Your post today about young people getting into dayclubs (6/27) led me to another question. I’ve seen at least two people on Instagram say they use their parents’ casino host or points to get free items, like access to dayclubs at casinos. Can someone do that? Can a relative use someone’s casino host or their points if the high roller isn’t with them?
[Editor's Note: We ran this question by our comp expert and it's a pleasure to offer the inimitable voice of Jean Scott, whom we hear from far too infrequently.]
As usual in casino matters, especially comps, this situation has three "ifs": If you're a high roller and if you have a very close relationship with a host and if that host is especially generous, the answer is ... maybe!
Back in the day, hosts had more power than they do now. In the '80s-'90s, we were playing VP up to $125 a hand for long periods of time and we were chummy with quite a few hosts. We could always get free rooms for our friends and relatives, but we usually had to check in ourselves and hand the keys to them. However, we could sometimes put another name with ours on the room, so they could charge meals, etc. to the room. Then we had to settle up personally at the end if we were using points to pay that bill.
I knew a few people who played a little higher than we did and had friendly hosts. The host could check in the family without the donating player having to be there. But we never did that. And we always put on a lot of play during the time that others were in our room, to keep our comps and perks going. I gave the host their names and she/he could check their play and if they played a lot, that was a plus for us and gave the host an excuse to give us extra benefits in the future.
You could do a lot more frugal things (working the system) back then than you can now.
The old "power of the pen" isn't as powerful as it used to be. In addition, many casinos want their hosts to be "hunters," not "huggers." The days of lots of in-person cuddling of established players are mostly behind us, in favor of dialing for players -- to round up long-absent guests and herd in new contacts.
So super high rollers might get their kids, siblings, or cousins into the dayclubs without being there, but for the rest of us huddled masses, that option has gone the way of funbooks, free rolls of nickels, and popcorn at the bar.
