Page 14 - May 2008 • Southern California Gaming Guide

Bob Dancer: Video Poker
ASn Obvious Mistake
hirley, my wife, received an e-mail from a Las Vegas local casino that read: “One Day Only, Tuesday July 24, 2007, Guaranteed Free Slot Play $20.” We’ve received variations on this numerous times over the years from this casino. So we mark it on the calendar
and make sure we pick it up. I didn’t get such an o er, but I was already scheduled to receive free play that day. Perhaps that was the reason.
At least one player, however, received the same e-mail with one “minor” di erence. Instead of guaranteeing $5, $20, or $50, the e-mail guaranteed $512,623. Now what? It said “Guaranteed.” Does guaranteed really mean guaranteed?
On the other hand, what if they say,“Whoops! Our mistake. Our computer programmer was having a bad day and on some of the e-mails put the players card number in place of the dollar amount. Since your
e player contacted me about this, wanting to know what they should do. My advice was, rst of all, don’t expect to receive a half million dollars. It’s simply not going to happen. Reasonable people will probably agree that this is an obvious mistake.
e mistake probably happened in the computer program that sends out these e-mails. I have no idea if this casino uses their own employees and computer programs to send these e-mails out, or if they contract out the job to someone else.
“Therearetimestoholdthe casino’s feet to the fire on their promises, and there are times to let them off easy if
there’s an obvious mistake. Players can easily differ in their opinion as to what makes an ‘obvious mistake’ and what you should do about it. Part of the decision-making process involves ‘If I do try to make
them honor their guarantee, will I succeed?’ ”
card number is 512,623, that’s the amount that actually showed up. With your amount of play, we intended to have given you $10 of free play. What we’re going to do instead is, because of our mix up, give you $500 in free play and comp you a stay here for two nights. Please accept this as our way of apologizing for the mistake.” If they say this, I suggest you take them up on their o er.
ere are players that will hire an attorney about this and see if they can make the casino honor the half million dollar guarantee. I don’t suggest this, but you can do what you want. I
them honor their guarantee, will I succeed?” Since I don’t believe you’d be successful here in trying to legally force them to pay $512,623, then that a ects my decision to let them o easy.
But letting them o easy doesn’t mean letting them o completely. ey made a mistake. You were inconvenienced. ey should be told that, repeatedly if necessary, and let them make you an o er. Do not go to the players club booth to complain. ey have no authority to make things better. Ask to see the vice president of marketing. Or perhaps the general manager.
ey do have the power to make things right.
And when they are making things right, part of their decision-making process is to evaluate how upset you are and how many people you are going to complain to if you don’t get a nice o er. So this is de nitely a time to “go Hollywood” and appear to be irate even if
you’re not.
Another part of the decision-making process by
the casino managers is how many times did this error occur? If it only happened to three players, they can a ord to be generous with their mea culpa. If it happened to 10,000 players or more, they aren’t going to be so generous.
Bob Dancer is America’s best-known video poker writer and teacher. He has a variety of “how to play better video poker” products, including Winner’s Guides, strategy cards, his autobiography Million Dollar Video Poker, and his two novels, including Sex, Lies, and Video Poker. Dancer’s products may be ordered at www.bobdancer.com.
Page 14
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GAMING GUIDE
May 2008
My second bit of advice, however, was to contact senior management about this. If the casino simply says, “Whoops! Our mistake. We meant to give you $10. Here it is,” then you should de nitely let them know you are not happy. You made a special trip in for the big money and now you’re insulted for “only” $10. ere are times to make a scene, and this may well be one of them.
strongly doubt that you’ll get any court to agree with your position.
ere are times to hold the casino’s feet to the re on their promises, and there are times to let them o easy if there’s an obvious mistake. Players can easily di er in their opinion as to what makes an “obvious mistake” and what you should do about it. Part of the decision-making process involves “If I do try to make
Video Poker with Bob Dancer