Gambling & Casino Talk from Las Vegas to Atlantic City

East Coast Gambler



Week In Review 2

Posted on July 25, 2010 by Marc

Crazy week at ECG.  The big news was the plan for major changing in horse racing and Atlantic City.  The plans seem major, but they’re just plans and this is coming from the government, so I’m taking a wait and see while watching how things unfold.

This week will be the beginning of significant changes to ECG.  I’ve been wanting to change the layout for a while, and that will happen in the next two weeks which mean that content will be slowing down and things will likely get (more) funny looking.

In this time I’ll explain why I’m welcoming the New BetRevolution.com to be my new sportsbook sponsor.  It’s almost football season!  Here’s the fun from the past week.

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Digg
  • Yahoo Buzz
  • StumbleUpon
  • Delicious
  • Share/Bookmark

Wynn Red Card Info Now Available Online 3

Posted on July 20, 2010 by Marc

Wynn and Encore are finally allowing you to access information for your Red Card online.  Of course, there is no noticeable place to find this on the Wynn website.  You will find your access point at the upper right corner of the reservations page.

wynn reservations Wynn Red Card Info Now Available Online

Since you now know how to find the red card page, you’re about 1/3 of the way through the process.

Now you have to spend about 10 minutes registering for an account.  The process is annoying, but once you register and confirm you now have access to Red Card info you once had to call Las Vegas to get.

wynnredcard 1024x540 Wynn Red Card Info Now Available Online

You’re about 66% done now and the rest is fun.  You can now see what the Red Card has for you.  You can check the following:

“My Promotion” - Latest offers available to you.  I have room offers and early booking offers.  I’m sure this will be different for everyone.

“My Account and Profile” – Address, Email, Password updating.  Access to all of your account info.  This is good to check.  The person at the Red Card desk entered a wrong letter in my email address and street address as well so I never got offers.

“Contact Wynn Las Vegas and Encore” – Find out more and contact Wynn. Easy access to all Wynn numbers

“My Casino Account” – Player Information.  You can apply for credit or check your comp dollars.

“Reservations” – Room, Dining, Shows, Other.  This is an excellent and easy way to plan out a trip.  The restaurant reservations have enough detail to never have to go to the main website.

Overall Wynn’s online rewards system may not be the most robust and may be a pain to set up, but it’s once you are into the system everything is set up nicely.

I’ll be bookmarking this page so I never have to hear Steve Wynn talk to me again or the music in the background.  Everything I could want for a trip to Wynn is located on the Red Card page.

Do yourself a favor – spend the 10 minutes or so setting yourself up.  Bookmark the page.  Never deal with the rest of the Wynn website.  Or you can go to wynncore.com and enjoy that.

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Digg
  • Yahoo Buzz
  • StumbleUpon
  • Delicious
  • Share/Bookmark

Solo Travel – Las Vegas 5

Posted on July 14, 2010 by Marc

My trip in April to Las Vegas was my first alone.  I don’t vacation much alone, bu I decided that this trip was meant to be – friends or not. As it turned out, my buddy bailed on me.

It wasn’t until last year where I realized that solo travel was a “thing”.  I met Gray from Solo Friendly and now vegassolo on twitter and have slowly learned about it.  Gray and I even contributed our solo experiences to each others blog.

My solo trip to Atlantic City
Prepping for a Vegas Adventure

I learned a few things on this trip to Las Vegas alone.  First and foremost, Las Vegas is a great place to travel alone.  I figured that I wouldn’t have a shortage of things to do and i didn’t.  I gambled, napped, ate, laptopped, drank and gambled whenever I wanted.

Sleeping, Gambling & Drinking

Since I don’t sleep much, I’m used to gambling alone to start the day.  However, things got a little more sketchy as the day went on and as the drinks flowed.  I had a pretty awful run at 3 card poker at Planet Hollywood one afternoon, but it didn’t bother me too much as I proceeded to have way too many Grey Goose & Soda’s.  This lead to a “nap” from about 6-9pm.  I wouldn’t normally have done this if I was with friends as we probably would have had dinner planned in that time frame.  Traveling alone made this not a big deal.  I didn’t have to be anywhere and had nobody waiting on me.  That was kind of freeing.

On a related note, Earl of Sandwich is an excellent spot to get a quick bite to eat at Planet Hollywood.  It reminded me of Quizno’s.  Not bad, but not the best sandwiches on the earth.  I’m a New Yorker and nothing beats a New York deli sandwich. I’m a bit of a snob about that.

