by Arnold Snyder OK, let\u2019s look at the positive side of the September 11 terrorist attacks. We all know the negatives. Trying to fly anywhere these days is a royal pain in the butt. Anyone who looks the slightest bit foreign gets shaken down, searched and sometimes held for questioning. The government is now allowing itself to trample all of our civil rights in the name of national security. Then, there are all those dead people in New York\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n But still, as Monte Python sings, \u201cLet\u2019s look at the bright side of life!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hey, those crazy Arabs who attended flight classes, but skipped out on Landing Gear 101, have inadvertently created some damn good blackjack conditions in Las Vegas\u2026 at least for high rollers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now I know some of you are thinking\u2026 \u201cC\u2019mon, Snyder, September 11 is a day that will live in infamy, a day of great national tragedy, the mass murder of thousands of innocent people\u2026 you can\u2019t take this horror and turn it into a blackjack parable! We don\u2019t recall seeing any headlines that read: Thousands Killed, But Great Deals for Gamblers in Vegas!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Oh, ye of little faith. I don\u2019t make up the news, I just report it. And the fact is: Osama bin Laden, nut case that he is, has significantly changed the face of high stakes blackjack in Las Vegas. Stick with me, gang. There\u2019s a story here\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n The economic effects of September 11 on the casino industry have been phenomenal, with various gaming regions reporting both dramatic increases and decreases in business. Las Vegas, for instance, saw its hotel occupancy rate immediately nose-dive from the 97+% average down into the mid-70% levels, resulting in massive layoffs, stalled and canceled construction projects, and an economic recession that has forced the bankruptcy of at least one major Strip casino. The struggling Aladdin, for instance, which had been aggressively pursuing refinancing negotiations throughout the Summer of 2001, put itself on the auction block after September 11.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All of the Las Vegas casinos have been hurting since September 11, but the major Strip casinos have been hardest hit. There is a big difference between the effects on mega-casinos like Caesars or Bellagio, and locals\u2019 joints like Palace Station or Sam\u2019s Town. Unlike the Strip casinos, the locals\u2019 joints didn\u2019t physically lose their customers. The cutbacks and layoffs meant that some of the locals had less money in their pockets, but most of them were still there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The big joints, on the other hand, depend on tourists who fly in from all over the world. The big joints also cater to a segment of the customer base that the locals\u2019 joints totally ignore: the whales, those players who fly in with six and seven-digit credit lines, or front money, then play baccarat, blackjack, or Pai Gow, for anywhere from $10,000 to $100,000 per hand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These whales are not a small profit factor for the Strip casinos. As an example of how much these big players can mean to the carpet joints, consider the fact that virtually every major casino on the Strip \u2014 except for Bellagio \u2014 reported a dramatic reduction in table game win for the month of September, 2001. Why did Bellagio have a great month? Because noted whale of whales Kerry Packer happened to be staying at Bellagio the week of September 11, and he was unable to leave when all international flights were canceled! Bellagio cleaned up on his extended vacation there. Come October, like the rest, Bellagio was hurting too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One major factor in the disappearance of the whales from Vegas\u2019s VIP rooms was Japan Air Lines\u2019 (JAL) cancellation of all non-stop flights into Las Vegas. JAL had a near monopoly on flights to Vegas from ports in the Far East.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It should also be noted that JAL did not cancel their Vegas flights because the airline was afraid to fly into the US. They did not cancel their flights until it became clear that there were no longer enough passengers to make these flights economically feasible. People all over the world were afraid to fly. The junkets from Tokyo and Hong Kong that typically brought in the highest of the high rollers were no more. The Strip casino VIP rooms were empty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Not all casinos throughout the US suffered like Las Vegas did. California\u2019s Indian casinos thrived, as gamblers avoided even short domestic flights. Likewise, Detroit\u2019s casinos saw an increase in business as a direct result of the September 11 events. Since nobody actually flew into Detroit to gamble, the flight paranoia meant fewer Detroiters were flying out of the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Also, those players in Michigan and Ohio who would normally drive across the Ambassador Bridge to gamble in Canada\u2019s Windsor Casino, stayed to play in Detroit so they wouldn\u2019t have to put up with the security delays and hassles of crossing the Canadian border. Customs was a nightmare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What many of the big Vegas Strip casinos learned from September 11 was that a small handful of high-end players meant the difference to them between profit and loss. One player betting $10,000 per hand was worth a thousand players betting $10 per hand. An individual player\u2019s result (such as the result of a Kerry Packer) can sometimes change the bottom line result for an entire month!