Penny slots most profitable in 09

 

I’ve been trying to answer the question, “Why are slot hold percentages generally increasing” and have come to the conclusion that player preference for high-hold, low-denom games is a major factor. Finishing up a paper on the question, I thought I’d share some raw data:
wnperslot
Between 2000 and 2003, the Gaming Control Board didn’t list pennies as a separate denom because there weren’t enough of them. Ditto for multi-denoms in 2001/02.

In this chart, I compared win per unit for all statewide slots by denom. This is a better index for player preference than straight revenues, because it gives an idea of how popular each individual machine is. If you’re a slot manager, you generally want more machines that have a higher win per unit on your floor. Naturally, you’re not going to put in all penny slots (even though they are the most profitable) because some players prefer other denoms. But the slot floor denom mix is highly variable: in 2000, nearly half of all Nevada casino slots were quarters; today, just over one tenth are. So these numbers are important.

The shorthand version is that pennies have fallen to about 2005 numbers, while nickels are back to 2003, quarters to 2004, and dollars to 2000. Multi-denom slots are back to 2003 levels, give or take.

So it seems that, despite the fact that the pennies have an average hold of over 10% while dollars are near 5%, pennies are more popular than dollar machines (and all other machines). Slot gamblers are essentially paying twice as much to play pennies than they would dollars, and their popularity doesn’t seem to be slowing down. In both real and proportional terms, pennies have lost less ground than all other denominations.

Of course, it’s possible that players turned off by high holds have stopped playing Nevada slot machines altogether, since all slot numbers are down. Dollar slots, though, lost far more ground than pennies. In 2009, penny slots dethroned dollars for the “highest win per unit” crown. It’s a historic change, since dollars had long ruled the roost.

It seems clear that, while they search for bargain room rates and trim their gambling budgets, most players aren’t looking for any advantage when it comes to actual slot play.

Posted in business of gamblingon 02/23/2010 01:10 pm by Dave

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27 Comments

  1. Schopenhauer
    02/23/2010 at 3:45 pm

    This is delightful. I have heard people say things like “penny slots are more popular *because of* the recession,” and I say something like, “oh yes, penny slots were introduced before you were born; but I was there and I remember they were quite popular before any such murmurings of recession.”

    Well now I can point them to this post. Thanks.

    You and your numbers.

  2. denominations? You can call it a penny slot but if you have to put five of them in it, then to me its a nickle slot. To most players, perhaps its still a penny slot?

    Players have a preference for high hold slot machines? Perhaps its players are mislead in their perceptions and therefore appear to have such a preference.

  3. FG–I’m as perplexed as you. The best explanation I can offer is that players who chose these high-hold machines aren’t looking for time on device but “entertainment value.” This is why pennies have lots of fun, colorful bonus rounds, while dollars generally don’t. It’s hard to understand otherwise: the machines that offer better odds aren’t the most popular ones.

  4. This chart backs up my belief that 96.8 % of slot-players (like the Go-Gos said) “just want to have fun” and hardly care at all about posted payback listings (or whatever those 9/6 type things are called).

    The Penny Machines seem to have the most modern, exciting and fun multi-media displays of all. Big, booming sounds of flames and bombs exploding or visuals of trout jumping into rowboats…etc.

    Gaming machine designers should think about putting Super Multi-Media Xperiences in Dollar denominations machines (that are even more outrageous and exciting than what’s available in the penny machines).

    IMO people want their gaming machines to excite them more than before. I don’t think it’s the lure of cheap penny-play that gets people to play that particular denomination so much. The Penny machines (recently) just seem to be more inter-actively thrilling.

    IMO

  5. I meant Cindi Lauper. Not the Go-Gos. There’s no need to correct me on my 80s’ Trivial Knowledge. I know the difference between Boy Howdy and Boy George…though it sometimes all blends together, 30 years after.

    BTW: How about making Eighties MTV Themed slot machines? That’s a retro trend-in-the-making there.

  6. I guess in a world were people would write the navy about making greater search efforts to find Gilligan and his yachting friends we can’t always expect super-intelligent behavior. Maybe the casinos have sufficiently brainwashed the players and its all about flashing lights and “bonus” rounds rather than good odds and intelligent choices. I’ve been playing 6:5 blackjack and I’m trying to get a date with this great looking dealer named Virtual. I paid the extra Resort Fee so every time I press the elevator button this feminine voice will coo at me “Oh, you have such a masterful touch”. So you see, unlike those slot players, I make intelligent choices while gambling.

