How to get casino comps

and my exclusive Comp Calculator

Last update: April 2022

Casinos want to give you free stuff!  Buffets, show tickets, discounted rooms, waived resort fees, even free rooms.  They're called "comps", which is short for "complimentary".  And they flow like rain:  About 12% of hotel stays are comped. (LV Visitor Study)  So let's get you dialed into this action right now.

Get a player's card

My #1 tip on this website is to sign up for a free Player's Card at every casino you visit, because then they'll send you offers for severely discounted or even free hotel stays.  Even if you don't gamble, you'll likely get some of these offers, just by having signed up for the card.  I continuously got mailers offering free nights at one of the most expensive hotels on the strip, thirteen years after I last played there, and even then I just barely played.  I certainly didn't lose as much playing as a single night at the hotel costs.

Also, many casinos will give you something on the spot just for having signed up for the card, like a t-shirt, free slot play, or coupon book.  This is the easiest freebie you'll ever get.  Just go to the Player's Club and sign up for the card!

In fact, you can often sign up on the casino's website.  So you can easily collect your cards without having to physically visit the different casinos.  And you don't even have to sign up at every casino, because any casino's card works in any other casino owned by the same company.  For example, the MGM Rewards card works at a whopping nine casinos (Mandalay Bay, Luxor, Excalibur, New York New York,  Park MGM, MGM Grand, Aria, Bellagio, and the Mirage), and the Caesars Rewards card works at nine more (Bally's, Caesars Palace, The Cromwell, Flamingo, Harrah's, LINQ, Paris, Planet Hollywood, and Rio).  So signing up for the MGM and Caesars cards will cover 18 of the casinos in Vegas.

Give your email address when you sign up.  They'll often give you extra points for doing so, and you'll get freebie offers, notices about promotions, and other goodies by email.  If you'd rather not clutter your main mailbox, set those messages to go to a special folder automatically, or get a second email account just for stuff like this, or use plus-addressing with Gmail.

You also might get invitations to gambling tournaments, which are not open to the general public, they're an invitation-only thing.  Sometimes the entry fee is also comped, sometimes there's a fee but it's still a good deal, because it's typically low and covers two or three nights at the hotel also.  I've done multiple tournaments, they're a lot of fun.

Comps:  Not just for gamblers any more

Used to be, you had to gamble to earn comps.  Not any more.  Starting circa 2020, non-gamblers can now earn comps for meal, entertainment, and shopping purchases at both the MGM Resorts and Caesars Entertainment group properties (which is 18 Vegas casinos combined).  Of course, gamblers also earn credit for that kind of spending.

Comps Calculator:  How much you can get based on your play

Casinos will give you back about 10-40% of your expected loss, in the form of comps.  That bears repeating:  Comps are based on your theoretical loss, not your actual loss.  Put another way, it's based on how much you play not on how much you lose.  You still get comps even if you win—usually the same amount as if you lost.

My exclusive comp calculator shows how you earn comps:

You might have noticed in the calculator that the comp value isn't always a straight percentage of expected loss.  That's normal, and we'll cover that later.

Sometimes you can get more comps if you have a large loss.  What qualifies as "large" depends on the size of the casino.  The smaller the casino, the less you have to lose to get your consolation prize.  At the Hard Rock Casino, which was pretty small, a loss of more than $4000 could reportedly net you 10% of your loss in comps.

You can also get big comps if you have a large win.  When you win big the casino will comp the hell out of you to keep you in the casino so they can win their money back from you.  You might be surprised that when you win big, the casino staff won't be sour, they'll be happy for you, and eagerly congratulate you on your good fortune.  If your win was huge then you can also expect to stay in a nice comped room or suite—for as long as it takes for you to lose the money you won.  (If they offer this and you accept, don't feel obligated to continue playing.  You didn't ask for the room, they offered.)

Don't play just to get comps!

That's like spending a dollar to save a quarter.  If your expected loss is $100 and the casino gives you $30 in "freebies", those freebies have still cost you $70.  The comps should just be gravy for any gambling that you're doing anyway.

