Casino rebates

[lamboguy]

the casino's are giving their big players bigger rebates than horse players. if you are a $1 million dollar player, you get anywhere between a 17%-25% rebate. it is rumored that this guy Bruno Mars gets 35% back from a casino.
horse racing can never compete with those rebate deals. not only do these guys get these huge rebates, but they get comped for their stay and air fare to come to the casino.

[Dave Schwartz]

Nevada state law expressly prohibits rebates or monetary rewards on horse racing wagers.

They can comp you, but one just cannot eat that many steak & crab dinners.

[lamboguy]

Originally Posted by Dave Schwartz

Nevada state law expressly prohibits rebates or monetary rewards on horse racing wagers.

They can comp you, but one just cannot eat that many steak & crab dinners.

of course you are right on the rebates, but they do it in a different way than a rebate. a big player gets their credit line or puts up the amount of cash minimum $1 million. they lose the million, they only pay $830,000 or less, and the missing money is forgiven. its just like the way they did it when the junket business was blooming in town, but this way they eliminate the junketeer and the player gets the benefit. this way there are no rebate rules that get in the way. as you know the rebate laws changed when they stopped the Holliday Inn Boardwalk hotel and Curt Brooks from rebating horseplayers over 20 years ago and Brooks opened up offshore rebate shops for horses.

[lamboguy]

i know the next question you are going to ask. if a guy walks up to a roulette wheel and places $1 million on black, and the wheel spins red. the gambler goes to the cage and buys back his marker for $830,000 or whatever. then he goes back to the wheel and takes out another marker for $1 million plays black again and the spin comes out black. he goes to the cage with his chips and pays off the marker and cashes in the chips. i guarantee you that ain't happening, the guy will be looking for a new hotel to play in. but by the time he finds a new place, his name is all over town with his history on it and probably all over the world today.

[lamboguy]

they did have ways to get around rebate laws for horses too.

when the horse books all went to pari-mutual, they still had house quinella's. so if you bet $1000 in pari-mutuel, they might let you also bet a $50 house Q, i haven't been out there in ages and don't even know if they still take those things from anyone.

they don't rebate the banker commission in baccarat either. but there are tables for high rollers that only charge 4% bankers chop. they aren't allowed to rebate on a double zero roulette wheel for the double zero like they did before. but the high rollers roulette wheels only have a single zero most of the time, even on the strip. those games all structured and regulated, but markers or checks are not by the gaming commissions.

[Dave Schwartz]

After being away from the gaming business for 35 years my inside knowledge is just not current.

But I am shocked that the NV Gaming Commission/Control Board would allow such things considering how strict enforcement used to be.

[lamboguy]

Originally Posted by Dave Schwartz

After being away from the gaming business for 35 years my inside knowledge is just not current.

But I am shocked that the NV Gaming Commission/Control Board would allow such things considering how strict enforcement used to be.

the casino's aren't doing anything new, they have discounted markers for years. but 35 years ago it was usually the junketeer that got the discount to collect the marker. if you remember, they used to tell the players to take the markers home and use the 60 days they had to pay them off and they would collect the money that was owed. this discount is really not a gaming issue, its more of a banking issues. as you probably know, casino cages have federal banking licenses. that gives the casino the right to have their customers sign markers. a marker is really a check and can be negotiated at any federally licensed bank throughout the country.