As a regular traveler to Las Vegas, I often hear the question, “How do casinos calculate comps?” While there are many that believe that there are complex formulas involved, understanding how casinos calculate comps is actually very easy. There are four ways in which casinos calculate comps, they are all pretty straight forward.
How Do Casinos Calculate Comps for Slots?
Casinos will usually calculate your comps while playing comps by the amount of money that you play with. A person who wagers $5 a spin is going to rack up comps faster than someone who wagers $2 a spin. There is usually a set fraction of how many comp points that you get for each $1 wagered in a slot machine or video poker machine.
How Do Casinos Calculate Comps for Poker?
Casinos will calculate your comps for poker for how long you play at the tables. In most cases, there is little (if any) difference between playing at a $5 table or playing at a $500 poker table. There are a lot of players that complain about this, but there has been little change in this ruling.
How Do Casinos Calculate Comps for Table Games?
If you sit down at a table game, two issues are taken into account. You are rated on the amount of time that you play, and the dollar amount that you are playing with. If you wager $25 a hand, you are usually going to start seeing decent comps after about three or four hours of play. If you are wagering $100 a hand, you might start seeing decent comps after only an hour or two. Each casino is different, and the pit boss would be the one to ask for more information on how long, and how much, it takes for specific comps.
How Do Casinos Calculate Comps Before You Start Playing?
In the case of high-rollers, or casino regulars, a person can receive certain comps even before sitting down to play. For instance, I know that when I check in at one certain Las Vegas hotel, I know that I will be given a voucher for a meal for two at one of the ritzier restaurants there as a comp. This is because of the fact that I always spend a lot of time playing there. This kind of comp is given so that my enthusiasm about that particular casino will continue for many years.
While there is not an easy way to state how casinos calculate this kind of comp, but past practice can go a long way at certain casinos. They know who their base customers are, and will spend the extra marketing money to keep them happy for many years.
If you ever hear someone ask, “How do casinos calculate comps?,” now you can answer the question. Hopefully, this will also help you gain a deeper understanding of how comps work in casinos so that you know exactly what you have to do to collect as much in comps as possible.
