Captive Audience
10 ways casinos keep you at your game, and what you can do to keep temptation to a minimum
by Frank Legato
When it comes to gambling, the goals of the player and the casino are, naturally, diametrically opposed. At the most basic level, the player wants to walk away a winner, and the casino wants to rake in as much money as possible from the player’s losses.
But when you examine the nature of the casino business more closely, several other levels emerge. Sure, the player wants to walk away a winner, but beyond that, the player is seeking entertainment. To many players, getting a fair dose of entertainment for the gambling dollar is at least as important as the prospect of winning money, maybe even more so.
Meanwhile, the casino, which depends on the house edge of its games to guarantee a steady stream of income, does not want every player to lose—without winners, there would be no players.
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In any event, casinos are not in the business of creating an atmosphere in which everyone quits while they are ahead. And as most players know all too well, we tend to have a hard time quitting while we’re ahead.
Assuming you do not have a problem with gambling, why is it so hard to quit while you’re ahead? What makes you keep playing on that rare occasion when you’ve already beaten the house edge and can quit a winner?
Much of the answer lies with the carefully planned atmosphere in which you are gambling. The casino has set it up so you play a long time—maybe longer than you anticipated. For the most part, this is accomplished through a number of time-tested methods that make up Casino Operations 101.
Let’s look inside that Casino Ops 101 class, and see just what it is casinos do to keep you playing longer. Here are 10 of the most common ways casinos keep their audience captive—and some tips to avoid the temptation they give you to play longer than your bankroll plays.
Integrated resorts
This is the most time-tested way casinos have kept their players in front of their games. Arguably, it started in the 1940s with the first casino on the Las Vegas Strip, the El Rancho Vegas.
Unlike anything before it, El Rancho Vegas did not require players to visit different places to gamble, eat, shop and sleep. For the first time, everything was under one roof. Players could gamble, get a quick bite, and then gamble some more—all at the same joint.
Places like the El Rancho, and just about every other place prior to the opening of The Mirage in 1989, had everything under one roof, but “everything” was essentially a bed, basic eats and the games. These old-style casinos are still around, but most of today’s integrated resorts offer completely self-contained worlds: they are cities within themselves. And this very fact is what will allow you to resist the urge to keep going back to the slots or tables. You have a wealth of non-gaming activities—shopping, the pool, entertainment, dining—at your fingertips. Make gambling one of many activities, and when you’re ahead, move on to something else for a while.
Design
Casinos have traditionally been designed to make you forget the time of day, and to forget those other activities we talked about above. While casinos are elaborate and creative in design, this basic fact has not changed.
You still won’t see a clock in a casino. In most casinos, you won’t see outside, either. Night looks like day; day looks like night. If there are TV screens, they’re generally going to be in a bar, and that bar is going to be separated from most of the games, particularly the tables.
It’s easy to forget about everything else outside the casino while you’re gambling—regardless of your game. A good way to battle this tendency is to stay aware of time. Wear a watch, and look at it once in a while. Schedule a luncheon or dinner date, and keep it. If someone’s waiting for you, it’s a built-in signal that your gambling session is over, at least for now.
Game style
Casinos don’t have to put a whole lot of effort into maximizing your playing time, at least on the slot floor, because the slot manufacturers have done it for them.
Multi-line video slots in low denominations are built for long play. In nickels, there will be a progression of very frequent, low-level wins that will keep your credit meter on an even keel. They will be less frequent on penny games, but since they are penny games, there will be an occasional huge credit jackpot to keep you at the machine.
Even traditional reel-spinners in quarters and dollars have this feature—multiplying wild symbols, mechanical bonuses and other features will replenish credit meters at the last minute, or even put you way ahead of the game and make you flush with confidence.
What you must do with all slots is keep one thing in mind: The house edge is enormous. In most cases, you’re giving away upwards of 10 percent or more. If you score a big hit, cash out. It is easy to hit the button and get a voucher for the big win. Then, you can re-enter your original buy-in amount if you want to keep playing. It gives you a much better picture of what you have won and what you are wagering—the ticket is your winnings.
If one thing that ticket-printing slots have done, it is make this method of bankroll management very easy. Use it.
There are other ways to help you quit while you’re ahead, of course. On the slots, setting win and loss limits is very effective: I’ll quit when I’m $200 ahead; I’ll quit when I’m $100 down. We won’t go over all the time-tested bankroll management techniques here, but the same principles apply to the tables as the slots. Pocket your winnings; put those extra chips in your pocket and go back to your original stake.
