Belterra joins the ranks of burn joints

I visited Belterra Casino in Veevay, Indiana recently, after being away from it for a few weeks. The games there have steadily gone from pretty good to mediocre and finally they have devolved into simply awful. When Belterra first opened they offered a good double deck game, with good rules and good penetration. Then they even set up what was for a time the best single deck game in the country.

They finally nixed the single decker and got much tighter on the double deck game, watering down its rules and making the penetration lousy. They added more continuous shufflers and eight deck games. Now they have even dumped their double decker in favor of poorly penetrated shoes and more CSM's.

They have even lowered their video poker payouts. They once had $1 9/6 JOB games and the last of those is gone. Belterra has now joined in completely with the other nearby Ohio River casinos by offering a lousy selection of gaming opportunities. Even if you are not an advantage player, but just someone who enjoys gambling, this place is no longer worth the visit.

My last visit will be my last visit. I didn't play a single game after I went inside. Belterra isn't even worth the drive it takes to cash my coupons, much less to spend time playing their lousy games. It is just another sucker trap.

I've been trying to jockey (I cant spell fanegal) my schedule around to come down to the Queen city for a union safety symposium. Boot, your news is not glad tidings. Oh well.....Go Bucks...Go Rockets.

Frenchman

P.S.....Did I spell awry correctly?

Finagle -
:-)

It could be worse. I could be refered to as Mary Poppins.

:-) Frenchman

...you would have to be able to spell
supercalifragilistickexpialidocious.
:-)

with so many games deteriorating to the point of being unplayable can you write a bj book, or is your book relavant, to todays playing conditions and what is occuring on a day to day basis?

are you going to tell readers to count down a 8 deck 65% game?

shuffle-trak a game with a shuffle machine?

try to beat a csm?

do you not think it is all getting rather pointless?

When we came in, we saw more cars in the parking garage than usual, so I thought they would be full. They were not. The CSM tables were mostly empty and I don't think there was a completely full table in the house. I counted a total of 6 people playing VP on the whole boat, on both decks.

And yes, I will have some methods for playing the lousy games we are being offered nowadays in my book.

Here are the blackjack win percentages (win/drop) for the months of September and October combined for the five S. Indiana boats, based on the monthly reports on the IGC's website:

Argosy: 14.68%
Belterra: 9.08%
Caesars Indiana: 15.14%
Casino Aztar: 17.28%
Grand Victoria: 16.95%

By contrast, Belterra's BJ win percentage for April and May combined was 19.53%, more than double what it was for September and October. This is just another example of how casinos hurt themselves by sweating the money.

In the hearing where they were penalized for having the hookers in the first place, Indiana told them to build a bigger hotel. Maybe if they get enought hookers Indiana will just start *giving* them money!

Math Boy

1.Worsened their rules which shrank customer base and action. D10 rule dramatically reduces overall player action (no soft doubles which most players make dramatic errors).

2. Pressure from bean counters to reduce labor costs may result in fewer tables open which results in full tables (slow games) which reduces hands per hour and decreases the grind on the players and reduces the hold of each table. Week to Week and Month to Month variance will increase with fewer tables (one dumping table has a greater chance of affecting the casino profit since a greater percentage of action is concentrated on fewer tables)

3. Reduced Penetration...passive game protection forces more shuffles and wastes time decreasing the hold. Also, since most players bet small off the top of a fresh pack (even the ploppies) action is reduced and the hold is reduced.

4. Sweating the money...high rollers know when their action really isn't wanted. They go elsewhere. It has been said that 10% of the customer base is responsible for 80% of a casinos profits.

seems to be worsening by the month. The bait-and-switch routine gets faster and faster. I wonder when these places will start advertising, for instance, ridiculously cheap gifts for sale, then when you arrive there, "Sorry, we just ran out". Oh wait a minute, they already do that with coupons that suddenly change to being practically worthless, etc.

AB

Regarding bigplayer's comment on high roller action as a percentage of total action in a casino:

Loto-Quebec, which operates the Montreal casino, recently reported that the top 1% of their players account for 20% of the casino's revenues...and the Montreal casino is one of the largest in the world, certainly top 10 and probably top 5.

So yeah, high roller action can really make a difference.

TJ.

Good post and good theory on why the hold could of dropped. It is more likely this is what did happen rather than what could have happened.

Dont forget all the ploppies who enjoy throwing money away while doubling on a hard 12.

"What! I can't double on a hard 12 anymore!"

"sorry sir,we changed the rules".

What'cha thinking Creeping Panther?

that my old friend, TG, is posting

if the casino stops allowing doubling on hard 12 it must be because they care about the player losing money

i will never forget the time i got into a heated head on with a casino ceo and he stated that he did not offer surrender because it was a sucker bet for the player!

it was after that that i realized that they really do care about the welfare of their customers! 8-)