St. Jo Frontier Casino — Attraction in Saint Joseph

I feel like I was seriously misled by these people, having placed a call prior to stopping in for my first visit to speak with their marketing/promotions people. At the conclusion of the call, wherin we discussed my tier level at Kansas City area casinos in some detail, I hung up believing that while St Joe Frontier Casino would not, as a matter of policy, automatically "match" me with player comps I have previously earned elsewhere, I would be warmly welcomed and would also be the beneficiary of generous casino comps as a starting point. When that call ended, I remember thinking "this place may just turn out to be alright. It seems like they really would like me to drop in and check the place out." Well, I did stop in about 3 days later and proceeded directly to the casino promotions person, who was the only person I could see working in the cage. Her demeanor was uninviting, and I detected an air of condescension (almost derision) from her. Perhaps it was a bad day). Apparently, she arbitrarily assigned me the lowest tier level they have. I was told to go play a game at their nearby kiosk from which I would receive my "welcome" to St. Joe Frontier Casino. Yeah. I felt like that $5 was incredibly welcoming. (Not) Immediately, I made the decision that my own wallet would remain closed up tighter than a clam. I wasn't about to enrich this establishment for their deception with any of my own pocket money. Right next to the door you pass through to enter this casino is a large sign informing newcomers that they may be welcomed with up to $500 in free slot or table games play. I believe this same number was tossed at me when I'd previously phoned. Forgive me for believing I might get an amount of free play that would allow me to properly "test drive" this casino. No, I didn’t have any delusions about them handing me $500 which I could quickly skate with. I do understand these promotions are a "come on." But, C'mon, man! Five bucks? That's about three spins on one of their economy machines. So, I did look the place over. It seemed ok. I can report that the men's room was clean and devoid of unpleasant aroma. The casino itself was clean. I felt safe there. In fact, other than the cage lady and one customer, the only interraction I had with anybody during my half-hour or so visit was with a couple of their young security guys, who seemed pleasant and friendly, and who genuinely appeared to be anxious to be helpful. They provided me with directions to the staircase, and I observed them, when they'd concluded helping me out, offer to assist the elderly woman who stepped up behind me, by providing her an escort to her car. I don't think she really needed an escort, but I think she accepted their offer so she'd have someone to chat with on her way out the door. Bottom line: I feel like I was misled, if not outright lied to. The facility itself seems nice enough, and I observed plenty of the newer slots as well as a full compliment of old favorites from yesteryear that you just don't come across anymore in most other casinos. It occurs to me that if you just don't talk to any of the casino's employees, then you wouldn't have to worry about them playing a mind-bending deception game on you. One last thing: St. Joe Frontier Casino is located in the general area of the old and famous St. Joe Stockyards, which played an important role as America grew and expanded Westward during the earlier part of the last century. Today, it's not, in my view, the best part of town. There is a lot of light industry in the vicinity, and kind of desolate and dark once the sun goes down. I don't think its a high crime area, but I think being cautious and aware, particularly upon leaving the casino's grounds is a good idea. While St. Joseph; Missouri is known to have a very active and vigilant police presence, we all know their officers cannot be everywhere at the same time, so I urge you to keep an eye out...

So, you walk in, and get ID’d, ok. They ask you of you “want a wristband”? The wristband verifies you're “of age” to be inside the gambling zone and noone else of staff should need to bother you for your ID because youve been verified already, right? Ok, so my friend and I sit down at the 1 of 2 blackjack tables they have and they instantly want to check her ID…. (yeah she is young and looks young, yet she IS 21 AND HAD HER ID CHECKED AT THE DOOR, and GIVEN A WRISTBAND. Sweet! Right? No, security and the GM come over and say “hey, we cant let her play bc theres a crack in her ID, and if we have to pay her out, we have to submit her ID and the state wont accept that”…… i said, “ok, but weve also already gotten drinks from the bar”…… (so, she has the wristband, got a drink from the bar, sat down at the table and exchanged $100 for chips already) the response was, “well the bar is ‘separate’ so thats different from the tables’”……. OK, so we go to the bar, get ANOTHER drink, i put another $100 bill in the bar games and we are appproached by security again telling us “yeah we looked further into it and yall gotta leave the premises”………. TELL ME HOW THAT WORKS. YOU CREATED A SYSTEM THAT IS FAILING YOU… The security that gave us the wristbands initially at the front didnt even know what was happening when we were walking out, so that tells me the security/GM didnt even tell him he was messing up, they literally just didnt like us and kicked us out. The place obviously hires people with little to no experience and will never succeed with this type of hospitality or whatever they wannna call it. Ive never been somewhere where the problem was created by the staff, the customers complies and then theyre kicked out. Tell me how that works. NEVER GOING BACK AND ILL TELL EVERYONE I EVER MEEET THAT THIS PLACE IS A JOKE OF A BUSINESS. St Joe, you can do so much...

I've been coming here for about 3 months here and have visited/spent enough to have a silver club card now. This casino has a wide variety of slots and several table games. Expect to see blackjack with a $5 and a $10 table, a $5 mini craps table, and various other card games such as Texas Shootout and other similar table games. Two games which the casino does not have are baccarat and poker (including Texas Hold 'Em). There are two roulette tables, a $5 automatic roulette table and a $10 traditional table, both 00. The $10 is rarely open due to lack of dealers, the best time to find it open is on weekends, but even then don't expect to see it open.

I can honestly say that I've been very disappointed with this casino. Do not expect to see any form of comps. The only free thing you should expect are free soft drinks. Don't expect to ever be offered a free 'hard' drink unless you're dropping a lot of money one particular night. Every other month, you might get a flyer in the mail for $10 worth of free slot play. Other than that, nothing.

Staff can be hit and miss. Unfortunately, there are never enough dealers around so it can be rather difficult to get it on table games. Expect to be on a waiting list for most card games and the miniature craps table is usually so packed that they don't even offer a waiting list because there isn't enough turnover for you to get in there anyways.

If you can't afford the gas to get down to a Kansas City casino, it's an okay place to spend an evening. You'll still have some fun, but if you can make it to a better...