Finally, a system with truly guaranteed profit

[fwb]

Yeah I've developed a system which is guaranteed to profit. Here's what you do: get a credit card with cash-back rewards. It's pretty easy to apply for one with 1% cash back. Now, most casinos don't let you buy chips with credit cards (or have a high transaction fee), so you have to play online. Alone, the 1% cash back on your credit card will overcome the house edge. Throw in a good welcome bonus or loyalty bonus and your 1% cash back will rectify the statistically built-in loss due to minimum wagering requirements. Since the best way to profit from this is to max out your rewards credit card each month, it's best to find a casino that will pay you promptly and directly through an electronic deposit to your bank account. The only casino I have found to do this is English Harbor. It makes managing your credit card a lot easier because sometimes when you cash a $2000+ check at your bank they have to put a hold on it for a week or so while it is verified.

I've tried this strategy for two billing-cycles of my credit card and have been successful so far. Thoughts?

 

[aslan]

Yeah I've developed a system which is guaranteed to profit. Here's what you do: get a credit card with cash-back rewards. It's pretty easy to apply for one with 1% cash back. Now, most casinos don't let you buy chips with credit cards (or have a high transaction fee), so you have to play online. Alone, the 1% cash back on your credit card will overcome the house edge. Throw in a good welcome bonus or loyalty bonus and your 1% cash back will rectify the statistically built-in loss due to minimum wagering requirements. Since the best way to profit from this is to max out your rewards credit card each month, it's best to find a casino that will pay you promptly and directly through an electronic deposit to your bank account. The only casino I have found to do this is English Harbor. It makes managing your credit card a lot easier because sometimes when you cash a $2000+ check at your bank they have to put a hold on it for a week or so while it is verified.

I've tried this strategy for two billing-cycles of my credit card and have been successful so far. Thoughts?

I have never seen a credit card that gives 1% back on your purchases; instead, they give you 1% back on those purchases that have incurred interest charges. If this is true, you are paying, say, 8% interest instead of 9% interest. That's a lot of interest to overcome. If you had other charges against you credit card that were carryovers from the previous period, or that were charged but not paid during the current period, it might seem like you are getting 1% of the total amount, but I don't think so.

 

[21forme]

I have never seen a credit card that gives 1% back on your purchases; instead, they give you 1% back on those purchases that have incurred interest charges. If this is true, you are paying, say, 8% interest instead of 9% interest. That's a lot of interest to overcome. If you had other charges against you credit card that were carryovers from the previous period, or that were charged but not paid during the current period, it might seem like you are getting 1% of the total amount, but I don't think so.

My corporate Amex DOES give a percentage back on all purchases, as a credit at the end of each year. It's either 1 or 2% depending on the yearly total. Having interest charges (which I never do) has nothing to do with their cashback payments.

 

[RG1]

My Bank of America card gives 1% back on purchases in increments of $50. Meaning if I have $62 I can credit my account $50. My Discover card gives 1% on purchases in increments of $20, and 5% on different things or places depending on the special that quarter. From 7/1 through 9/30 one of the things is gas.

BTW, I never pay 1 cent in interest.

 

[shadroch]

My Bank of America card gives 1% back on purchases in increments of $50. Meaning if I have $62 I can credit my account $50. My Discover card gives 1% on purchases in increments of $20, and 5% on different things or places depending on the special that quarter. From 7/1 through 9/30 one of the things is gas.

BTW, I never pay 1 cent in interest.

I'm in the same boat. My discover card gives 1 or 2% cash back and I pay my bill completely each month. Never have paid a cent of interest on that card.

 

[GeorgeD]

I'm in the same boat. My discover card gives 1 or 2% cash back and I pay my bill completely each month. Never have paid a cent of interest on that card.

Likewise ... Capital One gives something like 1.8% it travel miles, but they can be applied to air fare, hotel, gift cards for stores and other items. I pay it every month ... not worth the points if you don't

Too bad casinos won't let you buy chips with a card .... never will since they probably pay 3% on a card transaction.

 

[Brock Windsor]

Alone, the 1% cash back on your credit card will overcome the house edge. Throw in a good welcome bonus or loyalty bonus and your 1% cash back will rectify the statistically built-in loss due to minimum wagering requirements.

Most online casinos require 15 times play of your initial deposit (for table games) before you can claim ANY bonus. So if you deposit 10k expect to spend $750 to qualify for the bonus. If you can max out your credit card and turn the funds back into cash almost immediately that might net you the %1 credit card rewards, provided deposits to an online casino qualify for cash back bonus, and most importantly that the casino pays you with no service charge and doesn't go under. You'll have to watch carefully and decide how much you are willing to risk. This topic doesn't fall under VooDoo strategies, it is a legitimate advantage play.
BW

 

[RJT]

I was wondering myself why this fell under the Voodoo heading.
It seems to me that it would be better in many cases not to use a sign up bonus at all. Without the restiriction of a play requirement, you could cash in for maximum, claim your 1% cash back and cash back out to pay the bill. Obviously you'd play a bit so it doesn't become too obvious what you are doing, but this seems fairly painless.
Of course it's been several years since i've played any of the online casinos so i could be over looking something here.
A welcome bonus or whatever could make this more lucrative as on average you are going to walk away without even touching what you should have earned as cashback, but at the same time it would carry the disadvantage of requiring you to actually have the bankroll to cover whatever you cash into the casino for. The last thing you want to do is to sign in for a bonus that goes south varience wise and end up stuck with a massive credit card bill that's going to charge interest higher than Howard Marks.

