Introduction to Casino Comps

Back in the old days, the general public believed that getting "comp'ed" (or receiving complimentary rooms or meals) at a casino meant you were either a high roller whose high-stakes blackjack play earned him the Rain Man suite or a little old granny who fed enough quarters into a slot machine to be rewarded a free buffet pass. That stereotype probably wasn't too far off base, as there wasn't really a good method for casino hosts to accurately track what players were actually wagering.

Comps have come a long way, baby.

Today, every casino you walk into, from the Strip to downtown, has a loyalty program which tracks every dollar a player wagers. You can still technically come in to a casino and play without signing up for a player's card, but if you want a shot at getting anything complimentary, you'd better have that card. Even if you think you aren't going to gamble very much or very often there, it's still always a good idea to go ahead and enroll in the player card program the first time you visit a new casino. Many casinos have a new members' promotion, offering usually between $5-$10 of "free play." They give you your new card loaded with the free money on it, you put a dollar in to activate it, and then you can take a few spins on a slot machine until either the money is gone or you decide to cash out. If you win, you get to keep it.

While getting a few bucks on the house is a nice welcome gift, the most beneficial reason to enroll in the players card program is to get those comps. While casino newbies may think it's not worth the hassle of signing up, veterans know that it's no secret anymore that you don't have to lose your shirt at a casino to get some nice comps. Even a few hundred dollars with of play can get you a free hotel room for a night at some of the lower-end places. And with the most popular casino chains like MGM's MLife or Caesar's Total Rewards, every dollar you gamble converts to a few cents back that you can spend on (almost) anything at the casino. They can rack up pretty quickly, sometimes allowing you to get a nice meal after just a few hours of gambling.

A few different factors are taken into consideration by the casino when calculating a players' eligibility for comps. Certainly, the amount that a player wagers is a factor, but only as part of a sophisticated formula which includes the average wager per hour. Therefore, a casino takes into account how much you have bet over the course of time that you were betting to come up with your player rating. The type of game is taken into account as well. Slot machines are rated differently than table games, and certain table games are rated differently than others. All of this data is tabulated while at the casino when you swipe your card, and will result in the casino marketing and/or casino hosts determining your earned comps and sending offers to you via mail or email.

While many players are quite pleased with the offers that are extended by the casinos, and are eager to cash in their hotel rooms, show tickets and meal comps, others feel like their comps do not always reflect their play. If a player is not happy with the comps they are receiving, there are ways to fix that. Coming up in my next blog, I'll go into how to get a casino host and how to work with pit bosses to get the comps you deserve.