Horseshoe In Tunica for video poker??

Who has your favorite video poker games? Who should have more?
ko king
VP Veteran
Posts: 670
Joined: Fri Feb 17, 2012 10:13 pm

Re: Horseshoe In Tunica for video poker??

Post by ko king »

[QUOTE=notes1]

let's do a little reality check on tunica. the recession hits at the very time casinos are sprouting up around the country. suddenly, casino destinations that offer little else see their business dry up. the newest, largest CET property closes and folks are being laid off en masse.
 
casino representatives go to elected officals/gamingcontrol and say, we have a new software program that is random, but somehow produces a more favorable result for the casinos. if this program is not approved, they tell these elected folks that there will be more closings and more folks unemployed. what do you think they are going to do, they have to approve it. are they going to stand on high moral grounds and say no, because it does not comply with nevada regs. if they do so, they lose their main employer base, their main source of tax revenue and likely thrown out of office.
 
i have no idea if this happened, but i could see it. trying to survive, trying to save jobs including their own, will lead some to do most anything. their thinking could very well be that they are only taking money from mostly out of town folks and helping their own.

It's possible a scenario like that could happen, but doubtful. Mainly because a move like that still wouldn't save Tunica. Even when the VP paytables were great at Roadhouse earlier this decade (literally every game at quarters and higher was "full pay", including 40/10/6 DDB), the player volume still wasn't outstanding. There is a serious lack of interest in VP, especially in Tunica. Slot revenue probably outdoes VP revenue by 10 to 1.

I wonder where VP would be right now without Super Times Pay and Ultimate X. Most other "gimmick games" have been bombs lately. Hell where would VP be without IGT coming up with Double Double Bonus even??

At least with slots, you're better distracted with a video-game like atmosphere as your money gets sucked away by the bad payback.[/QUOTE]

                                                                                                                                                                        
 
You're somewhat right about Roadhouse, but there's a reason for that, before it was Roadhouse it was The Sheraton casino and noone liked to play there. When CET bought Sheraton and changed it to Roadhouse they had a steep hill to climb. After a while business picked up at Roadhouse, I used to play there all the time and I can remember some heavy vp traffic there. Most of my best trips occured while playing Roadhouse, vp was great there. Now days it's pathetic, I have no idea how or why it's still open. Last time I was at Roadhouse I wanted to get something to eat, they had nothing open to offer until after 5 P.M., I was told I could go over to Horseshoe to eat.

ko king
VP Veteran
Posts: 670
Joined: Fri Feb 17, 2012 10:13 pm

Post by ko king »

KK disputes your statement that VP was not popular in tunica years ago. he has been there since the beginning.
 
businesses and government jurisdictions have been making deals since forever. it might be over taxes, utilities, even taking over private property through condemnation. the scenario i created was just that, a creation and i stated that.
 
the bigger point is that you have an economy that is hurting badly. it is not diversified, we have seen many small towns across america turn into ghost towns, when their one and only employment base closes up. to save jobs, to save their community, an entire series of casino friendly ammendments may have been approved. who knows what might have been included.
 
instead of living in the idealistic world, for a moment, trade places with the governing body of tunica. to save your town, to save your neighbors jobs, to protect your own employment, would you not consider most anything?

ko king
VP Veteran
Posts: 670
Joined: Fri Feb 17, 2012 10:13 pm

Post by ko king »

KK disputes your statement that VP was not popular in tunica years ago. he has been there since the beginning.
 
businesses and government jurisdictions have been making deals since forever. it might be over taxes, utilities, even taking over private property through condemnation. the scenario i created was just that, a creation and i stated that.
 
the bigger point is that you have an economy that is hurting badly. it is not diversified, we have seen many small towns across america turn into ghost towns, when their one and only employment base closes up. to save jobs, to save their community, an entire series of casino friendly ammendments may have been approved. who knows what might have been included.
 
instead of living in the idealistic world, for a moment, trade places with the governing body of tunica. to save your town, to save your neighbors jobs, to protect your own employment, would you not consider most anything?


