If big bettors can't get service ,...who can

thekeyman · Apr 3, 2018

[FONT=&quot]April 03, 2018 3:11 AM
by Bill Krackomberger
My observations from March Madness have left me shaking my head.
I had eight friends in town and we all decided to watch the games at my favorite local sportsbook. I asked the supervisor on duty a few days before the tourney started if it was OK that I brought my friends up to the VIP area of the book. She said “no, all the seats are accounted for.”
I happen to know this sportsbook very well, and the VIP is never full even when there are major events. Therefore, I asked a friend (who happens to be the VP of Operations at that casino) to check and see if he can do anything for me. The next day, the sportsbook director said to me that all of the seats I requested were available except for two. So obviously, they were saving them for their personal friends or she just wanted to say no to me. (And I know the two in the reserved seats. One is a small bettor and the other literally works in that casino’s valet).
Problem number two was getting drink tickets. This irked me and is a problem citywide. How much does a drink cost a casino? Why would a casino risk upsetting and losing a player for a beverage that cost them pennies to pour? I mean, I understand if someone is taking advantage or maybe has a problem you would say no. The thing is it seems as though this is a power trip for some of these casino employees to be able to say no to somebody. You see, it is not their money they are losing when they lose the customer; it is the casinos.
I think there should be more cross-training to the sensitive nature of this part of the industry. Common sense should play a major role in the casino business, but unfortunately, there is nothing common about common sense anymore.
As for the eight guys I was with, one was betting $100-$500 a horse race and lost five figures; two others lost more than $10k each in the sportsbook the first four days of March Madness. The other guys all bet $100-$200 per ticket. Finally, I had six figures in cumulative action pending in my own app at this company.
The guy who runs the book said, “You get one drink ticket per $500 bet placed with a maximum of five tickets per day.”
All this makes zero sense to me, and anyone with half a brain would agree. By the way, I never have asked for a drink ticket or any type of comp even once in the all the years I have played in this sportsbook (millions upon millions of handle). I do not drink anything other than bottled water (which I can get in the casino for free with a tip).
While on the subject of tipping, I have given these tellers hundreds of dollars in tips in the past, so none of this behavior makes sense to me.
The sad thing is so many of these tellers are not trained correctly. Several of my friends came back and had various complaints about the clerks not knowing how to punch tickets correctly. One clerk did not even know what a round robin was. Another clerk gave my horse-betting friend the wrong racetrack twice.
Now I know for sure many people placed wagers for March Madness that were not perfect themselves. They do not know how to ask for a bet the proper way. Many are drinking and are new to the betting process. However, that is a part of customer service, such as to walk a new customer through the process.
Hopefully, someone in upper-management reads my article and considers measures necessary to properly ensure the customers in their casinos receive the experience they deserve in the future. I am sure most casino executives do not even know this type of activity goes on.
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valium · Apr 3, 2018

Bill K. doesn't name the sports book. then he is why these places do what they do. Gutless not to name the casino.

tatehill2000 · Apr 3, 2018

Bk. Is a real good guy (twice i met him). And what he is saying is 1000% true..

I am not as big a better as he.. but putting 2-3gs on 5-6 bets in a day??? Lol and get hassled.. thats hapend to me many times..

azbob · Apr 3, 2018

I'm guessing Venetian, but the sad part is, it could be any one of a number of properties...that's probably why he didn't name it. I gave up a long time ago and now spend time off strip. Once you lost competition and then had third parties take over many of the rooms (like the former Cantor), the books lost all sense of customer service. Morons at the penny slots get free drinks.

Hotpizza · Apr 3, 2018

He says "my favorite local sportsbook"

It's unlikely it's on the strip if he is a local to Vegas. He fails to mention the location because they know him there and doesn't want to fully run them over and then hear bs about it. He overlooked what the event was, when big sporting events take place, it gets this way. You have a bunch of younger folks come in take up the seats and don't bet but want the free drinks. So they put a stipulation on what it takes to get that drink. There is no huge edge the house has in the sportsbook so they are going to demand more in action compared to sitting at the BJ table where the hold is higher unless you are a good player and know how to cut that edge.

I don't feel bad for him one bit, because that's just the way it is in Vegas anymore. I would tell him to get the fuck over it and the days of the way things were done in the past are long gone. When you have corporate involved and they are trying to make revenue projections to keep the stock holders happy, that is just the way it is.

FairWarning · Apr 3, 2018

valium said:
Bill K. doesn't name the sports book. then he is why these places do what they do. Gutless not to name the casino.

