Well, we survived Las Vegas

 Anniversary trip.....done.

And a profitable trip as well, thanks largely to a $1 progressive Royal at 4Queens. Always nice to hit those.

The rest of the trip was good, we had good fun downtown, good fun at Green Valley Ranch, and just a general good time all around.  As you saw in my prior post you can follow my antics in Las Vegas on my Twitter account. @CoryWCrow If you're reading this blog and enjoying it a follow would be much appreciated.

Twitter is where you will find most of my activity now. But, you're gong to be seeing something different because, after the last Las Vegas trip, I've decided to drastically curtail the amount of alcohol that I consume.

I'm not giving up alcohol totally, I'll still have the occasional beer whilst grilling and some wine with dinner, but I'm 100% giving up hard liquor, and generally giving up drinking and gambling as well. I'm doing this more for health reasons than because I'm an alcoholic or anything like that. To be perfectly honest, I've just gotten tired of hangovers as I get older.

I also did a count of the calories I've been drinking and no wonder I'm not losing any weight.  So whiskey is out, and vodka, and gin.  Even beer and wine is going to be less rather than more.

In short, I'm not getting any younger, and I cannot rebound from a hard night of Las Vegas drinking like I used to. In fact, my plan is to make my birthday trip in October a totally sober one. Sober gambling, hmmmm.....

On other notes, College football is kicking into high gear. Saturday was my typical week zero result (0-2) but they were min bets so I'm not too worried about it. Might need to adjust some numbers though, especially on Nebraska, UCLA and Hawai'i.

Outside of that, prayers to Louisiana, I'm about done with the Paul brothers and everyone rest up, because the weekends are about to get REALLY busy.

Buckle up as this blog is about to get sports betting heavy.

A Las Vegas Blog, A Las Vegas Break.

Will be a little silent here on the blog for a little bit.

Taking a Las Vegas break.

You can follow my exploits on my Twitter feed or you can see my live (ish) trip report on Vegas Fanatics

Now, let's go win some jackpots.

Gambling: Maybe Casinos CAN "Flip the Switch" on Slot Machines?

I want to start this out by making a very clear statement:

I DO NOT BELIVE THAT THE CASINOS ARE CHEATING. I am accusing no one in this post of violating any laws, any regulations, or switching machines to the benefit, or detriment, of any one player. I am not in any way suggesting that this is happening nor do I have ANY proof that it is. I cannot be more clear about this.  All I am doing in this post is trying to extrapolate what some people might think based on news today, NOT what people are doing.

Ok, with that out of the way........

One of the more hotly contested urban legends surrounding casino slots is whether or not the machines payback percentage can be immediately changed by casinos to different levels via technology. On the one hand, you've noticed that one day casinos slots are allowing for more play and maybe even paying out then suddenly, on say.......Friday night when the casino is busy, suddenly the play goes away the jackpots stop rolling in and it appears that the machines have all gone dead.

"Balderdash" say the Casino operators, "That is too small of a sample size and we'd have to go to the gaming board to change the chip and that's just not practical, NO WAY this is true."

Except, maybe it is?

Slot Management Software Leads to Record 2Q Full House Results. Richard N. Velotta, Las Vegas Review Journal

The article is fire-walled so I'm not going to quote here, only to encourage you to go read this.

In short, Full House Resorts Inc. may have just said the quiet part out loud. Namely, that the Konami Gaming Slot Management System resulted in record profits.

The system in question is called SYNKROS and while details of it's functionality are sparse on it's website there are a couple of important things to note in the "slot" section....

"From Ticket-In-Ticket-Out (TITO) to Patron Tracking, SYNKROS supports the tools necessary for smooth slot game operations and growth. Leading advances and features built for continued optimization and performance keep players connected with the conveniences they enjoy and loyalty benefits they expect, all with comprehensive administrative analytics and control."

I'm not sure about you, but the bolded above seems to me to suggest that casinos CAN, in fact "flip the switch" on machines concerning payout percentages. I'm not suggesting that this can be used to trigger a jackpot, that would be illegal and I do not believe anything illegal is happening.  But I do think that it IS reasonable to assume that casinos can adjust payback percentages on slots at their whim. In most cases I now believe that they have pretty much cate blanche to do this provided they remain above State minimums.

How wide spread this is, and whether or not say, a Konami system could be used to control an Aristocrat slot machine?  I have no idea. But that some level of control is available, and allowed by gaming regulators, can no longer be denied?

