Nothing comes free – the deal with comps (Part 2)

March 5, 2007

Continued from...

So, in major gambling areas and destinations such as Las Vegas and in Atlantic City, a $5 table-game player needs to play pretty much day and night to get a free trip to the buffet. In the locals' casinos of Vegas and Gulf Coast area, Mississippi, you can still get the free meal playing these tables, but that is about it and you have to be diligent and ask.

These days, comps now come in a multiplicity. As we stated on part one of this online gambling article (and will say it again so it sticks), comps are more than just a trip to the buffet line or a free room. If you have been to Vegas, you know that you can get anything and everything for a price. If you are ponying up at the gaming tables – you will too. In fact, for the player’s out there that stick to slots – every casino ahs a points program or some sort of player cash back reward fro loyal play. In fact, I would not consider playing slots anymore with this type of reward – at online casinos or land casinos – online gambling or sitting at the MGM Grand in Vegas. In fact Casino offer slot rewards for all of the casinos owned by the same company, so if you were a player at MGM Grand, you get the same rewards carried over to your Mirage game play and all of the other casinos in town (or elsewhere) that the same casino company owns.

If you play at the Beau Rivage in Mississippi (slots) and you are a member of its loyalty program – you use your player card in Vegas at the casinos owned there and so on. This is another reason why I would never play slots without joining the casino’s reward program – even if you are not planning on sticking to the machines or whatever – join.

As long as you realize you do not get something for noting, you will see that comps are what you should expect.

If you sift through all the BS of the casinos, you can in essence see that the comp modus operandi is based on the house advantage of the casino game you play, the number of decisions that game has on average each hour, your typical wager, and how long you are actively playing in that casino. For example, say you are playing blackjack, the casinos figure you will face a 2% house edge and play using somewhere near eighty decisions each hour you play that game in the casino. So, that being said, if you are a $10 blackjack player, you will lose roughly $16 each hour as your typical speculative loss. The casino will give back to the typical casino blackjack player nearly forty percent of that loss as a comp - or about 6 bucks – which will buy you a bottle of water in your hotel room or half a sandwich in the casino café.

Even though slot machines deal in points and credits, in reality their comps are figured out the same way. How much money you plug into the slot machine is the important figure and the casinos will give you back a certain percentage of your probable losses for plugging that money away into the slot game. This is true fro online gambling as well. You have seen the online gambling slots programs haven’t you?

Some naysayer might say that this is how casinos keep you inside the casino – by dangling the proverbial carrot over your head.

Comps are like coupons at your local retail outlets. Heck my cable company mails be a free meal to the local buffet if I order the Movie of the Month selection On Demand! This is a comp. But when it comes to gambling you earn more comps when you lose more money. Unless you are some high on the hog player they do not want walking away with their money that is. Comps are given to big winners so they stay in house until they lose the money again.

But please understand that comps are not evil temptation casinos dangle in front of you. Do not think that way. Especially if you are going to gamble anyway - Really – are you going to walk into a casino to earn comps only? Why not just pay for the damn room and call it a night – you will save money anyway.

Think of comps as an extra bit of gaming when it happens it happens. Comps are simply rewards for past play and support for you future patronage to the casino. Whether you are playing at an online gambling comp site, or sitting at a blackjack table in Atlantic City or wherever else comps are simply a reward.

If you are a regular online gambling or online casino player or whatever, you know the decisions are yours to make. Are you going to double down on that 11? Are you going to stay in the casino and gamble further for a comp?

Enjoy them as they happen – do not wait fro them to happen. Focus on the real reason you are in the casino – to win CASH.

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