The high-limit life: Some play for show, others play in peace

By Nick Sortal

The carpet is a little plusher, the slot machines are more secluded โ€“ and the price of gambling is much higher. Every casino has a special area for those who want to go big with bets. A security person usually stands near the entryway, but anybody can walk in.

โ€œThere are really two types of big players,โ€ says Mike DeLuca Jr., slots director of Mardi Gras Casino in Hallandale Beach. โ€œThere are the players who want a ton of attention, the peacocks. But more times than not, the high rollers donโ€™t want people to know who they are. They drive normal cars and they want to be left alone.โ€

DeLuca notes that racetrack casinos such as Mardi Gras canโ€™t offer high rollers the amenities that the Seminole casinos can. The tribe pays the state for exclusive rights to blackjack and other table games. But high-limit players in Hallandale Beach often drop thousands of dollars, and a few even hundreds of thousands, in a sitting. โ€œFor many, this is their release from what made them wealthy,โ€ DeLuca says.

Seminole Coconut Creek Casino VP of Marketing Jonathan Marcus says those who frequent his high-limit area are often regulars who casino hosts know. โ€œThatโ€™s where a casino host really comes into play; heโ€™ll say, โ€˜Joe Smith is coming in and he wants to reserve blackjack,โ€™โ€ Marcus says. โ€œNow, we know he likes Caymus wine and chocolate-covered strawberries, so we have that waiting for him.โ€

Marcus compares treatment of high-limit players to flying first class. โ€œThey want a higher level of service, but they pay for it by wagering more.โ€

Casinos help out the bigger players in that respect, though, especially with slots. A slot costing $1 or even $5 per spin often is programmed to pay back about 97 percent of the money put in. Machines that cost a penny or a nickel often return only about 90 percent. The blackjack tables often have friendlier rules.

Calder Casino in Miami Gardens has changed its more luxurious area to โ€œVIP slotsโ€ instead of โ€œhigh-limit slots,โ€ partially because sometimes the bigger players prefer to play โ€œpenny slots,โ€ which are misnamed because a maximum bet on such machines often approaches $1. Like Mardi Gras and a few others, Calder has a VIP room for bigger players, with snacks, TVs, lounge chairs and beverages. Getting access to that room โ€“ VIP status โ€“ requires zealous slot play.

โ€œThe guestsโ€™ experience is our top priority,โ€ says Matt Harper, director of marketing at Calder Casino. โ€œOur goal is to treat every customer who walks through the door with VIP-level service, and having incentives like our VIP lounge and a dedicated host team gives guests more reasons to attain a higher card status.โ€

Nick Sortalโ€™s gambling news appears daily at southfloridagambling.com.

2ton
josh@2ton.com
No Comments

Post A Comment