What your comps really cost you?? - Comps True Comparison

I know it COSTS me, but I will never pass up any comps.

Did Disney last year and spent about $3k or more. So, if I donate $3-4k to casino and get lots of stuff comped, it works for me.

I NEVER EVER play to keep "them" happy. I play to keep me happy. (and will take the comps)

 

A few terms that may be relevant for you:

Observer Bias
Law of Large Numbers
Expected Value
Standard Deviation

Basically, in the short term (and 10 trips is VERY short term) you may be able to walk away ahead. It will not work in the long term.

And also, if your wins are for, say $10 a piece, and your losses are for $1000, then just having >50% winners is not sufficient.

 

I'm not in a position to do it, but if you have the disposable income and don't mind risking it, take the comps and run.

 

My wins are always larger than $10, my losses are NEVER 1K. And while my recent experience is Wendover, for 20 years we went to Vegas 5 to 10 times a year and the numbers were the same. Keep the house edge under 1% and NEVER lose discipline. YMMV.

 

That'll get you to 10:42 AM...

 

An enjoyable debate, I come across comments like this from friends and family often.

Its a levels of thinking puzzle for me. The OPs statement is correct only when you don't consider that gambler's already know the relevant math.

Once you take into account that people know full well that comps only reduce the money the house takes, well, the answer is completely different.

Similar logic happens when a well-meaning family member says 'you won't win in the long run you know!'... I always smile, what I REALLY want to say is 'dearest cousin / in-law etc.... either you just accused me of being too stupid to understand basic math, or you demonstrated that you are so stupid as to not grasp the idea that I might have worked this out for myself'. (spoiler, its usually the less educated ones and answer #2!)

 

Everybody else has said what I was going to say, but I'll add

If Walt Disney World starts comping rooms, my feelings towards Vegas will change.

 

My first time in Vegas was the beginning of 18 straight weeks on the strip for work. Rooms and meals paid for via corp card.

My comp "chasing" is me just trying to get some of that money back that I couldn't get comped!

 

Thats not money management that's called luck. Ive hit 6 royals in a week/ 15 in a month and have gone 2-3 months without any. I consider myself a pretty decent ap and know some full timers that would laugh at the money management system. It just doesn't work. You may have 10 trips where you're never ahead at one point. It happens. The math says it happens.

 

The true definition of a small sample size.

 

I hear this all the time from the people I work with, all of whom are 7 day beach vacation goers who think we are crazy for a vegas trip instead of the beach. I used to explain to them that our budgets are the same for trips, the difference is that at the end of a trip I could have money left/even more money than I started and that a vacation at the beach was a fixed cost with no chance to recoup any of the budget. Now I just say that we hate the beach

 

Doing LAS trips for over 30 years only reinforces that I’ve had to been adaptable in how I approach playing the casino comp game. When new properties were opening what seemed like constantly back in the late 80’s and early 90’s, one simply followed the deals.The players cards were in their infancy and coin-in was the key. Then the Strip properties got the idea that they were in a highly desirable real estate zone, so they turned to the monetization strategy, and ran customers like myself away. Then it became which “locals” or off strip property was going to get my business. Time passed and casinos gathered all sorts of info about their customers, and then coin-in was shoved aside as a factor in determining offers. Casino consolidation and contraction occurred simultaneously to where there just aren’t that many locals places that there used to be. Whereas years ago you would have slot clubs offering upwards of .5%, today South Point is one of the more generous properties at a .3% rate, with the caveat that if you have a winning trip, your offers disappear. Stations and Boyd have taken the attitude that they’re going to reduce marketing spend and count on the goodness of die hard and degenerate gamblers to see them through this period.

 

Preface: I'm a gambler. My mother was a gambler. My sisters were gamblers. We either are/are not gamblers. Non-gamblers cannot believe how I could bet $100 a hand in BJ. They gamble $20 over a couple of hours and are sick if they lose.
I never gamble more than I can afford, but sometimes more than I should. I DO gamble for comps, but don't chase them. I love be catered to by the casino hosts - limo, suites, fine dining, etc. Vegas is pretty much the only time I am treated like a Queen. My gambling gets me that treatment and I love it.
Five days away from home, no worries. Can't beat the feeling.

 

You probably won't believe this, but.... I lost $1500 on this website called 'expedia' and they ended up comping me return airfare from Canada to Mexico, a room for 7 nights in a resort including roundtrip transportation to the resort, and all I could eat and drink for the entire time! I'm not kidding, literally anything I wanted to eat or drink was comped!. They even threw in tickets to nightly entertainment! Free use of kayaks to paddle out into the ocean, free use of gym, and even free wifi!! Yes, crazy! And for the kicker... NO RESORT FEES!! I don't know how they stay in business!

 

Disney World doesn't comp, but there is definite "advantage play" involved when it comes to planning a trip there!

 

I’m a single guy and haven’t worked since the financial meltdown in 2008. I worked for a very large bank in the Technology Division and so many people were laid off at the same time I never did see a job that I wanted. I had saved the max in my 401K since its inception and I also had a retirement account for 38 years at the company. I actually created a spreadsheet that would track how much I would have when I was planning retirement. Unfortunately it was 6 years short. In any case, I don’t report to anyone except myself. I have income from a combined IRA of the 401K and that retirement fund, much less than I expected but good enough for me. This is my income. I also invested in stocks and I have a checking account that automatically pays all my bills.

I noted these things just to say my budget is whatever I want it to be.

I don’t chase comps, I’ve attained 7* at CET and for many years now that’s the only places I stay. I’ve gotten suites intermittently but I didn’t ask for it except a couple occasions where I had more than one person come with me or I ask for a 2nd room and so far have always gotten it. I haven’t paid for a casino room for approximately 10 years. Over the years since I started I never had a winning gambling year. However, if I count how many comped rooms, meals and shows I’ve had I’ve broken even or ahead several years - don’t tell the IRS about the ahead part.

Though I hate losing, I remember the overall experiences and enjoyment of the great shows, meals and the camaraderie I’ve had during my trips.

 

All comps are is an incentive to get you to return for known past play. If you start chasing them for status your doing it wrong. When I vacation I have a set budget of what I am willing to spend whether I am going to Vegas, or the Caribbean. I call it my F*ck off fund. If MGM is willing to give me free hotel room and food and beverage credit that free up more of my budget for gambling, golf, shows etc. it will sway my decisions some times on where I choose to go on vacation. I can tell you over the span of 15 years of going to Vegas, dollar for dollar those vacations are the cheapest ones and best experiences I have had. And several times I have even gotten paid to go on vacation.

 

I run most days 6 or 8 sessions at the tables over a four-hour period. I have more fun winning so I will take small wins and pause. Then rinse, repeat.

 

Couldn't have said it better. I have had some insane losing streaks and some really long heaters. I know damn well there is no strategy that does anything long term other than minimize and defer losses. I have zero money management system outside quit when I get a big hit and don't go back for as long as possible. But I'm well aware for whatever big hits I get at some point, if I play enough, a major fucking beat down is in the offing. Just gotta make sure those losses are on 25 cent and wins are on $5!

 

Odd, my experience says that if you give the house almost no edge, money management works. YMMV.