[shadroch]

Originally Posted by Steve Bourie

Since there was only one person who had a problem I didn't think there was a major hassle with the Plaza accepting the coupons. If a lot of people were complaining then I would have known that there were some major problems.

We usually don't contact the casinos when only one person complains, but in this instance we actually emailed our contact and I heard back from him before I left on my trip.

I never mentioned this because I really didn't want to get into a big discussion, but since you asked, the response we received was "I will check into this, but I have not heard anything about it. There was one gentleman who came in with color copies of the coupon (not very good copies at that) and we refused him based on the fact that he had multiple copies of the coupon. That is the only person I have been informed that we refused."

So why was the coupon refused from that person? I don't know. Did he present a counterfeit coupon? I don't know. Did the person at the casino refuse a good coupon? I don't know. We will never know what happened in this particualr situation. However, we do know that the casino is accepting the coupon, unless they think someone is presenting a color copy of the coupon.

The bigger problem, however, is the fact that coupon abusers and scammers always seem to ruin things for other people.

Unfortunatley, there are always people who try to beat the system by making fake copies. That has happened with me and also with Anthony Curtis at Las Vegas Advisor.

Another problem that ACG has (that LVA doesn't have) is that people can buy multiple copies of the book. Therefore, some people buy lots of books and constantly show up at the same casinos with matchplay coupons. I believe this is what happened at Ellis Island. If a casino feels that these people are abusers and they start to hassle the abusers, then they are basically free to do that.

In the 17 years that I have been doing the ACG there have been very few instances of casinos outright refusing the coupons. The only major hassle we ever had was last year with Station Casinos.

Anyway, you say "Personally I'm getting sick and tired of casinos that offer coupons and then treat us like criminals when we try to use them. It's pretty simple, offer a coupon, honor the coupon."

In response, I just wanted to let you know that the situation is not so cut and dry. If it weren't for the abusers and scammers I don't think there would ever be a problem. There would be peace among mankind and we could all use our coupons without any hassles!

Steve,
Do you consider it an abuse to buy and use more than one book?
For years, I've bought two. This year I bought four. If you feel this is abusive, please say so and I won't buy multiple copies next year.