May 16, 2012

Gotta Love the Gift Card!

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Billions of dollars in gift cards go unused every year. We're thinking that they aren't for Station Casinos.

Everyone loves gift cards. We love to give ‘em. We love to get ‘em. Want proof? Americans spend tens of billions of dollars, about $80 billion according to market research, on gift cards every year.

Why the fascination?  They’re easy. Flexible. And people can get what they really want.

Somewhat shockingly, a fair percentage of those billions of dollars go unused. Some $8 billion, or around 10 percent, in gift cards go unused nationally each year.

Here’s a solution: Give a gift card that people actually want, will use, and enjoy.

Like at – you guessed it – Station Casinos!

EASY: You can buy online or at most of our casino locations.

FLEXIBLE: Station’s gift cards can be used for thousands of choices at eight of our Las Vegas casinos including hotel stays, spas visits, restaurants, gift shops and more.

PEOPLE WANT IT: Who wouldn’t want to choose from dozens of delicious dining options, exciting Las Vegas hotel deals or smoothing spa treatments.

Happy Holidays!

Have you ever received a gift card and not used it. Tell us below.

The Last Man Standing is a Woman!

Hey, guys. Kirsten know football!

Hey, guys. Kirsten knows football!

Kristen outlasted everyone (she actually tied for first) and took home $39,000 in the Last Man Standing pro football contest.

More about Last Man Standing

LET’S GO BOWLING: Early Lines for Bowl Games Now Available

Sports books at all Station Casinos locations, including at Red Rock Resort, are ready with the early lines for college bowl season.

Sports Books at all Station Casinos locations, including at Red Rock Resort, are ready with the early lines for college bowl season.

Trivia Time: Which of the following is not a real college bowl game?

  1. Little Caesars Pizza Bowl
  2. Eagle Bank Bowl
  3. Chick-Fil-A Bowl
  4. Humanitarian Bowl
  5. Emerald Bowl

Answer: None of the above. These are five of  34, yes 34, games this bowl season. (By the way, Chick-Fil-A is delicious.) Depending on your point of view, 34 bowl games is either somewhat ridiculous or just awesome.

Jason McCormick, Director of Race and Sports, tells the Blog that the early lines for the BCS Games are currently available at Station Casinos Sports Books and the odds for the rest of the other 29 bowl games will be on the board by the end of the week. The first bowl game kicks off Saturday, December 19.

With all the upcoming college football bowl games, along with college hoops, pro hockey, basketball and football, now is a great time to check our Sports Connection, Station Casinos’ remote-betting option.

Here’s what we know. Who do you think is favored at the Sports Book?

  • Alabama looked awesome beating Florida. Texas needed an end-of-game field goal to get by feisty Nebraska.
  • Undefeated and unknown Boise St. will face undefeated and hardly known TCU. The winner will likely be left as the only undefeated team (assuming a Cincy lost) this season not to be called national champions.
  • Cincinnati puts its undefeated record on the line versus defending-champion Florida.

If you want to argue about which is the best team this year, tell us below or vote at our poll to the right.

Happy Bowling!

Linda’s Jumbo Reel Cash Bonus was $10,000

 

Linda hit the Jumbo Reel Cash Bonus for $10,000 at Fiesta Henderson in November.

View all current Gaming Promotions at Station Casinos

Get your Boarding Pass player’s card now

Furballs & Footballs: In Search of Pigskin Purrrrfection

Sometimes in life, in order to accomplish great feats, you need to think outside the box – in this case… the litter box.
YouTube Preview Image

Like for many, the lure of the Million Dollar Parlay Card for football games, offered every Wednesday and Friday at Station Casinos’ Sports Books across the Las Vegas Valley, has been too tempting to ignore. The task is daunting: correctly pick 20-out-of-20 college and/or pro football games, against the spread, to win
$1 million. The $5 card offers something everyone enjoys: a fun chance to risk little and win big while calling the shots.

Anyone who wagers on football knows how difficult it is to pick 20 out of 20. (Before you say it can’t be done, check out Dohn, who hit 15-for-15 for $100,000 a couple weeks ago.) So it’s not impossible, but after trying for several weeks it does seem out of my comprehension as a human. So for this week’s picks, I have tapped the animal kingdom and enlisted the help of Tochka. Tochka is a four-year-old Black Russian cat. When not licking himself, Tochka enjoys sleeping and eating (remember, he’s a cat). Tochka boldly made his 20 picks (I picked the same games) by selecting a treat from his owner’s right or left hand (see video where Tochka decisively takes Philadelphia to upset San Diego).