<\/p>\n\n\n\n The big Vegas casinos had to make some quick decisions after September 11. If JAL wasn\u2019t going to fly the whales in, then there was no use even trying to get the \u201cregulars\u201d to come back to the VIP rooms. The regulars were oceans away. What Vegas needed in its VIP rooms was a new group of regulars. Although domestic US flights also had severe cutbacks, and many Americans were frankly afraid to fly, at least the domestic flights still existed, so the Vegas casinos were simply faced with the problem of figuring out how US players could be lured back into the air.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Money talks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The casino bigwigs looked at the way they marketed their games to the overseas whale market. Whales lived in a world of comps unknown to the average player, including most players who counted themselves as \u201chigh rollers.\u201d Whales typically got not only the standard RFB (room, food, beverage) comp, for themselves and their friends and families, but they also got their airfare which in many cases meant the cost of the fuel and the pilots for their private jets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Then there were gifts: jewelry, watches, shopping trips to designer stores, tickets to concerts, sporting events. There were invitation-only tournaments, sometimes with six-digit prizes and no entry fees or buy-ins. There were the loss \u201crebates,\u201d running as high as 20%, 30% or more, depending on the player\u2019s credit line and betting level. A loss rebate is just what it sounds like: if the player has a 20% rebate deal, and he loses $500,000, he\u2019ll get 20% back ($100,000) as \u201cwalking money\u201d when he leaves. And then there was up-front money itself. Come in with a million bucks, and get an \u201cextra\u201d $20K or more in chips, just for showing up! Just a little incentive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So, since the overseas whale market was gone, the casinos needed a new class of domestic whale who could be convinced to fly in and take one of the empty VIP seats. There weren\u2019t a whole lot of domestic players in the multi-million-dollar action category, so the casino marketing execs instructed their hosts to go after the high-end US players who were a level down from the whales, the players who normally put up front money or had credit lines from $25,000 to $100,000. These new mini-whales started getting offers from hosts that included all the typical whale bait.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For the first time, a player who came in with a $100,000 credit line got an inkling of what it was like to be a player who came in with a million. For high-end advantage players, Las Vegas has become vastly more advantageous since September 11, 2001. Some of the new comp opportunities have little dollar value, but others are valuable enough to make a mediocre game a highly advantageous game. Let\u2019s look at, and analyze, some of the complimentaries that are being made available to mini-whales these days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Unless you\u2019re trying to impress your date, having a six-room suite with fresh flowers and fruit bowls changed daily, and butler service, has no dollar value. Whales have always gotten butler service in their rooms. Now, with a lot of the penthouse suites empty, casinos are starting to give these rooms to lower end players. And what is the difference between butler service and regular room service. Does it really matter if the person who brings the food up to your room is dressed like a butler?<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhales get real butler service, and that means a lot of things,\u201d says one player who wishes to remain anonymous. \u201cIf you call for your breakfast, you can ask to have the pot of coffee brought up right away, and it will be there in a minute. You can ask for a copy of Sports Illustrated or some other magazine, and the butler will pick it up in the gift shop for you and deliver it with your breakfast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Also, if it\u2019s real butler service, you won\u2019t ever see a bill. He\u2019ll bring the food, set the table, and disappear. With room service, you can be sure you\u2019re going to sign for whatever you order. When you have butler service, the casino has already decided up front that everything you ask for is comped. Now that some of the smaller fish are getting into the luxury suites that were meant for the whales, casinos are sometimes telling these players they have butler service when they really don\u2019t. If the \u2018butler\u2019 asks you to sign for the food, that\u2019s not butler service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Butlers will pick up your tickets at the box office, press your pants, you name it. And they never hold a hand out for a tip. They\u2019re servants. You leave money for them in an envelope when you leave, and you should be generous.