When you get a casino flyer in the mail, how carefully do you read them? Most of us give them a glance, tending to look at the big picture elements to understand what’s being offered. But on more than one occasion I’ve encountered offers where there was more than meets the eye.
Here’s the latest example of one I received via email. The headline and image are very clear – 5x Rewards Credit promotion at Harrah’s Laughlin! For Caesars players, that means earning comp dollars five times faster than normal – that can be pretty helpful!
But take a look at the smaller type below it. Swipe at the kiosk to activate, and you’ll get 5x. But if you activate it in your mobile app, you’ll actually get 6x!
In the months leading up to this summer this particular property was promising that there’d be special offers for those who downloaded and used the app. Well, this appears to be one of those perks… but you have to be paying attention to actually ensure you’re getting the bonus.
What’s even more confusing about this offer is when I pull up the exact same offer on the mobile app, it doesn’t make references to the improved multiplier for accepting there. It’s one of those scenarios where you really have to pay attention to see what’s available to you (and probably a quick check of the numbers after the bonus posts to make sure you got the right amount too).
Players do seem to be in the mode of verifying what is available to them – more than half of those surveyed on Brian Christopher’s YouTube page said they always check their offers, with another 30 percent saying sometimes.
But this isn’t the only time where I saw an offer where more was there than it seemed. Each year I would get a holiday offer from Mohegan Sun. It would effectively be a shopping credit to spend on property during a part of the holiday season, framed as some comps to go shopping for gifts. These would always be activate in parallel with the basic offers like free play, but would generally not overlap with any big point multiplier days or anything like that.
But on multiple occasions the back of the flyer noted that if you claimed the offer early within the promotional window, you’d get a second batch of dollars to spend later in the month. It was structured as a multiple visit offer, but it wasn’t sold as that in the main details of the flyer!
If you were going to visit the property on multiple occasions in that window, it was one of those things that could sway specifically which days you were visiting, especially with a guaranteed comp to claim (vs. a multiplier which could depend on how your play was going that particular visit). But many people I know who got this never noticed that angle until it was pointed out to them, because it was hidden.
Casino offers sometimes are structured to drive a specific behavior, but marketing departments can get in the way of themselves at times. That’s why it’s helpful for players to take that extra step to read over the offer and make sure you’re able to make the most of it. Otherwise, you may be leaving money on the table.
My local Caesar’s-affiliated casino occasionally has an issue where there’s a miscommunication between the marketing department and corporate or something, and they’ll put offers or terms in the mailer that aren’t correct, and then the casino staff tells you it was a mistake and they won’t honor it.
Well that’s pretty frustrating Hexxus – if the point of the offers is to get you to the casino, I guess mission accomplished, but if they’re then saying it’s an error… not good.