I have a question about comps (I play most at Borgata over all others, but I do sometimes at Caesar's AC and the Trump properties) -

Are there particular games that get comped higher than others? Say if I was playing craps at $35 versus roulette at $35...would I get comp dollars faster on roulette, since the odds are more in favor of the house?


Thanks, D E K E R

I've recently started visiting the Borgata once a month or so after realizing that it was a solid substitute for expensive and time-consuming occasional trips to Vegas, and have been extremely pleasantly surprised by the comp system. Judging from some of the older comments I've seen here and around the web, it definitely sounds like they may have stepped up in response to the recession. I'm a low-stakes player, typically bet $20-$25 and play craps or blackjack, but after just a few trips to the Borgata they're already offering me free rooms during the week and quite substantial discounts on the weekend, which is more than I've ever gotten out of any Vegas property.

I also like that the system is fairly transparent, with the easy-to-understand comp dollars account balance, since I don't love the casinos where you have to ask for comps (especially because, where I'm not a high bettor, I don't want to ask for something that I'm not entitled to). But I am wondering, is Borgata strict about their comps being just the balance? Or do they sometimes do things like comp dinner outside of using accumulated points? I'm just trying to get a sense of what I should be on the lookout for, since they seem willing to be relatively generous.

If you don't use earned comps in a six month period, they are taken away (I found this out the hard way, when I first started playing there). If your comp balance exceeds 3000 pts, the excess is also forfeited. So if a host comps you directly for dinners (say), and you don't use your points--they could disappear.
One can redeem points for Borgata certificates (min $50) for use in Vegas.

Comps from Dining
 

Hi, heading back down to the Borgata next weekend. Question about room comps etc.......

Will be gambling (low stakes) but also dining high end(4 people @ old homestead and the new italian place) for two nights. Will there be any benefit to putting the dinners "on the room" and settling the bill afterward? Does that money spent rather than "lost" contribute to the likelihood of getting comped rooms in the future. Thanks

If you are asking whether or not you will receive comped rooms by charging everything to your room, I would say not likely. The frequency of stays at the Borgata might have more influence on the comped rooms you will receive in the future.

Also, if Japanese is your cup of tea, Izakaya is the best fusion inspired Japanese food I've had on the East Coast. Please let me know how the Forneletto is (the Italian place) as I have never eaten there.

Just came back today from a 2 night (free room) stay. Played Blackjack both nights. The first night I played for 4 hours, average of $20 a hand. Got $22 in comps. The second night I played for 5 hours, average of $20 a hand. Got $9 in comps! Whoopie.

I go on average to the Borgata once a month and usually play $50 blackjack. I remember reading/hearing somewhere that the comp formula changes when your average bet is $50 or higher. (And it seems to be the case, I've earned substantially more playing $50 hands than $25 hands, not just double the comp points).

I've noticed the room comps getting a little tougher. Any other black card members notice that some Sat night comps aren't free anymore? Granted the rate is drastically reduced but there used to never be a problem booking it advance at no cost.

I guess with the economy the way it is, more people are going to AC than making Vegas trips. And it seems to have led to more Borgata gamers - even if they aren't betting as much. So it's like there are more rated players competing for the same amount of comp rooms.

Regardless, Borgata is my favorite place to play and stay.

I def agree that Borgata has gotten stingier with the comps. I've been a Black Card member for years, and Borgata has def changed a bit with their rating. On a daily visit, I usualy play an average of 2-3 hours of roulette with my spin total averaging $350 on the outside and another 2-4 hours of Bacarrat and/or BlackJack at an average hand of $150. I usually buyin arounk 5k, and immediately reload and press my bets I get cracked (very stupidly I may add). I also tip the dealers extremely well. However, for some odd reason on three separate trips this past year, Borgata (or essentially the pit boss) didn't put any of my action into the system for my play. This turned me off. I complained, but they said I needed to take it up that day I gambled at the casino. I feel awkward asking the pit boss/dealer to check my player average bet/time every 20 minutes to see if the casino is cheating me out of my comps.