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Players who get rooms with butlers also typically get gifts, which range from small (flowers, chocolates, wine, champagne, etc.) to medium (jackets, luggage, designer shirts, and the like) to lavish (watches, jewelry, artwork, and more). There is also very little dollar value to most of these gifts, at least from the perspective of the advantage player. A typical gift watch for a mini-whale, which might sell for $2000 in a jewelry store, probably wouldn\u2019t get more than a couple of hundred bucks on Ebay. You might as well just keep the watch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Many casinos are now offering shopping trips to their mini-whales. You\u2019ll be set loose in a store with a dollar limit of anywhere from $500 to $15,000, depending on your level of action. The casino picks up the tab, usually by special arrangement with the store(s) involved. The shopping comp, which sounds extremely valuable, is also of limited dollar value in the real world. As explained by one advantage player:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI got an invitation to a $1000 shopping spree at Neiman Marcus. I thought fantastic, since I would never shop there otherwise \u2014 all that overpriced designer crap. I figured I\u2019d go spend my thousand bucks, then return everything later and walk with the cash! Unfortunately, as I discovered, you can\u2019t return anything for cash. Not allowed. You either have to get something you actually want, or maybe a gift for your wife, or something you might be able to sell to one of your friends at a discount\u2026 a thousand bucks doesn\u2019t go very far in Neiman Marcus.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Casino-comped shopping-trip purchases cannot be returned to the store(s) for cash refunds because the casinos negotiate special deals with the stores to pay the wholesale price on a no-refund basis. If you get a $600 silk shirt, you can be sure that the casino is not paying anywhere near $600 to the store. As another player describes it:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe whole shopping trip comp is to make rich jerks feel important. It\u2019s like ordering a bottle of Dom Perignon from room service. Most of the big casinos list Dom at anywhere from $250 to $350 on their room service menus. They don\u2019t even specify the vintage. I can almost guarantee you\u2019ll get a 1992 bottle, since \u2014 as Dom goes \u2014 that\u2019s the cheap stuff. You can get that in any liquor store for about $99 a bottle, so I would guess the wholesale price is $50 or less.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “If you\u2019ve got a million-dollar credit line, on the other hand, you\u2019re not going to get the 92 Dom because they figure you probably know the value of it. You\u2019ll get the good stuff. If your credit line is only fifty thousand, they\u2019ll figure you don\u2019t know Dom from Cold Duck. You get the 92. You think they\u2019re comping you a $300 bottle of champagne, but it\u2019s just to make you feel important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBy putting outrageous prices on room service items, they can also max out their \u2018soft comps\u2019 so that they can avoid paying any \u2018hard comps\u2019 if you turn out to be a phony. For example, let\u2019s say you put $100K in the cage when you arrive, then you never place a bet of more than $1000, and you rarely even bet this much. They\u2019ve got you down as a $400-500 average bettor. They know that the $100K front money was just for show. You never really gave them a shot at your bankroll.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “When you try to get your airfare, they can point to your $1500 per night suite, and your thousands of dollars in room service charges, and your $2000 shopping trip, and tell you that you don\u2019t have sufficient play to qualify you for $1200 airfare. Airfare is always a hard comp. If they give you $1200, then it\u2019s $1200 cash. There\u2019s no kickback from the airlines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFor this reason, if you think you\u2019ve got a shot at getting your airfare, skip the Dom and the caviar. In fact, tell them you just want a small regular room because you\u2019re afraid of heights, or you hate elevators. Tell them your wife hates shopping! Minimize the soft comps, and you might see some airfare cash when you leave. Of course, if you are putting a half-million on deposit and playing long hours, with an average bet of a couple thousand, you don\u2019t have to scrimp on anything. You\u2019ll get your airfare and lots more.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Says one pro: \u201cWhen I was playing at a lower level \u2014 chunky black action \u2014 I used to milk event tickets for money. Fight tickets, concerts, shows \u2014 you can sell all of those tickets pretty easily, especially if the event is sold out. And, because the casinos comp so many tickets, it\u2019s hard to find a show that\u2019s not sold out!