Question of the Day - 18 June 2021

"Rated play" means, simply, the action from anyone with a players card. That's how most casinos track their patrons' play. This is done for several reasons. 

On the custodial side of the tables, the casino can analyze, for example, a blackjack player's action based on the formula: average bet times number of hands per hour times hours played times theoretical return, to determine what that player is worth to the bottom line. 

Say a casino is tracking a player whose average bet is $25 and plays for four hours at a game that returns 99% with perfect basic strategy. The theoretical profit, also known as the "theo," would be something like $25 times 60 hands per hour times four hours times 1% equals $60 theo for the house. 

On the player side of the table, a percentage of that $60 theo will be returned in comps. 

That, with some variations of the theme, is the way it works for all rated play at table games. It doesn't matter if you bet $5 or $50,000; the rating system works the same, though we assume Boyd was referring to players with higher ratings in its earnings call.

As for how players are actually rated by floor personnel, we covered this in a recent QoD.

And yes, any slot or video poker patron with a players card inserted in the machine is being rated. This happens electronically (what the kids call "automagically"); club points and in many cases tier credits rack up and comps are returned based on points and credits.  

Also, rated play is the metric on which all the casino's revenue projections are based. Then the accounting department adds a certain percentage for unrated/untracked play. Of course, after all the money is counted, the estimates are adjusted. But the formula is how they figure it beforehand.