For the record, Tochka and I…

agree on:

  • Iowa over Ohio St.
  • Duke over Georgia Tech
  • South Carolina over Florida
  • Tulsa over East Carolina
  • New York over Jacksonville
  • Pittsburgh over Cincinnati
  • Carolina over Atlanta
  • Tampa Bay over Miami
  • Oakland over Kansas City
  • Arizona over Seattle

disagree On:

  • Mississippi (T) and Tennessee (CS)
  • USC (T) and Stanford (CS)
  • California (T) and Arizona (CS)
  • Missouri (T) and Kansas St. (CS)
  • Air Force (T) and UNLV (CS)
  • Washington (T) and Oregon St. (CS)
  • Auburn (T) and Georgia (CS)
  • Denver (T) and Washington (CS)
  • Philadelphia (T) and San Diego (CS)
  • Green Bay (T) and Dallas (CS)

If Tochka wins the million bucks, he has been promised a new scratching post as well as a lifetime supply of string. He seemed pleased at the prospect.

Earn Your Free Roll at the $300,000 Las Vegas Poker Plus Tournament

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NO BUY-IN REQUIRED: 50 hours at the table will get you into January's big tournament, where the top cash will be $40,000.

It’s a free roll at a big pay day. Interested?

While that other famous poker tournament readies next week to shuffle up and deal its final table, Station Casinos is set to start our own big-money Las Vegas poker tournament.

Qualifying for the $300,000 Poker Plus Tournament starts this Sunday (Nov. 1), and runs until December 31 at all participating Station Casinos poker rooms. Basically, players need to be dealt in at one of our poker tables for 50 hours (one long session for some players) during the two-month span to qualify for the big Texas Hold’em tournament, which will be held Jan. 9 and 10, 2010 at Texas Station.

“There is no buy-in; just log 50 hours of live action on your Boarding Pass,” said Mike Doe, poker manager at Red Rock Resort. “All players that play the tournament are guaranteed at least $75 when they are eliminated from the tournament.” Additionally, qualifying comp points will be awarded at the rate of 600 points per hour during the next two months, while from 3am through 9am points will be awarded at a rate of 1,800 points per hour.

Doe said he will be rooting for short-stacked Phil Ivey to win that other tournament’s main event bracelet because Mr. Ivey is an occasional guest on the Red Rock gaming floor. Will Ivey, often regarded as the best poker player in the world, get a seat at Station Casinos’ $300,000 Poker Plus Tournament?

“Only if he qualifies,” Doe said.

More info about the $300,000 Poker Plus Tournament

$300,000 Poker Plus Tournament Official Rules

Station Casinos is going social & blogging! (What about you?)

Plenty of info and lessons learned at the recent BlogWorld. PHOTO: Cameron Gawley (buzzshift).

Plenty of info and lessons learned at the recent BlogWorld. PHOTO: Cameron Gawley (www.buzzshift.com).

Talk about TMI. Just back from the BlogWorld & New Media Expo held in Las Vegas and now attempting to decipher the deluge of data, “expert” advice and casual impressions from attending a dozen or so educational sessions during the three-day event. Here are four observations from the show about what makes a successful blog:

  1. Metrics Matter. But Passion Matters More.
    Much talk about rankings, page views, Facebook fan numbers and Twitter followers, but the best blog communities seem to consist of people who actually care about your brand, space, message or cause.
  2. ABE (Always Be Engaging)
    Summing up the sentiment of super blogger Chris Brogan: effective blogging boils down to how to talk nice and how to get people to do something, as it turns out ;) .
  3. (Good) Content is King
    Ben Huh, the man behind the brilliantly simple Web sites FAIL Blog, I Can Has Cheezburger and others, says one fundamental thing is needed: reliable, good content.
  4. Value Feedback Because it’s Invaluable
    Even for corporations, says Social Media Strategist Dave Peck, it’s OK if the conversation isn’t about you (your stuff), but rather about what your audience wants to talk about.

Evidenced by the words on your computer screen, Station Casinos is now blogging. In fact, this is a blog about our blogging. Most accurately, our tag in the vast BlogoSphere is “corporate bloggers.” According to survey results revealed during the show by Technorati CEO Richard Jalichandra, about 4 percent of bloggers are corporate bloggers (as corporate bloggers we like statistics).

Back on point, the biggest lesson learned from the educational sessions was this: social media must be a conversation. Our blog is one segment of Station Casinos’ wider “Social Media” initiative – along with our presences on Facebook and Twitter. In the spirit of full disclosure, this blog, with those social outlets, collectively make up our effort to stoke Passion in our brand by Engaging fans with interesting Content while soliciting Feedback.