<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Event tickets are one of the easiest to get soft comps there is, unless it\u2019s some major event that everyone really does want to attend. You simply tell your host to get you as many tickets as he can come up with because you have a whole group of friends in town, and you want to take them all. I used to scalp fight tickets right outside the entry gate. You\u2019ve got to be cool, just wait until someone meets your eyes. There are always people who show up looking for tickets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNow that I\u2019m more of a whale, I can\u2019t pull this off so easily. If I\u2019m trying to pass myself off as some millionaire gambler, I can\u2019t be seen hawking tickets like a two-bit hustler. It\u2019s important to uphold the image at all times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “If I don\u2019t personally know someone who will buy the tickets from me, then I\u2019ll just go to the event myself. But it\u2019s painful sitting in $800 seats with a friend, knowing that some fight fan would have given me $1200 each for the tickets. Especially when I don\u2019t care that much about boxing. But image is everything at this level of play. If I really don\u2019t care about the event \u2014 I had tickets to the Madonna concert last year \u2014 I\u2019ll give the tickets to a host or a boss or someone in marketing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI recently took a buddy to a comped fight \u2014 fantastic seats \u2014 and found myself sitting next to one of the casino marketing execs and his wife whom I\u2019d met briefly on a previous trip. This was my host\u2019s boss, and he recognized me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Turns out he was the person who had scored these tickets, and he knew I would be sitting next to him. Imagine the questions that might be raised if I didn\u2019t show up in those seats, especially if I later told my host how much I enjoyed the fight! Even worse, what if the marketing guy asked whoever did show up in my seat where he\u2019d gotten his tickets, what he\u2019d paid for the seats\u2026 When you\u2019re playing blackjack for thousands per hand, you can\u2019t afford to look cheap or phony to anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the new edition of\u00a0Comp City: A Guide to Free Casino Vacations<\/em><\/a>\u00a0(Huntington Press, 2001), Max Rubin describes an airfare comp scam that big players have been using for many years, in different variations. According to Max:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201c\u2026buy your tickets at the lowest discount available, nonrefundable. Then, at the last minute, buy a first-class round-trip ticket from a travel agent\u2026 When you get to your destination, play in two different hotels\u2026 After a long play in the hotel you\u2019re not staying in, show your host the expensive tickets and snivel, telling him how much you lost and how you didn\u2019t even stay at his hotel\u2026 and pleeeeease help me out here, I\u2019m tapped and my wife\u2019s going to kill me and can you make reservations for my next trip?\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Then take that same first class ticket to the joint you\u2019re staying at and tell the host there how you paid for all your own lunches, but you\u2019re tapped and cripes, you\u2019d like to come back but if you go home empty, you\u2019re gonna get killed\u2026 Be polite, but persistent, and you\u2019ll likely get at least a portion of your high-cost first-class airfare picked up by both places. Then fly home on your budget ticket and cash in the first class beauties.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n I have heard many variations of this airfare scam through the years, with various numbers of first class tickets being purchased and reimbursed by various numbers of casinos. In\u00a0Burning the Tables in Las Vegas<\/em><\/a>\u00a0(Huntington Press, 1999), Ian Andersen says that when he visits Las Vegas, he checks into multiple hotels, under different names, for the same trip, and plays at all of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He explains: \u201cI buy several sets of open first-class airfares, one for each of my registered monikers. I submit the proper ticket to the VIP host at each joint for a refund. They\u2019ll call up my action on the computer. Assuming my play warrants a refund, they fork over the cash with no questions asked.