Say goodbye to the days of stretching a dollar as long as you can in a video poker machine to get free drinks. Caesars Entertainment has officially rolled out a comp drink monitoring system at all of its resorts here in Las Vegas.
"The people it affects are the people who want something for nothing," said Scott Roeben, the founder of the popular blog VitalVegas.com.
Within the last few weeks, Caesars rolled out the system that makes sure you're spending enough money before you get your free drink.
"It happened overnight," said Roeben. "The bartenders are still getting used to it, the customers are definitely still getting used to it."
It's essentially a red light, green light system. 13 Action Newsfirst told you about it a few months ago when the system was just being tested out. Well, now it's all over the Strip and pretty unavoidable.
"Now it's an automated system," said Roeben. "The bartenders have a little flexibility but not very much."
Here's how it works. You put in $20 to the video poker machine to get it activated. A blue light will turn on. If you play a few max bets, your light will turn green. If you keep up your playing pace, the drinks will keep coming. If you stop or slow down, the light will turn red and the drinks will stop.
"If you slow down, turn and talk to a friend, there's a chance that your pace could be too slow and they will start you over again."
Roeben was initially ticked off about the change.
"When I first heard about it, I was really upset, I was riled, and I would rant on my blog."
But Roeben says, there's been a little change of perception about it. He points out casinos are not nonprofits and they must operate like businesses.
"I'm getting on board with it just because I realized I love big shiny things and how does a casino make more big shiny things if they're not making money," he said.
Caesars Entertainment released a statement about the new system's implementation.
"Caesars Entertainment has implemented the comp validation system statewide throughout our Nevada resorts. This system enables us to offer complimentary beverages to those gamers who choose max play at our video poker bar top units."
