Frank <frank@progressivevp.com> wrote:
> Cam, I agree with most of what you said. I believe the rule "always play with your card inserted" is part of the M's rules.
frank, you have a card at M. were you ever told this "rule" when signing up?
i wasn't. neither was anyone i know who's signed up for a card. nor
have i seen this "rule" at any of the dozens of other casinos where i
have a players card.
M chose to reward players who had high average play on those days
where they earned at least one point.
if you are a rational player, how do you react to this? you try to
keep that average high. when you don't expect to play a lot, you make
sure you don't earn any points; for instance, when collecting
freeplay, you pull your card before playing it off. you also
concentrate your play in a few longer sessions rather than a bunch of
short sessions.
if you are a rational casino, how do you counter? you realize that you
are rewarding the wrong thing, and you change your incentives so that
you reward behavior you want to encourage, rather than behavior you
don't like. perhaps you average days when either freeplay is picked up
or points are earned (like harrahs); perhaps you base mailers for
locals on total action rather than trip average (like palms).
if you are M, how do you counter? you call the players behaving in an
entirely reasonable and predictable manner "cheaters", and stop
sending them mailers entirely, pushing their business to your
competitors.
dumb. very dumb.
yes, i'm sure they nomailed some APs with this policy, saving some
money. but i'm sure they've also lost lots of profitable customers
with this policy. it doesn't take an AP to figure out (or hear from
others) "pull card = good mailer, leave card in = bad mailer" and
react accordingly.
best wishes,
five