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ian describes how the ploy works for a high roller who \u201cdeserves\u201d the airfare comps, as opposed to Max who describes a player who is trying to get more than he \u201cdeserves\u201d with the argument that he has lost so much money at the tables. Ian\u2019s method would probably not work so well these days. Purchasing airline tickets under multiple fake names could be dangerous in today\u2019s terrorist-paranoid world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Likewise, displaying all those fake ID\u2019s, along with the tickets, in Las Vegas hotels, would take a lot of nerve. The level of play required for airfare reimbursement would more often than not require the casino to file a Cash Transaction Report (CTR) with the IRS. This would require the player to show both a picture ID and provide his Social Security Number to the casino. Post September 11, all of these phony ID ploys are much more dangerous, and likely illegal. Max\u2019s whining act is at least not liable for criminal charges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ironically, the casinos are well aware that there are big players pulling this airfare scam, and they have known it for many years. In fact, the above quote from the second edition of Comp City,<\/em> which came out in 2001, is almost identical to what Max wrote in his 1994 first edition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One casino exec told me, \u201cI don\u2019t care one bit if a player is flying coach but getting us to reimburse first class. Why should I care as long as he gives us the action? We don\u2019t even look at the ticket for our big players. We ask them how much the airfare was, and we give them the cash. In fact, we usually round up. If he says $1850, we\u2019ll just give him an envelope with an even $2000. What do we care if he actually rode in on a motor scooter?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Kevin Blackwood\u2019s recent novel, The Counter<\/em><\/a> (Wooden Pagoda Press, 2002), reviewed in the Spring 2002 issue of Blackjack Forum<\/em>, the author describes a fictional player who must be the ultimate airfare scammer. Since he lives in Vegas, he doesn\u2019t even fly coach to get there. Yet he gets reimbursed for hundreds of round-trip first-class airfares every year by purchasing multiple tickets every week, as if he and his wife are flying in from Cleveland. This character purchases his tickets from a travel agent friend, then returns them to the same agent. He is portrayed as having made half a million dollars in the past two years on phony airfare reimbursements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This, of course, is pure fantasy. Whereas Ian Andersen describes a workable ploy whereby a big player with multiple IDs might get multiple airfare reimbursements for the same trip under different names, and Max Rubin describes a player who is not such a big player getting multiple reimbursements under his own name, it is highly unlikely that any big player could have enough fake IDs to get multiple reimbursements each week, 50 weeks per year, for years on end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The number of Las Vegas casinos that take action big enough to qualify a player for reimbursement of two first-class round-trip tickets from Cleveland is small \u2014 maybe a dozen or so. And the amount of action required for this reimbursement would be substantial in both hours and average bet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n No player could play that many hours per week, week after week. And any player who did put that many hours on the tables every week, with average bets in the multiple thousands, at the same dozen joints, would become so well- known so fast that his fake names would unravel in no time. There is just too much communication in the industry about the big players.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Most of the big Las Vegas casinos are owned by one of three different groups: The MGM\/Mirage group, which owns MGM, Mirage, Bellagio, Golden Nugget, New York New York, and Treasure Island; The Park Place Entertainment Group, which owns Caesars, Paris, Hilton, Flamingo, and Bally\u2019s; and the Mandalay Group, which owns Mandalay Bay, Luxor, Excalibur, Circus Circus, and Monte Carlo. All of these groups have cross-over management and marketing execs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even if the casinos were so ignorant that they never noticed the same face continually popping up under different names, what would the airlines think of a travel agent who purchased and returned hundreds of first-class tickets every year, for the same passengers, none of whom actually ever flew anywhere? The concept reeks of a scam. Even if you could find a travel agent willing to do this, it would not be long until the feds were investigating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In any case, the new \u201cticketless\u201d travel option that most airlines now offer has made it much easier for players to pick up multiple airfare reimbursements. Some years back, when the scam first came to the casinos\u2019 attention, many casinos started rubber-stamping the airline tickets \u201cPAID,\u201d with their casino name. It took a lot of guts to ask for a second reimbursement at a different casino, when they could see that you were already reimbursed elsewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now, with so many people purchasing tickets on the Internet, or through 800-numbers, \u201cticketless\u201d itineraries are simply emailed or faxed to the purchaser. By printing out multiple copies of the itinerary, it doesn\u2019t matter if a casino stamps it \u201cPAID.