Barry Barney, Las Vegas

Mon, Jul 28, 2008 (2:01 a.m.)

It is becoming alarming how many local players are being put out by the way the slot payouts have changed from fair to poor, or not at all. I go once a week to one of three casinos that I enjoy. Two are locals oriented under two separate operations and the other is “high end” under another operator, center Strip.

I always take the same allowance, set a time frame, and stick to it. I play max coin in and play the same games. There has definitely been a change over the past 12 months. The biggest change has been at the locals establishments. Even at the above mentioned “high end” casino it has changed, but not as drastically as it has at the others.

I would think the locals casinos would keep the payout percentage about the same, but it has gone from good to extremely poor, if not worse. With the price of gas and drive time, one would think these big companies would have some compassion for the regulars, those who come at least once or twice a week.

We are not there to “take down the house,” but to have fun, maybe win a little, but it is also a way to get out for an evening and away from the TV. I would have thought it would be different, that locals casinos would have more liberal payouts to keep their everyday regulars happy and coming back and that the “Strip” giants would keep their machines tight. After all, they are dealing with the fly-in, fly-out patron who may come only once or twice a year.

I find this to be just the opposite.

Therefore, I, for one, am going back on a weekly basis to my “nonlocals” casino where I can play, enjoy a few hours, not 30 minutes, and, yes, in most cases win a little. If other local players could find, and they probably could, another gaming mecca, where the odds were better, there would be a slow exodus and the Locals Boys would feel the pinch us regulars are in now.