Red Rock's Ham Scam

On Sunday, Red Rock Casino had a Hormel Spiral Ham giveaway. This proved to be another heartwrenching exercise in futility for me, not as disappointing as the disastrous Robe giveaway, but frustrating as hell none the less.

The rules seemed simple -- earn 1,000 points and pick up a ham. I learned from the Robe debacle to start the process early, lest they run out of hams the second I earn my 1,000th point.

When I entered the casino around 3:00p.m. and sat down at my first slot machine, I made a note of my points. I had 17, 472 to be exact. When the counter on the slot machine reached 18,472 I could run over to the redemption desk and grab my ham.

A few hours later I had 18,630 points. I'm not sure how I ran over, I must have been sucked in by the "Love Boat's" spell.

I hurried over to the ham desk and was delighted to see many hams waiting. Finally, the coveted Christmas pork would be mine!

I handed the attendant my card to swipe, and she told me with a look of derision that I hadn't earned enough points. I couldn't believe it. I told her I most certainly HAD earned 1,000 points, and what was the deal? She gave me the standard 'I just work here and I hate it look', swiped my card again and said I had only earned 386 points.

I was crushed, and angry. Much like the horrible day Red Rock ran out of robes, I marched over to the slot club booth for an explanation.

I got the same closed response there -- by their accounts I had only earned 386 points, and no explanation as to why the slot machines showed I had earned over 1,000 was given. I asked if multipliers could factor into the discrepancy and got no answer there as well. The guy simply handed me back my card with the same 'I just work here and hate it look', mixed with a little 'you can't fight city hall or Stations Casinos.' I said 'I am so done with this place' and stomped out.

I don't even like ham.

The moral of the story is -- besides God and Stations Casinos hate me -- never, ever play for a point based "freebie". It's all rigged against you, and as usual the house always wins.