Eventually I started going to Tropicana/Harrahs and although the casinos aren't as nice. Both properties take much better care of me. Tropicana actually surprised me with the amount of comps they offer me on top of what I earned and the show tickets. However, the only tower worth a damn at the Tropicana is the South Tower. Borgata is still the nicest casino, but when I brought up the difference in comps the pit bosses cocky reply that "Borgata doesn't need to do that, because it has all the clientele" pissed me off. I stopped gambling at Borgata about 4-5 months ago, when summer came they removed my Saturday night comped rooms at either hotel (Borgata/Water Club) unless I booked 2 months in advance. My host left for City Center in Las Vegas, and the casino never contacted me with a new host. I think I am done with Borgata other than for clubs/restaurants. In one day trip to Harrahs or Trop, I gained 25% of the points needed to get their Black Card equivalents.

Does anyone else feel the same way about the Borgata?

borgata pit managers
 

I do feel the unfairness sometimes on my end. The part that doesnt make sense is when i play at the high limit table for an hour and a half betting min $100 every spin vs i bet a few quarters at the regular roullette table, i actually got more points playing at the regular tables the same amount of time (give and take), with spending much less money!!. i honestly feel that some off the pit managers just do what they feel like. if they're asian and you happen to be asian, i'd bet money that they rate you better, if they see you tipping heavy, again, they'd give you more comp points. the sad part is some of the pit managers just dont even pay attention to what the players are doing and just blabbering on with the dealers talking about the weather and sports. i think borgata has to be more strict on how the dealers and/or managers stay on top of their job and i am not staying this out of snobiness. there was an italian guy sitting next to me this weekend and after the dealer bickering on in spanish with the other floor person who organizes the chips for pay out and pushes it in front of the dealer, the italian guy asked them to to get changed because it was getting ridiciulos at that point that they were laughing and talking non stop in spanish, making it very annoying for everybody at the table.. not to mention that the pit manager should have noticed this way before and broke the chit chat. ps: guess the italian guy was ticked off cos he lost a few G's :D

I dunno why the hotel rooms are so damn tight.

I just got back from a 5 day trip (had to pay $99 for saturday), earned about 400 comp dollars and got an early upgrade to a black card (went to the host desk and asked), and my rates for next trip went up! I have to pay like 140 bucks for july 10.

That's ........, I bet like $200 / hand and play for at least 4 hours a day, I shouldn't have to pay a cent for the hotel.

Since 1000 comp dollars (in a year) gets you Black Card, 400 in 5 days should get you free rooms (even on weekends). My guess is that it will take a month before their computer system syncs with your play.

Nope, the computer system updates after every session (I check on my iPhone, my hotel offers/comp dollar balances update right away).

I still had 400 some odd points to go towards a black card but stopped by the host desk on the way out and asked for the update, of course they said yes.

Apparently black chip players aren't good enough for unlimited free rooms at Borgata lol, you probably need to give purple action for that.

I meant that the free room offers (and other comps) would synchronize with your level of play.

I only play slots (black card level not titanium) and get my rooms comped up to 2 days per week (even weekends) every week. [In general slot players are given better "stuff" than table games.]

Oh yeah, by far slots players get better comps.

That's because slots players = more $ to the casino.

Higher house advantage (Can be > 10% on reel slots easily), and far less expensive to operate.

Hell, a lot of places in vegas don't even rate you if you're playing < $25 / hand at table games, because they're not making money off you at that betting level. It costs them more to provide the seat, dealer, pit crew, etc then they're making off the house advantage on your betting.

I'm a table games only player, and will probably never play slots, unless they put in full pay deuces wild machines!

Oh well, I booked my next trip already anyway. Gonna be $119 for 5 nights (thursday - monday, the charge is of course for saturday). I figure I'll earn 400 comp dollars+ and only spend like 300 of it on food during the trip so that'll cover most of my hotel bill.