  7. Do any of you ACTUALLY PLAY THE SLOTS??? Dave obviously DOES NOT. Penny slots are not PENNY SLOTS!!! You can bet the max up to $6 per pull.

    The hold is higher on these slots for many, many reasons — and slot players are NOT stupid — most of us know exactly what is going on.

    Entertainment value, volatility, popularity on the casino floor, the hold for the casino . . . we are all blissfully (when winning) and painfully (when losing) aware of all of these things.

    The life cycle of penny slot machines is like that of a gnat now. If we (the players) tire of it quickly (meaning it is set too tight, and not entertaining enough to warrant extended play) it is GONE!!! Maybe not in a month (though some are), but in three – six months that machine is outta there. The recession has kept some machines around longer, but every savvy casino knows to keep the new machines coming to test the public reaction.

    We won’t just play anything you stick out on the floor.

    It really pisses me off when so called experts make stupid comments about stuff they really know nothing about.

  8. Uh-oh. Someone used the ‘P’ word.

  9. Schopenhauer
    02/23/2010 at 11:14 pm

    The P word… Parenting? Ha ha.

    No, I don’t play slot machines too frequently (usually just when I have to entertain visitors and “show them the town”). And I can’t speak for all us eggheads, but I personally use the term “penny slot” for any machine for which the lowest denomination is one penny–whether this can be multiplied by lines or credits per line is irrelevant. This may be as stupid as calling both diamonds and graphite “carbon,” but it makes it easier.

    For that matter, I call them all “slot machines” despite the fact that none of them even have slots for coins anymore; and I use the term “pull” for a play, despite the fact that nowadays you more likely “push” a button than “pull” a handle.

    As a disclaimer, I use the shorthand term “penny slot” also for the machines for which the minimum credit denomination is 1/2, 1/5, and 1/8 of a penny (though I think technically they are called 2-for-1, 5-for-1, and 8-for-1 machines, respectively, terms which are misleading in themselves–thank IGT for that).

    … Now where did I put my corduroy jacket with the leather elbow patches? I better find it before Masterpiece Theatre comes on.

  10. Joe Bob–did you actually read the post, or anything I’ve written about penny slots over the past few years? I’ve repeatedly said exactly what you did about “penny” slots actually costing more than a penny per spin. See for example here: http://www.dieiscast.com/2009/08/31/usa-today-on-penny-slots/

    I defy you to find a time when I said that people play one penny at a time.

    And in every casino I’ve been in in the past few years, there are far more penny slots than dollars. There are more than 20,000 more of them throughout the state. This isn’t an opinion. This is a fact.

    I never said that people who play penny slots are “stupid.” I specifically said that they’re looking for something besides time-on-device. Since pennies are more entertaining, that’s probably entertainment value, or whatever you want to call it. It’s not a value judgment for or against people who play them.

    So I don’t see what “stupid comment” you’re objecting to. You don’t suggest any other explanation for players consistently choosing higher-hold machines, but I’d be interested in hearing any if you have one besides “most of us know exactly what is going on” (which is pretty much what I’ve consistently said anyway).

    If you don’t find value in a statistical study of gambling, I humbly suggest that your time might be better spent elsewhere on the Internet.

  11. I play pennies almsot exclusively. I am a cheap-O; I like to play one credit on each payline so I don’t miss out on any bonuses. Most penny machines let you cover all the paylines for 25 cents. I do llike the lights, bells and whistles. I will usually play 5 dollars through a machine before I move on to another one. This may sound odd, since I am a degenerate Las Vegas lover, but I get bored pretty quickly when I gamble, so I like to move on to different machines. I know I am going to lose, and lose more quickly on a penny machine, but I can get more time on a penny machine than almost any other for the same money (except single payline quarter machines-dull). My purpose playing the penny amchines is to lose as slowly as possible, for the least possible, and get entertained when I’m losing.

  12. Jeff,
    Thanks for the insight. Out of curiosity, how long would you say your $5 lasts you at 25 cents/spin. If my math is right in theory it should be 20 minutes. If you don’t pull out a stopwatch when you sit down, don’t sweat it.

    My paper was finished, but I might revise it AGAIN to feature yuor quote, because it is a good one.

