Member wishes this posted anonymously:
Jean Scott wrote:
Adding cashback, bounce-back, airfare reimbursement (sometimes by
more than one casino), special promotions, invitational tournaments
and cash drawings, comps that are sold, high-value coupons - 9/6 on
a higher level can be very positive.
I was asked what was meant by "airfare reimbursement (sometimes by
more than one casino)" so, for the benefit of the group, here's a
little hearsay history.
A. Airfare reimbursement was started by a few casinos to bring back
high rollers. At some point in time someone thought of asking more
than one casino for reimbursement for the same ticket. Thus you could
leverage a ticket for one trip many times. When the word spread that
this could be done, pros started buying first class tickets for as
much as they could get it for. So a trip could still be profitable
even when there was nothing good to play at the other end because 4 or
5 casinos would reimburse you $1500 for your first-class ticket. The
casinos haven't done much about this practice.
B. "comps that are sold" is common for Las Vegas locals & others who
are close to a gaming destination & accumulate an excess of comps that
they cannot use. Examples are: 1. The owner of the comps sells them at
a discount to a couple who doesn't gamble. The couple goes to a
high-class restaurant & at the end of the meal the owner signs for the
meal & the couple reimburses at a rate of 50%. 2. Show tickets are
obtained by the comp owner & sold to whoever, sometimes at a steep
premium, for instance, Madonna tickets went for 10X face. Casinos have
discouraged this practice since it hurts their "breakage" rate -- that
is, the % of comps they estimate will never be collected.
The irony is that A creates a subsidy from those gamblers who don't
use it and B is a taking away of benefits that have been honestly
earned.