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Chinese Immigrants Rely on Free Casino Cash

New Jersey casinos here follow an old tradition of giving away money to make more money. The casinos did not count on people like Linda Zhang, the New York Times reports. A fragile little woman of 60, Miss Zhang lives in a $10-a-night hostel in Queens. Every day she comes by bus to the Trump Taj Mahal. The casino gives her a voucher worth $20 just for showing up.

After subtracting the $11 price of her round-trip bus ticket, Miss Zhang is $9 ahead of the game and only a dollar short of her rent. She has no interest in gambling and follows other day-tripping Chinese immigrants to a church soup kitchen for lunch.

'Then I walk around,' she said, 'and watch other people play.'

Every day, hundreds of similarly frugal Chinese arrive here on the dozens of big private gambling buses that ply the streets of New York's immigrant neighborhoods, squeezing every bit of fun they can get by gambling or, in some cases, not gambling the casinos' dollars.

To the casinos they are a maddening reminder of a munificent marketing policy that backfired.

The thrifty retirees do not go unnoticed by the legions of security guards who patrol the casinos' vast and noisy gambling rooms. The Chinese pounce for a stray quarter on the floor; the guards pounce for them. The Chinese amble, looking for a slot machine that has been played but has not yet paid; the guards toss them out.

'I think they pick on the Chinese people because we don't have a lot of money,' said Li Wan, a casino devotee who comes almost every day. 'They make us lose face.'

'Some of the casinos discriminate against Chinese,' said another bus regular, Hong Zhe Xu, 68. 'They don't help us if a machine breaks down or if we have a question. They just ignore us — and it's not just a question of language, because they help other people who just gesture to them.'

The casinos say everyone is welcome in their gaudy gambling rooms, whether gambler or gawker, high roller or retiree on a $9 budget.

'They don't have to be high rollers to be important to us,' said Brian Cahill, a spokesman for Park Place Entertainment, which owns Bally's hotel and casino, as well as Caesars, the Claridge and the Atlantic City Hilton.

But Atlantic City's interest in bargain-hunting bus customers is flagging. They are not a profitable segment of the market. Bus customers make up 25 percent of the visitors to Atlantic City casinos each year but they account for just 15 percent of the casinos' revenue, according to the New Jersey Casino Control Commission.

Four years ago, more than 10 million people, or 41 percent of all casino visitors, came by bus, enticed by various incentives and vouchers. Last year, according to casino regulators, the number was down to 8 million.

'They get kicked out because the casinos know they go for the money, not for the gambling,' said Pearl Lin, a travel agent in Manhattan's Chinatown. 'They get $10 or $15 sometimes from the casinos. Fifteen times six days, figuring they take one day of rest, they can make $90. That's pretty good.'