  13. Jeff in OKC
    02/24/2010 at 2:38 pm

    I think 20 minutes is pretty close, on average. Sometimes hitting big on a bonus will stretch it out, or people watching and waiting for a beer from the coctail waitress. Of course sometimes it’s 20 spins in 5 minutes. That really sucks.

  14. DAVE — do you know that most new “penny slots” now have a minimum of 40 or 50 cents a pull??? They may be classified as a “penny slot” but they are actually a 50 cent slot. You wouldn’t know that unless you actually set foot on a casino floor and played them.

    So, my question to you is — when was the last time you actually played a slot machine? It is a simple question.

    On the “old” penny slots, it is possible to play a penny at a time, and yes, I have witnessed people doing just that.

    Jeff in OKC gave a great anecdotal example of how people (I’m guessing he is a frequent Vegas tourist) might actually play.

    Dave, until you actually spend some time on these machines like Jeff, or myself, I seriously suggest you refrain from your “expert” analysis.

  15. “Joe Bob,”
    Yes, I know that penny slots take more than one penny, and I explicitly said so in the blog post I linked to, if you need empirical evidence. I’ve never said otherwise. I can’t imagine where you got the impression I did.

    I don’t recall the exact date that I last played a slot machine…probably more than a month but less than a year. I’m not a big slot player. I’ve never claimed to be. My interest in the industry comes from having worked in it and being surrounded by it, in one form or another, for most of my life. Not being a serious gambler but also not being biased against the industry (like many people who study it) gives me a different perspective. Not better, or worse–just different. And I don’t understand what difference it makes anyway. If I put twenty bucks in a Megabucks machine yesterday when I was at Caesars Palace or Aria, would it make a difference in the fact that last year the average penny slot earned more $46,224.83, or that this was the first time the average penny slot was more profitable than the average dollar slot?

    And I still can’t understand what you find so objectionable, besides the fact that I called the machines penny slots. Guess what? So does everyone else, because that’s what they are: slots where the base denom is one cent. Just like a quarter machine takes more than a quarter and a nickel machine takes more than a nickel. Do you have a better name for them? Do you call them “minimum 50 to 60 cents a spin machines?” I’ve never heard anyone call them anything but penny slots.

    It seems more like you just like arguing for the sake of arguing, which really doesn’t appeal to me. If you want to do that, go argue with someone else. If you’ve got a problem with what the content of what I said, I’m happy to hear it. Did dollar slots actually make more than penny slots in 2009, and the GCB got the numbers wrong? But you haven’t been able to articulate anything that you disagree with that I said, just the fact that I said it, and I haven’t spent enough time playing penny machines for your liking.

    And by the way, “Joe Bob,” even though you’re commenting under a different name, I’ve got a pretty good idea of who you are, both from your IP address (I can see that, you know) and your style of writing, which is more distinctive than you might realize yourself. I don’t get it–you weren’t this hostile to me when you were emailing me your short stories. What went wrong? Feel free to email me in private if you want to continue our discussion or get more feedback on your writing. You certainly seem more polite when you don’t have an audience.

  16. Dave, If you are truly trying to answer the question, “Why are slot hold percentages generally increasing?” and you “have come to the conclusion that player preference for high-hold, low-denom games is a major factor.” than you truly are misinformed, and completely misguided.

    Your numbers lie — plain and simple. What percentage of those so called “penny slots” are actually 50 cent slots? If the minimum I can bet is 50 cents then even you must agree it is NOT a penny slot.

    Of course the slot manufacturers will market and designate them as such, but it totally skews your picture.

    Supply and demand, and cause and effect, are powerful economic drivers — but you must also appreciate that these factors are not an exact science.

    For you to say that slot players are not motivated by advantage is false, and insulting. Every slot player I know wants to win, and we play machines that we think we can win on.

    Of course, the house is looking to take our money, and the slot manufacturers are looking to sell machines to the house. Why not actually play some machines, and talk to players, and get a better handle on what is really going on instead of relying on numbers that are not an accurate representation of the situation?

    You should really spend some time with the folks at WMS if you want an insight to what kinds of machines are hitting the floor, and why . . . and you should really spend some time in the trenches at the machines to see which ones are popular, and why.

    The story is so much more than your matrix implies.

