DAMULE'S 1st W2 of 2010

[tmcc74]

I was just curious just how much and how often you play to get 750 in free play that is an awful lot and most dont get that much unless they are playing a whole lot and losing a lot more.

[marie meijer]

Welcome to forum, tmcc74! A forum member, who apparently wishes to remain anonymous, won $7500 in free play during a million $ promo with MGM properties in Vegas. They went UP in denom and still had to play a long time to use that up. They re-booked their flight home because they needed another day to play through their windfall. They won a bundle under the radar in their efforts. IF I knew their winning amount I would share that with you as well. They claimed it became WORK, like a job! Perhaps, but someone had to do it! What a fun job we would all enjoy!Last June, a passport or EDL (enhanced driver's license) became required to enter Canada. One can only imagine how this hurt big and beautiful Caesar's Windsor Casino! Can you hear seniors saying they have never had a passport and are not about to get one now just to donate $! That casino has been mailing unbelievable offers ever since. They include some 25X free play, gifts, buffets, $40 for tunnel tokens, birthday parties, two free rooms and buffets for friends, besides the free hot concerts and two rooms they offered before. We are off to capture our share of that pie tomorrow! It will take awhile just to collect five offers at the kiosk! 750 in free play is not that difficult to come by when a casino has a great promo!

[tmcc74]

Ive read alot about free play and comps on this site. I must be doing something wrong. I go to vegas a few times a year and I go to my local casinos more than I probably should. I dont get or have I ever got comped a nice amount. I play $.25 mainly but step up to $1 from time to time. Last few times in vegas, I went thru thousands only for penny comps. I believe that other than a special promo, you have to lose alot to get comped alot. Or theres a secret that Idk?

[shadowman]

One factor is where you play. Casinos all have differing formulas.

[damule]

I was just curious just how much and how often you play to get 750 in free play that is an awful lot and most dont get that much unless they are playing a whole lot and losing a lot more.
 
 
Welcome to the forum tmcc74,
 
     I've gotten free play offers of $2000-3000 in the past as well. $750 is a pretty nominal amount of free play for the amount I run through a video poker machine. Most casinos usually base free play off of expected loss, not actual loss. For instance, if one is playing 9/6 double-double bonus 5-play for dollars ($25 per deal) at a rate of 10 deals per minute, that would be $250/minute or $15,000/hour. 9/6 DDB has an expected return of 98.98% with optimal play which would also be an expected loss of 1.02% or $153/hr. Most casinos multiply that by a minimum of 4 hours expected play and you have what a casino refers to as a player's average daily expected loss based on their personal gaming history. Which in this example would be $612. 
 
     So, if a casino uses this information, and they send out a 3 day comped stay with $750 of free play, theoretically using the information supplied, the casino is due for the player to lose $1836. Subtract the $750 and the cost of the room for 3 days and the casino is up almost $1000. Granted, some players will just play their free play through and scram, others will blow their nest egg, some will even win. But statistically, it's in the casinos best interest to offer these deals to whet the players appetite and get them in to play.
 
     As far as you not getting comps that you feel you're entitled to, I would recommend educating yourself on your casinos players club program. If you're a single line quarter player and only play a couple hours per month, your offers will be nothing more than $5-15 of free play or maybe a 2 for 1 meal coupon. You need to look at the big picture from the casinos point of view. You may only be playing $1500-2000 through per month on a 98% game. The casino only stands to gain, in theory, your expected loss of appr $30-40. How much would you really expect the casino to reward you with? I used the example citing a 4hr/day avg, however on a typical 3 day Vegas trip I'll play 12-16/hrs per day and even at a lower denomination such as 3-play quarters that will still be $27,000-36,000 through per day with the casino looking at $540-720/day on a 98% game.
 
     Fortunately, I don't believe the casinos look too often at the individual game most players are playing. I believe they use the average on all their vp games for the denomination you're playing at. So for instance, if you're playing NSUD (99.73%) for dollars and the average dollar vp return they have is 98% you're benefitting 1.73% of your expected loss. These examples I've given make it obvious why it's so very important to play games with the highest return possible (99.5-100%+) and to utilize the players club points for meals, rooms, etc. I would say the most important factor at gaining comps is time at the game per day, not denomination, and definitely not how much you lose. The casino bases everything they do off of statistically averages and expected player loss. 
 
    

[tmcc74]

Guess Im just a low roller. I know how to play correct but I dont get 98% back. I lose most of my $. I dont get how some people claim they can make a living off of it. I figure sometimes youre gonna have a good night, sometimes not.

[Tedlark]

  So I can get credit for an assist on Marie's post above, even though its a very minor point: EHS = Enhanced Driver's License.
 
  Please Marie don't think I'm being too critical or picky.
 
Ted

[Lucky Larry]

I was just curious just how much and how often you play to get 750 in free play that is an awful lot and most dont get that much unless they are playing a whole lot and losing a lot more.

First, welcome to the forum. This past summer my wife received a 750 dollar offer from Red Rock to visit. We had not played on her card for almost a year even though Red Rock links our accounts. We went and the next two offers were down to 400 and then 250. We only play 25¢ and 50¢ VP and usually don't play extremely large amounts just lots of hours.

Some quick suggestions that we have found that seem to help us with the casinos. As damule suggested you need to determine how the casino determines comps/ points awarded for VP and the amount needed for each level of play. For example one casino we play requires 6 x 1000 points earned in a six month period or 20,000 points in that period to move up to every day meals and free rooms each week. So Ms. Lucky and I both play on one card (we get multiple copies of each of our cards) for an entire trip. This means our points all appear to be one player's total. This helps us to get the required 6 x 1000 quicker. We then use the other persons card to acquire the same level. Midway during the 6 month period we have our host check our point play so we insure at least one of us will get max benefits and keep our preferred level. I mean, hey we stay in the same room regardless of whose card we use so as long as one of gets the best level of card.   

At another casino cumulative play is the best approach because cumulative play over the years increases the comps. So the majority of the time we play on only my card. This helps us move up the cumulative ladder faster thus more comps.

When we bring family we also have them play on one of our cards to help accumulate the points if they don't have a card or if we provided the rooms/meals. They are always happy to accommodate for free rooms/meals. There is a long-term benefit for them.   Many of our family members only go the casino 3-4 times as year. So we have a copy of their cards. Since one casino closes out its daily play at 5:00 a.m. we play on one of their cards the next morning before we leave. This helps us keep our daily average up since we may only play a few hours and don't want to risk a new day with lower play. It builds up the family members points and increases their offers which we are able to play the next visit using their pin. They get better offers, we get their weekly allocation from the casino, and we are all happy with the arrangement. $40-50 dollars of extra free play on the morning after is always a great treat.

Just a few our ways to increase our comps and level of rewards at the casinos.

LL

[shadowman]

Guess Im just a low roller. I know how to play correct but I dont get 98% back. I lose most of my $. I dont get how some people claim they can make a living off of it. I figure sometimes youre gonna have a good night, sometimes not.


 
It's not just playing correct. It's also machine choice and taking advantage of casino promotions. If you're playing with a decent edge you should eventually hit some good streaks. The bigger the edge the more likely it is you will win.

[royal flush]

and consider bonus point days to get room food comps which have value