RJT.

 

[fwb]

I was wondering myself why this fell under the Voodoo heading.

Well, the subtitle of this board is "Discuss betting strategies other than card counting", I guess that's assuming that all strategies other than card counting do not work. Plus it was one of those things that made me think: did I just discover a guaranteed system to profit from casinos that no one thought of before? There must be a catch. Kind of like when I "discovered" the martingale, which is what brought me to these boards in the first place Perhaps move this to the general board?

I actually discovered this strategy on accident. A while ago ago I received information from my credit card company announcing their new rewards program. I threw it away thinking there was no way I could currently afford making thousands of dollars of purchases to make it worthwhile. But then I received a letter in the mail about half a year later asking me to claim my $45. I was surprised at first but then remembered I had been using my credit card to play blackjack at online casinos, and it all clicked.

Yes, the interest rates for rewards cards are naturally higher, but I never have and never will carry a debt on my credit card. Although, one other thing I thought of: Say you have $1,000 of debt on one credit card that you can't currently pay off. Use another credit card to buy $1,000 of credits at an online casino. Cash out electronically to your bank account. Use the money to pay off your first credit card. Basically, you have just swapped the debt to your second credit card and bought yourself ~45 more days of interest-free time to pay it off. Still don't have enough saved up? Do it again, vise-versa. Add in a cash-back rewards program, and you could theoretically pay off your debt without scratching your bank account (of course this is a bit on the extreme end). Essentially just a good way to avoid paying interest over a longer period of time. Just a theory, but it's interesting to ponder about :devil:

 

[jason21]

My union plus mastercard pays 2% on all purchases and 4% back on Gas, grocery, and pharmacy purchases. Every month I get a check from them and since I don't pay late, I never pay interest.

I got this card when I worked for UPS and was in their union.

 

[rdorange]

Discover

I have a (Lucky Sevens) Discover Card and pay the balance in full every month. There is no finance charge and no user fees. You still accumulate the various % rewards. When at the casinos, you can use the card to get cash from the cashier. The casino has and charges a fee for this service that is relative to the amount you withdraw. This is in addition to the fee the credit card company charges you for a cash draw. Even if you pay it back the first billing cycle.

 

[aslan]

My corporate Amex DOES give a percentage back on all purchases, as a credit at the end of each year. It's either 1 or 2% depending on the yearly total. Having interest charges (which I never do) has nothing to do with their cashback payments.

I really didn't know these rewards worked this way. I'd say, go for it. It's free money. You won't get rich, but it does add up.

 

[shadroch]

Well, the subtitle of this board is "Discuss betting strategies other than card counting", I guess that's assuming that all strategies other than card counting do not work. Plus it was one of those things that made me think: did I just discover a guaranteed system to profit from casinos that no one thought of before? There must be a catch. Kind of like when I "discovered" the martingale, which is what brought me to these boards in the first place Perhaps move this to the general board?

I actually discovered this strategy on accident. A while ago ago I received information from my credit card company announcing their new rewards program. I threw it away thinking there was no way I could currently afford making thousands of dollars of purchases to make it worthwhile. But then I received a letter in the mail about half a year later asking me to claim my $45. I was surprised at first but then remembered I had been using my credit card to play blackjack at online casinos, and it all clicked.




Yes, the interest rates for rewards cards are naturally higher, but I never have and never will carry a debt on my credit card. Although, one other thing I thought of: Say you have $1,000 of debt on one credit card that you can't currently pay off. Use another credit card to buy $1,000 of credits at an online casino. Cash out electronically to your bank account. Use the money to pay off your first credit card. Basically, you have just swapped the debt to your second credit card and bought yourself ~45 more days of interest-free time to pay it off. Still don't have enough saved up? Do it again, vise-versa. Add in a cash-back rewards program, and you could theoretically pay off your debt without scratching your bank account (of course this is a bit on the extreme end). Essentially just a good way to avoid paying interest over a longer period of time. Just a theory, but it's interesting to ponder about :devil:

The old "Use my Visa to pay my Mastercard this month,and reverse the situation next month' trick". The halls of the bankruptcy court are lined with people who discovered this trick.

 

[fwb]

If anyone is actually considering my post, I'm going to revise something:
I STRONGLY recommend against using the English Harbor online casino unless you completely understand the insanely stupid catch on their bonus program. Read my story about it here: http://www.blackjackinfo.com/bb/showthread.php?p=52558#post52558

I'm still ahead, and still profiting with credit card points I'm going to stay with English Harbor for their ease of direct electronic deposit but I learned a big lesson today :joker: