Many people believe that comps are only for the high rollers. Others believe that table players are more valuable to a casino than a slot player betting the same amount or that comps are something for nothing. But each year billions of dollars in comps go unused because most people don't "Get What They Deserve".

This is especially true for local people because our culture or style is not to ask.

Players Gold Card

To get a comp the casinos have to know who you are. Sign up for the player's card and use it. Using the card will not make the machine pay more or less (that's against the law) but it will show the casino how valuable you are to them.

Wynn

Casinos come in many flavors. The Cal and the Wynn are both in the same business but have different expectations from their players.

Casinos all use similar theoretical loss formulas (how much a player will lose on average) but the average bet to qualify for a comp varies depending on those expectations.

Theoretical Loss varies from game to game and from table games to slot and video poker machines.

Finally casinos are in business to make money and comps are not usually loss leaders but designed to extract more play or longer playing times fro players. NEVER play for a comp.

The math is really easy... the basic formula for Theoretical loss is:

"Your Action" X's "the Casinos Advantage" = Theoretical Loss

Let's say you're game is Blackjack the pace of the game is about 60 hands per hour. If your average bet is $10 per hand and you play for 4 hours a day, "Your Action" is 60 hands X's $10 per hand X's 4 Hours or $2,400.

The casinos rely on a mathematical outcome called "The Law of Large Numbers". In the short term they can lose at the Blackjack table but over the long term a million or ten million hands they will win about 2% more than the players.

Plugging the numbers into our formula $2,400 X's 0.02 = $48 Theoretical Loss. Of this the casino is willing to comp you between 10% to 50% or about $5 to $24.

This may not seem like much but most people play more than 4 hours a trip some even play more than 4 hours a day. Twenty Four dollars won't get you much at the Wynn but you can get a buffet, coffee shop or room comp at a lot of other places.

Call any hotel, ask for a casino host and they'll share with you their player expectations, what an average table bet should be or how much slot or video poker play you'll need to get a comp . At the Wynn an average bet of $75 for 4 hours will get you a room for the night... bump your play to $150 a hand and you'll qualify for one of their Tower Suites.

$100 Machines at Paris Las Vegas

Contrary to what a lot of people believe Slot Players are more important to a casino than table players because the house advantage and player action is so much greater.

Slot players go through 400 to 600 spins per hour. If your playing a $2.00 reel spinner for 4 hours a day, "Your Action" is 400 spins X's $2.00 per hand X's 4 Hours or $3,200.

Plugging in the numbers $3,200 X's 0.15 = $480 Theoretical Loss. Of this the casino is willing to comp you between 10% to 50% or about $50 to $240!

Many casinos change this formula by adding a third dimension "points". Instead of your $1.00 in the machine equaling $1.00 in action they may say you need $2.00 or $3.00 to get 1 point (or dollar of action). This is very prevalent in Video Poker where the house advantage is low. On the strip you'll $5 to $13 in VP play to equal 1 point or dollar of action.

Next month in part two we'll talk about the benefits of establishing a line of credit and how to get and use a casino host.

For more info on comps check out Max Rubin's book Comp City.

For the latest Vegas news and more Kimo's Vegas visit us at www.KimosVegas.com.

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