Of course, there are some troubling concerns that this type of software raises.

1. How fine is the control that these systems allow? Is it POSSIBLE that they allow a casino to lower the hold on one machine, say, a machine that a YouTube Vlogger is currently filming themselves play?

2. Can they increase the hold on a player who has been winning?

Look, and let's be very clear here and say this again: I DO NOT believe that the casinos are cheating. And again I DO NOT believe that the casinos are cheating. One reason is because they don't HAVE to cheat, the odds are in their favor on every game inside of them. The other reason is that, if players believed they were not getting a fair game, they would go elsewhere, but I think the lesson from this is that they CAN certainly change the hold on slots without changing the EPROM chips as they claim, and that lack of transparency leads to doubt.

Even the publicly available description of SYNKROS states that it allows for "upgrades of EPROM chips remotely and instantly".  That's a pretty big thing, because EPROM chips control slot hold.

As with anything, the lack of transparency surrounding slot hold is going to be the elephant in the room. A good gambler knows and understands the odds and house edge on every game in the casino, except slots. This has always been a problem that casinos have faced convincing players that these machines are straight, fair games. Hell, even on Video Poker, where the house edge is openly discernable via the pay table that is on prominent display, some people believe casinos can change the Random Number Generator Not true by the way, but some believe it. (Although it IS an open question whether or not a RNG is truly random, but that's due to limitations in computer power, not human intervention)

News stories like this just increase this skepticism and might end up doing more harm than good in the long-run.  I would encourage casinos to become more transparent about their slot hold percentages going forward.

Because, based on this, I think the answer as to whether or not they CAN flip the switch is that Yes, they can. What we don't know is when and what the rules are around flipping said switch, or how often it happens.  And that's going to raise questions.

Gambling: Why Does the Media Continue to get Sports Betting so Wrong?

 Bloomberg: Odds are sports betting will bring trouble.

If you don't mind, take a minute before reading my response to read the article above.

Done?

Good, let's get started.

But, where to begin?

How about as his beginning, recapping the great betting scandals of the past. While all of them were pretty big scandals it's important to note one key point: In almost all of the cases the fraud was initially sniffed-out by the legalized sports books themselves. THEY presented the information to the authorities, worried about odd action on their boards.

Off-shore, gray-area sports books would, rightly, not do this, for fear of prosecution. Two wrongs do not make a right and what-not. But to act as if off-shore, illegal (in the United States) gambling is not happening is akin to pretending the Sun is not shining because you're in a room with blackout curtains and cannot see it.

The simple fact is, when it comes to uncovering fraud, better odds are with legalized, rather than off-shore books. History has shown this to be true many times over.

His second big point is about problem gamblers. And, he's right. Problem gaming is going to need to be something that the United States and the gambling industry are going to have to get a handle on quickly. They need to get ahead of the game.

Not surprisingly, the governments are not doing much to address it, other than some flowery words about "caring for the player" and what-not. The people actually doing the work are in the Industry.

Take, for example, the American Gaming Association and their page on responsible gaming. While I do feel that we're lagging behind on how to handle this, I was glad to see them mention a National Hotline for problem gambling, rather than the pock-marked system of State hotlines we have today.

It should go much further. An Opt-out request to the National system should be transmittable and transferable to all jurisdictions Nationwide. It should be a 1-800 number with qualified counselors on-call 24-7.

Casinos need to do more as well. They current track play, and they can see when someone is repeatedly hitting up the ATM.  They can back you off if they believe you are an advantage player, why can they not do the same when they suspect you are on Tilt? Probably not a permanent ban in this case, but a temporary pause. Possibly if you get too many hits on the pause button then something longer term is considered. But, and this is important, don't just make the "When the fun stops" pamphlets available, actively distribute them to a player you put on pause.

It's not often necessary to ban someone who is having a tough go. I've been there, on trips where nothing is happening and you just keep digging. Granted, I've never been so down that rabbit hole that I've taken funds needed for living, but I have lost my entire gaming budget for a trip. If you were watching me I was NOT having fun.

Today I know to take a pause, to just stop gambling for a while. I go for a walk or go back to the room and do some Yoga, I do anything but continue to pump money into those blasted video poker machines for a bit.

But, not all people do this, and alcohol is especially a retardant to doing so. I've been in casinos around the country who have let people continue to gamble despite the fact that they could barely put together a coherent sentence. Maybe pushing the pause button on them is a good idea?

