⭐ Long-Time Platinum Card Holder – Sadly, GrandWest Just Isn’t Fun Anymore

I have been a Platinum card holder at GrandWest Casino for approximately 9 or 10 years. For many years, I visited GrandWest every second or third day, sometimes even more frequently.

I was a serious and extremely loyal customer. On average, I would estimate that I lost around R40,000 to R50,000 per month at GrandWest, with some months considerably more. Of course, there were occasionally months where I walked away a winner, sometimes even around R50,000, but those occasions were few and far between.

So this review isn’t coming from somebody who visited GrandWest once or twice. I’ve spent an enormous amount of time there over almost a decade.

Firstly, credit where it is due: GrandWest has done a fantastic job with the renovations and overall appearance of the casino. The place genuinely looks incredible.

Unfortunately, my biggest problem is something far more important to me as a casino customer: the slot machine selection has become terrible.

I went to use my Platinum bonus yesterday, and it finally made me realise why I hardly want to go to GrandWest anymore. It simply isn’t fun for me now.

Over the years, I had a particular selection of machines that I loved playing. Whether I won or lost wasn’t actually the deciding factor. Even on nights where I lost heavily, I enjoyed playing those particular games, and that enjoyment was what kept bringing me back.

First there were the 1c denomination Zeus machines. Those disappeared, although GrandWest has at least introduced what appears to be a newer 2c or 5c alternative.

Then there were the Train machines in the corner of the smoking section. I believe they were 5c or 10c machines. I absolutely loved those machines, and I was genuinely disappointed when they disappeared.

But the final straw for me was the removal of the Life of Luxury machines.

Those were by far my favourite machines. I didn’t care whether I ultimately won or lost on them because I genuinely enjoyed playing them. Life of Luxury was already a multi-game machine, which makes its complete removal even harder for me to understand.

When I arrived one day and discovered they were gone, I tried asking staff what had happened to them. What made the situation worse was the attitude I received when enquiring. As a Platinum customer who had been coming to GrandWest regularly for close to a decade, I expected at least a friendly explanation.

What I really struggle to understand from a business perspective is why popular games that long-standing customers actually enjoyed were completely removed, while there are machines in both the smoking and non-smoking sections that I regularly see sitting there with virtually nobody playing them.

Surely there could have been some way to retain these games, incorporate them into another multi-game setup, or keep a smaller number available for loyal customers who specifically came to GrandWest to play them.

Casinos obviously update their machines and introduce new games, and I completely understand that. But newer doesn’t automatically mean better.

GrandWest may look better than ever, but unfortunately the latest selection of games, in my personal opinion, simply isn’t enjoyable. I find many of the newer machines boring and nowhere near as entertaining as what was available previously.

And that is ultimately what GrandWest has lost in my case.

After almost 10 years as a Platinum card holder and someone who visited every few days and spent a substantial amount of money there, the removal of Life of Luxury was the point where I realised I no longer have much reason to keep coming back.

You have made the casino look absolutely world-class. Now please bring back some of the games that made people actually want to spend their time there.

I genuinely hope GrandWest management takes feedback like this seriously, because I would actually like to have a reason to become a regular customer again.