                                                                                                                                                                                  
 
Just caught your post and I'm truly amazed as to how you hit the nail on the head when it comes to Tunica, one might think you grew up around that area. I'll try and expand on a subject that you pretty much condensed into a couple of paragraphs. Carefull thinking and planning went into choosing the Tunica area in the attempt to bring gaming to our area, they knew that was a good bet to get approval. The area was nothing more than a farming community still stuck in the early 1900's, most folks were very poor, uneducated and held little to no hope in their future prospects. The casino industry offered jobs and improvements to the city and county that noone else had any interest in, it was a dead city. At it's peak, the changes and improvements were easy to see and point out, people in the area did see temporary gains in their quality of life. All kinds of new businessess popped up, a large mall was opened and the town was alive, the improvments to the local schools were crazy, they went from zero to a hundred in the drop of a hat. Now it's all dead or dying, the mall has closed down except for the Waffle House, no more helicopter rides, property values have fallen and the local roads are falling apart. The town is on the brink of ending up in the same exact place they were. There's no doubt they're willing to do whatever it takes to hold on to the only thing they have left. If the casinos go so they go also, I'm sure the powers that be are open to whatever it takes to hold onto the only real thing that remains. My hats off to you understanding what the situation was and is when it comes to that area.

notes1
Video Poker Master
Posts: 3143
Joined: Thu Jan 28, 2010 12:18 am

Post by notes1 »



KK, thanks for the kind words. i have been to tunica once and have never done any research on it. it was on my list of casino destinations to visit and i remember the day i flew in. it was beauiful, clear day and as the plane began it's descent, i wondered, where the heck are we going, there is nothing there. it really was in the middle of nowhere.  i have no idea if the scenario i created is true. what i find kind of surprising on this site of smart folks, is how some think casinos are somehow different than any other business. the basic princpals of operating a casino are no different than any other business. there are regulators/laws that affect every company, it is not just gaming. the laws are written by elected folks and can be modified, enforced or overlooked at their discretion. if your business is important enough to any region, if there are jobs involved, concessions will be made. elected people can be bought/influenced.  to think that a dying city would not lower it's standards, to stand on principal and watch as their city vanishes, is just not living in the real world. again, i have no idea if this is true, but when money is involved, anything is possible. america is littered with dead towns and no one wants to join that club. even with the increase in the number of casinos, i think tunica may have done ok, had it not been for the great recession. i feel sorry for the residents, but they have simply joined the long list of innocent victims of decades of over spending, over borrowing, over promising and not saving enough, that were the main factors in causing the financial mess that we continue to find ourselves in. i wish them the best. 

ko king
VP Veteran
Posts: 670
Joined: Fri Feb 17, 2012 10:13 pm

Post by ko king »

KK, thanks for the kind words. i have been to tunica once and have never done any research on it. it was on my list of casino destinations to visit and i remember the day i flew in. it was beauiful, clear day and as the plane began it's descent, i wondered, where the heck are we going, there is nothing there. it really was in the middle of nowhere.

 
 
i have no idea if the scenario i created is true. what i find kind of surprising on this site of smart folks, is how some think casinos are somehow different than any other business. the basic princpals of operating a casino are no different than any other business. there are regulators/laws that affect every company, it is not just gaming. the laws are written by elected folks and can be modified, enforced or overlooked at their discretion. if your business is important enough to any region, if there are jobs involved, concessions will be made. elected people can be bought/influenced.

 
 
to think that a dying city would not lower it's standards, to stand on principal and watch as their city vanishes, is just not living in the real world. again, i have no idea if this is true, but when money is involved, anything is possible. america is littered with dead towns and no one wants to join that club.

 
even with the increase in the number of casinos, i think tunica may have done ok, had it not been for the great recession. i feel sorry for the residents, but they have simply joined the long list of innocent victims of decades of over spending, over borrowing, over promising and not saving enough, that were the main factors in causing the financial mess that we continue to find ourselves in. i wish them the best. 

