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Casino Credit: Part
Three
In
Part I
of this series, we dealt with the new Cash Transaction Reporting requirements.
How to get credit, how to use it, and how to pay it back, were all covered.
In
Part II,
we dealt with the use and benefits of casino-credit, and how to raise your
stature as a player without raising the risk to your bankroll.
Now, I want to talk about how if you fill out a credit-application at just
one casino, you can reap the benefits of having credit
available to you in up to 28 other casinos nationwide.
There are eight companies
that control over one-hundred casino operations in the United
States. It’s pretty handy if you can access your credit from any number of
them. The convenience and safety of not having to carry large amounts of
cash is definitely a plus.
In addition, your Line of Credit gives you
instant recognition, even if you’ve never played in that house before. It
gives you easier access to comps and perks that are usually reserved for much
“larger” players. This all stems from the fact that if you are willing to
expose your playing bankroll to the casino; then they are willing to give you
pretty much full run of their house.
If they know that you are “good” for a
certain level of action with a “known” bankroll; then they will extend every
courtesy, comp and privilege that they can.
Whether you are a consistent winner doesn’t
really enter into their comp-calculations.
They simply look at your bankroll as a tasty
pot of honey. If you are a Precision-Shooter who has an edge over
the game, they don’t have to know that. They understand that players get
lucky, and can have long winning streaks. They are relying upon the
house-edge to grind out your money in the long-term. As a player who has
an advantage, it is your duty and responsibility to appear as much to them as a
“lucky” or “normal” player as possible.
Their task is to keep the lucky player happy,
and playing as long as possible for the house-edge to eventually do its job.
They continue to invite you back by using more and more, and greater and greater
perks and comps to give the “house” as much of a shot as possible at your
bankroll.
The fact that you continue to win does not
alter their offers at all, in fact, they usually increase the size and value of
the comps to pretty much guarantee themselves that you will return again and
again.
With DISCIPLINE, Money Management, proper
betting methods and skilled Precision-Shooting, having a Line-of-Credit at
multiple properties can be a VERY good and rewarding experience.
When you set up a Line of Credit (L.o.C.), it
is usually accessible from other in-town “sister” properties.
Here’s a rundown on several
casino-corporations that have shared credit-facilities. That means that if
you establish credit at one casino, you can USUALLY access it at another one of
their sister casinos.
MGM-Mirage Corporation
All of the following casinos share the same
player data-base and credit-issuing system:
MGM Grand
Bellagio
Mirage
Treasure Island
Golden Nugget
NewYork NewYork
Golden Nugget-Laughlin
The Holiday Inn-Boardwalk casino is NOT
included in the MGM-Mirage computerized Player-Rating system or credit-facility.
If you want to play at any the Primm Resorts
of:
Primm Valley (formerly Primadonna)
Buffalo Bills
Whiskey Pete’s
Then special arrangements have to be made and
confirmed in advance by the casino where you originally
established your MMC credit for it to be extended at these three houses.
If you play at either Beau Rivage in Biloxi,
Mississippi, or MGM Grand in Detroit, you’ll want to know that they also require
special pre-arrangement for your Line to be transferred from one of their Las
Vegas casinos, and I would STRONGLY suggest you get written confirmation of
those arrangements.
Depending on your length of credit history
with them, they may require a new credit application to be filled out for those
two jurisdictions.
Mandalay Bay
Corporation
All of the following casinos share the same
player data-base and credit-issuing system:
Mandalay Bay Resort
Luxor
Excalibur
Circus Circus
Monte Carlo
Railroad Pass-Henderson
Nevada Landing-Jean
Gold Strike-Jean
Edgewater-Laughlin
Colorado Belle-Laughlin
As far as I know, you cannot access your Line
at Slots-o-Fun, and even if you can, I would not do so if you are a
Precision-Shooter. You want to stay under the pit-radar iN tiny
grind-joints like this.
If you want to play at:
Silver Legacy-Reno
Circus Circus-Reno
Then special arrangements have to be made and
confirmed in advance by the casino where you originally
established your MBC credit for it to be extended at these two houses.
