Facebook
Fark
Digg
Reddit
Stumble
Monday, June 14, 2010 | 2:41 p.m.
The quintessential Las Vegas or Atlantic City casino experience comes with card dealers in ties, feather-festooned showgirls and the most coveted amenity: the free drink.
Yet as casino gambling has migrated from America's storied gambling towns to middle America, the complimentary cocktail hasn't always survived the trip.
The reasons are sometimes moral, sometimes economic. The new generation of casinos faces varying guidelines established by local legislators who didn't always support their arrival.
Paying for drinks has left lovers of the freebie, like Lynette Gross of Indiana, bummed.
"It just makes it more fun. It's one less thing you have to pay for," said Gross, who has visited casinos in Indiana and Las Vegas. "I don't think it makes you drink more. It's just a nice perk."
A new Ohio law puts the state's up-and-coming casinos — just approved by voters in the fall — among those that don't allow complimentary cocktails. Other Midwestern states — Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Kansas — don't allow their casinos to offer free alcohol, says the American Gaming Association.
Of 13 states where non-Indian, non-racetrack casinos are operating, nine — Nevada, New Jersey, Colorado, Iowa, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Pennsylvania and South Dakota — allow casinos to serve free booze. In three of those, most casinos don't take advantage, the association says.
The Ohio chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving was among groups that pushed for strict alcohol standards at Ohio casinos. The law, signed by Gov. Ted Strickland on Thursday, bans both free drinks and 24-hour liquor sales at casinos, stopping them at 2:30 a.m., the same as bars.
Doug Scoles, executive director of MADD's Ohio chapter, thinks the free drink bans reflect old-fashioned Midwest values.
"I don't want to stereotype," Scoles said, "but I do believe Midwest culture supports not serving alcohol freely, on a 24/7 basis. It's seen for the damage it does to communities."
Kansas stands out even among Midwestern states; it forbids handing out free alcoholic drinks at any establishment. The state has a long history of alcohol restrictions, including statewide bans on happy hour specials and drinking games, such as beer pong.
"I'm sure it came out of the Prohibition era, the temperance and moderation," said Tom Groneman, head of Kansas' liquor control agency. "As a matter of fact, in Kansas we don't allow happy hours. You have to have happy days."
The economic interests of other businesses also play a part.
Restaurants, bars and taverns are among groups that have lobbied legislatures for laws preventing new casinos from offering free alcohol. It's a business issue, not a moral one, said Jarrod Clabaugh, spokesman for the Ohio Restaurant Association.
"We were concerned it would create an uneven playing field," Clabaugh said. "Free drinks improve the odds of people not leaving the casinos to go out, enjoy the community and dine at our members."
Last year, the Illinois Casino Gaming Association even fought back some of its own. A riverboat casino was pushing a change in state law that would have allowed free drinks exclusively in floating gambling houses. The company argued complimentary cocktails would boost patronage in the wake of a statewide smoking ban.
As states new to casino gaming, like Ohio, weigh in on free drinks, even casinos in Las Vegas and Atlantic City are scaling back to cut costs.
The 38 Vegas resorts reported comping $310.7 million in drinks in fiscal year 2009, a 2 percent drop from the previous year. Total comps in Atlantic City — including drinks, meals, hotel rooms and entertainment — fell 5 percent in 2009, to $1.55 billion.
The increasingly elusive free drink doesn't mean booze is losing its popularity at casinos. Casinos sell more alcohol when they stop giving it away, according to industry data. And some are adding or expanding their alcohol offerings.
Harrah's Cherokee in North Carolina got permission last year to add alcohol sales to its previously dry casino. Turning Stone in upstate New York won a state liquor license in May that will make alcohol more widely available throughout its facilities. And Fire Rock, a Navajo-run casino in New Mexico, now serves alcohol though sales and possession of it are prohibited across most of the 27,000-square-mile reservation.
Alcohol profits weren't worth it for the operators of Golden Buffalo Resort and Casino in South Dakota, however. The Sioux tribe there banned alcohol reservation-wide last year, including at the casino.
Eliminating free drinks is one think but overcharging is yet another. I could see where $1 drinks/beer would attract clientele. I think the other part that's missing is the cheap food. I remember when going to Vegas meant not paying more than $5 for an all you can eat buffet and I'm not that old.
