Ask the Slot Expert: Dine-in only dining credits

Every casino promotion and benefit is designed to get you to go to the casino. Some go a step further and are designed to get you to stay in the casino longer, the theory being that the longer you stay in the casino, the more you'll play.

I have a small problem with one benefit that is designed to get you to stay in the casino — dine-in only dining credits. I get it that the casino thinks that if it can get you to eat in the casino, you might play both before and after eating. The longer you're there, the more you'll play. If the credit did not have the restriction, though, I think very few players would treat the casino as a take-away shop and pick up food without playing. At the very least, they'll play while their order is being prepared. Many players don't want zero-play visits in their records.

But okay, the restriction is there to get players to stay and encourage them to play. What about players in the upper tier(s) of the slot club? My friends and I consistently achieve the highest tiers in most of our slot clubs. We're giving the casino the play it wants. Why shouldn't we be able to get victuals to go using our dining credits?

That's my small problem with dine-in only dining credits. I think upper-tier players should be able to get grub to go with their credits.

For a month or two last year, one of the casinos in which I play gave players an unrestricted dining credit each week. I always went over the amount of the credit because I would order extra food so I would have enough for another meal or two. I don't do that when I have to eat in the restaurant, even though I could probably request that some items be packed to go instead of being served and still qualify as dine-in.

I found an exception to the dine-in only rule. The dine-in only restriction almost always applies to restaurants only. If there's a snack bar or a cafe with a pastry case, in my experience, you can use your dine-in only dining credits to get things to go there.

One promotion that used to do double duty and both encourage players to stay and encourage players to return was recently changed to just encourage players to stay. On some of their drawing promotions, some casinos have after-drawings an hour or so after the main drawing. For this "Celebration" drawing, you pick a color at the kiosk. A color is chosen at random at the after-drawing. All players who picked the right color get a share of the free-play prize pool, usually $15 to $25 each.

You used to have 24 hours to claim your free play. Some players would stick around, others would come back the next day. Of course, some people found ways to find out what color was chosen without going to the casino, so they only went back to the casino if their color was chosen.

Under the new rules, you have to activate your free play on the day of the drawing. The rules don't say how you activate the free play. I assume all you have to do is insert your card into a machine to prove you're still at the casino. In any case, the free play expires at noon the next day.

I imagine that not much free play lasts that long. Players will just play it off that evening.

Under the original rules, some players returned the next day to find out which color was chosen or to play the free play they knew they had won. Under the new rules, I don't think any player has an incentive to return. The casino changed a promotion that encouraged some players to stay and some to return the next day to one that offers an incentive to stay but none to return.

The rules state that the free play will be added to the winners' accounts within one hour of the after-drawing. I suppose the time between the main drawing and having the free play added to your account is a good time to use your dine-in only dining credit.