The Benefits

Slots Slot Clubs Ask Questions Learn the System Earning Points The Benefits Player Rewards Back to the beginning

Now for the fun! You've played for a few hours (or days) and it's time to collect your hard-earned reward(s) --- cash, dinner for two, a big discount off of your room, or a sweatshirt to die for.

First, check your watch. Though many clubs are now open 24 hours a day, some still close by midnight or 2 a.m. and do not reopen until 8 a.m. the following morning. Even if the booth is open, before you run back to claim what's yours, let's regroup for another strategy session. Remember, the more you know, the farther you'll go. Anyone can cash in points and get whatever the club says they're worth, but knowledgeable slot club members get a great deal more.

Getting the most benefits requires information and some entry-level mathematical analysis (i.e. a little arithmetic). Not only do you have to compare casino to casino, you must be able to compare the value of one benefit to another (should I redeem my points for cash, a comp, or merchandise?)

Though more than 90% of slot clubs award cash rebates, there are major differences in the bottom-line amounts. For example, for $100 coin-into a dollar reel machine, the Cal Club at the California rebates 10 cents, the Golden Nugget's 24 Karat Club rebates 67 cents, and Mandalay Bay rebates $1. All for the same $100 in action.

On the surface, it seems that if you want the highest cash rebate your choice is obvious: Just compare the percentages and choose Mandalay. Unfortunately, it's not that simple to obtain that information. Slot clubs seldom publish their cash-rebate percentages, which means you have to compute the figures on your own.

You'll need to know two things: the countdown, which is the number of plays required to earn a point, and the number of points needed to earn a $1 cash rebate. To get the cash-rebate percentage, divide $1 by the product of the countdown and the number of points required to earn $1. The equation is: one divided by (c*p) where c = countdown and p = points required to earn $1.

Here's an example. At the Golden Nugget you have to run $75 through a $1 slot or video poker machine to earn one point (c = 75). You get a $1 cash rebate for every 2 points (p = 2). The cash rebate percentage equation looks like this: 1 divided by (75 x 2) = .0067 or .67%. Which means that for every $100 played at the Golden Nugget, you're returned 67 cents, assuming you use your slot club card. Thus, members of the 24 Karat Club who play a three-coin $1 reel 500 times an hour for two hours are $20.10 richer than non-members ($5 per play x 500 hands x 2 hours x .0067 rebate percentage).

When you analyze cash-back returns, take particular note of the dates for double- or triple-point sessions (if the club has them). During bonus periods, a .25% return can suddenly become a .50% or .75% return.

The amount of cashback a particular casino pays out is determined by their machine inventory, their intended market and whatever the casino next door is paying. Thus, casinos in the same part of town will offer similar rebate percentages. Rates on the Strip hover between .5% - 1%. Local Las Vegas casinos usually come in, if they pay cashback at all, at .1% - 2%. Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana and Missouri average .2 - .3% while Mississippi seems to double those amounts. While it is impossible to gauge most Atlantic City cashback rates, they seem to offer a healthy 1% and above, especially for reel play.

Some sort of minimum point total is required to get your first cash rebate (usually the amount necessary to get back $5 or $10). Once you have reached that minimum, stop by the booth and pick up your cashback voucher at the first convenient opportunity, or just prior to your return home, especially if live more than 200 miles from the casino.

After checking your photo ID, the club issues a payment voucher that resembles a check. It is not a check. Payment vouchers can only be redeemed at the casino cashier or possibly a change booth and there's often a stipulation that redemption be within 24 hours from time of issue. Treat it as you would any other paycheck and take it directly to the cage and ask for good old American greenbacks. Do not use the voucher in the gift shop or restaurants unless you plan to spend the entire amount, because they will usually not give you change.

Though the casinos want you to put the cash back into the machines, there is nothing legally or ethically wrong with putting the money into your wallet and spending it elsewhere. I have several friends who make it a point to "bank" their cashback for future use -- hopefully a fun one. Many more use it to pay for "going home" expenses, be it gas, taxis, a present for their kids, or to bail their car out of the local airport garage.

Cashback can be an important component, but it should never be the primary reason to favor a slot club, much less a casino. Casinos are complex animals, each offering a different experience to different players. If you cannot find your favorite game, if the rooms are priced out of your budget, if you cannot get a buffet comp to save your life, or the food compares negatively with the city Mission, an extra $50 in cashback is not going to turn your trip into a positive event.

For most people, the most sought after comps are free meals. As with casinos, slot clubs and cashback policies, there are an unlimited number of methods that casinos figure and award food complimentaries, but as usual, getting the answer to a couple of basic questions will help you figure out a particular casino's idiosyncrasies and making points and comp dollars go farther.

Are food comps awarded in lieu of cashback or in addition to cashback? Though the situation is rare, you will occasionally find a slot club that will gives members a silly choice: you can redeem your points for cash or redeem your points for a comp of the same exact value. Unless there is an additional benefit for taking the comps, such as a pass to avoid a long buffet line, I would not take a comp in lieu of the same amount in cash. Remember, cash can be used anywhere, both in and out of the casino.

Fortunately, most casinos offer their slot club members cashback, plus comps (or comp dollars) or at least offer the comps at an attractive premium. For example: the slots clubs at the Santa Fe, Silverton and The Orleans in Las Vegas (as well as many Atlantic City casinos) maintain separate cashback and comp accounts for their customers, who can check the exact dollar balance in both at any time. (Note: many more club maintain separate accounts, but do not disclose the comp dollar balance to their customers).

At the The Reserve, located southeast of Las Vegas, customers must choose if they want to spend their points on either cash or comps, but will get twice as many comp dollars than cashback if they decide to spend it on rooms, meals or in the gift shop. Though the comp premium varies, the Rio (for non-hotel guests) and many of the newer casinos located in the South and Midwest, offer comps though a similar system.