Was this your first time playing at Borgata, or your first time in a while? Have you recently significantly increased your play levels or have you in the past had stays where you've gotten many fewer comp dollars per stay? In my somewhat trial-and-error experience of observing how my Borgata comp offers evolve after each visit, I've noticed that they definitely use a per-trip averaging method, so if you had a few much smaller stays in the past, those may still be dragging you down even with this big stay on the books. I've also noticed that there seems to be something of a "history" effect, in that even if you play roughly the same amount each time, you get slightly better comps over time--so perhaps, as foolish as this may be on their part, one big trip might not be enough to get you fully in their good graces (though to some extent I may also be confusing this effect with the averaging across each visit effect).

They may also be discounting your play somewhat because of how long you spent at the hotel; certainly it's logical to think that someone who does that many comp dollars while staying only one night might be considered more valuable to the hotel than someone who has a room for several nights. So maybe you're getting rated more like an 80 comp dollars per night player, rather than a 400 comp dollars per trip player.

Or maybe it's something else entirely, these are just some ideas. The casinos must love how, with their opaque rewards systems, they get us running around like trained monkeys trying to figure out which is the right button to press to make things come out.

Well, before I was just a 1/2 NL poker player, so I got pretty much no offers at all.

Then after that I've had 4 trips.

1st trip was on someone else's hotel room, I played just enough to get 2 weekdays comped (around 60 comp dollars)

2nd trip was on 2 weekdays, I played enough to get better comps (around 60 comp dollars)

3rd trip was 5 days starting June 10, (4 days comped, 150 bucks + taxes for saturday). (around 100 comp dollars)

4th trip (which I just got back from tuesday) was 5 days starting June 24, 4 days comped, $99 for saturday (around 400 comp dollars + discretionary upgrade to black card when i asked the host)

Next trip starts on July 8, 5 days, 4 comped, $119 for saturday. Depending on how things go I could earn anywhere from 400 - 800 comp dollars

Yeah I'd definitely say that's the problem. Your other older trips, when you were earning very few comps at poker or less than $100 playing less, are dragging down your average, and thus you are being rated at something much less than a $400 comps a trip player. You can debate whether this is fair but it would seem to be the way the system works. If you're really concerned about getting Saturdays comped, you might try talking to someone at the Borgata and see if they can wipe out or reduce the influence of some of your older stays, especially if you earn a similar amount your next trip, at which point I'd say you'd have a strong case.

The poker trips don't count, for anything that is. Poker doesn't get you reduced room rates (only the "poker rate" which isn't all that great).

Right now I'm not ALL that concerned because I'll most likely earn enough comp $ to pay off the hotel bill anyway. Unless I have a massive downswing my first day or something I can bet at a level to earn at minimum $100 comps a day

I have casino credit now too, I got it during my last trip, so I dunno how much that counts towards anything. I use most of what I have. I have about 6K, and on average I'll take 3 - 4K out sitting at a table.

I just checked the rates to reserve a comp room with my borgata black card for tonight. I know it's very late notice but they quoted me $509. I think it's pretty crazy, does this mean for somebody with no comps and cards will pay $700-$800 to book a room or because it's the weekend, borgata does not care and they charge the maximum they can since it's a Saturday night??

Last time i checked the same date 2 weeks ago, comp room was $99 for this same Saturday.
Moral of the story is book in advance...

Also, a while ago i wanted to book a comp room and they told me they were sold out, i was skeptical so i hung up and called back again and asked them i wanted to reserve a room and charge it on my card... Sure enough, they said they were completely booked out ..

price of rooms
 

:confused:this is something i noticed at borgata, there are lots of young club goers, i noticed that they have 1 or 2 people check in and then they have 4 or 5 people chipping in for the room you do the math on even a $800.00 room for a saturday night. the person checking cards in the lobby of the hotel is really not doing that great of a job, as i have been waved in trying to find my key on many many occasions. just a thought

$500+ for a hotel room in AC?!?!

