Wynn Las Vegas Casino No Longer Comping Drinks

Wynn Las Vegas Hotel and Casino is flouting venerable Las Vegas tradition by no longer comping drinks for bar customers who are playing machines.

Vegas casinos have long honored the practice of giving a free drink in exchange for ten dollars play at the video gambling machines inset into the bars, but Wynn will now charge full price for cocktails, regardless of play.

Other resorts, notably the MGM Grand and Mandalay Bay, have attempted similar changes in policy in the past. Those changes were reversed when business at the bars dropped considerably, reflecting a boycott of the new procedure.

Wynn is gambling that its high-end clientele, used to paying $300 or more for rooms, won't balk at a few dollars for drinks, and that the customers who wander from the Strip will pay the price for lounging with the rich and famous.

However, the casino may discover that patrons who spend heavily expect amenities to be courtesy of the hotel, and will balk at an a la carte treatment.



2007-11-12