  17. “Joe Bob,”
    1. The machines are classified as penny slots based on the base denom. They are called “penny slots.” This isn’t something I made up. I don’t know why you continue to argue this. I’m not saying you’re unjustified in saying that the name is misleading, but this is something that the Gaming Control Board has way more control over than I do. They are the ones who classify the machines, not me.
    2. You say “the numbers lie,” but you don’t say how. Did casinos mis-report their revenues? Is the Gaming Control Board deliberately changing the numbers? That would be the story of the century for any Nevada reporter, so if you have evidence of either of these, I suggest you contact them. If you just don’t like what the numbers say, that doesn’t mean the numbers lie.
    3. Are you saying that penny slot players are advantage players in the same sense as BJ or full-pay video poker players, motivated more by payback than entertainment value? That’s not how I understand the term. A guy like Fools Gold who avoids 6:5 BJ because of the worse player expectation seems more like a classic advantage player than someone who willingly plays a machine with a hold double the industry standard on quarters. Obviously players want to win, but some things are more important than getting the best odds. If this wasn’t true, nobody would take props bets on craps.
    4. I have spent time with “the folks from WMS,” and other slot manufacturers, talking with casino slots people, and talking with players. I was sitting ten feet away from WMS’s VP of marketing when I recorded a lecture he gave at UNLV and specifically asked him to talk about what’s new in their product line. I’ve circulated copies of my slot hold study to both players and people in the industry. I’ve gotten their feedback and incorporated it into my research. I walk casino floors looking at “utilization rates” for myself, seeing which machines draw people and which don’t.
    5. Obviously, the numbers are a starting point for the bigger study of gambling, not the end product. But they are a necessary part of any study of gambling that’s more than personal and subjective. Other people focus more on psychology, or marketing, or other aspects of the question–I’m approaching it from my own perspective. There’s room for everyone.
    6. The only alternative that I can see to rising slot hold than player preference for high-hold, low-denom games is that players are being somehow coerced into playing low-denom games, or that they don’t realize the games are high hold. In other words, that players are stupid. I’m saying the opposite–that players know exactly what they are doing, and they are making their choices based on more than the simple odds. You’re the only slot player I know who’s reading anything else into it, and I’m not sure why that is.
    7. I’m addressing your questions here because they interest me, and I’ve got a genuine curiosity about what other people think of the issue. But I think that this isn’t the best place for our discussion at this point–we’re probably the only ones still reading the thread at this point. Just email me.

  18. Schopenhauer
    02/27/2010 at 3:02 am

    I’m still reading and rather enjoying the discussion, especially for its late-night contributions. Perhaps after midnight is not the best time to comment on blogs.

    As Schopenhauer said, any day that follows a night of insufficient sleep must be stricken from the record, since one is not oneself. He should have noted that the night itself should as well be stricken from the record, but with the internet, the electronic record is forever.

    Thus ends the 19th comment.

  19. I recently received a very detailed trip report from a dedicated slot player. Her report displayed a knowledge of the various comp programs in three casinos, her awareness of her slot tickets that were left over from a prior trip, her awareness of the prices of meals at each of the three casinos, her full meal comp and her partial meal comp, her trip-mates preferences, her ability to navigate from casino to casino by various modes of transport. She was clearly one sharp old lady who knew what she was doing as far as rooms, mailers, points, buffets, shuttles but she sure didn’t know anything about house edge or hold. She played Penny Slots, she selected machines based on how good they had been to her on a prior trip, she played machines that were in close proximity to her trip-mate’s machine. When her son opted to play Blackjack she chose to accompany him because she wanted to be daring and play a table game for once (something she has contemplated for her last ten trips). She went in search of a three dollar table but finding none, her son settled on a ten dollar table and she just watched even though the rules for the ten dollar table were better than the rules would have been at a three dollar table. In short, she was sharp as a tack on ALL matters EXCEPT the gambling. She went for the highest house-edge slots and was overly influenced by “freeplay” and “bonusplay”. She believed in Hot and Cold machines. And when she could not find a three dollar Dealer Hits on Soft 17 table she refused to play on a ten dollar Dealer Stands on All 17s table, even though she was probably only going to play one hand. So you can see one thing is certain: there is no way you can tell a slot player about House Edge when her biggest win was on that Penny Slot machine.

  20. Hi Schopster, (and Joe Bob too)

    I’m still following this thread too. I always try retuning to old threads to see what roads the subject takes.