‘Ergonomics’
One way casinos promote longer play is by simply making players comfortable. Slots and slot stools are designed with “ergonomics” in mind. From the positioning of the buttons to adjustable monitors to the positioning of the screen, it’s more comfortable now to play for long periods. Some manufacturers even feature foot rests recessed into the bottom of the machine.
Nowadays, you can play and play without your neck becoming sore, and without your arms aching. Sit back and enjoy it, but don’t let it lull you into that sense of being lost in your game. While you’re enjoying the fantasy world the casino has created for you, use the techniques we discussed above to stay in the real world.
Slot club point countdown
Right in your line of sight on the slot machine panel is that slot club card reader. In the vast majority of casinos, it will count down to the next points earned as you play. You will be enticed to keep playing to earn that next point level.
Rule of thumb: Never put another bill in the acceptor just to bring your point total up another notch. Just play to have fun, and let your points take care of themselves. What good is achieving a $5 cash-back award if it costs you $20 to do it?
Comps
If you’re a high-level table game or slot player, the comps will flow. You will be offered dinner, drinks and anything else your heart desires, as long as you keep playing.
Here’s a tip: Enjoy the comps you’ve earned without continuing to play. If you can’t stop playing long enough to make it to the restaurant, you’re doing exactly what the casino wants you to do. Take a break. Go eat in style. Then pick up your game where you left off.
Sweepstakes and promotions
Another time-tested method of keeping people at their games is the casino-wide sweepstakes drawing. It will be held on the floor, and you have to be present—maybe even playing with your card inserted—to be eligible.
Use the same attitude here as with the slot club point countdown: just have fun and play. The sweepstakes drawing will happen with or without you, and if you are sitting at your slot while it does—and you win—great. Otherwise, you’re still having fun playing your favorite game, and using the normal techniques to give you the best chance to quit winners.
Mobile gaming
This is the newest, high-tech method at the casino’s disposal to keep you wagering. Last year, Nevada legalized wireless, remote gaming—playing slots, video poker or video table games on hand-held, wireless devices issued by the casino .
In Nevada, it is now legal to play games in any location around a resort where there are surveillance cameras. You can play at the pool, you can play at the show line, you can play while you’re waiting for your food in a restaurant.
In many Native American casinos, this extends to the guest rooms, where patrons will be able to play games and wager using their in-room televisions.
Casinos have yet to fully deploy mobile gaming, and the jury’s still out on whether or not it’s a good idea. If you feel you can handle it with the same discretion as you use at the slots and tables, great. Nothing wrong with playing video poker at the cabana by the pool. However, if you think it will make you gamble for too long, it probably will. In the end, it’s always a good idea to confine gambling to the casino. It’s much easier to compartmentalize your resort activities that way.
Smell
Everyone’s heard rumors that casinos pump fragrances onto the casino floor to keep people at their games, and you may have dismissed it as an urban legend.
It’s not. There are specific fragrances available to the casinos that promote a sense of wellbeing in players, making them feel content to sit for hours on end and keep playing and playing.
According to a company in the U.K. called Aircare, which sells fragrances to casinos, “the more comfortable the player feels, the more time they will spend in your club and the more money they will spend. The sense of smell has a huge part to play, sometimes at a subconscious level, in how we perceive our level of comfort in a particular environment.”
How do you remedy it? Don’t worry about it. So you feel good. Nothing wrong with that. It doesn’t mean you can’t still think and reason. And reason is all you need to keep a handle on how much you’re winning or losing, and when a good time arrives to quit for the evening.
Free Drinks
Speaking of reason, the number one method used by casinos to keep you at your game depends on reason going out the window.
That’s right. Free drinks.
If you want to know the easiest way to throw all caution to the wind and behave as if you’re playing with Monopoly money, it is by drinking too much alcohol while you play. If you’re at a skill game like blackjack or video poker, you will make stupid decisions. If you are playing slots, you will keep playing, chasing losses and going to the ATM.
There’s a simple solution: have a soda instead. Or a bottle of water. Then, when you’re done playing, go to the bar.
Casinos will employ all the time-tested methods to keep you playing long enough for their house edge to take its inevitable toll. Many players know this going in, and don’t care—they’re playing for the entertainment. If you’re one of those players, more power to you.
However, if you’re aware of what the casino is doing to keep you at your game when you’ve already beaten that house edge, be sure to use some of the tips we’ve offered to take your money and run.
Well, stroll, anyway.