Overcomped

[Dan Druff]

The problem is, you are calling it "earned" when it's a reward for losing money. Nothing more, nothing less. You may have lost the minimum while gaining 7 Stars, but at the end of the day you lost to get these comps.

Comps are a reward for losing. You just haven't lost enough lately to have "earned" further comps. Step up your losses and I guarantee the comps will come rolling in. Read the Watanabe article again.

As far as what a host is telling you, he or she works for the casino and has a stake in keeping you losing money to the casino. If it makes you feel better about losing, I'd tell you you were overcomped in every conversation.

I know all about the Watanabe situation.

You are correct that I will see some comps again if I start losing again, but not for the reason you think.

This is because of the "on-off" trick you can use at casinos. If you are overcomped, but then wait 18 or so months and start playing again, it will "forget" your overcomped status from the past, and essentially start you with a clean slate. Then you milk the comps super hard again, then stop playinig/staying for 18 months repeat again and again.

I have a friend who does this and it WORKS.

I don't do it because I want/need all the Seven Stars benefits, and don't want to go through an 18-month lapse without redeeming anything.

Regarding what you were saying about the host, you are misunderstanding. The hosts are actually telling me NOT to come. They are telling me that they can't give me anything at all, and in fact quote a really high rate (the standard going rate for anyone off the street) for any rooms I want. When I ask them if there's anything they can do for me, they always say some form of, "Sorry, I can't. You're way overcomped." One even showed me on the computer how much overcomped I was, when I was there in person.

Rarely do these hosts volunteer that I can stay there free anyway with my guaranteed 4 nights Seven Stars benefit. They're hoping I hear the high rate they quote me and just go away, not realizing I'm entitled to stay free. Even when I do bring that up, sometimes they will claim they can only book 2 or 3 nights, and give me some nonsense like, "That's all the system is letting me do, you are very overcomped." They are also typically rude and snippy with me, and you can tell they just want me to get off the phone and go away.

In reality, they just don't want me there.

If this is some sort of reverse psychology act, then they all deserve Oscars for Best Peformance by a Casino Host.

I also have talked to former hosts (ones who no longer work in the industry, but have recently), and all have verified to me that being "overcomped" is a real thing, and that hosts avoid these customers like the plague.

Besides, I can approximately quantify the value of the comps I redeem (the wholesale cost, not retail), and that number dwarfs my expected loss getting to Seven Stars. So it all makes sense.

I don't understand why you, Alan, and Rob are doubting this is real.

Why is is so hard to grasp that, if the casino spends more in comping me (and I mean actual cost, not retail cost) than my expected losses, I'm not a profitable customer for them?

It seems that some people are just bending over backward to convince themselves that it's impossible to advantage-play the comp system. Instead, they're convinced that the casino just wants me to keep coming back over and over for 2 years, never playing, and utilizing guaranteed comps every time.

Right. I'm falling right into their trap.