Of course, “free” is marketing talk for having spent hundreds of dollars in the casino. Yes, $1 in a slot machine now automatically accumulates three players points and with those points, a player can have “free” movies, “free” bowling, “free” meals, etc. Players at Sunset Station can't escape the hype. Yes, some of us are past 50, but we don’t need to hear the “three points for $1 of play” 10 times. A blond lady with a microphone heads to the center of the room and basically says, “Here are a couple videos about the changes.” She doesn’t introduce herself, and the videos are extremely repetitive.

At one end, we wait in another line to be offered free coffee and our choice of donuts and cookies. and wait in line to have our cards scanned and then we enter the dark ballroom. O.K., so we go to the Madrid ballroom for our meeting at 9:30 a.m. Sunset is our local casino of choice based on location, the nice folks in the poker room and the pretty good food in its restaurants. My husband and I went to one such party a week ago at Sunset Station Hotel & Casino. The company has been so excited about the changes they’ve had little parties all over town, inviting players to see what’s new. Station Casinos has transformed its player’s card rules for all 18 of its casinos. Stations’ new ads should have said, “In an effort to keep up with the competition…….” South Point, for one, has long had a more generous deal for locals than Station Casinos. The best card in Las Vegas just got better.” In recent weeks, Station Casinos’ ads also began shouting, “The all NEW Boarding Pass. If you live in Las Vegas, you have seen this year’s coming-out-of-bankruptcy ads from Station Casinos. Big signs and small advertised changes at Station Casinos.

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