There's a LOT more that goes into it, and a lot more that could be done, but arguing that liberalizing the gaming rules in States is going to lead to increased problems isn't necessarily true. The hard fact is, anyone who WANTS to gamble in the United States CAN gamble here. Either legally or illegally online or through a bookie or underground casino/game room. Those illegal options come with little to no security, player advocates or gaming commissions to make rules. They also come with no player protections or limits.

Tell me how that would be better?

We've seen that prohibition does not work, yet we continue to call for more prohibition on things we think might be risky with which we disagree.

Let's do better on this than let the media paint a false picture of what's really going on.

COVID-19: When does "Reporting" morph into "Rooting"?

Oh my GAWD it's a Doomsday Variant.

A Doomsday COVID Variant Worse Than Delta and Lambda May Be Coming, Scientists Say

The article under the bold headline goes on to offer a ton of scary predictions.

"COVID might be with us FOREVER!!!!"

"We've UNDERESTIMATED this virus every step of the way!!!"

and finally......

"Is there a variant coming that's going to be like HIV and kill us ALL???"

Let's stop, take a break and look at how these things have gone in the past.

First things first, there are a LOT of respiratory viruses hanging out in the world. The Common Cold, Flu, SARS, MERS, viral pneumonia.  All of them have been around a long time, they are impossible to fully eradicate, and we go about our lives living with them, and coping with them as a society without flipping the freak out every time a new variant comes along. 

The annual flu shot is basically an inoculation against a different strain of flu every year. Eventually, the goal should be to get our response to SARS-CoV-2 to a similar level to seasonal flu. Yes, we are at the beginning of this process and those mean pharmaceutical companies have done yeoman's work getting us to this point: A vaccine that works remarkably well given the time crunch for developing it, and a greater understanding of methods of transmission.

What has NOT changed is the breathless way the media is reporting on it, or how the ruling class is responding.  These are problems.

For the ruling class the problem is that we're still looking at solutions that do not work. Lockdowns, utterly useless, are being contemplated again, as are mask mandates (which might work some) and a renewal of capacity restraints and social distancing requirements (which probably DO work) but the we're getting perilously close to a time where we're going to start locking down parks again, against all common sense, and we're hearing rumors of a 2nd lockdown, which I've said before might be ruinous to the economy and what we (just) remember of our free society.

For the media this is morphing into sheer boosterism. Reporters WANT suffering, they WANT death, and now they are openly rooting for it. Why is this? Clicks and sales. It's no mystery that the media is suffering financially of late, and what better to spur sales than a good old fashioned extinction level event? So what if some freedoms have to be sacrificed in the meantime? We've even had media come out against the First Amendment, as it applies to you, not to them. This is not too terribly surprising since many of them truly feel the FA only really applied to them in the first place, and they're not afraid to carry the ruling classes water to ensure it does.

For now the only advice I can give is to mask up, maintain social distancing, maintain proper hygiene and, if you are so inclined, get vaccinated. Then hope like hell some common sense makes it into this World.

Because, if it does not, we're going to be dealing with this mess for years.  And it's only going to get worse and more restrictive.

Finally, take all of this reporting with a huge grain of salt. Even within the "OH MY GAWD WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!!!!!" histrionics of the above article this author has to admit that the DOOMSDAY scenario Newsweek is pimping here is extremely unlikely because well....science.

In short, what he's writing is science fiction. A fever dream of something really bad that he saw in the movie Contagion.

Keep that in mind.

2021 Major League Baseball: Boo Hoo

 Last night, fans of the Los Angeles Dodgers had a mad, and then they had a sad.

Yup, the Astros won 3-0 over the "lily pure" Dodgers (the 'pure' Dodgers who have three players on their team that played for the Boston Red Sox when they were also caught stealing signs) and the fans were angry.

They threw things on the field, they used gay slurs, they used profanity. They pretty much went full Mexico soccer fan and idiots like Bob Nightengale and the rest of the MLB National media think this is just fine.

They think it's fine because the Baseball Writers Association truly believes that they are the gatekeepers of "true baseball". They believe that is is through their word processors, and only their word processors, that the ghosts of Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth view the game from whatever plane of existence they find themselves these days.

But, guess what?

The Astros think it's fine as well. They laugh at these stooges with their overpriced beers Hoovering hot dogs as fast as they can screaming with their mouth's full in bitter anger. Letting a group of people who have zero impact on their regular lives control their emotions to such an extent.