    You said “the electronic record is forever”. Boy. Is that ever true. Google shows a 1992 comment I wrote after having been in a mild-two-month-debate with a head of the California Geology department who swore to the fact that underground nuclear bomb testing could not trigger earthquakes. I had good data stating she shouldn’t be 100% positive in her beliefs. Thankfully, a year later the LA Times ran some articles that held the same beliefs I’d expressed earlier to this woman.

    18 years later, one simple little comment I made about that, is now posted on the Internet. I had no idea that hand-typed Letters to the Editor would end up on the Internet 18 years later.

    I now accept the fact (and likelihood) that anything I write might be preserved for eternity via the Internet. At this point I always take that possibility into consideration. But at this stage-of-the-game I figure I’ll still say what I have to say (any hour of the day or night)…even if people might laugh at my comments 30 years from now.

    Thank goodness I avoid sex-chatrooms altogether. hahaha. No. If I’m going to make a fool of myself I’ll do it in this gaming forum instead.

    As for this particular thread. I’ve been waiting to hear someone make a ‘referee comment’ like “Gee. Can’t we all get along?”. The famous phrase of Rodney King that people like to toss around so much now-a-days.

    Old Rodney said that stupid comment after igniting a race riot that caused almost 64 deaths in LA. Rodney the wife-beater, speaking ‘words of peace’? “Can’t we all get along? Well he sure couldn’t even get along with his ONE wife… and he sure couldn’t get along with the policemen he infuriated after his multi-mile high-speed chase thru the city streets.

    If I was a cop and got my adrenalin pumping so fast I might have socked the idiot myself.

    But that’s not the point of what I’m writing.

    I enjoy seeing Internet debates when they lead to something good…like a ‘final arrival at a better truth’.

    And I like seeing people who know when they’ve lost a debate and conceed in a gentlemanly way….realizing that there is no need to ’save face’ or protect their original argument into infinity.

    I’m not going to make any judgments against Joe Bob contentions. But I WILL say that he knew he was breaking ‘the house rules’ by implying that the webhost’s work “P’d him off”.

    That was just cause to be ousted. But Dave didn’t even block him and still allowed him the full-freedom to debate the issue. Dave is (obviously) much nicer and more fair than I would be if someone insulted me on any web-forum I was running.

    I might have ‘closed-shop’ completely and said “to heck with this manure”.

    I think I see why Joe Bob is debating this subject so much. He seems to need to protect his assumption that his gaming method is a good one and that he understands the issues of ’slot odds very well’.

    He likely does. But, I feel he’s wrong in one regard.

    My mother loves slot machines. She knows the odds are stacked against her…and that the ‘house edge’ will grind her down on certain ‘bad odds’ machines. But she doesn’t care about that….cuz, ‘one good jackpot’ wipes out that ’sacred house advantage’.

    She’s no bozo. She isn’t stupid. She knows the risk of ‘bad odds machines’…as do lots of seemingly ’stupid women players’. But I know about 8 senior women who consistently win good jackpots with their imprecise and unprofessional play.

    I never sell anyone’s gambling methods short. Crazy styles of play often annihalate so-called ‘house advantages’.

    I’ve observed gamblers pretty well and driven lots of losers home. Amateurs AND pros. 8 years of seeing and hearing gamblers’ stories, theories and methods of play…have registered deep within my mind.

    I don’t need to go “into the trenches” to understand what gambling is about. Neither does a Medic need to fire a gun to understand what war is about.

    In fact…IMO…the further a person removes themself from ANY ISSUE…the easier it is to gain a full and accurate perspective.

    So. Tonight I want to say that I am sick of Gamblers thinking they have a better inside knowledge of gaming than anyone else could have…simply by virtue of their “trench-time” on a slot-machine.

    I’ll tell you one absolute truth (in my mind). Gamblers prove their ‘pet theories’ wrong daily. And if I WAS a gambler…I’d bet anyone that a 75 year old lady I know can do better at slots than they can.

    She doesn’t give a darn about house advantages and maybe that’s why she wins so often. She doesn’t give a darn about minor ‘house edges’. Her crazy system of play obliterates the rinky-dink ‘house edge’.

    But back to the subject.

    Joe Bob openly tried to insult the webhost. The webhost allowed him full opportunity to state his argument even further.

    Joe Bob then failed to properly present a good ‘closing argument’ and lost this debate (IMO).

