Page 14 - April 2005 • Southern California Gaming Guide

Recent promotion prizes include (clockwise from top left): Ford Mustangs (Barona Valley Ranch Resort & Casino and Golden Acorn Casino), a Keystone Hornet Trailer (Golden Acorn Casino), Harley-Davidson® VRODs (Cahuilla Casino and Golden Acorn Casino) and a Chrysler 300c (Valley View Casino)
Cruises, Cadillacs, Spyders, Jaguars, Escapes, diamonds, a house (fully furnished)—plus a million dollars are just a few of the incredible giveaways Southern California casinos gave their
players in recent months! Primo, promo prizes! Las Vegas casinos, eat your heart out! And, while most Southern California casinos don’t give away a million dollars or homes (particularly at these astronomical housing prices), fun giveaways are part of a long tradition of casino business, and are particularly impressive in Southern California.
Casino promotions are always fun, and players love to play them. ey’re like going to fabulous parties where you know someone’s going
to win sensational prizes — and it may be you!
Promotions include vehicle giveaway drawings (Southern California casino players love high-end cars, trucks, motorcycles and vehicles), fun games that can result in large cash and prize accumulation, and even game show enactments, like the recent Price is RightTM CliffhangersTM at Sycuan Resort & Casino!
A typical casino promotion culminates, after a period of one or more months of player participation, in an exciting evening with drawings of fantastic large- ticket items. Polished and practiced emcees engage the audiences, and hundreds of casino players are always in attendance (since most promotions require winners to be present), ever hopeful they will drive, tow, and take home a coveted prize. Some casino promotion events are even created on the scale of a theatrical production: casino hosts in costumes, music, fanfare — all happening, usually right on the casino oor.
Casino promotions are open to all casino player’s club members. And player’s club membership
at all casinos is always free, and
important if you go to a casino more than four times a year. Like frequent yer clubs, player’s clubs reward players for loyal play with comps that range from discounted or free meals to cash back based on play, plus hotel stays and lots of other freebies, depending on the casino. During casino promotions, player’s club members
also often receive extra promotion entries in casino newsletters! It pays to get player’s club cards at
all the casinos you play in. In
the event your favorite casino does not have a player’s club, promotions are often run by accumulating tickets given out for slot and table game play.
e odds of winning big casino promotions are based on the number of player entries, and for
much-desired prizes like a Jaguar or Lincoln Navigator,
in Soboba Casino’s Dream
Car Giveaway, it
may be a long shot to win, but certainly worth the try!
Besuretoenterpromotions,enjoyyour casino play during promotion periods, have fun and have no expectations. And you just may be one of the lucky winners! Promotion
winners are responsible for all taxes and any
state fees (such as vehicle tax and registration) associated with their prizes. And they can sometimes even take the cash value of the prize,
if the casino agrees.
Many casino promotions change each month, although some may span several months like Soboba Casino’s million dollar and house giveaways. Each casino promotion has its own rules of play, so be sure
you understand the games. Many casinos have brochures, yers and rules on their web sites explaining how speci c promotions work. Below we highlight some of the recent most exciting and
popular casino promotions, and congratulate all the lucky winners shown here.
Southern California Gaming Guide readers voted that Barona Valley Ranch Resort and Casino had some of the best casino promotions in 2004! Barona’s Jackpot Money Machine, which ran from mid October through November of
2004 gave Club Barona members a chance to grab cash in a large Plexiglas booth where bills of multiple denominations swirled around lucky winners whose objective was to grab as much cash as they could! ese winners were further rewarded by getting more machine time based on their level of Club Barona
membership! e time ranged from 60 to 90 seconds. As part of the promotion, a progressive jackpot started at $2,500 and increased by $250 each session until a
lucky player won!
And Barona’s Chinese New Year Giveaway that
ran in February, celebrated the beginning of the Year of the Rooster with a 2005 Ford Mustang GT or $25,000 in cash giveaway! On February 23 seven winners were
Page 14 SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GAMING GUIDE April 2005