I guess those who are stupid enough to drink and gamble have a beef with having to pay for their drinks, but in their defense the casino is being greedy to charge because they will get the money ten fold from their drunken players...
I don't mind paying for a drink. But it totally stinks when a place like Wynn's ripped us off for $16 for 2 plain ol' screwdrivers.
I live in South Dakota and our casino's do not give out drinks. Heck, they hardly give out anything. They just flat do not comp. They over charge for rooms. It just does not compare.
I think the authorities should give an option to the casinos. Stop comping drinks or we will bust you for every casino player that gets arrested for DUI.
Vegas is sooooooo stupid. Yet another way to turn off customers.
Pretty soon there will be a $40 entrance fee just to walk thru the doors.
Casinos will continue to complain that there are no customers.
Why does the average person get it and execs just rub their head?
Just another putz with a keyboard telling us how "stupid" vegas is.
Vegas hasn't change a single thing. The drinks are still free. Why would you say that? This isn't the casinos being cheap. It is the government interfering with business.
envirn,
Maybe you should try having a cocktail or two while gambling. You might loosen up.
Gee...like the casinos are really giving you top shelve liquor anyway.What's the big deal.First they take away the jungle jingle of the coins and now this.....
Make no mistake - you pay for that drink at a casino. That is, if you ever get one. On a busy night it is pretty much impossible.
Who said ANYTHING about Vegas????? PUTZ is right!!!
Free drinks make sense in Las Vegas where 90% of the tourists don't have immediate access to a car. At a riverboat in Nowhere, Kansas I think it makes more sense not to allow it. A different policy is the best policy in both places.
P.S. Drink service was very good at the in-casino bar video poker area at MGM.
$19 for a beer and a glass of house wine at the voo doo is whats killing Vegas not taking away free drinks.I can buy a 12 pac and bottle of wine for that. I also just found out its going to cost me $20 a day to use the internet and phone at the Wynn ( never bring my computer and I have a cell phone to use free).The trips are cheap but the price once you get there kills you.I will be going to Cozumel for a week and eat and drink all I want for free this spring.
I just can't believe a comment like kenodave's where everybody else is responsible for another persons behaviour. I park the car when I drink. Let's then also hold the casinos responsible for those who die of a heart attack from overeating on their property. We can take away their food license. Let's take away their pool priveleges if somebody pees in their pools. Let's pass new laws every day restricting freedom in America. Let's take away Dave's right to have a double cheeseburger because his neighbor has been irresponsible and gotten obese from them.
maybe that UNLV Economic Outlook for Las Vegas [pretty bad] by UNLV economists "Report: 2011 rebound expected, but full recovery years away" should be now downgraded even further because of lack of free booze? :-)
Hey idiots-
"A dying call" is your headline.
Brilliant.
Within 20 miles of your paper are what, a couple of hundred casinos and bars-every single one of which comps drinks.
Some "dying call".
Oh, AC, Connecticut, Biloxi, Reno, Laughlin-every place comps drink.
Typically great analysis from a paper that will shortly be telling us to vote for Harry and Rory.
I got jacked for $16.50 plus toke for two drinks at the Mandalay Sports Bar a while back. Talk about a rip off. Is this really necessary for MGM to gouge like this?
As LV casinos get more and more desperate to find "additional sources of revenue" I would imagine comp drinks will be addressed. I believe the Wynn already fails to comp drinks at least one of its bars for VP players. The low rollers will probably get screwed over first -- penny and nickel machine players. Blackjack will require sitting at a min. $25 table to get a comped drink. It's just a matter of time.
What I have noticed lately at several places is denials of requested comp beverages. A few months I asked for a shot of Patron while playing BJ. I was spreading $25-$250 for an hour and got denied by the waitress who stated "that brand is not available for a comp." Come on now.
Another incident occured at the Golden Nugget. I was playing BJ with a group of friends -- spreading $25-$200 a hand. We ordered a B&B and Gran Marnier. The waitress told us she had to get an "approval" on those brands. She went to the pit boss for approval and he said "get them whatever they want, who cares?" At least he had some sense to treat us right.
It's only going to get worse in LV with the comps. I predict charging for valet parking is on the horizon.
Have a nice day. Stay cool out there.
Check out my blog:
http://jimmyhoofa-lv.blogspot.com/
Mr. Hoofa, I thought you wasa ina contrete?
Forgettaboutit?
