Honestly, how many people are there that will say "I was exactly even between going to MDL and MGM, and therefore this $5 will be my deciding factor?" I'd assume few to none. Moreover, does MGM, a casino, really care about losing customers that are so fussed about $5? Doesn't sound like a great gambler or a person you'd really care to have join your poker table.

I go to MGM 3-4 times a week. So that’s 15-20 dollars extra that I’m paying for getting no other service in return. Luckily I have a pearl card. But not everyone does.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Jeez, he just said last night:

Whoops, missed that one - my bad.

You are getting a service, you're getting to park your car close to MGM, it's just a service you want to be free. Alcoholic drinks are free in other casinos and you have to pay at MGM. Just because something is free other places doesn't mean that MGM can't (or shouldn't) charge for it.

You could park your car elsewhere and walk, carpool with somebody or take public transportation. None of those would probably be worth saving $5 each trip. Moreover, it's very, very unlikely that this $5 would be the deciding factor between someone coming to MGM and not, and if it was it's very unlikely that person would be a great customer for a casino who's primary purpose is to get you to make sucker bets for considerably more than $5.

JG, any chance we can get the NL games 9 handed? Or is that idea dead? Thanks.

I’ve never met a person so in favor for paid parking.

I’m just saying that there are 4 casinos within 50 miles of each other and 3 out of the 4 don’t charge for parking. I’m sure a lot of people won’t mind paying $5 if they believe that MGM provides a better experience than the other casinos in the area. I would just assume that there will be a few people like myself that wouldn’t want to spend an additional $20 a week on parking when there are other options available.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It’s not dead, but we won’t do until we change our capacity.... more news on that coming soon.

Alcoholic drinks aren't free because of MD law. Free parking at casinos in this area has become the standard. Free alcohol hasn't. Obviously MGM is entitled to charge for parking or do whatever they want, but there is a risk that they'll lose out to places like MDL.

I posted links to the MGM Profit Growth Plan before - if you've never heard of it, well, it basically says MGM wants to make as much profit as possible. And that includes charging for parking.

A lot of people complained about it in Vegas and guess what, they kept coming and kept filling the lots at $12-15 per. People said the same thing "free parking is the standard in Las Vegas" - but they kept coming. And in Las Vegas there are actually a ton of options. There's no going back now, its free money for them.

No offense to the dealer but I see no way parking is $5. MGM rates in LV range from $12-15 depending on the property and thats with a lot of other parking options around. I see no reason MGM wouldnt hit the high end of that. Making it $5 would hardly make it worth it.

This, by the way, has absolutely nothing to do with Johnny or the poker room. And - I could be wrong and I say this with all due respect - but my guess is that Johnny has absolutely nothing to do with setting parking policy or rates.

Obviously one of the differences is that in LV poker players can earn tier or hour credits with their play which can easily offset the parking cost. Its really disappointing that MGMNH has no answer to this after almost a year.

We have been working on the answer to this since opening. It’s a little more complex now with the addition of Borgata (who already has a system that isn’t really workable from a tech standpoint on our other properties). As I have said before, we are working on a more efficient solution for our comp/tier credit system, we being our property, Borgata, Beau Rivage, and all the Vegas properties.

The Borgata purchase was...6 or 7 months after opening? Dunno. I have no doubt people are still working on a solution. Its just somewhat frustrating - given that MGM already has had this in place in their LV properties - its still a little frustrating that it was not in place *at* opening.

Room is coming up on being open for a full year and poker players are left with a comp system that can be very frustrating to use, no tier credit earnings and starting down the barrel of paid parking.

Partially just venting. Appreciate your time as always.

I understand the frustration. Remember the offset: we offer the highest compensation per hour on food comp credit(in lieu of tier credits). As I have said in previous posts, ask Vegas regs what they pay to park. No concrete promises, but I feel strongly that our players who put in some hours will get a break on the parking. I think Bellagio players get free parking if they play 75 hour in a calendar year right now....

For what it's worth, I think most of Johnny's predictions for the poker room have come true: he has a fairly good mix of games with great action that make a player not think too much about the rake. He has a top-notch staff--only one bad dealer remains in my opinion--and as much as I enjoy MDL's room, staff, and comps, Johnny's room is so good that I can't justify the longer drive to MDL. (I still go to MDL when I'm in that area for other things.)

