Winning and losing

Thanks to the fact that I get the Vegas Resource newsletter, I got a very helpful email this weekend. It’s more than a source for coupons and 2-for-1 offers, with information on show openings and closings, and all other cool things.

This week’s newsletter reminded me that players can get annual win/loss statements from casinos where they have player cards. You can find out what your total net win or loss is for table games and slots. It’s got obvious utility for tax reasons. I’m going to track down a sample statement to show the kind of info they include–I think it would be interesting to see. If you want to send me yours, I’d be happy to post it, but please eliminate all identifying info BEFORE sending it.

I didn’t look at all the casinos’ online statement request forms, but almost all of them called it a “win-loss statement.” I expected this from many of the locals casinos–I mean, they know they’re not fooling anyone–but was a little surprised that Harrah’s, for all of their talk of incentivizing and whatnot, couldn’t come up with anything more jargony. MGM Mirage opted for the more neutral “tax information statement,” which was about as good as it got.

As I’ve often said, so much of gambling’s perception is based on semantics. Annual gaming revenue, for example, is a polite way of saying “how much money gamblers lost this year.”

So I’m a bit mystified that, for something that cuts to the quick like a “win/loss statement,” no one has developed a more palatable phraseology. As it is, I guess that most people open the statement and confront the cold truth that they have had a net loss of money.

I’ve got a small request–rack your brains, and see if you can come up with an upbeat euphemism for “win-loss statement” that would do any marketing department proud. Maybe someone in the industry who reads this will pick up on it, and you’ll have the satisfaction of seeing your suggestion become an industry standard.