Seems excessive to me, but I guess they will charge what the traffic will bear.

I'm not a high-roller and have had pretty good results with comp rooms at the Borgata...mostly during the week.

That's the catch; the only time hotel rooms in Atlantic City are expensive (and more difficult to get COMP) are weekends (more so, Saturday night); and on holidays.

They give away rooms (like candy) mid-week. ;)

Hehehehe... That's why you fly out to vegas. As soon as borgay started getting cheap, I stopped going. MGM treats me way better. And with MGM pulling out of borgay recently, I probably will stop going altogether. They demoted me from black card after I stop going for a year (I think i went twice last year), I was like who cares. I think I earned around $500 in comps with both trip combined. Hehehehe, but I didn't bother going back to get the other $500, not worth it.

MGM gives me free play chips, free rooms on weekends, and food comps. Games also have better odds, so you end up losing less over the long haul. It more than pays for the flight. Problem is the length of trip... :rolleyes:

Borgata is honestly driving me nuts, i've retained my black card for the past 3 years, meaning i complete my $1000 comps every year to carry it over and still i'm getting horrific rates for Friday and Saturday stays.
Friday, i paid $279 for Borgata. Saturday, I blew $499+tax to stay in the Water Club since they were already sold out on Brogy,.. Luckily made up all that money at the tables. They gave me Sun free which i didnt stay anyway. Whats the point of free weekdays, there is no fun and no crowd on Mon, Tue, Wed etc... I'm really getting pissed off since the black card doesn't get you anywhere these days, except some comps you can use to cover your wining and dining... I think it's time to fly out to Vegas.. (Especially given the freezing cold on the east coast these days!!!)

Question is this: Can i use my black card in Vegas to get any special deals in Vegas? Doesnt Boyd own MGM or something as well? Please advise... I know in Borgy if you bring your other "black card" from a different casino, they upgrade you to the black...
Thanks...

Borgata used to be owned 50/50 between Boyd and MGM, but that is no longer in effect; Boyd's only Vegas casinos are not anywhere that the Borgata clientele is likely to be interested in, and they have a separate player's card anyway. You could try seeing if any of the casinos would give you anything for your black card, but the matching programs are mostly an AC phenomenon, and the Vegas casinos likely look down on AC anyway (and are unaware that the Borgata is actually fairly nice) so it would be hard to convince them just by showing the card that you're worth anything.

That said, if you play enough to be Black Label, and if you go to Vegas and focus your play on one brand like MGM Resorts (which owns Bellagio, MGM, Mandalay, Mirage, and others), it shouldn't be hard to start getting comps there as well, and they will likely be willing to retroactively comp some of your room charges at check-out if you play at the same company's properties as where you stay, and if you play enough during your stay. In general the nicer Vegas properties are much stingier with free room offers to low- and mid-level players than the Borgata is, even on weekdays, but at the least you'll get discounted room rate offers and the potential to have the room comped at check-out.

The only brand that will seamlessly give you credit between AC and Vegas is Caesar's (Harrah's) Total Rewards, but unless you're a slot player that's not likely to be a good choice in general.

actually...
 

Every experience is different, but I'm a table games player and find Caesars Properties to be very generous in Vegas, at least with room comps. I suggest you play at Harrah's in AC if you want to use the comps in Vegas. At least enough so you'll get room offers for Vegas.

So, it sounds like having a black card is kind of a bust. Is there any benefit that makes it worth it? Maybe Amphora (sp?) Lounge?

Don't forget that the Amphora Lounge (for black card only) charges $10/person each time you visit--payable in comp dollars.

Vegas has overbuilt and has lots of (vacant) rooms, probably more so on the weekend, since many conventions are weekday affairs. [CES which had been a weekend event for the last 3 years, will be a weekday show in 2012.]

