Don’t know about you, but the idea of free stuff in Vegas conjures of the images of old when Vegas was Vegas. They knew you by name there (if you were a decent player). It was far less corporate than today. One constant is you can still get free cocktails pretty much anywhere in the casino-even the penny machine area.
Getting free rooms and other perks in the old days was tough for machine players. You basically had to catch the eye of the pit boss. Today, that’s all changed. Comps, which is just a short way of saying complimentary or free stuff, are easier to get because all play can be tracked through player cards.
One day the player card was introduced and video poker and slot machines that could read them started showing up. The system progressed into a fine-tuned compensation machine. You play $x and you get Y points to spend on stuff, like free rooms, clothes, food, cash back, etc.
I guess the downside to all of this is the tight line casinos follow. They really follow a compensation rule set and don’t deviate from it at all. It’s nice, but the personal touch has left the place. But the upside is you can play anything in the...