Krackmans Front Page Article

Nice Read Krackman. Last winter I went to Harrah's in New Orleans, and their dealers weren't all that friendly, but they were well trained with payouts.

Sometimes, I see the dealers in the Vegas strip joints bullshitting too much, and frankly if it's going bad I really don't want to hear about some joker bullshitting with one of the stickmen about some nonsense, while strugling to make a correct payout.

Casino’s should get a clue
6/27/03 - Krackman

A large gulf coast casino recently invited me and a few friends to come down and play in a golf tournament with all expenses paid. The following are a few examples of things that happened to me down there that had me shaking my head.

I checked in on a Tuesday, but when my wife called that night and asked the operator to ring my room, the operator told her there was nobody under that name. Apparently the front desk checked me in, but it did not show up on the operators list of guests.

Then, I stopped by the slot club to find out what the slot “comp club” gave back to the players for playing video poker. Unfortunately, the girl behind the desk just couldn't understand what I was asking. Video poker usually does not generate points as fast as the machines with reels because the payoff percentage is higher on video poker.

I had read a billboard that advertised a triple-point promotion and was trying to find out if it would be a positive play on a few machines that I knew were close to break-even in the casino. I was asking a simple question that every slot club person in every casino should know, but I had to go two levels up the chain of command to get an answer to a routine question.

The player receives one point for every dollar played through the machine on the reels and two dollars played through on video poker. In addition, 5,000 points are rewarded with $10 in cash. It was well worth playing because of the comps and the cash back.

It was then over to the craps table where they had 10x odds. That’s a very low house advantage if you play “pass line” and “come bets” with full odds.

However, I encountered problems there ranging from dealers and box-men who didn't know the correct payouts, to dealers talking to one another (cross-firing) about what they planned to do after work. What ever happened to casino etiquette?

This is not an isolated problem and has happened to me and countless others nationwide. Atlantic City is a notorious place for problems like this.

I was at the Showboat last week and asked the lady at the front desk the location of their restaurant. She stared me down with a dirty look, but the problem was she didn't know and had to ask her supervisor.

I don't fully place the blame with these people. Rather, I blame the casino corporations that hire them and don't take a hands-on approach to cross- training and customer service. Many of these people have not been properly trained. To the casino's that hire them, they are just a number on a badge.

They all should take lessons from Harrah's properties. Nationwide, Harrah's leads the way in customer service and places the customer at the top of the list when it comes to satisfaction.

It doesn't take much of a brain to do these things, but I guess the casino believes the nation is full of gamblers and they will come no matter what.

Well, this is one gambler that won't patronize a casino if they don't care about me.

This website is dedicated to OFFSHORE SPORTS WAGERING. No offense but Krackman's article is not Prescription front page material in my opinion.

Also for future reference, the words "casino's" and "casinos" are not interchangeable.

Revere14

Actually, I see the word 'gaming.' Do you?

Correct??

Yes and no

I can tell you this. I worked offshore for nearly 6 years doing many many things starting at the bottom and working my way up to management position. Many of these things as far as knowledge of the product I had the treatment of players and there play came from land based casinos as he speaks of.

There is nothing worse than asking someone a question about the product they are pushing and the person having no idea about it. Or when a host treats me as he does a $10 player when I push in millions of dollars of play in my self.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Well, this is one gambler that won't patronize a casino if they don't care about me.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

The same goes for online books as well. If you don't treat the player well he won't keep his business there.

Im assuming the casino he is talking about is Casino Magic?

Palace Casino actually

Same applies to any business. Treat your customers like shit, and your business will soon turn to shit.

If you are talking about the Showboat in AC then you just ruined your theory about Harrahs because they own the Showboat!

This stuff goes beyond just poor management, this is flat out terrible. Most people come to casinos expecting to lose some money, but feeling they got value if the customer service and the experience was good. Sounds like none of the above applies here. Not knowing where the restaurant is or how many points you get for Video Poker is a f***ing disgrace when the slot club personnel have no idea. That is like going to a Goodyear store and the guy at the counter saying "I have no idea what the tires cost, I am only a cashier". They shouldn't let anyone near the booth until they can answer a question that easy. And not knowing where a restaurant is, are you kidding me??? That one is just as bad, the person needs to be walked through and know how to get to everything. If these people don't know these answers they shouldn't be on the floor greeting customers, simple as that.

Revere14 what you should be posting is telling krackman to stay out of those piece of crap casinos. Not pointing out what this site is.. Most of us here know what it is. Gaming is gaming isnt it?? Offshore onshore or your local store. WTF matters BTW kman good read..

Joey C has it right.
As one who travels quite a lot, the level of service in ALL service industries has deteriorated rapidly over the last 10 years. Credit it to high turnover, lack of loyalty (2 way street between employer and employee as well as customer and service provider).
Example Bad Service: Had Japanese food delivered last night, gave them the credit card #, guy shows up at the hotel with the food, but a "cash receipt". Takes 10 minutes on the phone to get them to charge my card (they kept typing in the # wrong). They ask me, "couldn't you just pay the $55 with cash". I could, be why the hell would I. This is a business receipt, I am a frequent diner at the establishmnet, you'd think they would treat me better.

Example Good Service: MArriot Eastside. Left a key in a pair of pants that I had sent out for dry cleaning. They identified where the bag was, searched for it, retrieved the key, and got it to me in under 10 minutes. It was my mistake, but they never made me feel bad.

Good read

You guys are correct! Customer service nationwide has deteriorated to a world of phone prompts and bad manners.

Like I said in the article "people will come" no matter what. These casinos and the states they are in want every penny no matter how they can get it. In the words of Ace Rothstein "The count room is the end result. All the comps to the buffets, the rooms, the broads, and the drinks has been carefully arranged here to take your money"

Revere- Gambling is gambling... There have been more casino and Vegas topics the last six months then ever on the forums. I live and worked in a casino environment (As a junket rep) for years. I know for a fact there are a dozen that are or were in the casino business that post on the forums and one is a 700k a year CEO. My last article was about offshore sportsbook info as will be my next one. I feel a good mix is not a bad thing.

WildBill is correct! I forgot that Harrah's purchased showboat a while back. I guess there customer service team has not made it over to the property yet (-;

Like Joey and Bill says and I agree. That just goes to show you that the problem is nationwide even in the Harrah's chain.

Nothing wrong wtih articles on casino happenings. Just about every sportsbook we have has their own on line casino so there is a connection. Enjoyed the read. I have always contended there is a big tie in to sportsbook / poker / casino anyway. In fact we used to market poker/sportbook deals into the fact that studies have shown a well ran poker room does not detract from casino handle but actually increases it. We would have casino reps that were a little green fear the poker room taking away some of their fish.

I'm getting off the point so let me just say, good article.