If you play at either Gold Strike in Tunica,
Mississippi, Motor City in Detroit, or Grand Victoria in Elgin, Illinois; then
you’ll want to know that they also require special pre-arrangement for your Line
to be transferred from one of their Las Vegas casinos, and I would STRONGLY
suggest you get written confirmation of those arrangements.
Depending on your length of credit history
with them, they may require a new credit application to be filled out for that
jurisdiction.
Park Place
Entertainment
All of the following casinos share the same
player data-base and credit-issuing system:
Caesars-Las Vegas
Flamingo Hilton-Las Vegas
Paris
Las Vegas Hilton
Bally’s-Las Vegas
Flamingo Hilton-Laughlin
O’Shea’s Casino in Las Vegas IS included in
the PPE computerized Player-Rating system, but you cannot usually access your
Line of Credit at this operation, unless prior arrangements are made and
confirmed. Besides which, O’Shea’s has that “gi-normous” 20-foot long
craps table that is tough to get a good level of consistency out of.
If you want to play at Caesars-Lake Tahoe;
then special arrangements have to be made and confirmed in advance by the casino
where you originally established your PPE credit for it to be
extended at this house.
If you plan to play at any of the Park Place
Entertainment properties in Atlantic City; then you’ll have to open and
establish a brand-new credit account at either:
Bally’s-Atlantic City
Caesars- Atlantic City
Hilton- Atlantic City
Claridge- Atlantic City
Dover Downs Racetrack in Delaware is not
included in any PPE credit-facilities.
At the time of this writing, if you want to
have credit at any of the following PPE properties:
Grand Casino -Gulfport
Grand Casino-Biloxi
Grand Casino-Tunica
Then you’ll have to open a new credit account
with them. They are currently in the middle of streamlining their
credit-system in the southern gaming markets. Perhaps by the time you read
this, your PPE account may also include their other properties, which include:
Bally’s-New Orleans
Bally’s-Tunica
Sheraton-Tunica
As a side note, the former Grand Casino
properties in Louisiana (Avoyelles/Paragon and Coushatta) are not included in
the PPE stable of properties.
If you plan to play at any of the other Park
Place Entertainment properties in North America; then you’ll have to open and
establish a brand-new credit account at any or all of the
following:
Caesars-Indiana
Casino Windsor in Ontario, Canada
Casino Nova Scotia in Halifax, Canada
Caesars-Crystal Harmony cruise-ship
All four of those casinos each require a
separate credit application.
Boyd Gaming
All of the following casinos share the same
player data-base and credit-issuing system:
Stardust
Freemont Hotel
California Hotel
Main Street Station (not part of the Station Casinos chain)
Sam’s Town
Eldorado Casino-Henderson
Joker’s Wild Casino-Henderson
If you want to play at any other Boyd
property including:
Para-Dice in Illinois
Blue Chip Casino in Indiana
Treasure Chest Casino in Kenner, LA
Sam’s Town in Tunica, MS
Then special arrangements have to be made and
confirmed in advance by the casino where you originally established your
BP credit for it to be extended at these four houses.
The Borgata Casino-Hotel in Atlantic City,
will require you to complete a new NJ-CCC credit application when it opens.
Boyd’s Delta Downs Racetrack does not have
any table games.
Station Casinos
There are currently six casinos in this
extended family of “locales” casinos that share the same credit and
player-rating facilities. They are:
Palace Station
Boulder Station
Sunset Station
Texas Station
Santa Fe Station
Green Valley Resort
Station Casinos are currently developing an
alternative casino-brand with the “Fiesta” name, which was started by the Maloof
family (current Palms Hotel owners). Your L.o.C at the Station
Casinos is not currently available, but soon will be, at the following
locations:
Fiesta-North Las Vegas
Fiesta-Henderson (formerly The Reserve)
Wild Wild West
Barley’s Casino & Brewing Co.
For the two latter listings (WWWest &
Barley’s), I would strongly recommend NOT drawing too much attention to yourself
in either of these places. Again, you want to fly under the radar in the
small grind-joints. Although there is a “no dice-setting” sign posted on the
WWWest craps tables; you CAN set the dice if you are extremely quick and you
look “non-intentional” while you are doing it. Unless you are truly great
at setting the dice, and truly generous with your dealer tokes, I would suggest
that you by-pass their mini-tables and try your skill and luck somewhere more
appropriate.
