I’ve been writing about casino comps for awhile now, and many of you have been along with me for much of the journey. As I write this, my offers for the next month are becoming clear, and I’m getting some more unusual scenarios than others.
In this post I’m going to lay out three scenarios. Each one represents two or more options for offers I can take advantage of as part of one of my local casinos. I’m going to also include my choice of which one I’ll be taking advantage of, but I want you to play along with me – which one would you prefer?
Scenario 1: Let’s Start Off Easy
One of my local casinos has outlined my offers in 8-10 day windows. Each window I can claim a free play offer (sometimes it’s half free play and half dining credits), but the offer value is consistent throughout the month. Should I:
- Go on a day where I can claim my free play offer
- Go on a day where I can claim my free play offer, and take advantage of a 3x tier credit multiplier
My choice: Option 2 by far. Given the choice to get the same thing but one gives me something else, I will always stack the offers and take the twofer. Weirdly this same casino used to give me my offer more frequently, but skip the days with the multipliers, but since they did these longer windows now it overlaps.
Scenario 2: More Complex Choices
A different local floats various offers at various times, and usually rotates between free play, gifts or free show tickets. As a second tier player I get a 10% bonus on my comp dollar earnings, and a 10% discount on shops and food. Should I:
- Go on a day where I can double my free play
- Go on a day where I get my normal free play, but get 4x the tier credits
- Go on a day where I get my normal free play, but get 2x the tier credits and 2x the comp dollars
My choice: Option 2. Doubling my free play doesn’t really give me that much more value. Tier credits come with a cost of a certain amount of gambling, so I’d rather go after those. If I had already renewed my tier, or were close, option 3 would look interesting, but I have work to do, so option 2 will be my choice this time out.
Scenario 3: A Coin Flip
My third and final local (an MGM property) tends to rotate promotions on a daily basis. My free play offer tends to be the same regardless of visit, so no worries there. However, they used to let me redeem my offer weekly and now I can only redeem it once in the entire month Should I:
- Go on a day where I get 2x-20x slot dollar multiplier along with my standard offer, thanks to stacking a kiosk offer
- Go on a day where I get $5-$100 additional free slot play along with my standard offer, also thanks to stacking a kiosk offer
My choice: Option 1. The last couple of trips I’ve earned $20 or more of slot dollars. As a result, the multiplier would double that and give me $20 more presuming a similar outcome, well above the $5 that I’d get as a minimum off the free play. Slot dollars can be banked for later and used in Las Vegas, and since I’m going there in the fall, that gives me more to work with once I arrive.
If I manage to get a high multiplier, it might encourage me to play a little harder since I’ll also earn Rewards Points for use as food comps while there, and it will earn at a better rate than I can earn while in Las Vegas. Effectively I’d repurpose some of my MGM Vegas budget for the local.
If I didn’t earn as many slot dollars per visit, I might lean towards the extra free play since it’s yield better potential value, but because I earn so much more on a trip with my standard budget, it just makes sense to go for the slot dollars.
What Would You Have Done?
How would you have handled each of those scenarios? Share with me in the comments! Similarly, do you like posts like this – does it help you think about things? And if you have a scenario you’d like me to review for a future edition, feel free to submit those as well!