I tried sleeping at the Sheraton Convention Center off SPG pts one weekend at the Borgata, I heard it was a popular way to avoid the weekend rate. I was expecting a pretty good hotel, but I don't think I would do it again. The lobby seems nice but it stops there. Has anyone else tried this and had a different experience?

I don't know about anyone else but I love my black label at borgata. Ten comp dollars for buffet, which I think is delicious and Amphora is well worth the ten comp dollars; food is awesome. You get slot dollars put onto your card every month, no hassles with going to the cashier and standing in line, slot tourneys, and great rooms. And their machines pay out more.
Another thing about Borgata, they don't make their red label people feel ignored like Harrahs does- I hate the system over there. For me, it's an easy choice.

At one time you could redeem comp dollars for "vacation certificates" valid at any Boyd or MGM properties--these even covered tips, since they were essentially a "cash" item. Several months ago they discontinued the vc program (and their ties with MGM and Boyd). However the Borgata buffet and most of their other restaurants have food a step above what I've found in other AC casinos is one of the reasons I haven't quit going to Borgata.
PS: Slot players are treated better (in general) everywhere over table game players.

My experience, I just came back from Borgata after staying on Saturday night, I changed a $100 at a BJ table and gave them my card, it was $15 min a hand, I spent over 3 hours on the table, that intial $100 lasted me the whole time I was there, I figured I spent about $1000 over the 3 hours all together. All I got comp'd was $7 dollars. I thought I would have gotten more, meh.
I thought it sucked but then I got home yesterday and checked online and see they at least gave me comp rooms for Borgata and the Waterclub from May-Aug, mostly weekdays Mon-thurs with like two sundays, at least that made me a feel a bit better.
Also anybody ever stayed at the Fiore Suite in Borgata? Is it big? and is it better or worse than a regular waterclub room?
thanks

Fiore Suites are bigger rooms, not a separate bedroom, Huge bathroom with double sinks and big shower as well as a separate bathtub big enough to swim in! Fresh chilled water waiting at check in. There is a usable fridge in the room (unlike the water club).. I wouldn't say better or worse, just different.

That's impressive, I was there the same night as you and sat down with $200 at the $15 table. I played about 4-5 hours. I got no comped rooms, etc. no offers at all. I'm highly jealous. Did you play anything else, is this your first time, etc.?

The Fiore Suite is much better than the regular rooms at the Borgata. The regular rooms at the Waterclub are nicer/newer than the Borgata rooms but also more $. If I had the option between a regular water club room and a Fiore Suite. I would probably take the suite. (huge bathroom, couch, spacious, small foyer.)

The rooms in the Waterclub are smaller than the normal rooms in the regular building; but the corner rooms are designated Vista and are very nice. The suites in the WC (have a special entrance and I believe are on the highest floors) are these nicer than Fiore Suites?

Thanks for the info everyone........lol wonder if we played at the same table, I did play like only $20 in slots with my card but don't like slots much so spent the rest of time at BJ, also yea this was my first time using their card at the casino so they could track me.

another data-point....

I don't play often at the Borg;

But, $105 average at dice (not including odds) for 3 hours 30 minutes will get your $52 in comp dollars + 'regular' rooms most nights (with exception to Saturday nights).

Slightly OT, but I was disappointed to see that Borgata has changed most of their blackjack tables (presumably the cheaper ones) from dealer stands on soft 17, to dealer hits on soft 17, which is in line with the rest of AC and is much worse for the player. Perhaps this was commercially necessary, but I for one will be moving my play to other regional casinos, like those in CT and perhaps the Bethlehem Sands, where the blackjack rules are still much more player-favorable.

BK:

I never did make it to Borgota... shame on me.....

What kind of love are they giving players when it comes to comps ?

I usually play about $50-$75 a roll on Craps, and about $40-$60 on Roulette, and then of course maybe about 250-400 on Slots just to give it a spin...

BankRoll is usually between 2500-4k.....