Play only the best games

Playing only the games with the best odds means you're more likely to win, and when you do lose, you'll lose less:

You'll get less comps by playing the better games because you lose less money, but that's to your advantage.  Again, you don't want to lose more than necessary just to get a "free" meal.  For example, for four hours of play:

Slots get you more comps for sure, but only because you're losing more.  If you play craps instead, you'll save $50/hr. on average over four hours.  In fact, your savings from playing craps could let you buy a couple of buffets and not even have to worry about comps.

Slot points aren't all that

Most casinos give you "points" based on how much you play.  A popular way to tally is that $5 of play on a slot machine or $10 on a video poker machine gets you one point, which is worth a penny towards free slot play, dining credits, etc.  Example:  You play $100 on a slot machine, and assuming a 90% payback, your expected loss is $10.  You earn 20 points, which are worth $0.20.  That's a mere 2% of your loss that you'd get back.  That's a far cry from the 10-40% I said that you can get back in comps.  So what's going on here?

Two things:  First, you can usually get much more in comps than your point balance suggests.  If your expected loss for your trip is at least $100, go to the player's club and ask to talk to a host.  Ask the host if you can get comps to the buffet, or show tickets, or a discount on your room, or whatever else your play suggests that you've earned.  (You can ask for a little more than the calculator suggests you've earned; the worst that can happen is the host says no.)  Quite often you can get these benefits, even if you couldn't buy them with your slot points.

Next, casinos frequently offer bonus points on certain days.  2x points is common, but some casinos offer 10x points.  Bonus points days are usually in the middle of the week, because that's the hardest time to get people to come to the casino.  Here's a list of which casinos are offering how much bonus points and when.  10x points can take your 2% point rate up to 20%.

How to use your Player's Card

If you play slot machines (and I hope you don't) or video poker, just stick the card in the machine before you play.  The little printout on the card reader will tell you how many comp points you've earned, and the better casinos will have a brochure at the Player's Club desk to tell you how many points you need in order to get a buffet, a room discount, etc.  Though as I mentioned above, if you have a decent amount of expected loss, you can potentially get more comps than your point balance suggests, by talking to a host.

If you play table games, just set your card down next to your money when you're buying chips, and the dealer will handle it to the floorperson.  With table games you'll get credit in the computer system, but you can't see it.  (And no, it doesn't work to play some table games and then stick your card in a machine. You still won't see your credit from table games; your table game credit is always invisible.)  To figure your comp credit from table games, use my calculator above.

Decide on a separate account for a spouse or partner

Should you and your partner play on the same Player's Club account, or get separate accounts?  First, know that some casinos require that spouses be on the same account, so if that's the case at your casino, then that choice has already been made for you.

If you do have a choice, then each way has its advantages.  If you both play on the same account then you'll rack up points and comp credit faster.  For example if you're low-rollers and play separately, neither of you might get enough points for a buffet, but with your combined players you could at least get one buffet comped.  Also, many slot rewards programs give you bonuses when you reach a certain level of play, and combining your play lets you get to the next level faster.

On the other hand, if you're both putting in a fair amount of play, then two accounts could mean two separate mailers for free rooms.  He gets three free nights, you get three free nights, and boom, you're staying in Vegas for a week for free.

How to claim your comps

To get your goodies you generally have to ask for them (outside of the mailers for free & discounted rooms).  There are three people/places from whom you can request comps.

1. The Floorperson.  For table game players playing low stakes, ask the floorperson (the person in the suit who supervises the dealers).  If you're not sure how much you have to play to get what you want, ask.  They usually won't give you a very specific answer, but they can give you a good clue.  By the way, the buffet is generally the easiest comp to get (outside of the free drinks).
   
2. The Player's Club desk.  The job of the player's club staff is to sign people up and to hand out the rewards to slots/video poker players.  (They generally don't handle table game players.)  When you're done playing, go to the club desk and inquire about how much you've earned.  Note that club desk staff have to follow the rules closer than Hosts (below), and are more limited in what kinds and how much stuff they can give you.
   
