Is there a market price for selling free play?

[Alan Mendelson]

Have any of you ever sold your free play to another player?

At some casinos such as the Caesars properties in Vegas, free play comes in the form of slot coupons. These coupons usually can be redeemed by anyone as long as a Total Rewards card is inserted in the machine first.

At other casinos you can download (or upload) the points to a machine but once they are on the machine anyone can play them.

At some casinos, there are free play "chips" or tokens that anyone can use. At the Caesars properties in Vegas, the table game vouchers do have an ID printed.

So, in some cases the "free play" can be exchanged among players.

Have you, and is there a price for "selling" the free play?

[redietz]

Great question.

I have not, but it would seem likely people do this. It would be similar to selling your air miles. I have not, however, stumbled upon a marketplace with free play being sold, and one would think it would get some mention on various forums.

[arcimede$]

In the places I play the freeplay can only be downloaded at machines and then must be played through at least once. I guess you could download it and then have someone pay you to play, but that wouldn't be quite as simple.

[Perdition]

I don't know about the free play but if I had the money I would probably buy that 500 dollar Gordon Ramsay certificate if you ever redeemed it. I remember you said you don't eat much but 500 dollars at GR Steak is like 3 things lol.

[Alan Mendelson]

I am not sure if it is an actual Gordon Ramsey "certificate" or if it is put on your room as a "portfolio credit" and each time you go to a Gordon Ramsay restaurant and the charge appears on your room charge the credit is used.

A while back I received a shopping promotion for stores I would not shop at. It was an "anonymous shopping credit coupon" and I sold it to another player at a discount. If I recall, it was a $1,000 coupon that I sold for $700. And I've also sold tickets to sports events.

My "best story" was when I sold tickets to a big fight at MGM because my wife and I had no interest in going to it. So she played video poker and hit a $2 royal, and I played craps and had a roll that last nearly 40 minutes. Those were the best tickets we ever sold.

I have never sold my "free play" but I imagine it could be done, even if I downloaded it onto a machine and let another player take over the machine.

[Dan Druff]

First off, you need to be careful doing this.

Selling "anonymous coupons" to shows and stores is fine, and it's unlikely to be traced back to you. Also, you can claim some justification to it, as you already have these coupons/tickets in hand, and can make up a story that you can't use them yourself for whatever reason, so decided to sell it.

However, free play is a different story, as you are inserting someone's card and basically masquerading as them while running their freeplay. This is contrary to what the casino is intending, as the free play is there to entice you to come to the property, and if a different person shows up in your place, then they are essentially giving out free play to someone they otherwise wouldn't. Even if you don't sell it, it can be a problem. For example, let's say I decide to be nice and hand my TR card and $300 freeplay to a homeless guy. The casino obviously isn't getting any additional action from the homeless guy, so they giving away freeplay without getting the intended gambler in the casino.

I am not sure of the legality of selling freeplay. I imagine that it's legal, but at the same time, it is also legal for Caesar's to kick you out of the TR program for doing so.

I would keep any kind of sales of TR benefits on the down-low, and in fact do so to those you trust.

Also, be aware that many smaller properties send a host over immediately once they see a Seven Stars player put his card in a machine. If the host sees the player isn't who they are used to, they will probably report it. This doesn't happen at large Vegas casinos typically, and it didn't happen at Rincon when I played there. However, they immediately appear whenever I play in Laughlin. This should also be considered if you try to sell freeplay.

[Alan Mendelson]

Good points Dan but some free play comes as anonymous coupons and any casino club card activates the coupons. This happems at Rincon for example. I could claim my coupons then turn around and sell them to another player. These are not traced.

Other free play might be linked to an individual account. For example I have a $500 slot ticket for Caesars Palace for certain dates in December that can only be used with my card in the machine to activate. But once activated another player could take the seat and play the credits with their card in the machine if they wish.