Boyd is an owner of quite a few casino properties in the United States, and they are unified under the Boyd Rewards comp program, which allows you to build tier and earn comps across their properties.
Players Club programs linked to a variety of properties can be rewarding because it can make it easier to earn status and travel to markets where they have casinos, and given Boyd owns a number of casinos in Las Vegas, particularly downtown, there’s a great opportunity to leverage comps (in particular points) earned elsewhere and take them to Las Vegas, for instance.
There are a couple of quirks that make this program specifically less viable for certain players. We’ll get into that when talking about the structure.
Earning Tier Credits
Like many comp programs, you earn tier credits for gambling. Unlike most other national programs, Boyd Rewards is a bit more opaque about the process. They confirm you earn 1 tier credit for every $5 in wagers on slots.
They do not give an equivalent number for video poker like the other national programs, however. They use the same language as they do for table games – depends on the game, length of time played and the wager/denomination.
So if you’re a regular Video Poker player, you will find it a bit more difficult to know what you’re doing here.
Stardust Social Casino, a recent addition, lets you earn tier credits at the same 1 credit per $5 as playing slots.
Tier Status Levels
Based on the number of tier credits you earn in a given calendar year, that determines your tier, of which there are five in all:
- Ruby: Your entry card level status you get automatically for signing up.
- Sapphire: Earn 750 tier credits in a calendar year to earn the second level.
- Emerald: A big jump to 15,000 tier credits is needed to earn the third level.
- Onyx: Get to 50,000 tier credits to earn the fourth level.
- Titanium: 200,000 tier credits gets you the top level.
Sapphire is pretty easily achieved, and Emerald is a huge leap from there. But regular point multipliers that run can help put a big dent in getting that status (although you must be Sapphire to reacah it).
Once you reach Sapphire, you qualify for carryover tier credits for the next tier year, for any earnings just above the tier level:
- Sapphire: Up to 500 tier credits
- Emerald: Up to 5,000 tier credits
- Onyx: Up to 10,000 tier credits
- Titanium: Up to 40,000 tier credits
This is a similar benefit to the mychoice comp program.
Higher tier levels earn additional perks; Emerald and up, for instance, get lounge access and a quarterly Boyd Rewards trip (which escalating perks based on tier level).
Earning and Spending Comps (Points)
As you may have noticed, there are a number of perks that kick in once you reach the second tier, Sapphire. Comps earnings is one of those perks as well, meaning if you’re a casual player you don’t earn comp dollars.
Once you’re at Sapphire, you get 1 point per dollar wagered on slots, and 1 point per two dollars wagered on Video Poker. Points are valuated for free play or retail shopping at 1,000 points per $1 (so it takes $1,000 in slot coin-in to earn $1 in comps), except for food which is valued at a 40% discount of 600 points per $1. This point/comps earning is lower than many of their national competitors.
You can also earn points through the Stardust Social Casino, at a rate of 150 points per $1 spent in the app. That’s an effective rebate of 15% of your spend as points.
Summary
There are definitely stronger programs out there, and the fact that you have to do a few thousand in coin-in before earning relatively meager comps is a requirement makes it a weaker choice than other options for more casual players, but national programs have their plus sides too, and that includes being able to take advantage of play at multiple casinos earning towards the same bucket.
As such, if you live near a Boyd Rewards casino, it may be worth it since you can build tier status and have access to their Vegas properties with perks commensurate with your tier level.