Then, they just go out and win, so far, this year.  Win to the point that they have the best record in the American League. Infuriating those who think they are "pure" ('pure' to the point that their staff ERA has risen since the dirty ball issue) go apoplectic with rage.

In a way, this is sports. "Fan" is short for "Fanatic" after all.  And to be a "fan" one must necessarily be blind to the faults of their team and cast blame everywhere else but internally for why they lose. For the fan, their HAS to be a bogeyman or the entire myth falls apart. Professional sports, specifically, rely on this.

When you think about it there is little reason for you to root for a team in the city you live. At heart, they are a private enterprise who just happens to call your chosen, or birth, city home. But sports franchises have done something brilliant, they have convinced communities that they are somehow part of a City's fabric like no other company is. They have convinced people that the team's success and failures are also their successes and failures, that who you are is wrapped up in how your team does.

When you look at it, it's all bollocks.  In Houston, the Astros, Rockets and Texans are no more representative of the community than are many of the large Oil and Gas companies that headquarter there, and the teams employ way less citizens, they contribute less to the local economy, and their vaunted charitable contributions are way less, although way more publicized. If the oil and gas industry crumbles then Houston as a city follows shortly behind. If the Texans, or Rockets or Astros crumble....few outside of those who work in the stadiums will be all that affected.

I'm sorry, this is just truth.

So, scream away Dodgers fans, vent thy spleens. At the end of the day you're probably doing the Astros more good than harm. You forget that these are, for the most part, wealthy players that could honestly give two shits about your beer-bellied bellowing.

You're an amusement, a source of income. Lose them or hate them you pay to see them.

And that's the bottom line.

Las Vegas: The Masks are Back on, will Increased Cancellations Follow?

 Last Friday marked the first day of Gov. Sisolak's new mandatory indoor mask order. By all accounts compliance is fairly high. (Which is good) But there are signs that this order could lead to people just not coming. Such is the dance that Governor Pickleball is trying to accomplish, slow the spread of COVID-19 in the State while keeping the life-blood pumping. Results from May and June showed record gambling hauls, which is good for the budget, but rumors and tales of %40+ cancellation rates at some casinos have some worried.

What Vegas does not want, and I'm not sure it can handle, is another lockdown. In fact, I'm not sure that a second wide-spread American lockdown results in the same country coming out as we had coming in. These are perilous times for the City, the State and the Country. How our elected ruling class chooses to handle this is very important.

This is a blog that focuses mainly on gaming, Las Vegas hotel/casinos and sports. But I do realize that there is a political undercurrent to everything and I will address these issues without being partisan. In this case, there are many within the Vegas community that are just starting to regain their financial footing and ripping the floor out beneath of them in the form of a second shutdown would be catastrophic. Couple this with Congress' inability to address the evection issue and a settling of the market seems imminent. For all of those screaming at Biden, I don't see how he's really at fault on this one given that the SCOTUS has all but tied his hands. The bad guys here are the people who made the decisions that lockdowns were the way to go initially, and that shuttering businesses, throttling travel and pretty much decimating the service industry were the way to curb the pandemic, despite these options never being in America's pandemic toolkit before.

In short, we looked at what China did and said "Hey, that might be a good idea" forgetting that America's government works much differently than Chinas and, despite what Professor Doctor Hotez thinks, we cannot deploy the military to enforce a National lockdown where people are being welded into their apartments.

While masks might provide some protection (to be perfectly honest, the jury is still out on that) what we know does work, social distancing and capacity restraints, are something the casinos want to avoid as well. I can guarantee you that the last thing they want to do is shut down 1/2 of the slot machines and be forced to put the Plexiglass dividers back up.

Then there is the problem of the shows. Packed arenas create super-spreader opportunities due to a large amount of contact time and tight spaces. But, as we've seen, the shows are not profitable at 50% capacity and some shows cannot operate with guests wearing masks.

What does all of this mean?

For one, our hopes that the availability of the vaccines meant that this whole mess was over was probably a little over optimistic and naive. There was always going to be a large portion of the population who was vaccine resistant to one degree or another, and it seems that "victory" in this war has been falsely defined by the ruling class as "zero COVID" which was always a bad metric.

The goal here should be to manage COVID-19 to where it becomes a danger on par with seasonal flu. The only way to get there is through a combination of contact immunity and vaccinations. At that point, when herd "immunity*" is reached, then all restrictions should come to an end.

