10-28-2001, 06:50 PM
The poker room where I usually play has a new drink policy I think is counter-productive for the casino. I am thinking of writing or calling a member of the casino management about it, because I think it might be hurting the room some. The new policy is that only drinks with a retail price of 2.50 or less are comped. This leads to some stupid conflicts. Black Label Scotch (the best they have, sorry to say) is verboten, but Wild Turkey is OK. Heineken if on special is OK, but Corona is not. They won't back people up and only come around once in a while for drinks. I don't drink when playing, but did order a drink a couple of weeks ago to have as I quit the game. I was forbidden from getting what I wanted. I didn't like it after my wife and I gave them 14 hours play between us that day. Last night there was an argument between the poker room staff and the cocktail staff over whether a guy could have salt on the rim of his rotgut well drink. I couldn't believe it. Apparently the policy mavens don't know what the policy is or why it exists, as policy enforcers usually don't. Anyway, the policy seems to make people mad, me included. A lot of good games in the cardroom happen on weekend nights when people who like to gamble and have a few drinks choose to do so at the poker table. The people who most want to have a few and gamble it up are the most likely to be mad. It seems that there are fewer nights where they get several good games going, but I don't know if this is the reason. Last night the players had to conspire to get enough drinks to a guy who wanted to drink and have a good time. (He had a nice stack of chips, too.) I didn't have to help, but the players at his end of the table would all order him drinks so he could have a steady supply. It felt like a bunch of teenagers trying to buy beer with fake ID's.
I spoke to the poker room manager about it, as she has always treated me well and I suspected the problem came from upper management. She told me it was a new policy instituted in the casino, where all the departments are charged the actual price of comps against their earn. So giving too many expensive comped drinks can make the poker room look like a dog, and run the risk of the bean-counters shutting it down. I guess all casinos do accounting like this to write off expenses and to get an idea of what is making money, but this seems to be going too far. The cost savings to the casino can't be much, but the policy is making customers mad. And as is often argued, the poker room does bring in customers who gamble at other things. In the small group of players in this casino, I know it to be true. The poker players blow money in the pit, sportsbook, and machines. Anyone see this before? And if you did, how long did the room last? I know poker rooms can't give out lavish comps and I don't expect that. But differentiating between types of beer a player can have seems pretty petty to me.
I spoke to the poker room manager about it, as she has always treated me well and I suspected the problem came from upper management. She told me it was a new policy instituted in the casino, where all the departments are charged the actual price of comps against their earn. So giving too many expensive comped drinks can make the poker room look like a dog, and run the risk of the bean-counters shutting it down. I guess all casinos do accounting like this to write off expenses and to get an idea of what is making money, but this seems to be going too far. The cost savings to the casino can't be much, but the policy is making customers mad. And as is often argued, the poker room does bring in customers who gamble at other things. In the small group of players in this casino, I know it to be true. The poker players blow money in the pit, sportsbook, and machines. Anyone see this before? And if you did, how long did the room last? I know poker rooms can't give out lavish comps and I don't expect that. But differentiating between types of beer a player can have seems pretty petty to me.