He usually plays at Caesers. He has posted similar rants about Caesers cutting his comps.

thekeyman · Apr 3, 2018

azbob said:
I'm guessing Venetian, but the sad part is, it could be any one of a number of properties...that's probably why he didn't name it. I gave up a long time ago and now spend time off strip. Once you lost competition and then had third parties take over many of the rooms (like the former Cantor), the books lost all sense of customer service. Morons at the penny slots get free drinks.

I'm not sure either what the sportsbook is,but i don't know of many that have a VIP section as he mentions.The Westgate comes to mind as it has several Qubes that are saved for certain bettors,but i don't know of any of the strip sportsbooks.I also like you, don't deal with the strip hotels anymore(not that at all before)and always stay off strip.As far as spending time on the strip it have to be close to 7 years,and they were mainly Mirage,and TI,cause i liked the sportsbooks,but now where i stay off strip i see a noticeable increase on those off strip

Hotpizza said:
He says "my favorite local sportsbook"

It's unlikely it's on the strip if he is a local to Vegas. He fails to mention the location because they know him there and doesn't want to fully run them over and then hear bs about it. He overlooked what the event was, when big sporting events take place, it gets this way. You have a bunch of younger folks come in take up the seats and don't bet but want the free drinks. So they put a stipulation on what it takes to get that drink. There is no huge edge the house has in the sportsbook so they are going to demand more in action compared to sitting at the BJ table where the hold is higher unless you are a good player and know how to cut that edge.

I don't feel bad for him one bit, because that's just the way it is in Vegas anymore. I would tell him to get the fuck over it and the days of the way things were done in the past are long gone. When you have corporate involved and they are trying to make revenue projections to keep the stock holders happy, that is just the way it is.

Your right HP,as people ruined it many years ago by abusing the drink ticket process.I know when i lived there in late 80's people used to go make 4- 25.00 bets instead of making their 100.00 bet at one time going to the window,in which they would 6-8 drink tickets.Well as we know,there are camera's everywhere and don't think for a minute that they didn't see what was happening,so they just stood by until the right time to change things up and now a lot of places(off strip)want you to make 100.00 wager before they give you a drink ticket.Some are higher as i think Mandalay Bay wants 200.00 bet before they give you 1 drink ticket,so yes the good old days are gone and all because of greedy people.

Now as far as the guy in the article,if they are betting that much, i believe they should get VIP seating and decent drink service,.....also to end with this,how many times have i seen people go and bet 2.00 on a horse cause the horse bettors get treated a bit better than the sports bettor

KennyB · Apr 3, 2018

Fuck vegas. You have to beg for a fucking drink. Get treated like shut. No thanks.

azbob · Apr 3, 2018

I must be a bit older because I can go back to days when you didn't need a drink ticket. I think, from a fees and customer service standpoint, each incremental take-away carves out about 5% of the customers. That includes things like tightening the comps, free drinks, resort fees, parking fees, discontinuation of shuttle service, etc. Vegas doesn't have to cater to gamblers so much because they have those revenue streams plus big $$ and margins on night clubs and branded restaurants. I don't think this thread is whining or pining for the "good ole days," but rather pointing out the lack of value and, much more importantly, lack of recognition of a good customer with even the basic courtesy of decent service and attention.

DrunkenHorseplayer · Apr 3, 2018

I'm guessing he was at Westgate. I don't know why they would want a ticket for horse bets though; I bet decent cash on horses and most places, strip or not, don't require tix for horse bettors. It might have been because it was March Madness; plenty of wealthy rubes in town willing to pay for drinks so they took advantage.

Betallsports · Apr 3, 2018

My Buddy Krackman ...... Love this guy and met him through friends about 6 years ago

The guy knows his stuff and knows a lot of people

Why be like that with him when he Does give a lot of action.... Even though he is local he likes to play on the Strip, and if I had to take a guess
he's talking about the Venetian, but fair warning does make a point because I know he plays at Caesers as well.

Only reason I lean the venetian is he always talked about cantor ( or as it's called now CG Tech )

Shocked that he would get this kind of service regardless of the Event. This guy can get like almost Ringside at mayweather fights

Megacapper · Apr 4, 2018

Krack has never been anything but good to me. Nice guy who works in a industry full of rats. Westgate is usually $100 for a drink ticket. I don't know of many other sportsbooks that have reserved areas. Although there are some like M, Venetian, Wynn and probably others that have table seating on the sportsbook side of the bar. They may have roped those off for the tournament. At one point he was doing most of his CG play at Hard Rock. Not sure lately as we haven't seen him in a year or so.

Illini · Apr 4, 2018

To be treated well by any gambling establishment, you have to be a loser.

If big bettors can't get service ,...who can

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