Casino Marketer

Casino Marketer

Bugsy Siegel

Washington, DC

Male, 36

I worked for over two years in Las Vegas as a Director of Marketing for one of the casinos on the Las Vegas Strip, and in that time acquired a bit of knowledge about how casinos have finely honed the art of parting you from your dollars, especially if you're a gambling degenerate. I know a little bit about how the entertainment and F&B side work as well, and how casinos assess gamblers.

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19 Questions

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Last Answer on November 11, 2013

Best Rated

What's the minimum action I need to give to get comped a meal / room / show tickets etc?

Asked by Jon almost 12 years ago

These days, you don't really need to work that hard to figure out what it will take to get comped.  In Caesars' Total Rewards program, you get Tier Credits at varying rates for different activities:

https://www.totalrewards.com/TotalRewards/RewardsAndBenefits.do?page=trBenefits

Each reward credit earned is worth 1 cent.  So whatever the buffet costs, say $30 for the dinner buffet, you need 3,000 Reward Credits.

Are patrons allowed to bring guns into casinos?

Asked by Jessy over 11 years ago

I'm not a lawyer so I can't tell you what the statutes are exactly - but based on http://www.nraila.org/gun-laws/state-laws/nevada.aspx, I don't believe that government statutes explicitly prohibit bringing guns into casinos - but I would suspect that those with guns aren't welcome into the casinos.  Security at casinos often aren't armed, and I can't imagine that guests who have guns are welcome - they're likely to make other guests extremely uncomfortable, so in the interest of not scaring away customers, I'd expect that casinos will bar guests with guns from the premises.

What do you think about someone being sexually harassed by a Casino Host. As a guest, it was very upsetting and basically nothing was done when I made a formal complaint to the upper management (HR). Want to take legal action against Casino!!!

Asked by JDVegas almost 12 years ago

I'm sorry that you had a bad experience like this, as you appear quite upset. As I'm not a lawyer I don't know if you have grounds to take action against the casino.  However, as a businessperson, you probably have a bit more sway.  If you are a big customer of the casino, you could certainly threaten to take your business elsewhere.  Another thing that businesses hate is bad PR. If the act was particularly egregious, it is possible that you could try to bring negative attention to the casino through the press.  However, without knowing the nature of the action or what is provable, it's difficult to say. 

What's the most extravagant Vegas luxury you're aware of? Like something that only the wealthiest of the wealthy would have access to?

Asked by Cool Calm Cal almost 12 years ago

Sooooo...I feel like Vegas is one of those places where you can pretty much get whatever you want if you have the money.  I worked at casinos that were a little more blue collar, so I don't have any personal stories that I can allude to of particular extravagance...I did work on one special promotion one time where we were giving gifts away to casino guests based on their gaming play.  One guest gambled enough that we gave him a BMW 3 Series.  Imagine what kind of money you have to lose in order to be comped a BMW.  

One of my favorite restaurants in Vegas is at Mandalay Bay, Hubert Keller's Fleur.  One of the most absurdly extravagant options is a $5000 burger constructed with Kobe Beef, foie gras and truffles, plus 1995 bottle of Petrus (worth about $2500 according to this article: http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2011/01/08/is-this-burger-worth-5000/).  That's just crazy!

Is it true that most of the gambling money is made on slots, and that the table games are basically just a courtesy?

Asked by whoopwhoop almost 12 years ago

I'd say you're about 50/50.  While typically in an LV casino most of the money is made on slots, but some of the biggest gamblers are table games players. Slot machines are great because they don't complain, and casinos know exactly what you put in and take out of them. They are generally extremely reliable. Table games are less reliable - you have to estimate how much someone is gambling, and estimate how much they won/lost with you. I would say that if anything is a "courtesy" the closest thing would be poker tables, which don't really make much money for the casino and take up a lot of space, but draw gamblers who hopefully play other things.