Casinos and Free Alcohol

Greetings--planning on making my first trip out to Vegas later this year. Commonly in talking to my customers, they always mention the "free booze". In reading several of the reviews on this website, they mention things such as "$1 beer" or "$1 margaritas". Am I correct in assuming these are specials charged to customers off the floor for gaming? Or have casinos cheapened up out there?

Assuming I'm playing on a table or slot (no specific property), what can I expect to get for free? I'm a fan of things such as Weed/Lemonade, Malibu/Pineapple, etc. Are these things you can get for free? At what level of liquor do they charge you?

Thanks to any answers that may be provided. I have now spent far too much time on this site when I should be in bed sleeping.

If you're playing at the tables or slots, including VP, you get free drinks. It's customary to tip the waitress at least $1.

Bars do charge for drinks. There are cheap and expensive places.

On very rare occasions free drinks might not be available, but usually they are referring to tips to waitresses. These tips are not as optional as others.

If you don't care about which particular brand/variety you get, just generics, they are free. "Premium" drinks are only complementary in some places and/or for some players.

That's broadly, asking about particular casinos will yield specific info.

I have never bought a drink on a casino floor in Vegas in spite of my low-rolling ways. I also have never had a "call" brand drink while on the casino floor. The standard drinks are fine for me!!

A $5 tip to start things off usually brings consistent service...$1-$2 a drink keeps them coming...

Quote: PGBuster

Greetings--planning on making my first trip out to Vegas later this year. Commonly in talking to my customers, they always mention the "free booze". In reading several of the reviews on this website, they mention things such as "$1 beer" or "$1 margaritas". Am I correct in assuming these are specials charged to customers off the floor for gaming? Or have casinos cheapened up out there?

Every casino in Las Vegas offers free drinks for players actively playing on the slot floor or tables. The only casino that doesn't comp is Wynn--but only at their bar. Casino Royale sells $1 Michelobs and small frozen margaritas for anyone off the street. Otherwise, buying a drink at the bar will be significantly more expensive.

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Assuming I'm playing on a table or slot (no specific property), what can I expect to get for free? I'm a fan of things such as Weed/Lemonade, Malibu/Pineapple, etc. Are these things you can get for free? At what level of liquor do they charge you?

What's Weed? I've never had any trouble requesting a specific brand of liquor. Malibu is easy to get. My last casino trip I must have tried every kind of fruity tropical crap combination :) Wynn will comp MacAllan 18 year old.

Drinks are "free" if you're gambling, but as someone posted previously it's customary to tip the waitress $1 per drink she serves you. Typically its common stuff and asking for something different can be a problem. I was playing $10 blackjack at the Bellagio and asked for a Belgian beer called Stella Artois and they gave me a blank look. Maybe it was just mis-communication between the waitress and I, but I saw some people drinking it in the poker room so they had it.

The smaller casinos often have deals to get you in the door -- $1 beer or $1 margaritas -- O'Sheas, Casino Royale, and Bill's Gambling Hall & Saloon are some examples.

One angle to look at is signing up for various slot clubs to see what you can get. I've heard that Casino Royale has a coupon book that gives some good deals when you sign up for their slot club. Other casinos run similar promotions.

If you're looking for more -- like free room, food, and beverage or RFB -- then you're out of my league of experience. Typically RFB is given to you through "comps", but you've got to gamble a lot to get comps. The typical numbers you hear are $50 per bet on blackjack for at least 4 hours per day. I'm a low level player so I've never gotten comps on anything. The most I get is discount room offers. Different casinos will required different levels of play to qualify for comps.

Quote: teddys

What's Weed?

Jeremiah Weed. They make bourbon and sweet tea vodka. Mixing it with lemonade probably means he was referring to the vodka. Apparently their bourbon is the brand of choice for fighter pilots. I had never heard of it until they became a sponsor on the Adam Carolla podcast.

Hah when you said you are a fan of weed & lemonade I thought the casinos were starting to provide another substance to dull the pain of a bad loss :)

Quote: teddys

Wynn will comp MacAllan 18 year old.

As long as you are not playing video poker at the bar!

Quote: helpmespock

Typically RFB is given to you through "comps", but you've got to gamble a lot to get comps. The typical numbers you hear are $50 per bet on blackjack for at least 4 hours per day.

Being RFB'd, which stands for Room/Food/Beverage, varies from casino to casino. However, in my experience, most casinos will require a significantly higher average bet to get there, in the range of $300+ per hand for four hours a day. This was true at my last stay at the Mandalay Bay.

Now there are a couple of other comp status that people don't seem to know about. Since I personally don't drink alcohol, I specifically tell this to my host prior to arriving and quickly get to the RFT (Room/Food/Tea?) status at about $150 to $200 per hand for four hours a day. I assume that this is because most people that have the full RFB status really add on to their bill lots of wine and high end drinks. Perhaps I get this status because I don't abuse the free food either.