Are food comp awarded in exact dollar amounts or on a per meal basis? An unlimited meal comp allows you to go into the casino coffee shop and eat like a sailor on shore leave. Help yourself to an appetizer, an a la carte salad, the most expensive entree, a dessert, and beverages. By yourself, you can run up a $25 tab with very little work. I know several folks in Las Vegas that through frequent use of doggie bags, even manage to get several additional meals out of their open food comp.

Because of this, more and more casinos are charging customers a considerably higher amount of points (or comp dollars) for open meal comps, putting a dollar limit on their meal comps, or are telling their players that they must ask for a comp in a specific dollars amount. What the intelligent comp consumer wants to avoid is being charged for comp dollars that you did not completely spend.

So what's a hungry body to do? First, ask the right questions at the booth and experiment with the system using low-level, coffee shop comps. Once you have determined the basics of the system, develop a personal food comp battle plan, especially if your comp dollar account is small. If the casino charges you a fixed number of points no matter what you eat, than only get free meals when you are really hungry (unless you can get away with the doggie bag strategy).

Also, check the comp for "number of rounds", which means number of cocktails. If you do not plan on having drinks with dinner, tell that to the person writing the comp -- it might reduce the amount charged to your account. If you do plan on a few drinks, remember that they are always totally free in the casino (except on those Indian Reservations that forbid alcohol) and that you are planning afterwards to play games involving money.

If comp dollars are getting extremely lean and you are getting extremely hungry, the best deal is usually the buffet, especially for breakfast or lunch. You are going be charged the same number of points no matter what you eat, and for these meals the number required can be very little. Dinner buffets are usually a good deal, except on special evenings such as Friday Night Seafood or Saturday Night Prime Rib, when both the price and the number of points required to get comped go up considerably.

Before accepting a food comp, double-check what restaurant and which meal the comp is for, when the comp expires, and if it includes use of the VIP line. You'll be asked to show photo ID when the comp is issued at the booth and possibly even in the restaurant.

Finally, most food comps do not include the food server's tips. Assuming the service was wonderful, and in Las Vegas it usually is, you should leave at least 15% of the total bill in cash on the table. Remember that the casino, not the waitress, is giving you the free meal.

How easy it is to get a room discount depends primarily on where you stay. Las Vegas has over 40 million room nights to sell or give away every year. Laughlin and Reno rarely sell out, so most of their casinos are more than willing to heavily discount, if not totally give away, a room. At the majority of these casinos you get some form of room discount at the same time you earn your free meal and your cashback. Several older (but very nice) hotel casinos on the Strip including the Sahara, Riviera, Tropicana, and San Remo, automatically give slot club members a substantial room discount (on subsequent trips) just for joining the club.

Unfortunately, Atlantic City has only 12,000 rooms and Lake Tahoe, which is very popular with both gamblers and non-gamblers, has only 3,000 rooms. They, along with the Gulf Coast and Tunica, Mississippi, could easily sell out all their rooms on weekends to paying (as in cash) customers. Obtaining room complimentaries in these locations is considerably harder, and frequently has to be paid out of the same comp dollar account that your food costs are coming from.

If you do use your points for a room night comp, check to see what is included (usually long-distance telephones and in-room movies are excluded) and if it is for a limited dollar amount. In some cases, you also have to pay for a local phone usage fee and room tax (which can run as high as 15%).

Slot clubs frequently give out items such as a T-shirt or cheap piece of luggage imprinted with the casino logo, just for reaching a certain play level, with no points deducted, while others offer items as an alternative to cash or comps. As I said earlier, you have to decide if what you are giving up is worth it. If I really liked a sweatshirt, I might gladly give up $15 in cashback points to obtain it. Sometimes, non-cash slot club members end up with more food comp dollars than they could possibility ever consume, so purchasing logo wear for themselves or others makes sense.

One of the primary reasons I tell you to sign up for all the slot clubs you can is to be on the receiving end of their various direct-mail programs. For example, fours months ago, I took a California friend of mind to Laughlin for the first time. He signed up for all the clubs (there are 10 counting the nearby Avi Casino) and played between a half-hour to two hours at each one. Since then he has received a total of seven free-night offers.

Many casinos send their members a club newsletter which includes a calendar detailing double-point days, free nights, almost-free weekends, etc. The newsletters are the best source of miscellaneous advanced benefits and should be read from cover to cover. And frequently the least attractive ones contain the most valuable information.

Within the last few years, several casinos on the Strip and downtown as well as some of the major casinos in Reno and Tahoe, have cut back on large come-one-come-all promotions, in favor of special offers and premiums aimed only at their existing customers base i.e. the folks on their slot club list. Even casinos doing large public promotions will mail advance notice and frequently will include coupons for extra drawing tickets, or a bonus if you hit four sevens on Wednesdays.

At the very least, scan every piece of mail you receive from a casino, even if it's an invitation to a slot tournament you would never attend. Frequently, you'll find two-for-one coupons, some other discounts -- or maybe just news you can use (the casino has just reduced the lunch buffet price for members over 50). Casinos with large showrooms, such as Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, or the Horseshoe in Tunica sometimes send out offers for free tickets to see even the most in-demand headliners. If you're interested, call the casino immediately. Free seats fill up fast.

But the universal benefit is Priority Treatment. When you're a slot club member, you're a VIP. Every request, be it room and dinner reservations, show tickets, late check-out, baby-sitting, even airline assistance, should go through your slot host or the slot club booth. You play at their casino, and more frequently than not, give they your hard earned cash. You've given them your name, address, and most important, your action. You are special.

If the casino hasn't figured that out, or begins to take you for granted, go elsewhere. There are more than 250 slot clubs in the United States and the number is increasing every year.