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Oops! Casino Offers $29 Million In Credits
Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board Looking Into Mistake

POSTED: 9:53 am EST December 2, 2008
UPDATED: 10:54 am EST December 2, 2008


DAUPHIN COUNTY, Pa. -- Thousands of people received a flier offering free cash to play the slots at Hollywood Casino, only to be told it was a mistake.

When Connie Hain got a flier from Hollywood Casino a few days ago, she saw an offer she couldn't pass up.

The flier promised $100 a week of free money to play at the casino for the whole month of December.

"They shouldn't mail something that ain't true," said Hain.

But when she tried to redeem it, a casino worker said there was a problem.

"He said they added an extra zero. That it shouldn't be a $100, it should've been $10. Big difference," said Hain.

The casino gave her $30 to make up for the mistake.

"They should've checked the print. They should have people looking for things like that. I think it's a scam to get people there to spend their money," said Hain.

The casino is now offering $100 worth of credit and buffet vouchers to the 55,000 people who received the mailing.

Hollywood Casino officials said it's not a scam, but a mistake made by the casino's mail vendor.

The flier was supposed to go out to fewer than 1,000 people. Instead, it was mailed to 55,000 people.

The casino released this statement:

"We are taking immediate steps to determine exactly how the error occurred and to ensure that this type of mistake is not repeated. We deeply regret any inconvenience this has caused our customers who are understandably confused by this mailing and our notification of the error.

"At Hollywood Casino, our customers’ satisfaction is of paramount concern and, despite this inadvertent mistake, we plan to honor up to $100 in promotional credits and two complimentary passes to our epic buffet for each of our 55,000 affected customers, valid through Dec. 25. We sincerely appreciate our customers’ understanding as we continue to work through this unfortunate situation."

Casino officials aren't sure how the mistake happened, but said it occurred at a direct mail contractor.

If all those chits were cashed in, it could have cost the casino $29 million.

Even though the casino is honoring the offer, it doesn't mean the problem is solved.

The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board plans to look into the incident.

The state attorney general's office also plans to investigate and is looking to hear from customers.
Distributed by Internet Broadcasting Systems, Inc. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

I'll have to look for that casino on my next trip down there.

Thanks,
Wayne

Something like that happened in Illinois a few years ago (sent out wrong amounts to too many people) -- I think the gaming commission made them honor the offers.

Moral of the story? Don't outsource your mailers to 3rd world countries

Something very similar happened to Paris Casino in Vegas recently.  I received an "offer" in the mail as we often do to come and stay for a few days and play for cash comps.  We get these all the time, and the usual offer is that we get 4 nights free stay and $250 in cash just for showing up.  Then in addition to that, you get additional cash based on the number of points your earn during your stay.  Works out to about $250 additional cash for every 3500 in points you earn.

Anyway...

Well this letter we received about 2 months ago offered us 4 nights stay and $3,000 !!! just for showing up.  I call the next afternoon to book that baby and the clerk told me that it was already completely "filled up"....well I couln'dt belive it...so I had her connect me to our regular host.  And she said, well actually it was a "mistake" and the offer was CANCELLED!!!   :37-