Casinos give back a small percentage of your expected losses in the form of comps — free meals, hotel rooms, show tickets, free play credits. Craps players are comp-eligible like any other table game player, and at a game you're already planning to play, comps are a reasonable benefit to take advantage of. But the system works in a specific way, and understanding it clearly is the only way to use it without letting it work against you. This page explains how play rating actually works, what you can realistically expect, and the honest math on whether chasing comps makes any sense.
How Casino Rating Works
To receive comps, your play must be rated. That means you give your players card to the floor supervisor or base dealer when you sit down, and the casino tracks your session. Without a card in play, your time at the table generates nothing toward comps regardless of how much you bet.
What the casino tracks comes down to three variables: your average bet size, how many hours you play, and the house edge on the game. A simplified version of the calculation casinos use to estimate your theoretical loss (often called "theo") is:
Average Bet × Hours Played × Decisions Per Hour × House Edge = Theoretical Loss
In practice, many casinos use proprietary systems with preset game codes and internal assumptions rather than applying this formula mechanically — but the underlying logic is the same. Craps averages somewhere between 40 and 100 decisions per hour depending on table occupancy — a full weekend table can slow to 35 or 40 rolls, while a nearly empty table can reach 100 or more. Many casinos use an internal estimate rather than counting actual decisions, though the assumptions vary by property. The casino then comps back a fraction of that theoretical loss — the percentage varies widely by property, your tier level, and host discretion, with no universal standard across operators.
To put a number on it: a $25 average bet, four hours of play, 60 decisions per hour, and a 1.41% house edge produces a theoretical loss of about $85. At a 30% comp rate, that's around $25 in comps. The casino expects to win $85 from your session and is returning roughly $25 of it in services.
How to Get Rated at a Craps Table
Before you buy in, hand your players card to the base dealer or flag down the floor supervisor and say you'd like to get rated. They'll note your name and the time, and your session will be tracked from that point forward. If you forget until you've already been playing, you can still get rated mid-session — you'll just miss credit for whatever time has already passed.
The floor supervisor doesn't track every individual bet you make. They observe the table periodically and estimate your average bet size based on what they see during those passes. For craps, your rated average generally reflects your total action on qualifying bets — not just your pass line wager. A player with $25 on the pass line, $110 across the inside numbers, and a come bet working is being rated on a much higher average than $25. If your betting varies significantly — small during a cold stretch, larger when you feel momentum — your rated average may not reflect your actual action. The floor's observed estimate is what drives your comp calculation.
If you want to know where you stand mid-session, you can ask the floor supervisor directly. Many will tell you your rated average and time played if you ask politely, though policies vary by property. That information helps you gauge what kind of comp to expect before you wrap up.
What Craps Comps Actually Look Like
The most common comp at any level of play is food and beverage. A few hours at a $15 or $25 table at most casinos is enough to earn a casual meal credit. Drinks during play are typically comped by the casino separately from your formal rating at most Las Vegas-style casinos, though this varies by market.
Promotional free play credits are issued to your players card and can be used on designated games — most commonly slot machines. Table-game free play is less common and usually comes in the form of promotional chips or match play rather than direct card credits. Unlike cash, free play typically must be wagered before any winnings can be withdrawn.
Hotel room comps require more cumulative play — usually several hours at moderate stakes across multiple visits, or a single high-stakes session. The metric that drives most offers at major casino operators is Average Daily Theoretical (ADT) — your average theoretical loss per trip — rather than a lifetime total. Strong recent play typically carries more weight than a large but distant history, and one marathon session can actually produce a weaker ADT than shorter, consistent trips. Consistent play at the same casino group compounds into better tier status and offers over time.
Show tickets, spa credits, resort amenities, and cash-back offers are generally reserved for higher-rated players. Cash back — actual money returned to your account rather than play credits — is less common at table games than at slots, where the casino earns more per dollar wagered.
The Honest Math on Comps
Comps are funded by your losses. That's not a cynical framing — it's the literal mechanics of how the system works. The casino runs a theoretical loss calculation, and comps represent a fraction of what they expect to take from you. You are not recouping your losses through comps; you are receiving a partial rebate on money the house expects to win.
