First off, congratulations! While the Las Vegas Strip is facing rough economic times it appears that your gambling takes are increasing. While the Strip is rapidly falling off a cliff, you're seeing gamblers coming in at levels you never expected. Resorts are being built, being refurbished, have completed successful refurbishments and the Fremont Street Canopy is going to get a lot clearer and brighter.
So, things are going well. The area around you has been revitalized (sort-of) and people are starting to rediscover what made you great in the first place.
And, how are you responding?
By threatening to mess it all up, Royally.
It's so bad even downtown regular Royal Flusher has taken notice and is concerned.
I think maybe we are on the tail end of having downtown as a value destination. Three years from now, we'll know if it's all 7/5 crap poker machines.
Here's the problem. If you ruin the value proposition that is (still) Downtown Las Vegas, you ruin the reason people go there.
You're not the Strip. Even the Strip isn't what the Strip thinks it is, and the numbers are showing that. Currently people can gamble closer and closer to their hometown, and the options are expanding every day. Heading to Vegas used to mean three things:
1. The Best Resorts - Between the amenities, the customer service, the perks and the illusion of luxury the Vegas Strip used to offer an experience like no other. The problem is that unique experience has been all but duplicated across the country, with lower resort fees, lower prices and, in many cases, better customer service.
2. The Best Gambling - For decades Las Vegas was the gold standard for gambling. You knew, when you placed your bets, that you were getting a fair game, you would get paid for your wins, and there were rules in place to protect both you and the casino from fraud and graft. You also knew that you were going to get odds that, while still casino friendly, were at least fair. Vegas has gone away from that now under a flood of 6/5 Black Jack, Triple Zero Roulette and worse Video Poker Pay Tables than you can find almost anywhere. 7/5 Double Double Bonus, 6/5 Black Jack and Triple Zero Roulette are really only "things" in Clark County. You won't find these horribly player-unfriendly rules anywhere EXCEPT for the place that still has the gall to market itself as a gambling mecca.
3. The Best Value - Look, I get that the days of cheap rooms and cheap eats are gone. We live in an era of celebrity chefs and suites and terraces and big name DJ's at the pools. But what we're starting to see now is the nickel-and-dime charges that really anger patrons. From paid parking to resort fees that often outpace the nightly published rate, to CNF fees that are added to a restaurant bill and provide the patron with....nothing.
All three of the things that used to bring people to the Vegas Strip in droves are now creeping into the management mindset downtown. This is what's commonly known as a "bad thing" and by all accounts it's going to get worse, especially if Tillman Fertitta is successful in his efforts to merge with, and take controlling interest in, Caesars the slow creep of fees and ROI threaten to totally render downtown useless.
As Royal Flusher stated: Are we doomed to a future of crap 7/5 Double Double Bonus video poker machines and 6/5 black jack with horrid rules and Triple Zero Roulette downtown? Have we reached the point where even old Vegas succumbs to the "suck the player dry as quickly as possible" mentality?
One of the biggest lies about downtown Las Vegas is that the slots are "looser" than those one can find on the Strip. In large part this illusion has been created by superior Video Poker Pay Tables (VP is considered a slot for reporting purposes) bumping up the slot hold percentage across the board. Many people, myself included, feel that the Downtown "slot takeout percentage" is actually LOWER than that on the Strip, and that the bump is only realized because of better VP pay-tables. If downtown decides to get rid of those then people will see just how poorly they're being treated in casinos ran by Boyd, Tilman Fertitta and the Stephens brothers, that's when things will really take a turn for the worse.
Currently you downtown casino operators are trying to position yourselves in marketing as the "fun" way to do Vegas. You have Stephens running all around town acting like a man of the people, you have Boyd and Pinnacle showing "jackpot" winners on Twitter and you have Golden Nugget acting like the Belle of the Ball in the middle of a bunch of paupers.
If all of that changes, if downtown becomes nothing more than a glorified "Strip North" then there will be no reason for people to come downtown any longer.
The Strip is still bigger, brighter, fancier and better in many aspects. All you'll be stuck with is nostalgia and poor odds.
Don't do it.
Thank you for your time.
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