Getting a new players card can unleash great casino offers. The first session matters most. Playing a small amount and leaving, or taking advantage of a new player offer without giving additional action, can hurt your promotional offers indefinitely.
Last month, a Las Vegas lifestyle influencer who does not cover gambling encouraged players to open many new players cards at the same time and play $100 in coin-in on slots. Their theory is that each casino will send a free hotel room, entertainment, and other offers based on this action. This is some of the worst promotional advice I have ever heard. It is outdated by 10 or 15 years.
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The player value is too low to trigger anything meaningful at most casinos
The biggest problem with churning $100 on a slot is that the theoretical win on that will be somewhere between $1 and $15. If a casino sees that little action on a first visit, it is unlikely to trigger anything valuable. The offer may be a hotel discount or $5 to $10 in free slot play. This small amount of play will not get players to higher tiers where free parking and waived resort fees are perks.
Some low-rollers may be happy with a $10 free play mailer. The time component is worth consideration. It will take five to 15 minutes to set up the account and about as long to churn $100 in action, plus the time and expense of traveling to the casino. The expected loss on $100 in coin-in is $1 to $15. Play time, travel time, and related expenses factor into the return visit to claim the $10. If you play it and leave, you probably will not get future offers.
This strategy pays minimum wage or less per hour. There are better ways to spend Las Vegas vacation time than wasting hours casino hopping to pick up $20 or $30 in free play. You must also return during the promotional periods. Those may not overlap between the casinos, and the mailed offers will stop after about a year.
Start with opening a few new players card accounts
Do not open a large number of new players card accounts on the same trip unless you plan on giving substantial action to each property, and the casinos you are playing at are ones you want to build a relationship with as quickly as possible. Instead, Vegas Advantage suggests concentrating your action on a handful of casinos you care about. Offers often grow exponentially as your action increases. This will also take less time and incur fewer expenses when claiming the free play during a future visit.
Opening new players card accounts can exclude you from future offers
Several Las Vegas casinos have new player offers. Vegas Advantage recently covered the $100 loss rebate at Club Fortune North and $500 points chase at Palms. Rio offered loss rebates and tier matches in recent years. These deals rotate and are often limited-time offers.
Players must be new cardholders or be inactive for years to qualify. If you pick up a bunch of new cards hoping to grind a few dollars in free slot play, you could miss out on lucrative incentives.
Loss rebates reimburse what a player loses during their first day or days of action. Points chases pay free slot play based on the number of points earned during a time period after opening a new account. Our next article will cover what types of offers are available to new players.
If you play more later, the short first day may hurt
If your first rated day of play has $10 in theoretical value to the casino, and you return in a year and your action is worth $100, that averages to $55. The $10 day drags on your real day of action. It will take several higher-volume sessions to erase the $10 day.
Getting a casino credit card is a better strategy
For some visitors, the best strategy to receive hotel discounts via waived resort fees and free parking is to sign up for a casino’s credit card or tier-match through a partner hotel, as opposed to playing for it. This does not involve any gambling losses, and the resort fee is usually higher than the hotel room discounts will be through giving a small amount of slot play. Caesars and MGM Resorts have credit cards that give tier boosts for hitting spending levels.
Some non-gaming hotels have partnerships with Las Vegas casinos. In general, players can get their Las Vegas tier matched by the non-gaming casino company, but not the other way around.
Las Vegas lifestyle influencers often spread bad gambling advice
Social media has allowed anyone with a phone the ability to create content. Many see Las Vegas as a great way to make money through video content. That does not make them casino experts.
Even creators who specialize in casino content sometimes give questionable gambling advice. Videos may show people playing some of the worst casino games without explaining the house edge, or recommend strategies without understanding how casinos evaluate players. It is best to stick to creators who clearly understand and can explain the math behind the games.
