Casino Comps

Comps, or complimentaries, are the ‘freebies’ casinos offer players. A land based casino may offer you free rooms or meals, or even free play at the tables or slots in return for your patronage. An online casino usually offers cash back, with or without wagering requirements, or an exclusive bonus.

Why Casinos give Comps

Do they do this because they love you? Sorry… it might feel like it if the host is very good at their job, but they really do it to keep your business - to keep you playing at a particular establishment. Now we knopw their motive, let’s examine ours… to get the best comps available for our style and level of play; on land or online.

For the ‘Whale’ or heavy bettor, it’s a no-brainer… just bet big and someone will pay attention to you. They’ll give you jet rides to tournaments, offer you the grandest suite in the house, and cater to your every want and need - onland. Online, you’ll need to draw some attention to yourself before you deposit… but let’s leave the one percenters to take care of themselves, eh?

Casino Players Club key to Comps

Rule number one for gamblers in a land casino… join the player’s club! Go to the information kiosk, any casino employee will point you to it. Sign up and most importantly use your player’s card for every bet you make! A player’s card is like a credit card and it records all of your wagering. SImply insert it in the video poker or slot machine before you start to play at and take it with you when you are done at that machine. All casinos will give you a stretchy cord to clip between your card and a beltloop or even around your wrist so you never leave the card behind.

Many superstitious players will not use the card, imagining that the casino is tracking their play to steal from them when they are winning. If you think casinos cheat, it’s time to stop gambling! Every wager recorded on the card is earning the player comps, if they don’t use the card they are only short-changing themselves.

Casinos don’t need to cheat, they have something called the house edge, or house advantage. This simply means that they will make money off of most gamblers most of the time. Take the American Roulette wheel for example. In its simplest form it is red or black/odd or even… but wait.. what’s that green area up top, the zero and double zero? You guessed it, the house edge! There 18 possibilities to hit red, 18 possibilities to hit black… it’s not a 50/50 proposition because there are two possibilities to hit green and all red and black bets lose! Every casino game has a similar ‘losing proposition’, called the house edge.

As gamblers, we want to take part of that house edge back, we want them to bet on us to lose by giving us comps in the hopes that we will bet more and lose more. We’ll never beat them at their own game, or not all of us will, because without bonuses and other comps, we are simply at a disadvantage, but we can do our best and fun in the meantime hoping for he big one!

Improve Comps for Casino Table Games

For table players on land, always show the croupier or dealer your player’s card before you begin to wager. You may even ask him to rate your play. Without going too deeply into bankroll management here, we’d suggest that you bet fairly heavily, within your means, for the first hour of play… if you are playing blackjack with basic strategy, and have a bankroll of $500 certainly don’t bet more than $10 per hand. The most ruthless bad luck could wipe your bankroll out at 50 hands per hour, but it isn’t likely. More likely - if you are playing basic strategy well, and the math gods are in your favor, you will have lost $25 in an hour and wagered $500. If the dealer is rating you, expect to be treated as a player that loses at least $25 per hour and you should hit the first tier of the comp program, depending on the casino.

For slot machine players, again, simply record every wager by using your card for every spin.

Comp programs can be very confusing, and the best way to know is to ask another player ‘in your league’ how they are doing, etc. Half the fun of gambling in a casino is the time between games, isn’t it? Just chatting and mixing with all the different people who have at least one thing in common… gambling.