Quite a few years back I was sitting at a three card poker table with a gentleman who was at the mirage on a 75k promo chip offer. He mentioned to his friend that he just puts all the promo chips on the roulette wheel so that they go from promo chips, to actual cash value. Now, I know that you lose a little by doing this, but it seems like a great strategy for one time use promo chips. Does anyone know if this is still allowed??
Why wouldn't it be allowed? Promo chips are as good as cash, the only thing is, that they are replaced with actual chips if you win. It would be like any other game that you would use promo chips for as long as it's a 1:1 payout. With roulette you'll be betting on RED or BLACK.
Ok, so that's the part that maybe I need to clarify. The gentleman before placed bets on every number, so it wasn't a 1:1 payout. Are you saying that casino's limit promo chip payouts to 1:1? What if you hit a BJ using promo chips?
From my experience in the past with promo chips (MGM no longer offer these, unless you're a whale) they only allowed me to do 1:1 bets. I remember trying to bet the 2:1 sections on the table and the dealer pushed my chips back. I was allowed to use them for BJ, but I was told that I would only receive a 1:1 payout if I hit a BJ.
Just about everybody requires promo chips be only wagered on games with a 1:1 payout. Red/Black, Pass/Don't Pass, Player/Banker, BJ. If the Promo Chips are Play Once and not Play Until Lose (and I believe in another thread we established Cosmo chips are Play Once), then your expected value of a Promo Chip is roughly 1/2 the chip amount minus the house edge for the game you are playing. In other words, a $100 Promo Chip played on Roulette would have an EV of roughly $45. Even if you put half your Promo Chips on Red and half on Black and hedged with 1/36th on 0 and 1/36th on 00, you'd still wind up with about 45 cents on the dollar. I recommend playing them on BJ. The best possible thing you can do with $5000 in promo chips is get them to convert it to freeplay and learn 9/6 Jacks VP. EV of roughly $4977.
Generally, they are 1:1 bets. I once had some that could be used on any bet. In that case, you play EVERY number and win every time, less the house odds of course which is something like 5.6%. So you keep $94 of every $100 you play. You turn paper into cash and then do what you would like with it. Playing BJ sucked. If you played $100 for example, and won, you got $100 and they took the coupon/chip. If you lose, they take the coupon/chip. So, if you won half of your BJ play, you would wind up with half the money, or a 50% house take. Makes that 5.6% take look darn good. But, as said, most casinos these days only allow 1:1 bets.
If its a one-play chip (like Cosmo) and you can use them on non-even money bets than betting straight up numbers on single-zero roulette is your best bet (35*1/37) = .9459, so close to full value. Basically any of the long shot bets in the casino are better than playing them on something safer. If it has to be an even money bet than blackjack is the best. For the play-until-you lose chips its best to play them on the best bets in the house, like blackjack. Here is a table with a bunch of the options for all the different types of promo chips: http://wizardofodds.com/gambling/promotional-chips/
At the V/P, I used them playing Pai Gow. They Played until the hand lost or won or the dealer remembered they only played once. We discussed this before playing so a push doesn't have them taken away. Also, the person in the casino cage wouldn't make change for me so I was forced to bet 500 a hand.
Thanks! Yes, your scenario was what I was referring too, it seemed like the best way to use promo chips if allowed. I guess what the guy at Mirage discovered as well. Thank you again for the link!