Eating

I’ve mentioned in previous trip reports that I like to share excellent meals with friends, but when I’m alone I really don’t worry about what I eat and where I eat.  This solo trip proved that as I ate at Grand Lux a lot since it was in the hotel I was staying.  The only trip I made for food was to Burger Bar, where I ate at the bar.  The other meals I had were overpriced fast food.  Never again will I allow myself to fall prey to the $15 hot dog combo at Nathan’s at the Venetian.  Which leads me to…

Planning

I was stoked to have nobody with me which lead to me not planning anything.  I’m not an over planner, but I do like to make sure I maximize a trip.  For example, my trip in December had a night planned at Wynn.  My friends and I planned a night at the casino based around dinner at SW.  Simple plans like this allowed me to get to specific casinos.  I realize that without a plan it’s much easier to be lazy about leaving home base.  For future solo trips I’ll make sure to plan things out a little.  I’m not best left to my own devices. :)

Twitter

If you follow me on twitter you know that I love to tweet.  I found twitter to be an asset for traveling alone.  I shared tales of where I was visiting or checked out special events at the casinos, stayed in touch with people I had met on twitter that lived in Las Vegas and more.  It also provided me with a fun way to walk the strip.  I stopped at every casino between Palazzo and Planet Hollywood and tweeted.  It was a good excuse to stop and take in the sites.

Overall

Overall, I had a blast solo tripping to Las Vegas and it’s something I see myself doing again.  I’ve learned a little on how to maximize my stay without adding stress.  If you need some time away from the world Vegas is a great place to explore and have a good time alone – whether you gamble or don’t.  Feel free to comment or email or tweet with any questions.  I only grazed over the trip here.

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Digg
  • Yahoo Buzz
  • StumbleUpon
  • Delicious
  • Share/Bookmark

Harrahs Foxwoods Philly? 1

Posted on July 13, 2010 by Marc

Harrah’s to the rescue in Philadelphia?  Harrah’s is in discussion with Foxwoods to save the Philadelphia casino that Steve Wynn toyed with earlier this year.

Under Pennsylvania law Harrah’s could only own 33% stake in another casino since they already own Harrah’s Chester.  What makes this a real possibility is that Harrah’s is owed $67 million for some of the land the casino sits on.

I’m not sure if more growth is good for Harrah’s, but this would certainly allow them to corner the market on the casino market in Philadelphia – a top 5 market in the country.  Stiffs and Georges touches on some possible upset casino owners in the area.

I’m curious to see if this comes to fruition.  The plan for the Foxwoods casino includes a hotel, which would up the stakes for the casinos outside of Atlantic City that lack hotels.

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Digg
  • Yahoo Buzz
  • StumbleUpon
  • Delicious
  • Share/Bookmark

Week In Review 0

Posted on June 13, 2010 by Marc

The big news this week is split between the World Cup and Wynn Las Vegas tacking a $20 resort fee on to their standard room rates.  They must be ashamed about this because they’re hiding the fees in their terms and conditions and not clearly disclosing the fees.  I have to think this is illegal.  If so, this is a class action lawsuit waiting to happen.

Here’s the news from the week.

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Digg
  • Yahoo Buzz
  • StumbleUpon
  • Delicious
  • Share/Bookmark

Wynn Adds $20 Resort Fee 7

Posted on June 11, 2010 by Marc

Wynn added a $20 resort fee to their standard room rates.  By way of these resort fees Wynn Las Vegas has, in essence,  raised standard room rates by about 10% based on a check of rates on their website. Props to Vegas Tripping for being the first place where I saw the information.

Here is the official statement from Wynn Resorts:

In an ongoing effort to enhance our guests’ resort experience, Wynn Las Vegas and Encore has implemented a $20 resort fee to all resort room reservations. Responding directly to extensive customer feedback, the resort fee will offer value to customers with a bundling of the most sought-after amenities. Effective June 10, 2010, the mandatory resort fee will be applied to all resort rooms. The daily fee will provide guests with the following amenities during their stay:

Complimentary access to the fitness center (a value of $30 per person/per day)

Complimentary in-room Internet access (value of $13.99 per day)

Complimentary local, domestic long distance and toll free calls

Complimentary printing of boarding passes

Ultimately, if people are willing to pay resort fees than hotels will charge them.  That’s how supply and demand works.  It’s interesting to see that hotels are raising resort fees, but not room fees.  I have to think this is probably because they keep 100% of the resort fee, while travel agents and booking sites (orbitz, etc) take a percentage of room fees.

I’m sure that Wynn Las Vegas thought long and hard about adding the $20 per night resort fee while the market is over-saturated with rooms.  However, most rooms available aren’t on par with Wynn Las Vegas.  From what I’ve read this doesn’t seem to be scaring most in the “luxury” travel market.  In a good economy rooms at Wynn would be more money anyway.

This doesn’t encourage me to stay at Wynn but I’ll never say never.  As always when I travel I’ll do price comparisons for where I want to stay.  Hopefully, all resort fees will be disclosed when I look next so I don’t have to strain to do the math. I don’t want to have to deal with fighting non-disclosure.

I’ll share my new room rate math next week.  One word – OBNOXIOUS.

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Digg
  • Yahoo Buzz
  • StumbleUpon
  • Delicious
  • Share/Bookmark


↑ Top