Action is the most important thing in a poker room. Tangential issues like paying for parking or ease of use of the comp system will not affect most well-heeled players. Those issues might drive away nits, but I don't really see a problem with that.

Ordinarily I would agree. But tangential issues stop being tangential when there are 2 or 3 or 4 of them that persist over the course of a year.

And there seem to be a decent number of good recs that only play 1-2x a month. Its possible they wouldnt be putting in enough hours to get free parking under the yet to be announced or decided upon free parking system. And that becomes a problem if they decide hey, I'm only going to play once this month instead of twice.

Even someone whos "well heeled" could be annoyed by having to pay $15 for parking.

I couldn’t agree with you more. I only have the pearl card because I have an MLife credit card but if I didn’t have it and had to pay for parking I would go to Live way more than I do now.

I do think Johnny runs the best room on the East coast but I don’t play poker for a living and I am barely a winning player. And extra $20-$30 a week would make it hard for me to justify to continue going as much as I do.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I remember someone in this thread who wrote that he thought that requiring people to pay for parking at MGMNH would be a good idea because this would discourage the low net worth demographic from coming to MGMNH, which he appeared to be in favor of.

The "low net worth demographic" tend to be more willing to gamble (i.e, bingo, lottery, etc) and are good for the game. Keeping them out of the room is not in the best interest of players.

I play 5 days per week on average, so $15 to park would be roughly $300/month. That's a big deal. And there are quite a few recreational players who play 5+ days per week. I wouldn't just assume they're willing to eat the $300/month expense when there are other options in the area.

Apologies, Johnny, if I have commented inaccurately regarding the parking garage. My experience based on the 70-80 visits I have made to MGM this year, all of them on weekday evenings and weekend mornings, is that the parking garage has never been filled to capacity during those times.



It is true that businesses want to maximize their revenue. When a casino’s treatment of its customers reaches a certain level of crassness, when it becomes blatantly obvious that MGM views us as simply sheep to be sheared as close to the skin as possible, some customers will eventually get their dander up, gather their dignity, and take their entertainment dollars elsewhere. If MGM really wanted to maximize revenue-per-patron, without regards to class, they could do the aforementioned conversion to only pay-per-use toilets; they could stop all free drinks and charge for everything from water on up; hell, they could remove every seat from the casino floor and make people gamble standing up unless they pay to rent a chair. It's a matter of perception; there’s a line you cross from treating your customers with class, and not doing so, and - to me - charging for parking would be a step across that line. Maryland Live is not too much further away for many of us. Indeed, someday online poker will be legal again, making moot all of the complaints made in this thread.

Id bank on pearl cards or the like for poker players with enough hours before this goes into effect. If not ill be pretty disappointed. Either way, I am pretty scared for MGMs poker ecosystem with the upcoming changes.

No need to be scared. Our company wouldn’t invest in the upgrades that are coming if they planned to take measures that would damage our ability to generate revenue.

This is my point. It's not that I'm in favor of paid parking, it's that in the big scheme who cares about $5? Anyone that isn't taking a trip to the poker room in order to save $5 isn't someone I want to have at my table. The guy on business coming in from DC who's taking an Uber certainly doesn't care.

agreed, but i fully expect the casino to generate revenue off their upgrade to their slots/pit.

If i were laying odds on the poker room, id say something like 1% chance it gets better (itd be pretty hard for the poker room to get much better for me without lowering rake to $4 which isnt happening. some would say the 9 handed 2/5 would improve it, which sounds like may happen, but i dont really care), 75% it stays the same, 20% it takes a small hit, 4% it takes a big hit. 99.99% chance its still better than LIVE.

Basically I think any change is gonna be a reverse freeroll mostly due to how good the poker room currently is. Take my fear as a compliment.

I dont think anyone doubts MGMs ability to generate revenue. MGM Corporate invests in this because they have seen how many millions they have made off parking revenue in Las Vegas. So I think its pretty natural they would want to start charging for parking as soon as possible.

When their initial financial report came out after the first year of having parking fees in Vegas, IIRC MGM reported a 20% increase in revenues in the particular category that included parking. At the time the attributed that primarily to parking fees. As soon as they could, they increased the rates and decreased the hours that it covered.

Not saying that it will happen here - just providing some historical context.

Oh and once MGM shows how much revenue they can make off parking, I'd be stunned if MDL didnt start charging for their garage. Almost 5,000 parking spaces that they could make....$10 a day or so off of. Sure some people can park at the mall. But not all of them.