native American tribe. I am wrong from the stories I read. It figures that casinos are bunched up in Biloxi and Tunica, if MS allows for private operators.



If you lower the odds enough, players will eventually get tired of being robbed and move on to somewhere or something else.  A pretty hotel or a free room is nice, but doesn't do anything for you if you keep losing your tail all the time.   Personally I'm OK with a 98% quarter video poker machine, but a 95% machine or less is ridiculous.



I agree. Once people wake up and realize the losses trip after trip, it will force them to adjust after experiencing the pain. If there was no video poker, I think my gambling days would have been done. During the recession, the slots were incredibly loose, later on they've tighten them and I figured out the hard way.

I get the vibe that politicians in Mississippi are selling the fact that they are still paying for recovery costs for the damages done by Hurricane Katrina last decade. Not sure if that will sell now to people.



this is not unique to gambling. it is simple matter of consumer value. gasoline prices are a good example. you can look at charts, and see reduced usage as prices rise. we all remember the times of rising oil prices, when it reached about $150/barrel (now it is about $60). gas prices hit over $4/gal and people reduced driving by the billions of miles. as more casinos were built, so tribes and governments could make more money, it diluted the market. the fixed costs were high, so expense reduction alone could not save them. they decided in order to stay in business, they needed to increase their hold. consumers get smart, figure out they are not geting the value they want, so they cut back or quit. until the economy improves for the masses and/or casinos start closing down, it will be the same pattern. increase the hold, lose customers. wash, rinse, repeat. 

During the recession, even on weekends the local casinos were half empty when it used to be full. I remember the great promotions that were offered to try to get people to come (gas paid for, more cash drawings). I do not know if outside casinos are offering such promotions. Their answer was to tighten the slots. The local casinos here loosen them for a short time, and are now still successful.