While the economy still is suffering, Las Vegas casinos are scrambling to find any way they can to bring in more customers. In the past few months we’ve seen declines in hotel occupancy as well as declines in the tourism industry as a whole. In order to compensate, many hotel casinos have lowered their room rates to encourage more customers to make the trip.
Along with lowered room rates, discounted prices, airline discounts and a variety of bonuses, Las Vegas casinos also have the ability to lower their minimum wagers as part of the scheme to draw in more customers to the land-based casinos.
Some casino examples include the Wynn Las Vegas which is offering $25 double deck blackjack on weekdays which is a 50% cut from its $50 usual minimum. As the larger casinos are making cuts it also affects the smaller casinos. The Sahara, commonly known as a less expensive hotel and casino is currently offering one dollar blackjack players. According to the Las Vegas advisor publisher, Anthony Curtis, the high minimum wager “never made a lot of sense,” because players would quickly burn through their accounts and not spend money at the casinos anymore. By providing lower minimums the player is enticed to remain at the table a longer period of time therefore increasing the potential of spending more money.
Some casinos are trying to preserve their image of having high minimums by merely maintaining their top minimums in expanding their range all the way through to a much lower minimum. Harrah’s entertainment is one of these casinos that maintains its image. According to Pres. Tom Jenkin, Harrah’s entertainment casinos, “have not nor are we planning to lower table game limits.”
According to MGM Mirage spokeswoman Yvette Monet, “We adjust our table game limits based on daily visitor volume,” she says. However by lowering the limits, many casinos have also lowered the odds for blackjack and related games.