                                                                                                                                                                     
 
 
I was in sales before gaming came to Tunica and I used to travel to work the Misssissippi area pretty hard because I was in agriculture sales, the state was crazy poor, Tunica was one of the worst cities. I have no idea if you caught the HBO special many years ago that focused on Tunica and how poor and uneducated the area was, shack after shack, no jobs, no future, just nothing. The gaming industry without question broght improvements to the city, some maybe lasting, like education which is always a good investment. I quite certain Tunica gaming will survive but on a much smaller scale, right now I think there are currently 8 casinos still left standing, the ones that still seem to draw good traffic most of the time are Horseshoe, Hollywood, Gold Strike and maybe Sams Town. The rest are weekend warriors, they live for friday and saturday, weekdays are dead for them. What's so crazy about the ones that still draw good traffic is their vp pay tables, with the exception of Horseshoe the others have poor pay tables 9/5 is common. The casinos that draw the least traffic have pretty decent pay tables 9/7 for TDB and 9/6 for DDB, Roadhouse being exception they're pay tables aren't very good. I went to three of these smaller casinos on a Tuesday night, and I bet there was less than 100 players in any of them, most of which were playing penny slots, I checked out the vp areas and there wasn't a single person playing at one of them, went to the other casino and there was 1 person playing vp, the other casino had maybe 5-6 people playing vp all of which were playing either .5 cent Keno or .5 cent vp.
       I'm still a big believer in it's just the amount of players and the fewer dollars coming into the casinos that are having a negative effect of my results. Now I know there are some on this site that will say that should have zero effect on my results, if that is the case then what's left, something had to change and they sure don't want to discuss that possibility.

notes1
Video Poker Master
Posts: 3143
Joined: Thu Jan 28, 2010 12:18 am

Post by notes1 »



don't know if you have tried this, but why not test your theory about VP machines that get less play, even with better paytables, not producing the results you expect. i happen to agree with you, that casinos that have more business, produce more winners and if one just happens to be sitting at the right machine at the right time.... i know the math folks will disagree with this, but you keep accurate records, why not give it a try. go where the action is. good luck!

onemoretry
Video Poker Master
Posts: 2833
Joined: Tue Mar 03, 2009 8:00 pm

Post by onemoretry »

                                                  well you got me cornered with that reply, I guess it would be illegal according to the regulations. I guess I would have to counter that with, how would it be illegal if the program was approved, I'm guessing the gaming commission is the one that approves the programs.
You are suggesting that a gaming commission, or similar agency, would knowingly approve a program that does not comply with their own regulations. That really does not make sense to me.

ko king
VP Veteran
Posts: 670
Joined: Fri Feb 17, 2012 10:13 pm

Post by ko king »

[QUOTE=ko king]                                                  well you got me cornered with that reply, I guess it would be illegal according to the regulations. I guess I would have to counter that with, how would it be illegal if the program was approved, I'm guessing the gaming commission is the one that approves the programs.
You are suggesting that a gaming commission, or similar agency, would knowingly approve a program that does not comply with their own regulations. That really does not make sense to me. [/QUOTE]


                                                                                                                                                                  
 
I know it would be like our country going to war over oil and telling us it was because of weapons of mass destruction or something, that would be crazy. I also never used the word "knowingly", drugs get approved all the time by the FDA and later they find that some of them do far more harm than good.

notes1
Video Poker Master
Posts: 3143
Joined: Thu Jan 28, 2010 12:18 am

Post by notes1 »



omt, correct me if i am wrong, but i believe you are from north of the border. if not, the point is still applies. originally from buffalo, i would ride along the shoreline and marvel how beautiful canada was. everyone from our side always felt and still do, that the canuks where environmentally friendly. and yet, canada produces some of the filthiest energy on the planet, the tar sands. why would they allow it, because it is in their self interest as a natural resource producing country. just as some jurisdictions in the lower 48 may look the other way or change/modify/not enforce a law/regulation that does not suit them. if money or jobs are involved, it is amazing how folks can overlook their high standards.

onemoretry
Video Poker Master
Posts: 2833
Joined: Tue Mar 03, 2009 8:00 pm

Post by onemoretry »


omt, correct me if i am wrong, but i believe you are from north of the border.
You are correct, I am Canadian.

As for the balance of your post, I would caution you that is just as important to assess the credibility of sources of information on issues such as the Tar Sands, as it is on more mundane things such as achievements playing video poker.

Post Reply