Hey, slots enthusiast! We can easily earn up to $10,000 annually in complimentary gifts, right? But what happens if we maximize earning comps? That’s coming up! Hi, my name is Jon Friedl. Welcome to Professor Slots, a channel that’s all about mastering casino slots so you can win your way to success. If you’ve ever walked into a casino, looked around, and wondered what’s going on with slots and more, I can help. The simple fact that casinos give away free slots play upon initially signing up for a players’ reward club card is likely the very first complimentary gift a slots enthusiast will “earn”. But there are other types of comps including much more valuable comps, some quite fantastic. Also, some complimentary gifts are surprisingly less “free” than others. Whatever a gambler’s goal is for visiting a casino, the use of a players’ club card while gambling results in complimentary gifts or “comps” from the casino. Suffice to say here that such comps can include dinners, gifts, trips, and much more. But the overall level of comps depends heavily on how much a slots enthusiast plays. Note that I said, “Plays.” Comps are based on two factors: the tier level of the gambler plus how much that gambler has played or spent recently. Let’s talk about the most common complimentary gifts, large or small, before discussing how to maximize them. Consider the annual cruise complimentary casino gift. Typically, an annual 3-day cruise for two people in one stateroom is earned by a slots enthusiast reaching the second-to- highest player tier. An annual 7-day cruise is given to a slots enthusiast reaching top-tier. Airfare, docking fees, excursions, and more are extras you’ll have to pay yourself. Cruises are an example of one of the most extravagant yet common comps within most players’ clubs, paired alongside another annual comp automatically received when reaching the top two players tiers: 2-night and 3-night stays in Las Vegas where airfare, a limousine to and from the airport, substantial room credit, and more are included. Otherwise, inexpensive, everyday comps are handed out based on the amount of play and tier level, rather than just reaching a high-tier level. Many such comps are related to food, free slots play, and a variety of minor gifts like, say, a fluffy blanket. For years, players routinely approached a host station to ask for or more accurately attempt to persuade that host for a complimentary meal. Until recently, a host would first check the player’s level of activity before approving the player’s request. Now, casinos are switching over to using kiosks so players can check for themselves. For top-tier players, a host still finds them when the player first put their card into a slot machine, usually arriving within 30 seconds. Ignoring other players who spot the host and suddenly have questions, the host ignores them all and earnestly asks me, “Is there anything I can do for you?” Usually, I ask for a meal voucher. More than once, the reply has been, “Oh, that’s easy.” It always made me wonder what I could have asked for that wasn’t easy. Maybe Opening Day baseball tickets? Comment below with what you would ask for. This strategy of complimentary gifts as compensation is the most common strategy of slots enthusiasts. All you need to do is use your players’ club card. Many players, whatever their tier level, enjoy receiving “free” comps. Players at starting tier levels who gamble for entertainment earn their friends a dinner perhaps once or twice a year, which is nice. The slots enthusiast may receive weekly free slot play to spend while gambling. When trying to explain free slot play to non-gamblers, I’ll say it’s a lot like using an ATM to withdraw money, only I’m never exactly sure how much money I’ll be withdrawing. But the amount of free slot play can be significantly different depending on each players’ club. Unfortunately, how much you’ll get isn’t clear in the players’ club brochure. Any slots enthusiast with a players’ card earns comps without hardly trying. Instead, let’s try. Let’s maximize earning complimentary gifts as a winning slot strategy. If your goal as a slots enthusiast is to maximize or optimize comps, focus on achieving higher and higher tier levels without it being financially devastating. But, how? Find slot machines that cycle bankrolls. My other winning strategies help you do this. These bankroll-cycling machines aren’t winning slot machines you make money at, although those work too, but rather break-even slot machines. Cycling can even occur on machines where you slowly lose, just … poorly. Maximizing comps means playing a machine where you are winning enough for your bankroll to not be fully depleted. This type of winning can happen even after having made so many bets that, in total, you’ve spent your initial bankroll several times over. Yet, even after all that betting, your balance in the machine hasn’t changed much. It just kind of hovers right around how much you put in. The best machines for earning comps do this bankroll cycling for hours, where you can earn enough club points to climb through an entire tier in a single, if long, session. This is the essence of the earning comps winning slots strategy. If your goal is to make money, you’re not looking for slot machines that cycle bankrolls. They’re a waste of your time. Money or entertainment isn’t our primary gambling goal when maximizing comps. Pick one gambling goal and learn to excel at it. Here, it’s earning comps. So … focus! One aspect of the maximizing earning comps winning slots strategy is assessing the loyalty club programs at the casinos you can visit most often. Where should you invest your time and money for the comps you most want or need? When assessing a players’ club, find out how many points per dollar spent gambling is worth as well as how many points it takes to reach each tier level. This minimum information should be in the club brochure or online on their website. For club assessments, it would be great to know the automatic annual comps mentioned as well as which comps come with each tier level. Unfortunately, players club brochures aren’t clear about many of the comps that will be available. This is deliberate and related to liability issues. Not being specific leaves the club free to re-negotiate vendor contracts for cruises and trips as well as everyday comps based on current economic conditions. Here’s my first pro-tip for you: Talk to other slots enthusiasts to learn more about the comps from that players’ club program. If you’re new to a tier, ask what to expect from someone else who plays at your tier level. Why? Because your fellow slots enthusiasts are far more knowledgeable about, and experienced at, what the program offers compared to a less-than-helpful brochure. If you want to know what to expect at even higher tiers, then ask slots enthusiasts at those levels. Make them your friends. In my area, there are two casinos I frequent. However, they have two very different players’ clubs. Let’s compare them. Both have the 3-day and 7-day cruises available for the second-to-top and top-tier. Also, both have 2-night and 3-night trips available to their associated properties in Las Vegas for the same top-tier levels. However, one loyalty program’s top-tier provides an annual lease of a luxury automobile. Yet, this casino has far fewer restaurants and other venues available on or near its property than the other casino. If we want to choose one of these casinos to invest time and money at, which do you choose? Right. It entirely depends on what you or I want or need. It’s an individual choice! Ask around, think it over, and choose your investment carefully. Here’s another pro-tip for you: When joining a new players’ club, take your other players’ club cards with you. Show them your highest tier card from another casino. It is likely they will start your off at a higher tier, maybe one tier down from what you show them. This higher tier is probationary until you “prove” yourself with actual slots play. The advantages of earning complimentary gifts is, well, implicit. In general, getting a comp at all is an advantage. Hopefully, it’s something you want or can re-gift. Furthermore, casinos can negotiate contracts on your behalf as a corporate powerhouse. For example, they may have a permanent suite at the local professional football stadium. I’ve enjoyed Horseshoe’s suite at Brown Stadium watching the Bengals. It was very nice, and not something I could have arranged for myself. Lots of casino comps are like that. The disadvantage of complimentary gifts as compensation is exactly that: comps are taxable income. I am not an income tax professional, so please consult with one to discuss your personal income tax circumstances. But the IRS expects you to declare all compensation on your annual income taxes. This income includes comps. I understand that casinos are quite quiet on this topic when giving out comps. Each complimentary gift has a fair market value you need to research and record for income tax purposes. It’s easy enough to search for its cost online at, say, Amazon. With recording your travel expenses and more, your income tax professional can help you, quite legally, to reduce or eliminate your taxes on comps with gambling deductions. I’ll see you next time. Comment below with your favorite comps! Stick around for more of my winning strategies. Have fun, be safe, and make good choices! Bye!
