I am traveling to the city of hopes and dreams in Oct. I stay at the Golden Nugget. I also rent a car so I can take in some sights also. I love to run out to the boarder of Nevada and California and play at Buffalo Bill’s in Primm Nevada. There they have $1 craps and $2 BJ single deck (H17), DOS and SOAs. NO continuous shuffle machines here. The reason for this post is to talk about casinos comps. I have spent many nights talking to friends who go to casinos and have no idea what and how casinos rate players for comps.
Yes play a long time and lose lots of money and the pit boss may give you a $20 Buffet. Comps are a very important benefit the casinos give BJ players.
You are staying at any strip hotel and you are going to play at this hotel’s casino. First you must get a player card. Go to the cage and ask for one you will also need a state id. They will want to photo copy it. When going to play at the tables give this card to a pit man (the guy or lady in the suit who looks like he or she works for the MOB). (If you dont see one ask the dealer for the guy who does not work for their money. They will know who you are talking about.) He then will go enter the information into the casino computer system. Getting rated is a way for the casino to record your play. (ie how long and what was your bet average per hand.) For a strip casino you must now play at a $25 min table before you will be rated
Now you have played for 20 hours on your trip 5 sessions for 4 hours each. Your average bet was 35 dollars over the 20 hours of total play. Do you know how many hands you played per hour?
You may not, but the casino’s computer knows. On the average 6 deck shoe with 5 to 6 player you will get 11-13 hand per shoe. Now this changes from casino to casino and is dependant on deck penetration. But again for the sake of discussion you will get about 50 to 52 hands and hour in a 6 deck shoe. Now we have some numbers to work with. 20 hours * 50 hand per hour give us a total of 1000 hands played for our 20 hours. Take the 1000 hands * $35 average bet give us a total action of $35,000. This $35,000 is what the in casino is interested in. Most casinos think a player loses about 5 % of his total action. But here we know we can kill that 5 % down to a +.025. Better for us! 5% of $35,000 is $1750. $1750 is what the casino thinks we have loss and are will to give us comps on this number.
But how much you ask. Well again this varies from casinos to casinos but on average about 10% to 12% can be returned to the player in the form of comps. In this case of a $1750 worth of losses would get you around about $175 to $200 in comps. Not much you say, but wait. The casino does not pay retail for the rooms or for food. The casino does not pay retail for anything on the property. So what does a $20 buffet cost or for that matter a room cost at whole sale. Again about 30% of the retail cost. The room you stayed in for $150 a night costs the casino about $45 a night. The 20 buck buffet around 6 bucks. So you see how you can be comp 3 nights and 3 to 4 meals on this stay. Now, you may get more out of the casino but remember you are only playing $35 per hand. You are no where near 100 or 500 per hand. Take as much as they will give you and always ask for things you know they will never give you at your level of play. They may say yes and you’ll never know till you ask.
Yes play a long time and lose lots of money and the pit boss may give you a $20 Buffet. Comps are a very important benefit the casinos give BJ players.
Heres how it works
You are staying at any strip hotel and you are going to play at this hotel’s casino. First you must get a player card. Go to the cage and ask for one you will also need a state id. They will want to photo copy it. When going to play at the tables give this card to a pit man (the guy or lady in the suit who looks like he or she works for the MOB). (If you dont see one ask the dealer for the guy who does not work for their money. They will know who you are talking about.) He then will go enter the information into the casino computer system. Getting rated is a way for the casino to record your play. (ie how long and what was your bet average per hand.) For a strip casino you must now play at a $25 min table before you will be rated
Now you have played for 20 hours on your trip 5 sessions for 4 hours each. Your average bet was 35 dollars over the 20 hours of total play. Do you know how many hands you played per hour?
You may not, but the casino’s computer knows. On the average 6 deck shoe with 5 to 6 player you will get 11-13 hand per shoe. Now this changes from casino to casino and is dependant on deck penetration. But again for the sake of discussion you will get about 50 to 52 hands and hour in a 6 deck shoe. Now we have some numbers to work with. 20 hours * 50 hand per hour give us a total of 1000 hands played for our 20 hours. Take the 1000 hands * $35 average bet give us a total action of $35,000. This $35,000 is what the in casino is interested in. Most casinos think a player loses about 5 % of his total action. But here we know we can kill that 5 % down to a +.025. Better for us! 5% of $35,000 is $1750. $1750 is what the casino thinks we have loss and are will to give us comps on this number.
But how much you ask. Well again this varies from casinos to casinos but on average about 10% to 12% can be returned to the player in the form of comps. In this case of a $1750 worth of losses would get you around about $175 to $200 in comps. Not much you say, but wait. The casino does not pay retail for the rooms or for food. The casino does not pay retail for anything on the property. So what does a $20 buffet cost or for that matter a room cost at whole sale. Again about 30% of the retail cost. The room you stayed in for $150 a night costs the casino about $45 a night. The 20 buck buffet around 6 bucks. So you see how you can be comp 3 nights and 3 to 4 meals on this stay. Now, you may get more out of the casino but remember you are only playing $35 per hand. You are no where near 100 or 500 per hand. Take as much as they will give you and always ask for things you know they will never give you at your level of play. They may say yes and you’ll never know till you ask.
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