How to earn free casino play ready for Synergy & E2E Las Vegas in 2016

Citrix Synergy and E2E in 2016 will both be held in Las Vegas, famed for its casino’s.

If you fancy a bit of a gamble whilst at the conferences, a free show or meal, there’s a way to accumulate Casino comps (free and discounted rooms, meals, shows etc) and “free play” (credit you can use to gamble on tables or slots) from the comfort of your own home or office, provided you’re prepared to put in a bit of time.

Background

Las Vegas is dominated by two main hotel and entertainment behemoths: MGM Resorts International, and Caesars Entertainment. Between them they run almost all of the big gambling hotels on the strip. Both run loyalty schemes that reward you with free stuff (known as “comps”) based on the amount you are spending in their hotels, bars, restaurants and casinos.

Let’s examine the two schemes in detail, and how you can have some credit in your pocket before arriving at Vegas.

Caesars Entertainment

Includes the following Vegas hotels:

• Caesars Palace
• Harrahs
• Ballys
• The Cromwell
• Flamingo
• The LINQ (10 minutes from the conference venue)
• Nobu
• Planet Hollywood
• Paris
• Rio
• Thistledown

Their loyalty program is called Total Rewards. Consider signing up via my link if you find this post useful which will award me a handful of reward credits.

They have the usual tiered reward structure.

Advance earning opportunities

Social Rewards

Total Rewards have a web-based sharing portal called “Social Rewards“. This allows you to earn resort credits by watching YouTube videos promoting Caesors shows and restaurants, and “liking” and “sharing” them via Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. You may want to create secondary accounts if you plan on doing this regularly so as not to bombard your regular followers with Vegas promotional posts!

I’ve earned around $100 in resort credit over the past few years, which I spent at various restaurants during Summit 2015. Not bad for free!

Credit Card

If you’re slightly more serious gambler (and a US resident) you can apply for the Total Reward VISA card, which gives additional perks for card holders and reward credits when you spend on the card.

MGM Resorts

• Bellagio
• Aria
• VDara
• MGM Grand (Summit 2016 venue hotel)
• Mandalay Bay
• Delano
• The Mirage (E2E venue)
• Monte Carlo
• New York-New York
• Luxor
• Excalibur

The MGM reward program is called MLife and has similar membership tiers and benefits.

Advance earning opportunities

MyVegas

MyVegas is a collection of mobile and Facebook games that you can play with “virtual coins” and earn credits which you can redeem for comps:show tickets, buffet passes, hotel room discounts, free play credit etc. You get some free coins each day you play (via a daily bonus wheel) and bonus coins for inviting your Facebook friends and as you “level up” inside the game.

There’s popular table games such as Blackjack so you can hone your skills before getting to Vegas when you’ll be playing with real money!

It’s time consuming, but if you have a regular commute with some time to spare, you should be able to build up enough credits for some free play, show or buffet pass. You are limited to three comp redemptions for each visit.

 

How to maximum your comps

You earn loyalty credit by staying, eating, drinking and gambling in their hotels and resorts.

Always charge everything to your room. If you’re in a different hotel to the one you are staying in, but it’s part of the same group, you can cross-charge back to your room to ensure you get credit.

Booking a show? Book it at one of the same hotels in the group and ensure you present your reward card to get credit for your spend.

Always ensure you always present your membership card at gambling tables and insert them into the slot machines when playing slots. This will track every $ you spend.

Gambling comps are rewarded for your time spent gambling, not necessarily the amount you spend (although of course high rollers will earn comps faster, but you still need to gamble for a substantial period of time to get into the upper program tiers).  You’ll earn more comps playing $1 slots for 4 hours, than dropping $100 in 10 minutes on a roulette table.

And don’t forget YeboYesCasino will provide free drinks whilst you are gambling. Just watch out for the hostesses walking around talking orders (and don’t forget to tip of course)

Bonus tip for frequent travellers

Both Vegas groups have reciprocal status arrangements with two global hotel chains. This will “status match” your existing hotel status giving you the equivalent status for the corresponding Vegas resort.

MGM/MLife will status match against Hyatt Gold Passport, and Caesers/Total Rewards will allow your rewards credits to be transferred to Starwood Preferred Guest.

If you have status with either of the above hotel chains, it’s worthwhile linking your Total Rewards, or MLife accounts before arriving so that your Vegas perks get a boost when you arrive.