by Jean Scott

I have a confession to make. We don't use coupons as much as we used to.
Why not? In part, we play enough video poker to get all the comped meals our cholesterol and waistlines can stand; we simply don't need to use coupons good for 2-for-1 entrees in gourmet rooms or free hot dogs in the deli.

But mostly, the fact is, we're slowing down.
I used to make fun of my husband, Brad, when he complained that he didn't feel like doing a coupon run, especially when it involved what he called our "death march" to umpteen Las Vegas Strip casinos in the middle of the summer. That was seven years ago. Now I'm at the same age he was then. Guess who doesn't always feel like doing a coupon run these days!

Still, since the Las Vegas Advisor dubbed me the "Queen of Ku Pon" long before Dan Rather named me the "Queen of Comps" on 48 Hours, I feel a certain obligation to do some couponing. And there are still many casino coupons that are just too good to pass up. But these days I make sure I’m well organized and combine many different coupons and promotions into one trip to make it worth the time and effort.

A coupon run we did over a year ago illustrates my new style. I've purposely omitted the names of specific casinos to "protect the guilty." Also, much of the experience couldn't be duplicated today—promotions and playing conditions in casinos change more often than our Indiana weather.

First, for convenience, frugality and fun, we buddied up with another couple and took one car. We also combined all of our coupons and agreed to pool our winnings (and to share the losses in the very unlikely case, with so many coupons, that Lady Luck totally abandoned us.)

Each of the four of us are subscribers to the Las Vegas Advisor, so we had 16 matchplays from the LVA Pocketbook of Values.

In addition, all winter long, I had collected $5 matchplays from the Las Vegas phone book. Yes, I tore them out of every phone directory I could lay my hands on. Every time we stayed in a different hotel room, I checked the phone book as soon as we arrived. I had maids checking for them in other rooms. Every time I passed a pay phone, I spent several minutes at the booth, ripping coupons from the phone book (and checking for change in the coin return)—in short, to Brad's embarrassment, doing everything but talking on the phone. I even clipped phone-book coupons on camera when Hard Copy was taping us. But as I pointed out on the show, these matchplays were in the coupon section, and were meant to be torn out, so I wasn't doing anything untoward. (Before you rush out to cut up Las Vegas phone books, however, note that these neat coupons are no longer being offered. No promotion lasts forever!)

Anyway, we had 43 of these little gems, and they had no restrictions on them as to a limit per person per day. All told, we were clutching 59 matchplay coupons, good at six casinos.

We started our adventure with the hope that we'd have at least average luck and realize the theoretical value of our coupons—about $135. We divided the 59 coupons among the four of us and began our run.

At the first stop, where there were four casinos within walking distance, we decided to separate and use only one or two coupons per table. Although we were following all the rules, it pays to keep a low profile on this kind of mission and not "wear out our welcome." We know coupons and promotions can be "withdrawn at any time at the discretion of management."

We decided to play mainly blackjack, which had the lowest house edge of any games on which the coupons could be used (though we were able to go to roulette and craps when the casinos were crowded). We spread out around the first casino, used some of the coupons, then continued our run at the other casinos.

When we met at the snack bar at the fourth casino, each of us had a different story to tell. Both men had come very close to achieving their expected return, but the two women wound up at opposite ends of the spectrum. I'd lost every hand except one, playing black on a roulette wheel, while my girlfriend had won almost every hand she'd played. However, her good luck in winning was tempered by her bad luck in finding enough tables that would let her use up her quota of coupons. She'd run into a pit boss who claimed that the coupons were no longer being accepted, even after she pointed out that the expiration date wasn't for several months. She thought it wouldn’t be prudent to tell the pit boss she'd just played a dozen of them in same company's two other joints!

So we had three coupons left for this casino, and I volunteered to saunter around to some tables where the men had already played to see if I could get rid of these three orphan matchplays. I accomplished the first part of the mission and managed to play all three at one blackjack table. But my luck was still running sour; I lost all three hands, including a double-down and a split. We all piled back into the car, drove to the fifth casino, and used our coupons there, where I finally won my first hand of blackjack.

I made the group wait a couple of minutes while I scooted next door to a favorite "coupon reloading center" and picked up a pile of freebie magazines. I’d peruse these later for coupons and offers that we could use on another day. My motto: Plan ahead.

Finally, we drove to our last stop on our coupon run. Here, we first used a few other coupons from the LVA Pocketbook of Values, then sat down at four 25-cent full-pay Deuces Wild machines to "earn" our dinner.
Now, everyone knows that the Queen of Comps doesn't advise people to play just for comps. However, we were going to play some video poker that day anyway, so we chose to do it in this casino since we were there, they had full-pay machines, and we knew that they were very generous with their coffee-shop comps. This was a place where it only takes about 45 minutes on the quarter machines to get enough food for the hungriest gambler.

At first it looked like our meals would cost a couple of hundred dollars. With all four of us playing fast, we were losing fast—a typical experience in short-term play. Then, after a half-hour, I redeemed myself in the group project by hitting four Deuces. After 15 more minutes of play, we each had the points required for our comp, plus $118 in profit from our session at the machines. We marched to the coffee shop and ordered up: four large appetizers and salads for all, which would more than fill us up. We chose entrees that would best microwave at home the next evening, and over dessert, we tallied up our coupon totals.

Despite my discouraging luck, the group's total win was $130—very near to our expected return. Each couple was richer by $124 ($59 at video poker, plus $65 from coupon play) and doggie bags full of enough goodies to make a complete meal the next day.

Not bad pay for a leisurely six-hour coupon "fun run." Click here for Couponing Hints Sidebar