    In actuality…Joe Bob lost his debate when he used the ‘P’ word. And then he lost it even worse when Schopie so accurately described ’slot terminology’ in her first post.

    I thought her ‘right-on-target’ post, alone, ended the debate.

    I like you Joe Bob. You have good thoughts. But you can’t try insulting the webhost by attacking his life’s work. That is really wrong of you. Really bad Internet manners. Un-absolvable, IMO. I’d 86 you for that. You broke the ‘house rules’ and ….as a patron here…I COMPLETELY OBJECT TO your unprofessional debate methods.

    One time I saw a guy punch the glass on a slot machine (at the Rio and break it. I thought the security team had full reason to hold him accountable for his act of frustration.

    And if Dave is taking votes…I cast mine in favor of completely ousting you (for the disrespect you showed to this website…to say nothing of how I feel about you publicly calling a scholar I highly admire a liar).

    You’re smart enough to realize you broke the ‘house rules’ of this (or any other) forum.

    As cool as you seem to be I’d oust you completely for blowing your cool and using the ‘P’ word.

    I’m not as gentlemanly as Dave is. I don’t even know martial arts, like he does.

    But if you talked to me that dis-respectfully in a cab…I’d stop the car in a back alley and insist on your apology one-on-one, just for calling me a “so-called expert”…let alone the fact that you called me a liar. And I’m just 5 foot 8 and 59 years old. Still. I’d insist on your apology…’old school style’ if need be.

    You owe Dave an apology and I insist you supply a good one. Really man. I INSIST that you do that right now. Really. Right NOW!

    My phone number is on my website if you want to phone me to say anything to me (old school style or however).

    Really Billy Joe. I insist you apologize to Dave and his fans and friends this very moment.

  21. Schopenhauer
    02/28/2010 at 11:37 pm

    Thanks for the compliments, Erik.

    Joe Bob does indeed have a point if he is trying to say the penny figures are skewed higher due to the fact that nobody plays just one cent (as the GCB category seems to imply). Few people play just one nickel or quarter (or whatever) either, which would skew those numbers higher an unknown amount as well–on a “dollar-figure-won-per-base-unit” basis.

    Therefore a better way to approach this would be to use win percentage, which disregards any variation in bet size (whether a penny player is playing a single credit, or 720 credits). I can’t give exact numbers (because my computer freaks out over PDFs), but based on my paper print-out of GCB Revenue Report 11/09 Las Vegas Strip (page 17), they were something like this:

    1-cent 12%
    5-cent 11%
    25-cent 8%
    1-dollar 6%
    Megabucks 13%
    5-dollar 5%
    25-dollar 3%
    100-dollar 3%
    multi 6%

    So regardless of whether “penny” players are playing conservatively, seeking value/entertainment, looking for an edge, or whatever, as a group they lost about 12 cents out of every dollar wagered; dollar players, as a group, lost 6 cents out of every dollar wagered, regardless of whether they were playing two dollars max bet on Wheel of Fortune, or some multi-line, multi-credit combo on Wizard of Oz that would put my meager monthly paycheck to shame. (Please note again that those figures are rough; the exact ones are in PDF form either on gaming.unlv.edu or gaming.nv.gov, and me and PDFs don’t exactly get along.)

    I believe Joe Bob has a valid argument in that; however, the line was crossed with the ad hominem attacks. I don’t advocate usage of the banhammer unless a person is deliberately grossly offensive or off-topic (I am myself a moderator in another life, faced with these decisions). Joe Bob’s behavior so far has not been anything I personally would wield the banhammer over–but then it is not my own life’s work he is criticizing (at least not directly). Of course, even one’s own life’s work should be up for debate and criticism–but with facts, reason, and valid argument, not with “the p-word” and personal insults.

    I hope to see soon a post about the “versatile volatility” slots–where slot players can choose from three settings of win frequencies (frequent but small prizes, less frequent but larger prizes, and least frequent but largest prizes). These just debuted at Barona, and I am very much interested to hear both the objective analysis of the academics and the subjective experience of the players.

    And no… you can’t have my phone number… sorry. :P

  22. Thanks for having this website Dr. Schwartz, it’s very good and informative. I play video poker occasionally but I really like to play blackjack. Good job with the Vegas Gang, hopefully Jeff Simpson (part of Vegas Gang) will find a journalism job soon in Las Vegas, he is a good writer. I enjoy posting here because I like most of the comments people have. I also post here (and also on David McKee’s excellent blog) because I feel the more you write, the better you get at it. And I am not good yet, but I am getting better as a writer. March is here, and hopefully it will start getting warm here in Chicago.

