Using Free-Play on Table Games

I always use my casino free-play on VP. If I use it for table games, do I have to use it on even money bets, or can I use it on bets which pay at higher odds like a single number on roulette? Do they take the free-play bet after you win, or do you get to keep them until you lose?

 

My experience with CET free play in the Vegas market is the vouchers play exactly as chips, play it til you lose, 3/2 blackjack odds are the same, etc.

 

Different casino chains have different rules.

CET table vouchers are play until you lose, which is great. You can only use them on even money bets, though. A regular bet in BJ is considered an even money bet, although they do pay out 3:2 or 6:5 if you get a BJ. But on craps for example, you can't use them for place bets, or as odds, etc. Roulette would be red/black or odd/even.

 

The reason I was thinking about this is because I have gotten promotions a while ago which gave me chips I can only use on even money bets. But I thought free-play chips might be different. I wonder why they limit it to even money bets. Typically bets with higher odds have a higher house advantage. And if you choose machine or VP, they also have higher payback depending on what you get.

 

There's no house edge on freeplay; it's the casino's money you're betting.

 

"I wonder why they limit it to even money bets."

As stated above, it depends on the casino, but one type of free-play chip is bet once, with no face value. For example, let's say you have a $10 free play chip in craps, and you bet it on the pass line. If you lose, that's it. If you win, you get $10, but you forfeit the free play chip. Ignoring the small house edge for this bet, this means that your expected return is 50% -- you lose half the time, and you get $10 half the time. In other words, that $10 free play chip is really worth only $5.

If you were allowed to bet on the twelve, you'd either get nothing (if you lose) or get $29 (at those casinos offering 29-1 odds). The chance of rolling a 12 is 1 in 36, so your expected return would be 29 / 36 = almost 81%. In other words, that $10 free play chip would be worth about $8. If the casino allows this, go for it!

Note: this does NOT apply to meliphilus' situation, where the casino is treating those bonus chips just like the real thing.

 

Even though they give you the chips, there's still a house edge. Just like if you won a $1000, and you keep playing; although it's the house's money that you won, any game that you play has a house edge regardless whether you use money that you won or money you received as a comp.