For those interested:
This is a rather long informational post on a few Southern California
Indian casinos. Just delete if this is not relevant to you or of
interest. It is sort of a combination trip report and general
information status report.
As many of you know, the Indian Gaming Propositions 94-97 recently
passed in California. Technically, they were called Referendums on
Amendments to Indian Gaming Compact. Proposition 94 was in reference
to the Pechanga Casino for an additional 5,500 new machines. Prop 95
allowed for 5,500 additional machines at Morongo and Proposition 96
and 97 allowed for an additional 3,000 machines at the Sycuan and
Agua Caliente casinos. This should make the first two mentioned
casinos the largest casinos in the country as far as the number of
machines. I believe Foxwoods is the largest and closely followed by
Mohegan Sun. These two have more than twice as many slot machines
than the two largest Non-Indian casinos (Bally's in Atlantic City and
the MGM in Las Vegas). In the future Pechanga and Morongo casinos
should each have more machines than either Foxwoods or the Mohegan
Sun.
The pervious Indian Gaming Pact limited the number of machines at
most California Indian casinos to 2,000. A couple of Indian casinos
had separate agreements with the state that allow for a few more than
2,000. I believe Pala had a separate agreement for 2,300 machines.
Pala was the only Indian Casino that I know of to run television ads
in opposition to the Propositions. Obviously, with Pechanga only
about 11 miles away, they would become a major competitor to Pala
with the passing of Proposition 95 to allow for 7,500 machines.
Recently I briefly visited these 4 casinos. Activity at Sycuan was
confusing since all machines in the high limit area were "out of
service". According to workers, for a computer upgrade, so I quickly
left. I did not see any activity or preparations for additional
machines, but maybe that was the reason for the computer upgrade and
the high limit room being closed!
A brief stop at the Pechanga Casino did not show much different than
what is listed in the database. For information only, I went to
their Player Reward Club and took out a Rewards Club Classic Card.
There was some sort of promotion going on that morning. You picked
an envelop with either free reward credits or tickets for drawings
later that day. The line was fairly long and was entirely Asian.
When it was my turn, the "boothling's" first words to me was "Do you
speck Japanese, Vietnamese or Filipino". He was non Asian and said
it with a smile on his face. I certainly was surprised by this
initial comment and thought he made it at both a high risk and a
little lack of judgment even if meant in only a humorous manner. A
look around the casino demonstrated what he meant. Being from
Arizona, I do not know the demographic
of the area. However, I would guess it might just be a case of
similar people preferring to be around each other.
The stop at Morongo proved to be the most different. I had made a
number of previous stops. They had a previous tier card system that
you would allow one to upgrade by making a few visits with a minimal
amount of play. I believe if you averaged 400 points on 4 or more
visits in a calendar year you could upgrade. I did this, but had a
hard time convincing "booth lings" of this information written in
their player card brochure. They would not believe that I was now
qualified for an upgrade. They keep insisting I did not have enough
points. Finally,
a head supervisor accepted the wording in the brochure and upgraded
my card. He had to go into the computer of "over ride" the system.
I was polite, but amazed that maybe nobody had taken this route
before. I do not think it meant too much since most offers are
probably based upon daily averages, or something similar, and I have
received very limited offers since upgrading last summer. I did get
a $.03 gas discount a free car wash with my "Gold Card" over the
basic card.
For whatever it is worth, Fantasy Springs, near Indio, has a similar
system. The two systems and brochures seem to have been designed
by the same company. The difference is at Fantasy Springs it is 6
trips instead of 4, but only a average of 160 points. You can
actually get
to their top card , Diamond, by averaging 320 points over 6 visits.
The more normal way is 7,500 points in a calendar year. This
alternative method is not difficult to do and achieving Diamond has
actually led to some offers that might not otherwise have been
given. An obvious benefit of the upgrade are special "short" Diamond
lines
in various parts of the casino.
Now back to Morongo. I was very surprised that my gas discount
disappeared. I stopped for gas at their convenience store prior to
entering the casino. They said that as of February 1st there was a
completely new card system and that I had to turn in my card.
Well, the new system eliminate the "frequent visitor" option and
I was immediately downgraded to the lowest "Winners" card. Not
surprisingly, I could not seem to convince the "boothling" that my
previous upgrade card should be "grandfathered" in for at least 6
months. It did not seem fair that I had no time to follow the new
system. They should have given me 6 months to comply! The
biggest change is that you now earn a point for every $1 played.
I verified this dollar for dollar on a video poker machine! However
to upgrade you now need 50,000 points in 6 months. On the old
system of $10 for each point I had accumulated a little over 2,900
points. I also could not convince a "boothling" that my previous
points should now be worth 29,000 leaving me only 21,000 short,
not 47,100 as they claimed. There position did not surprise me
since it was the same level of incompetence we have all learned
to expect. I think that if I found the same supervisor I might have
gotten over this logical hurdle! I just did not expect it worth the
time and effort and left knowing I probably will severely limit my
visits in the future. I might light to stop and take a look when
they approach their new 7,500 machine limit! The other interesting
point
of the stop was that I saw many new machines being placed on the
floor. Obviously it was too soon since the passing of Proposition
95 to have them up and running, but it looked as though they were
prepared for success! Some of our regular California members need
to upgrade the database as these machines come on line and especially
update the new "point and card systems".
Agua Caliente was covered in Proposition 97 and allows for 3,000
additional machines. That casino also had signs of new machines
getting on the floor in the near future. The one uncertainly is the
Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians operate 2 casinos. One is
on Interstate 10 and the other is in downtown Palm Springs. They
had only 1,000 new machines at each site and now have 3,000 new
machines to divided between both sites. The Agua Caliente site on
Interstate 10 is of interest to me since they have a new hotel
scheduled to open in April. It is also interesting that all points
earned on their card must be used as either comps or free play. As
far as I can tell, there is no cash value with their comps, One
dollar in equal one point and the database correct other than
the ???? concerning cash back. Points can be used for free play, in
the gift shop or restaurants.
It remains to be seen if the new rooms will be free or must be paid
for with these earned comps. Actually it is an easy system to
monitor and use!
My last stop was at Fantasy Springs. This is my favorite casino
since free rooms do not seem too difficult to obtain. I achieve
their top card "Diamond" with a minimal of effort and have received
services of a host. They still talk of points, denominations, length
of play as being the main criteria for points. However, they have
given me encouragement that they are fairly lenient. I emailed
a host for a general idea of what amount of play is expected for
free rooms. I did plan on staying there one night on this trip.
Just
prior to leaving I had received a mailer for a "Manager's Special".
The mailer was one night for $59 with a $40 gas coupon upon check
in. I booked the room, but to my surprise I had a second room
booked free by the host that I had emailed. I was surprised that
I did not receive an email answer, but he simply went ahead and
reserved a room. There was some confusion since this was a surprise
upon check in. I took the free room instead of my "net $19 room".
At least it gave me an idea that I have already qualified for free
room nights. Previous play has not be too large, but I did try
average over 320 points on each visit. On one visit I tried to play
significantly larger number of points.
Thanks.
Bob
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