My worry however, is that they won't. COVID has become a political animal and several in the ruling class have realized that they can use their new-found power to advance political goals, move society unwillingly in directions they think it should go and punish unfavored industries. This is a political problem that's not going away, and it might radically alter the future of Las Vegas.

To what extent is the question we're all asking now. 

Las Vegas Downtown Casinos: The Ones I do not Like. (And One that I like, but dislike as well)

On Saturday I made a list of the Downtown casinos that I like. For this list I'm going to offer up the ones that I don't like, and tell you why I do not like them. Again, we all have different criteria for grading casinos/hotels etc. so my list will likely be much, much different than yours.

Nothing in this post is meant to suggest that the casinos below are "bad" in any way, it's just that I've either had sub-par experiences in them, find them lacking for my tastes in one manner or another or that I think they're underperforming.

With that said, let's get to it.

1. Binion's Gambling Hall 

Everything about Binion's today makes me sad. From the general state of the property to walking in the casino at certain times only to find no active craps tables (something that would have Benny Binion rolling in his grave) to the large swaths of the casino floor that are all but bare, or poorly setup, to the fact that the poker room is gone. The only good thing about Binion's currently is the Whiskey Liquor Up and even that's underwhelming in terms of food, service and video poker odds.  The owners, the same folks who own on of my favorites 4Queens fwiw, really need to take a hard look at what's happening here because right now it's just depressingly sad.

2. The Plaza

To say that my March stay at the Plaza was a disappointment would be an understatement. I have never been as underwhelmed by a hyped property as I was there. If you want to see many of the problems that I had you can see my YouTube video here. (apologies for Mrs. TPMs profanity at the Pizza Joint, she was having a good time). from a dirty, decrepit room that had gouge marks on the bathroom door which made it look like someone was trying to break the door down with a screwdriver, to no refrigerator to just a general dirtiness the room was a mess. The service and attitude of the staff were worse. Never have I stayed at a place that just did not seem to want my gambling dollar as much as here. The staff was rude, unhelpful, and left us stranded for hours with no options for checking our bags as we awaited our car transfer so we were forced to lug them around with us. I have never been treated as poorly by a hotel/casino and will not be back.  Since I don't have a large YouTube following I doubt they care. Truth is, if you don't have a large YouTube following they probably won't care either.

3. Gold Spike 

OK, granted, this is not a casino, but it is a place with some of the longest lines downtown and I absolutely despise waiting in line. Also, it's much overrated considering what it is. I've only visited there a couple of times and walked away very underwhelmed. Granted, I'm not their target demographic but it's just not my cup of tea.

4. Fremont Casino

My main problem with the Fremont is that they seem to have given up. The place is just bland and that's a shame because it could be so much more. Maybe my opinion of it will change after they finish their planned room renovations, combining all rooms in a 2 for 1 deal to increase the space and make them all suites. That said, they really need to freshen up the gaming area and my standing problem with Boyd is that they have totally devalued their B Connected loyalty program in a manner that flips the bird to video poker players.

5. Downtown Grand

I really do want to like the Downtown Grand. The casino is smallish, but has potential, and their Center Bar progressives on DDB can be among the best in town. Their problem is that they cannot decide what they want to be. Management there changes direction more times than a glider in a hurricane, from good gambling odds to bad gambling odds and nothing they do seems to be catching on. Their casino has all of the energy of a funeral parlor and their staff has clearly thrown in the towel. I hear the hotel is doing well but staying and playing there is depressing.

The one that I both Like and Dislike:

El Cortez

I've stayed at the El Cortez twice, and both times really enjoyed my stay. The Cabana Suites across the street (although still part of the hotel) are quirky and wonderful and, given the presence of 24 hour security at the door, are probably the safest rooms downtown. The staff there is welcoming, friendly and go out of their way (at times) to really make you feel appreciated. The one exception to this are some of the bartenders who are downright surly or dismissive. That's a problem they need to address. My biggest problem with the El Cortez is that I never really feel comfortable in their casino. It's not a safe environment at times and that's really off-putting. They have a great player's club and good comps and promotions, and fairly decent odds on all games, but I've seen more fights in that casino than I've seen anywhere else and security always seems slow to respond. It's a shame because the place has a crap ton of history and Siegel's is an underrated gem of a restaurant.