\u201d You can use a clean copy for the other casino(s) where you play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One way to judge your whale status at any casino is by how they handle your airfare reimbursement. If they want to see the ticket (or itinerary), and then (usually) photocopy it, and have you sign a receipt for the exact amount paid, you\u2019re not very high on the whale scale. If, on the other hand, the host just hands you an envelope with money in it, no questions asked, you\u2019ve arrived at the top. Of the comps available to the new breed of mini-whale, airfare is the first one with real dollar value. It\u2019s always paid in cash, and the amount can be substantial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Most of the above comps are discussed at great length in Max Rubin\u2019s seminal work on the subject, Comp City.<\/em> Max never gets into some of the whale category comps, as up until recently these have been just too unavailable to all but the chosen few who came to town with millions to lose. So, let\u2019s look beyond Max into some of the comps that casinos are dangling in front of mini-whales today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One very valuable comp, formerly available only to whales, is money. That\u2019s right, most of the big casinos will flat-out comp you money. They won\u2019t give it to you in cash, per se, but it has virtually the same value as cash.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some casinos call these cash comps \u201cbonus\u201d chips, or \u201cpromotional\u201d chips, or \u201ccasino action\u201d chips. One player explains it like this: \u201cIf I go in with $100,000 front money, the casino gives me an extra $2,000 in \u2018promotional\u2019 chips as soon as I put the money in the cage. Two thousand bucks right off the top, just that easy. My host told me that I could get this extra $2000 for every $100K I come in with. If I had $500,000 to put in the cage, they\u2019d give me $10,000 extra right off the top!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Technically, this is just a high-end variation of what many casinos have provided their low-end players for many years. If you\u2019ve got a \u201cfun book\u201d from some local motel in Vegas, there\u2019s quite likely a coupon within it good for a roll of nickels ($2.00) at one of the casinos that\u2019s trying to lure in slot players.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019m not sure which casino invented the concept of \u201ccasino action\u201d chips as a bait for players, but Bob Stupak raised it to an art form back in the 80s at his Vegas World Casino (now the Stratosphere). I can\u2019t remember all the various offers made to players by Vegas World, but typically if a player checked into their hotel for the weekend, he could get back nearly all of his hotel charge in promotional \u201ccasino action\u201d chips. These looked more or less like regular gaming chips, except that players were not allowed to cash them in at the cage \u2014 they had to be played at the tables.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Also, they did not have the full dollar value of regular casino gaming chips, because they could only be used for one play. If you bet a $5 casino action chip and won the bet, you\u2019d get the $5, but the casino action chip would be taken away. This cut the value of a casino action chip by slightly more than half. What cut it even further was the fact that they could be used on \u201ceven money bets only\u201d at the tables. A player who was dealt a blackjack on his casino-action-chip hand, learned to his dismay that he would only be paid even money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the 90s, Caesars Palace started using promotional chips to lure in bigger fish. During slow periods, they would send coupons to their high-end customers offering them casino chips valued at $100 up to $500, depending on the player\u2019s prior history. In the mid-90s, MGM began making similar offers. Typically, no play was required, nor was front money necessary, though often the player was required to check in at the hotel in order to get the promotional chip from the cage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At different casinos today, these promotional chips work differently. At the MGM\/Mirage properties, the bonus chips that are given to big players have full-dollar value because you may continue to play the chips until they lose. You still can\u2019t cash in a promotional chip, but you win real chips with them, and if you are there to play, this is real money. I\u2019ve heard a few stories about players who started play with a $500 promo chip, then won numerous bets in succession, and finished playing through the entire weekend at the black chip level without ever having to dig into their own pockets!<\/p>\n\n\n\n It may sound incredible that any player might be provided with thousands of dollars in promo chips, but the fact is, if you are going into a casino with $100,000 front money, the casino will be expecting you to have average bets of a couple of thousand dollars. They\u2019re really just giving you one average bet! And if your average bet is not in this range, then you will be unlikely to get this promotional chip offer in the future. Casinos hate it when players put up front money \u201cfor show.