How do casino host earn commission off me?

If I book a room through a host, play during the stay, I'm sure the host earns a commission off my play.

If I arrive at the casino without a booked room, play heavily, then ask the host for some food comp that day, does the host still earn a commission off my play?

Quote: ReyGarcia

If I book a room through a host, play during the stay, I'm sure the host earns a commission off my play.

If I arrive at the casino without a booked room, play heavily, then ask the host for some food comp that day, does the host still earn a commission off my play?
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Yes they can make extra money like that but I think it’s limited to if you lose. The last time I checked at least. I bet there is different models for different casinos. Hosting is like an in house casino junket but they are paid salary they essentially function the same way if you know how junkets work.

Quote: ReyGarcia

If I book a room through a host, play during the stay, I'm sure the host earns a commission off my play.

If I arrive at the casino without a booked room, play heavily, then ask the host for some food comp that day, does the host still earn a commission off my play?
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Generally a host will get a percentage of your theoretical loss. For example if a host gets 10% of your theo loss and you play $10,000 coin in on a 10% slot machine your theo loss will be $1000. If the host gets 5% he will make $50 off of your play.

None of this is correct. It might've been years and years ago, but these days at every Vegas casino I play at in house hosts are salaried and don't get a penny more or less if their players win or lose. The only thing that happens if a player doesn't play enough or flat out stops playing for long enough is that if the host is a top level one will simply drop the player to a different host or have the player assigned to no specific host at all.

I am aware that in some Indian casinos in California INDEPENDENT (as in, outside) hosts still get a % of their players' losses, but even this sort of thing for independent hosts stopped years ago in Vegas.

Quote: MDawg

None of this is correct. It might've been years and years ago, but these days at every casino I play at in house hosts are salaried and don't get a penny more or less if their players win or lose.
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I can see them being salaried, but no bonuses for attracting/keeping big players?

Remind me, when you stay for, say, a week, with everything comped, plus a few grand in free chips, a few grand in gift cards, etc…. How much do you on average tip your host?

Quote: MDawg

None of this is correct. It might've been years and years ago, but these days at every Vegas casino I play at in house hosts are salaried and don't get a penny more or less if their players win or lose. The only thing that happens if a player doesn't play enough or flat out stops playing for long enough is that if the host is a top level one will simply drop the player to a different host or have the player assigned to no specific host at all.

I am aware that in some Indian casinos in California INDEPENDENT (as in, outside) hosts still get a % of their players' losses, but even this sort of thing for independent hosts stopped years ago in Vegas.
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I don't completely know about Vegas but if it is like most of the other markets, I concur with MDawg here.

It's old history that doesn't occur anymore.

This may be different for whales ($50,000 wagers etc). I saw a documentary where the host had that Canadian bed mattress whale and when he didn't play for two days the host begged him to. His words were something akin to "We don't care if you win or lose, but give us a shot at your money". He was wagering fifty grand a spin at roulette!

It is tempting to believe that hosts make more off losing players but this sort of thinking is coming from people who sit at home thinking too much, instead of actually entering the bullpen and living it. Not referring to you SooPoo. Or to put it more nicely, why say anything unless you know for certain? I do know for certain how it works these days in Vegas.

DarkOz, I believe actually - at the TIME that Theroux documentary was filmed - that at that time INDEPENDENT hosts in Vegas might have gotten a % of the loss of their players, but no longer. (Which might be why that independent host from that documentary is no longer an independent host, and just works these days as a player development guy for The D / Circa downtown.)

It probably does make sense that as a host gets more and bigger players that the host would move up in the ranks to a higher salaried position, such as a higher level host (Executive Host), the top host in charge of the other hosts, VP of Player Development, and such, but some of that comes simply from working at a job long enough and doing it well. The host's job is to take care of the player win lose or draw based on action.

SooPoo, I give my hosts Holiday gifts and now and again other tangible gifts, but I have never handed a host cash. (The closest to that has been - gift cards.) I am not sure if they would accept cash? In the old days I used to give pit bosses "happy handshakes" (folded hundred dollar bills), but the impression I get is that such a gesture might get a pit boss in trouble these days.

Let me explain how it works in the very high level, for the highest level hosts...someone in my family might be throwing a wedding or some high level party, either in the United States or abroad, I or another top level player might invite the host and spouse to attend, and put the host up in our own home. Or say, the host is visiting where I live or have a vacation home, the host will be put up in that home. That's how it works at the top levels - some of these very high level hosts and VPs of player development are living the same lifestyle of the rich and famous as the players.
At the "lower" level it might be that the host and significant other sit down at a meal with you and your significant other and indulge in a $1000. (or more) bottle of wine or whatever that is being comp'ed anyway, but at higher levels they are your guests in your own homes and private events. So when some players say that so-and-so host is my friend, in cases where that host has been a guest in your own homes, that host might well be considered a friend.

i got my info from this

https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1615&context=thesesdissertations

and i read it about a year ago... yeah its ftom 2005 but i feel good about what i said when DRich kind of confirmed what i said as i wasnt just making ish up. Of course most of the people in here wont know the exact inner workings if we dont.. do what you do...

and the whale story is in that dissertation

Are you confirming then that you have no personal experience with any of this and get your theories off the internet? Are you saying that the confirmation of another stay at home is all it takes to confirm your own stay at home theories? Anyway I didn't mean to imply that you made things up, just saying that is not the way it is, today.

In any case, in 2005, and perhaps even in 2007 (at the time of Theroux's documentary), independent hosts might have benefited from the losses of their players, but today, in Vegas, in house hosts are all straight salaried. (As well, scanning that scholarly writing you referenced, many of the annotations refer to data from 1994.)

In the same way that divorce attorneys are not allowed to obtain a contingency of the settlement and must work for a straight rate I suppose it would be considered a conflict of interest for a host to get a percentage of a player's losses. In any case, nothing like that is happening in Vegas today.

I personally know two casino hosts at the Tropicana that get a percentage of the theo from their players. Of course, they have both been there many many years so their deal might be different.