I guess this explains why Watanabe comes out to L.V. to gamble. It seems the casinos near his home are the tightest with the comps. Then again, He paid very well for his "comped" L.V. beverages, didn't he?
I went to a casino in Oklahoma a few months back. (Played $2 Blackjack with 3/2 payout!)
Their comped drinks were a coca-cola fountain and a coffee pot (self serve). That was all I needed.
Hoofa, Don't you already pay for valet parking? I can't imagine not handing the person who brings your car some cash for his service. I generally self park, so I have total control of my keys.
After paying $29 for 2 glasses of house wine at the Belagio, the two of us felt swindled. So sitting at the nickle slots for 45 minutes, we were able to get 4 free wine glasses each ($1 tip per glass). Didn't gamble much, just chatted and lost nothing. That equates to $37 for 10 glasses of wine. or $3.70 per glass of wine. That is how you play the game....lol. Boy are they quick at giving free drinks these days. As long as you tip, the waitresses will keep your glass full. Palazzo Hotel has free drinks often.
When the "boys" were in control things ran a lot smoother. Less crime,happier customers,and they turned a profit,even after dipping their hand in the till. Amazing how an MBA is no match for common street sense. I hate to say it but these executives better get a clue and fast or there will be no bounce back this time.
Every Michigan-area casino (both corporate and Native American) I've been to charges players $3 and up for beer, $5 and up for mixed drinks and wine.
Would offering free booze hurt surrounding businesses? Well, when you build casinos in a deserted, depressed area (i.e. central Detroit) there isn't competition with which to be unfair. Rest assured that almost no one walks out of the very nicely-appointed Motor City Casino looking to spend money in the neighborhood...unless they are purchasing something frowned upon by the authorities. ;-)
Free drinks are one important reason to make the 1,744 mile trek from DTW to LAS; something you can get in Vegas that is hard to find elsewhere. It's all about perception.
By Lightfoot, your arguement might have some merit, except for the fact that the state REQUIRES what is called 'ALCOHOL AWARENESS CLASSES and licensing for all who have the authority to deliver alcoholic beverages to guests. It is the responsibility of those licensees to ensure a patron does not get drunk past the point of being able to make responsible decisions (as in gambling or the ability to conduct oneself in a safe manner.) Hence, if a casino does not do what has been mandated upon them, they should be responsible for the guests actions.
R U F K
no offense but your post just smells of why the strip is struggling
.5 slots for 45 minutes,although you werent gambling,,it was just you and whoever gabbin,and taking advantage of the drink service
Really a 1.00 tip per drink,and she brought you 4 in a 45 minute period.
You really didnt play the game,maam! all you did was cause the waitress to run home after her shift,and tell everyone she knows how cheap people really are,but yet they are still frequenting bellagio,and palazzo
just confirms the amount of posers in this town
peace out
and by the way that waitress brought you those first 4 wines,trying to increase your tipping,,then the 5th and 6th,she was thinking wow what am i doing wrong here by the 7th and 8th glass,,i guarantee you she would have found a non direct route away from your nickel slot corridor,but you and your friend had already left
U W I T T
"It just makes it more fun, one less thing you have to pay for" yea, you midwesterners get bombed out of your mind and end up down on Fremont street in your rental cars looking for some freaky action, and what you get don't stay in Vegas.I wonder how much STD is carried back to hometown USA from Vegas, received because you loved the free drinks, just asking?
Jimmyhoofa - Move to Vegas about a year ago and has become a self proclaimed expert on everything Vegas.....
Casinos are still passing out all the drinks that drunks can handle. Even to the nickel players. ;-)
The "free" drinks are a huge part of Vegas to many. It is nice to be waited on while your playing the slots, even if you just want a cup of coffee.
I play poker in A.C. I tip the waitress $5.00 a glass and the glass never gets empty. Other casinos should offer the free drinks, it only enhances the experience, and if you are losing, maybe you won't mind as much.
madd is a lot like peta.
very good causes at the root core of what they are about, but simply go too far in their agenda that they push people away.
what freaking difference does it make if someone has 4 drinks while spending $100 playing video poker or if they buy a $30 bottle of vodka and get drunk drinking at home before driving to the casino.
End of free drinks on the strip are just around the corner, although they will still deduct from your players card. This has been in the works for a few years.
I would bet that in a few years if that long the only free drinks that any casino even in Vegas will offer will be only soft drinks.