\u201d They expect you to gamble with the money you come in with, not just flash it for comps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Says one pro: \u201cIf you are playing at the level where you are putting up substantial front money, and the casinos are giving you bonus chips up front, you really are expected to give them satisfactory action, in both average bet and the number of hours you play. This type of promotional bonus is always arranged by your host, and you\u2019ll know what to expect from them, and what they expect from you, before you arrive. If I go in with $200K, and they bump it up to $205K, that\u2019s a real nice head start on a playing trip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBefore you get to that level, however, you will probably pass through the lower-end comp, where the casino marketing department just sends you a flyer with a coupon for a $200 promotional chip, or a $500 promotional chip, or whatever they feel your past play warrants. These coupons are always dated, and usually have a very small range of dates when you can pick up your chip from the cashier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In almost every case, the chip offer is combined with a free room for 2-3 nights during the valid dates, weekends usually excluded. If you don\u2019t want to pass up the opportunity to get the chip, but you really don\u2019t want to play at this casino, then your best bet is to check in, get your chip, play it on a table, then leave the pit without showing them any other play during your stay there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s crazy how in most casinos marketing and pit operations are so disconnected that you won\u2019t even show up in the computer as having played there, provided you never give the boss your player\u2019s card. I know one player who got one of these $500 chip offers from the same casino many months in succession, despite completely burning them on the comped room and giving them no action whatsoever except for the promo chip.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another high-end comp being offered to mini-whales, formerly available only to the highest level of whales, is the \u201closs rebate,\u201d or \u201cdiscount,\u201d as some casinos call it. The rebate is exactly what it sounds like: if you lose, you will get back a percentage of your loss when you leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Comp City,<\/em> Max Rubin discusses the concept of \u201cwalking money,\u201d and loss rebates are just a high-end variation of this age-old pat-on-the-back-and-handshake, with a little green pressed into the player\u2019s palm. There has long been a tradition in the casino industry that if a player taps out (loses everything he came in with), the casino will give him a hundred bucks or so in order to get him home with something in his pockets (or even to pay for the bus ride!). Walking money was simply a courtesy extended to \u201cgood\u201d customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The loss rebate offered to whales and mini-whales is a creative take on walking money, except that it is not necessary for the player to go broke, and the amount of the rebate is agreed upon in advance of the player posting his front money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Various casinos have various rebate programs. Some require the player to put up a specified amount of front money \u2014 which might range from $50,000 to $250,000. Some require a specific loss in order to qualify for the rebate, which again might be $50,000, or $100,000, or more. Some have rebate schedules that change as the amount of the loss, or the amount of front money changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For instance, you might be offered a 5% rebate if you lose $50,000, a 10% rebate if you lose $100,000, and a 15% rebate if you lose $250,000 or more. The purpose of this graduated rebate is to keep you in action after you\u2019ve lost a significant amount. Those in the whale category, who come to town with millions, have reportedly been offered loss rebates as high as 25% to 30%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As a card counter, this type of program will likely have you salivating. Imagine the value of having every major loss cut by 10%. In fact, consider the result if you just played a break-even game with the house, with a 10% rebate deal, and you always played until you either won or lost $100,000. Over time, you would win half of your sessions, and lose half, but every time you lost you\u2019d only lose $90,000. On average, you\u2019d be making $5000 every time you played! If you played every weekend, you\u2019d profit more than a quarter million dollars a year, just by playing even with the house!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(From Blackjack Forum<\/em> Vol. XXII #2, Summer 2002)
\u00a9 Blackjack Forum 2002<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nButler Service Comps for Whales<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Gifts for Whales<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
A High Value Casino Comp: Shopping Trips<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Comped Event Tickets<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Air Fare Casino Comps for Whales<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Beyond Comp City\u2026<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
Money Comps for Whales<\/h5>\n\n\n\n
The Best Casino Comp: Loss Rebates<\/h5>\n\n\n\n