Coast Casinos
All of the following casinos share the same
player data-base and credit-issuing system:
Barbary Coast
Gold Coast
Suncoast
The Orleans
Gaughans Plaza (see notes below)
Strictly speaking, the Plaza Hotel is not
currently “owned” by Coast Casinos. Rather it has a reciprocal management
and marketing agreement with it. The Plaza Hotel is owned by the father of
the Chairman & CEO of Coast Casinos.
When you want to use your Coast Line of
Credit at Gaughans Plaza; then special arrangements have to be made and
confirmed in advance by the casino where you originally
established your CC credit for it to be extended to you. They are
pretty flexible about it, but you definitely want to ensure that the courtesy
will be extended in advance.
Micheal Gaughans slots-only franchise at
McCarran Airport does not extend credit to players.
Gaughan Properties
All of the following casinos share the same
player data-base and credit-issuing system:
Gaughans Plaza (see above notes)
Las Vegas Club
El Cortez
Gold Spike
There are currently no craps tables at either
the Ogden House or Western Casino properties of Jackie Gaughan.
Harrah’s Gaming
They currently have 26 casinos in their
ever-growing franchise. I’ve likened this operation to that of
Mcdonalds Restaurants, in that they are well-managed, and the experience is
pretty much consistent throughout the whole nationwide chain.
Some people like that Mcdonalds pre-digested,
reconstituted potato-product fries taste the same in Anchorage, Alaska as they
do in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Well with Harrah’s, it’s pretty much
the same experience. It doesn’t matter if you play at Harrah’s Ak-Chin
Casino in Pheonix or Harrah’s North Kansas City, Mo., the gaming experience is
pretty much the same pre-packaged gaming-fluff that they are known for.
The following casinos share the same player
data-base and credit-issuing system:
Harrah’s-Las Vegas
Rio Suites
Harrah’s –Laughlin
The other Harrah’s properties all share the
same player-rating system, however, because they are in so many different gaming
jurisdictions, you may not have access to your Line of Credit at one of their
other facilities, such as:
Harrah’s-Lake Tahoe
Harvey’s-Lake Tahoe
Bill’s Casino-Lake Tahoe
Harrah’s-Reno
Harrah’s-Laughlin
Harrah’s-Pheonix-Ak Chin (no craps)
Rincon Casino-San Diego (no craps)
Harrah’s Prairie Band-Topeka, KS
Harrah’s-Council Bluffs, IA
Bluffs Run Casino-Council Bluffs, IA
Harvey’s Wagonwheel-Central City, CO (no craps)
Harrah’s-Atlantic City
Showboat-Atlantic City
Harrah’s-New Orleans
Harrah’s-Shreveport, LA
Harrah’s-Lake Charles, LA
Harrah’s-Tunica, MS
Harrah’s-Vicksburg, MS
Harrah’s-Cherokee, NC (no craps)
Harrah’s-St. Louis, MO
Harrah’s-East Chicago, IL
Harrah’s-Joliet, IL
Harrah’s-Metropolis, IL
Harrah’s-North Kansas City, MO
Be prepared to fill out several
credit-applications to activate a Line of Credit in some of these
closely-located joints because of state gaming regulations.
Okay, there you have it folks. This
list is in no way complete. There are a number of other casino companies
out there with multiple casinos like Isle of Capri, Ameristar, Horseshoe, Casino
Magic, Argosy, Boomtown, Hollywood, Treasure Chest, Ichan Casinos, Kewadin, Lady
Luck, and Imperial Palace, just to name a few. However, I’ve only listed
the companies where I currently enjoy the use of either their credit-facilities
or “front-money” deposits.
Handled carefully and with sober maturity,
Casino Credit can be a useful tool in the serious player's money-management
arsenal.
Next ==>> Part Four deals with
Marker-Debt Discounts.
Some
casino-corporations have long reduced the amount of an outstanding marker for
some of their “larger” or “premium” players. With the changing and more
competitive landscape, some of that “discounting” is filtering down to what most
Message Board posters call “real” or “normal” players.
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