If your theoretical loss for a session is $85 and you receive $25 in comps, your net expected cost is still $60, not zero. The casino is returning about 30 cents of every dollar it expects to win from you — which means it is still keeping 70 cents of every dollar. Comps do not change the house edge. They reduce the effective cost of your entertainment, which is something, but only on play you were going to do anyway.
The real danger of comp-chasing is behavioral. Increasing your average bet to hit a higher comp tier, extending your session past the point you'd normally stop, or making extra trips to accumulate status all cost more in expected losses than the comps return. The math doesn't close. You cannot outrun a negative-expectation game by playing more of it in exchange for a free dinner.
The right frame for comps is a bonus on play you already planned. Treat them that way and they're a genuine benefit. Treat them as a goal and they'll reliably cost you more than they return.
How Craps Is Rated Compared to Other Games
Craps has one of the lowest house edges of any table game. The pass line sits at 1.41%, and the don't pass is slightly lower at 1.36%. That's favorable for your bankroll, but it works against you in comp calculations — the casino expects to win less per hour from a craps player than from a roulette player or a slot machine player at the same bet size. Lower theoretical loss means fewer comps generated for the same hours and stakes.
Some casinos address this by rating craps at a flat assumed house edge — often 1.5% to 2% — regardless of which bets a player is actually making. That's a small overstatement of your true edge if you're playing pass line and odds, but it's also not unusual for the casino to apply a blanket rate rather than attempt to track which specific bets each player made across four hours.
If a casino is using a 2% assumed edge for their comp calculation and you're only betting pass line at 1.41%, their theoretical loss figure is overstated in your favor — you're getting credited for more theoretical loss than you actually incurred. The reverse is also true: players who make frequent proposition bets — hardways, horn bets, hop bets — face a true house edge of 9% to nearly 17% on those wagers, but the casino's flat 1.5–2% rating significantly understates their actual theoretical loss. Prop bettors can be under-comped relative to what the casino is actually earning from them — though some properties track proposition action separately and adjust accordingly.
Free Odds and Comps
Free odds bets do not count toward your comp rating at most casinos. The casino earns nothing on free odds — the bet pays true probability with no house edge — so including it in a comp calculation would be giving away something for nothing. Most properties either ignore odds entirely in their rating or count only a small fraction of the odds bet.
Before assuming your full bet is being rated, ask the floor how they handle odds. If you're playing $25 pass line with $100 in odds, your rated bet size may only be $25. That's not a reason to avoid taking odds — free odds remain the best bet on the table by a wide margin — but it's worth knowing that loading up on odds won't translate into a higher comp rating.
This is also why the advice to "take maximum odds to improve your comp" is wrong. You won't get credit for the odds, and the odds themselves cost you nothing in edge, so the only effect of increasing them is reducing your overall house edge on the combined bet — which is exactly what you want, but it won't generate better comps.
Practical Tips for Getting the Most Out of Comps
Sign up for the players card before your first session at any new casino, and present it every time you sit down. Every unrated session is play the casino records no credit for, and there's no way to retroactively reclaim that time.
Play at the same casino or casino group consistently. Most major casino operators have shared comp systems across their properties, and your status is cumulative across affiliated locations. Splitting play across unaffiliated properties fragments your ratings and keeps you at lower tiers everywhere.
Ask for comps directly. Floor supervisors have discretion, and a polite ask — "Is there anything you can do for us on dinner tonight?" — often yields more than waiting for an automated offer. Asking is not rude, and it's routine enough that the floor won't blink at it.
If your average bet increases significantly during a session, ask the floor supervisor to update your rating. Many players don't realize their estimated average can be adjusted mid-session — if you started at $10 and moved up to $50, the early observation may be dragging your rated average down. It's worth asking — many floors will update it, though not all will.
For players who visit frequently at meaningful stakes, it's worth introducing yourself to a casino host. Hosts have discretion to issue comps, remove charges, and improve offers outside the automated tier system. A relationship with a host can unlock things the system won't give you automatically.
Don't adjust your strategy for comp purposes. Play the way you'd play without the card in, and let the comps accumulate on the side. The moment you change your bet sizing or session length based on what you think you'll earn in comps, you've let the casino's reward system direct your decisions — which is exactly what it's designed to do.
Finally, use comps for things you'd spend money on anyway. Free meals, hotel nights, or a show you were planning to see are genuine savings. Let free show tickets be the perk, not the reason you made the trip.