What do you think of our blog?
What do you want to talk about?
Tell us about your blog.
What’s your favorite blog?

TTYL

Take the ‘Extreme Burger’ Challenge at Red Rock’s LBS

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AND STILL CHAMP! To date, no one has successfully completed the "Extreme Burger" Challenge.

Call it Man (or Woman) vs. Meat & Potato.

Think of it as a value meal on steroids.

LBS: A Burger Joint, at the Red Rock Resort Las Vegas Hotel & Casino, has issued the “Extreme Burger” Challenge…and it’s going to a take a big mouth and a strong stomach to conquer this colossal task.

Watch a competitive eater try to complete the “Extreme Burger” Challenge

See FOX 5′s television coverage

Here’s the delicious details. Anyone (one person) who can finish the new $30 Extreme Burger – six half-pound beef patties loaded with American cheese, smoked bacon, Portobello mushroom, lettuce, tomato, red onion, pickles, LBS burger sauce, spicy mustard, herb mayo and ghost peppers (the hottest chili in the world) on a fresh-baked sweet egg bun – eats for free. Oh, you also have to finish one pound of French fries. Oh, oh, you also have only one hour to finish.

As of this post, the “Extreme Burger” Challenge at Red Rock Resort has been attempted by a few and completed by none. Will you be the first? If not, LBS at Red Rock has a juicy menu for normal burger eaters, too.

More info about the “Extreme Burger”

All Las Vegas restaurants at Red Rock Resort

Las Vegas Comedy: Patrick Garrity at Bonkerez

Oct. 29-31

Frighteningly funny Oct. 29-31.

October 29 – 31 at Bonkerz Comedy Club

His cutting-edge comedy and impressions combined with a great sense of timing and wit make Patrick a must-see comedian. His show is intensely funny. Patrick has appeared on NBC & CBS Comedy Night School.

Special guest Lisa Corrao

View upcoming Bonkerz Comedy Lineup

Purchase Tickets to Bonkerz comedy shows

Take the “Extreme Burger” Challenge at LBS

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You vs. Burger: One hour to finish the Extreme Burger at LBS.

LAS VEGAS – Do you need your spicy fix? LBS: A Burger Jointi, inside the Red Rock Resort luxury Las Vegas Hotel, is adding the belly-busting “Extreme Burger” to the menu. The $30 burger comes with a twist – if you can finish it within an hour, along with the pound of French fries that accompany it, the meal is free!

The delectable monstrosity includes six half-pound beef patties loaded with American cheese, smoked bacon, Portobello mushroom, lettuce, tomato, red onion, pickles, LBS burger sauce, spicy mustard, herb mayo and ghost peppers on a fresh baked sweet egg bun all served with a pound of fresh hand-cut French fries.

Ghost peppers, also known as naga jolokia peppers, were confirmed by Guinness World Records to be the hottest chili in the world, making this burger one of Las Vegas’ spiciest. The “Extreme Burger” customer will be given the opportunity to finish the 4 lb, scorching hot burger and a pound of fries within one hour to receive the grand prize of having the burger re-named in their honor and be the inaugural member of the Heroes of the Hamburger wall.

“We wanted to put forth this challenge to all of the hamburger enthusiasts in Las Vegas,” said Billy Richardson, restaurateur and owner of LBS: A Burger Joint. ” ‘The ‘Extreme Burger’ is quite a feat, but we know that Vegas locals have the eating-power to rise up to the challenge.”

About LBS: A Burger Joint
LBS: A Burger Joint serves up gourmet burgers, without gourmet attitude. With its all-natural, gourmet burgers and a beer selection of more than 40 microbrew blends, LBS is a modern take on the classic American burger joint. With organic ingredients, original recipes and unparalleled guest service, LBS creates the best burger experience in Las Vegas. Using only hormone-free Hereford beef and organic turkey, house-made sauces, farm fresh, all-natural vegetables, and hand crafted buns, LBS is committed to culinary excellence. With its rugged brick, wood and leather accents, and brushed steel details, the interior of the restaurant creates a retro-cool vibe of the quintessential American roadhouse. The restaurant features a 40′ bar, a hand-blown glass steer head and Old Glory made up of more than 3,500 metal license plates. Located at the Red Rock Casino Resort and Spa in Las Vegas, open daily, 11a-11p. Visit www.lbsburger.com or call 702.835.9393.