Video Poker Forum

Local casinos are deleting full pay poker machines in this area or eliminating poker in favor of slots. Is this happening everywhere?

Clearly not. There are still good games in some places.

What area are you talking about?

They are not treating VP players the same as slot players - Slot players get points quicker, but I guess that has been going on for a long time.

Bobbi wrote: ↑

Sun Jul 07, 2019 2:43 am

They are not treating VP players the same as slot players - Slot players get points quicker, but I guess that has been going on for a long time.

As well it should.

Assume you can play slots at 93% or video poker at 98+%. The casinos makes a LOT more off of this slot player than this video poker player. It makes sense for the casino to reward (e.g. bribe) the slot player to keep playing.

It is happening in Ct to some extent. The vp areas are definitely smaller. For now, the good news is we have 99 percent games at both casinos. Mohegan at quarter level and Foxwoods at the dollar level. Since 2011, Mohegan discontinued points you can spend on their 99 games. At Foxwoods, at the dollar level, spendable points are still earned on 99 games. The additional bad news is nearly 500 bucks has to be cycled through to earn one point. Regular slots are in the 160 for one point range

We once had near 100% games with good cash back here. Now everything is <99% with lousy cash back.

Can you believe in Aruba, the casino host gave us back in cash the entire loss for the trip after a week of playing. That happened two years in a row. The Casino was located within the hotel. It was about ten years ago though.

Now that’s hospitality. Stop the presses about those premises.

One casino down there also had 9/6 job quarter progressive game. The big casino downtown had nickel 9/6 job. It used to spit out buckets of nickels. Before titos existed and even after. The natives weren’t worried about it. Unending Aruba Arribas flowed to the tourists. A couple of those which are a mixture of vodka and rum etc. and you would be lucky to play a 99 percent game at 90.

Louisianna Situation: Lake Charles
VP in the Lake Charles area (closest to Houston) is very mixed.
Isle of Capri:
We used to play Isle of Capri due to the really good VP, especially 50/100 play. In 2014 the new slot director began gutting VP (both in machine #'s and quality of games) and we rarely go back. Most pay tables were 98-99% when we left.

L'au Berge du Lac:
When LDL opened it had outstanding VP selection and pay tables. While it still has a number of machines, the pay tables have dropped dramatically. Where 9/6 JOB 25¢ machines were common, the same 9/6 is now only found on $1/$2 machines. Points/ Coin-In: Slots $5/point VP $10/point

Golden Nugget:
The GN marketing director told me their philosophy was that VP was a secondary option. They have a decent selection but predominately along the lines of 12-20 All Star and SuperStar around the casino and bars. There are an additional 20-30 VP machines that are usually single high tops. They have limited new games. Pay tables are 97% return (DDB 9/5; DW 12.10, Bonus 7/5) IMO the comps however make up for a lower pay return. Comps include "Weekly Food Allowances" from $45-75-100-150 based on play at any of the 8 Landry's connected on site restaurants. Additionally, the casino offers special "Weekly Free Play" and special Thur-Sunday free play nightly based on your current play and evidently the historical gaming counts. Generally slow periods of the year may provide us with our regular "weekly free play" of $100-120-150 and then Thur-Sunday an additional $120-250 per night in free play each night. During select weekends a player could easily have $100+120+120+120 = $460 in a 3 night stay. We've seen top players with literally $500 per night Thur-Sun extra free play. Free play can not be used on VP machines. Points/Coin In: Slots $3/1 point; VP $10/1 point; 100K/year for Elite level; Billionaire Level by Invitation Only;
**Note: Comp $ can be used to pay for meals at any of 600 Landry's restaurants in the US.

Coushatta (Kinder):
Still has the best selection of machines and the highest pay tables in La. 98-99% on the multi-hand machines for all denominations. They also have the highest return for Points/Coin-in: Slots 1¢-50¢ $2/point; higher slot denominations $3/1 point; VP $4/1point but 125K points/six months (500K or $1M CI for top level).

All in all a pretty sweet opportunity for us Texas players who are IMO led by the most incompetent state leaders when it comes to Gambling. These four casinos (2-21/2 hours from Houston) based on state gaming records take in an average of $1M each per day. Gaming stats show as much as 65-70% comes from you guessed it... Texas. Oh, yeah and those Texas wins would be state tax free!!!