A player recently posted questions, trying to better understand the concept of slot points:
If I gamble $1000, how many slot points would that give me? If I hit a $10k jackpot (wishful thinking), do I get more free slot points? I’m sure there is a variance with different casinos but is there a basic rule of thumb?
So first off, a reminder about a standard casino tier system. There’s usually two types of “points” earned:
- Tier Credits are the scorecard that keeps track of the amount of tier points you’ve earned throughout a tier cycle, and determines your tier status. These tends to have no dollar value as they’re just keeping track of where you are.
- Comp Dollars are the complimentary spending money you get when you gamble. Casinos tend to let you use them for food and beverage and certain types of experiences, like spa visits; some (but not all, I’m looking at you Mlife, for example) let you use them in certain shops as well.
Mlife confuses things by also having Points, which can be used for PointPlay OR comps, as a separate bucket from Express Comps, their standard comp dollars. But most casinos have two areas.
The way you earn comps, or tier credits, is through gambling. You don’t get bonuses for big wins. In certain cases you may get bonuses for a certain amount of gambling, whether day or in a tier year.
Unfortunately there’s also not a single rule of thumb. That’s because the diversity of casino programs means a wide variety of differential in how you earn a tier credit or comp dollar. Some casinos, you earn one point per dollar gambled. Some casinos, you earn a point for hundreds of dollars gambling. The inherent value of a point varies widely accordingly, when tiering up will accordingly also differ widely.
Some companies give you 1/100th of a dollar based on a few dollars gambled; some give you the full dollar once you reach some number of dollars gambling. Some publish this information and some don’t, so it creates a further challenge in understanding what you can therefore earn.
So unfortunately there’s no one sized fits all formula, but I do encourage you to look into the literature for a casino you’re visiting, and see what information they’ll provide – the more transparent of the programs will tell you exactly how you earn Tier Credits and Comp Dollars, and you can gauge how your gambling is doing accordingly.
