I was really surprised when chatting to fellow travellers before boarding my flight to Vegas, to find out how many people don't know about the casinos' rewards programs.
Nearly all the casinos (and certainly all the large ones) have some sort of rewards program. If you are going to Las Vegas with an intention of doing some gambling, make sure you take out the free membership to your hotel's casino
I stayed at the Flamingo which is part of the Harrah's group; their rewards program is called Total Rewards. On sign-up, you are presented with two membership cards which are a little like credit or bank cards in that they have a magnetic strip on the back.
When you play the slots, put your rewards card in the slot and it will log your play and your rewards will start building up. When you're at any of the table games (craps, roulette, blackjack, etc.), simply hand over your card to the croupier with your cash when you start to play and they will have it logged in and will 'rate your play'. Little by little your gambling will be monitored and your comps (complimentary) value will start notching up. It may not be tons but certainly at the Flamingo you can offset any charges to your room with your comps value when you check out.
Many of the large casinos belong to a conglomerate of some sort so your rewards card can be used in all the member casinos and keep notching up the value.
If you have any intention of returning to Las Vegas, be sure to keep your cards for future use and further comps!
*Update June 2008 : I can only re-emphasise this tip. I used my Total Rewards card to logon to the Harrahs website to book my room for a return trip (3rd trip to Vegas now) in October this year. I have just got 4 nights at the Imperial Palace (which is also part of the Harrahs group) and paid less than US$90 for the 4 nights (because I was comp'ed for 3 nights, paying only for my Friday night) - a real bargain! I was offered great rates for 50% of the Harrahs hotels for the dates of my stay! *
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www.harrahs.com/total_rewards/overview/overview.jsp http://www.lasvegasinsider.com/html/lvi_comps.htm