Drumming Up New Accounts : S&L; Sponsors Las Vegas Gambling Trip
As incongruous as it may sound, an institution that encourages personal savings is sponsoring a low-cost, three-day gambling junket to Las Vegas.
Barring major financial catastrophes among junketers, executives at Los Angeles Federal Savings Bank hope the trip will drum up new accounts at their 19 branches in Los Angeles and Orange counties.
For 5 cents shy of $70, the S&L; will pick up 42 customers and potential customers at its Brea, Cerritos and West Covina branches on Feb. 21 and take them to the Aladdin Hotel and Casino. From there, they are on their own to “make a fortune, enjoy a show or go exploring,” according to a flyer put out by the institution.
Besides transportation and lodging for two nights, Los Angeles Federal has included an appropriate door prize--a bag of money.
Charles Shryock, president and chief executive of the S&L;, acknowledged that some people may possibly go broke in Las Vegas, but he isn’t worried that customers will come back with no means to open accounts or repay loans. S&L; customers, he said, are not the type to gamble heavily.
Customers Asked
“We’re lending our name to the trip because we’ve been asked to by our customers,” Shryock said. “The fact that some depositors want to go there doesn’t mean they’re gamblers. Many go to Vegas for the shows.”
Los Angeles Federal, which is awaiting federal approval to be merged into Great American First Savings Bank in San Diego, regularly sponsors other kinds of trips--cruises in Newport Harbor, visits to Sea World and Catalina Island, and tickets to the Pageant of the Masters and to professional sports games.
But it has never sponsored a gambling junket before, according to Joyce Caminiti, assistant vice president and director of business development.
The S&L; is not the first to make the trip. Fullerton Savings & Loan Assn. used to sponsor annual 24-hour trips to Las Vegas in the late 1970s and early 1980s but has discontinued them.
As of Monday, Los Angeles Federal had 15 tickets left.