3. Hosts.  A host is a casino employee whose job it is to hook you up with the stuff you've earned.  They have a lot more leeway than the staff at the player's club desk as to how much they can give you, and they can hook you up with things that the club desk simply can't, so usually you'll want a host.  The catch is you'll have to gamble enough to get one, and that amount varies from casino to casino.  If you're a machine player, ask at the club desk how much action you need in order to get a host.  For table game players, ask a floorperson.  If you qualify, any casino staff can summon a host for you, or you can call the casino's phone number and ask to talk to a host.

Use ’em or lose ’em

At the strip and downtown casinos, the points you earn are usually good only for your current "trip", and disappear from your card after a month or two.  You'll probably still get offers in the mail for free or discounted rooms, but you can't redeem your old points for, say, a buffet on your next trip, because when you return to Vegas those points will be gone.

You pay for the tip when you get comped meals

If you get a comped ticket for, say, $15 at the diner, you can't use any of that value to tip the waitstaff.  That is, you can't get $10 of food and give the $5 in unused credit as a tip.  You have to tip from your own money.  Similarly, if you get a $15 comp ticket and order only $10 worth of food, you don't get the unused $5 back in cash either, nor can you apply it to a future meal.  It's use-it-or-lose-it, baby.

Milking comps

Tricks for extracting maximum value from the comp system is such a big topic I moved it to a separate article:  How to Milk Casino Comps.

Venetian and Palazzo are the stingiest

In February 2011 the Venetian and Palazzo nixed free rooms and meals for everyone except high rollers. (LV Review-Journal)  It seems that those offerings might have crept back at some point (especially that new players reportedly get free room offers with little play), but besides the possible initial free room offers, you have to play a lot to get back very little.  And Venetian's gaming is the very worst in Vegas, so bear that in mind.

Drinks to disappear for low-rollers?

The most famous comp and the easiest one to get has always been free drinks.  You play any game, even penny slots, and the cocktail waitress will bring you as much as you can pack away, one drink at a time.  Well, as of Oct. 2016, Caesars Entertainment and MGM Resorts (which collectively own most of the casinos on the strip) are experimenting with rigging the machines to make sure you're betting enough before they serve you (either by having a light come on to show that you've earned a drink, or else printing out a voucher for a free one).  But I'm skeptical that this will be the end of free drinks for low-rollers.  First of all, most gamblers have earned their free drinks, and the casinos would probably spend more time and money trying to deny free drinks to those few who don't "deserve" them rather than just giving drinks to everyone like they always have.  Second, the cocktail waitresses are the gatekeepers: they earn their living from tips, and couldn't give a flying flip whether you "deserve" your drink as long as you're tipping.  I'm confident that if you wave a dollar around you'll get your first drink, and as long as you tip at least a dollar every other drink they'll keep coming.  Oh, you wonder whether the waitresses would get in trouble for that?  Well, that would require someone supervising them closely to make sure they don't give out drinks to the few patrons who haven't "earned" them.  The labor cost of such supervision would dwarf the cost of just giving free drinks to all.  So, I don't think the waitresses are gonna have managers scrutinizing their every move; it's just too expensive.

Resort fees on comped rooms?

Vegas hotels are notorious for charging a mandatory daily "resort fee" which gets you things such as Internet access, gym access, free local calls, etc.  (The last varies from casino to casino.)  When you get a comped room, do you still have to pay the resort fee, and if you don't, do you still get the resort benefits?

The short answer is that you generally don't pay the resort fee on a comped room.  However, you might not get the benefits that come with the resort fee (like free WiFi).  For example, Caesars properties says that players at the Diamond level don't get charged a resort fee, and get the benefits that come with a resort fee, while players below Diamond don't get charged the fee but don't get the benefits.  However, despite their saying that, one of our readers says that his resort fee at Caesars was waived and they still gave him gym and Internet access.  When I got comped at Encore in 2019, I didn't pay a resort fee, but I didn't get the benefits of the resort fee, so I voluntarily paid the $39/night resort fee to get Internet access.

I don't know the resort fee policy on comped rooms at other Vegas properties, but if you'd like to share your experience so i can add it to the article, feel free to let me know.

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Happy comp hunting!