  23. Aw Heck Meighan,

    You read ‘between my lines’ enough to see what I was really after. Your phone number. You Funny Schopie. Very perceptive.

    BTW. Did anyone ever tell you that you’re pretty smart (for being a girl :>). Good verbage, good calculations, good judgment, good humor, good sense, good wisdom, good readage, good art sense and goodness only knows what else.

    BTW. That word “banhammer”. You seem to invent words as much as I do. Maybe we could form a partnership and open a ‘new word’ store together and all it ‘Crazy-Words-R-Us’. Everyday we could hold ‘95% Off Sales’ and use the craziest marketing techniques every dreamed up. Reporters from business magazines would line up to try to get interviews on our nutty business methods.

    You could be the Vice-President and I would be the Other Vice President. And we wouldn’t have a President, Treasurer, CEO, CFO, Secretary, Chairman, Board or any of those positions in our corporation. Just two Vice-Presidents, an inventory of invented words and some shopping bags for our steady-stream of customers.

    Sounds good right? Send me your number and we can talk some more about this great plan of mine.

    Jenny Jenny 867-5309
    :>0

    ==========
    Thus ends the 23rd comment on Penny-ism. Will we see a 24TH?

  24. Woops. Paul got spot Number 23 while I was writing. So this now becomes the 24th Penny-Post. (The Double P Word). Paul is a very Pleasant Poster. He never argues or says crazy things like I tend to.
    He’s very level-headed. He seems like a Peaceful Pisces to me.
    ===
    Can we get a 25th comment?

  25. Actually my zodiac sign is Cancer. I was born June 24, 1966. Sixth month, sixty-sixth year. 666. I guess 777 would be better but oh well it’s just a number.

    I also read the Two Way Hard Three blog with Hunter. He does a very good job with that, along with all the people commenting on there. I would comment on there also but I’m pretty busy and I don’t have the time.

  26. Well Paul. That is really good to know and hear about your June 24th birth date. I won’t stray to far off into the non-gaming subject of Solar Sign Characteristics…but…

    What an excellent birthday you have. You are a Water sign. The three Water signs are Pisces, Cancer and Scorpio. Me, being mostly an Earth sign by nature gets great comfort from the Water signs.

    Earth & Water people are very compatible and have a tendency to understand each other on a sub-conscious level.

    Cancer People are very cool tempermentally, caring and very sensitive to the comfort needs of other people.

    The person I admire most in the world (in my top five people) is Sir Paul Mc Cartney…whose birthday is June 18. Cancer signs flow like Water and provide replenishment to others, especially to the often dry and dusty needs of the Earth Signs. Paul is actually born near the Gemini & Cancer cusp (Air & Water).

    The reason I admire him so much is because he has conquered the ‘fame game’ and all his ego drives have been tested far beyond most human being’s possibility and he has remained caring, kind and compassionate thru most of his life…without becoming an ego-tripping clebrity. He treats his road staff with the utmost respect.

    I truly think he’s the most highly evolved human being on Earth.

    Other celebrity Cancer signs are Robin Williams, Billy Crystal, Kurt Russel, Merv Griffen and Ringo Starr. Ringo might be the most peaceful and cool tempered Celeb of all. The retired Vegas banker, E. Parry Thomas (Wynn’s friend) is a Cancer and so was Jay Sarno.

    If you look at these Cancer people you might not at first see any similarities. But each is concerned with helping other people thru acts of kindness and hospitality (thru non-ego driven or self-centered ways). Most of them remain down to Earth…and are very ‘helping and comforting’ to most others…expressed thru their chosen profession in the their ‘healing arts’ of comedy, thoughtfulness and hospitality. There main drive is to treat others well.

    As for the numbers 666 being in your birthdate…that is certainly a unique thing I remember that the movie The Omen was released on 666 (June 6, 1976) and used that fact in their to publicize their ‘release of their movie’.

    But please don’t fret one minute over that strange 6-6-6 combination. It’s just a random happen-stance number, in your case, and doesn’t mean you’re the Son of the Devil or any such thing. It sure must make for interesting conversation though.

    Until Later Paul, Take Care

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