Jimmyhoofa said
" I believe the Wynn already fails to comp drinks at least one of its bars for VP players. "
This is true...I was there last November wanted to see the Encore which I hadnt seen yet..my friend and I sat down at the bar put 20$ each in the poker machine ..ordered a Bud Light and a shot of Don Julio..as did my friend..the bartender came back with our drinks said thats 21$ apiece..I said I know you can't comp off the Don Julio but can't you comp us the Bud Lights...he said no they don't comp players at the bars only out on the casino floor..thats the last 41$ Wynn will get out of me..
It was 6$ for the 12 ounce Bud Light and 15$ for the Tequilia...sheesh
WDM, Not all midwesterners get bombed and go to Freemont St. All I am saying is Vegas is turning into a place for the young who are willing to pay $300 bucks for a table at a club and party till 5 am. My dad came to vegas in the 90s when you could get a 3 dollar meal now you pay 25 bucks for it. I do play and spend about $1000 on each trip I come on, so I think a beer or two wont kill the bottom line.
On the topic of expensive drinks, i was charged $18 for 3 bottles of WATER at Madison Square Garden on sat night, i nearley fell over at the bar...
Rebuttal to vegaslee:
Thanks for checking out my blog. Very nice of you.
What does it matter when I moved to LV? I call things as I see them. Let me guess, you are one those "20 year" residents of LV who knows everything about the city? Please.
Did you actually read my comments? It is a fact that the big LV Strip casinos are doing anything and everything to save costs, especially with comps. It is my opinion that comp drinks are something that the LV Strip casinos will eventually begin to reduce. I don't think locals casinos will be able to get away it.
The big LV strip casinos changed the game of blackjack forever with the change from 3/2 to 6/5. That was 10 years ago and it's still around. The 6/5 tables up and down the Strip are packed with ploppies on any given night. It will be just as easy to reduce comp drinks on certain levels of play should the big casinos want to do so. They are all ready restricting certain drinks as "to expensive" to comp.
Just my take. As always, please check out my blog from an almost "1 year" Las Vegas resident...
http://jimmyhoofa-lv.blogspot.com/
If you don't like it, don't participate. Period.
Maybe the Vegas casino exec's could ask the race tracks how charging for everything has helped the tracks flourish. Nobody goes to the track anymore......
bldblu,
you are obviously a bartender, waitress or married to one. tipping more than a buck or two for a cocktail or beer is stupid!! when you order a $3 beer or wine a dollar tip is 25%. when was the last time you tipped 25% (or 50%) for a meal??? when you get your $20 olive garden tab do you leave a 10 buck tip? it use to be 15% on food & 10% on drinks. i can understand up to 20% on food & maybee 15% on drinks but it takes the same effort to bring me a miller lite than it does a bottle of dom. sure i may tip a 10 spot on the bottle but nothing more.
just because people have money to spend doesnt mean YOU DESERVE IT for doing a menial job.
I'm from Canada where every casino is owned or heavily regulated by provincial governments or native bands. The service is the absoulte sh-ts. Your lucky to get complimentary toilet paper when you have a crap. They charge for drinks($5 and up, parking($1.50 per hour), valet($10 Casino Regina where I play poker)also $5 rake (6/5 jacks or better video poker) and I could go on and on.
The thing that makes happy is when I tell people to go to vegas and they come back so happy because they got good value for there money and a few free drinks even though they lost all there money. I come down about 6 times a year and as far as i'm concerned let the owners run the casinos they way they want and keep all politicians and people with nothing invested the hell out.
Free Drinks...Not in Indiana..I usually get a cash coupon that I use to buy drinks...I love the comped drink when in Vegas or AC the cocktail waitress gets a nice tip each time and everybody is happy..I gamble less in Indiana and more elsewhere for that reason..They charge 3.25 for a beer and 5.00 for my wifes wine..ridiculous..
if you can afford to gamble then you can afford to pay for a drink right? you know how many people put a dollar in a machine and expect promp service and complain to management how they have been waiting hours for a drink then they they don't even tip the waitress when she's forced to stop and make this "customer" happy. I work at a local casino where beers are 2.00 and the most expensive drink is 6.00, and people still try to scam us for free drinks. cheap bastards.
Free drinks,so called in casinos usually cost me a lot more than if I just wanted to sit at a bar all night.Keep the drinks free! I always tip the waitress,I'll give up my free drinks when they pry my bottle of Corona from my cold dead hand.