Some casino players club programs are more transparent than others. When they’re less transparent, it can lead to some confusion. We received a great question around the topic:
My local gives player’s points and comp points depending on play. Is the reward the same percentage-wise on the money spent no matter the bet? Does a low roller spending $200 on a minimum bet earn the same comp and player’s points as a high roller who spends $200 betting maximum bet.
Chris G.
Before we address the specific question, let’s take a step back and talk about these programs more generally.
Usually they calculate benefits in one of two ways:
- Based on the dollar amount wagered – earn 1 point for every $x wagered.
- Based on the bet, the game played, for how long and so on – the casino’s way of attempting to explain theoretical loss (theo) is their method of calculation.
Theoretical loss is how much you’re expected to lose based on the bet size, the house edge of the game you’re playing and how many wagers at that bet size you made (the “time” component).
Casinos are generally transparent for the former structure and will outline it in the program. The largest casino company that does this is Caesars Rewards, as they outline all of this in their program.
The theo model tends to have little to no information because each individual game has its own house edge. The largest program operating this way today is MGM Rewards.
One other thing that’s important to note that links back to your question – in either scenario, it’s less about how much you lose, but how many wagers you make. When earning based on dollars wagered, it’s purely how much you bet. With theo, your theo grows as the amount of your wagers grow.
With that in mind, let’s dive into the question. Based on your description, it sounds like theo is the direction they go. Theo is important because a higher limit bettor will be certainly betting more per spin, but it’s generally that higher denomination games have a lower house advantage. So that can impact the earnings rate.
Of course, $200 on big bets can be gone in a few spins, where a minimum bet player may be able to play for hours. While the big bettor can certainly bet through more money per hour, if they run out of money they can’t do any more betting, whereas the min bet player can keep going.
So the answer is it’s unlikely they’ll earn the same amount in a session, because it really comes down to how much cycling each player is able to do. If the higher bettor hits a big bonus and can play for awhile, they’ll certainly earn more. But if they overbet their bankroll and flame out early, it wouldn’t be surprising for the lower bettor to actually come out ahead on points, since the amount wagered is a key component to your tier credits and comp dollars.
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