PLEASE NOTE: Gambling to achieve a loyalty program tier in a day is for experienced gamblers with at least a $1,000 bankroll. Weigh the benefits before attempting.
Getting Gold
One of the goals that we set for ourselves was to move up to an upper tier in a casino loyalty program. Since we make slot videos and have to travel to Las Vegas every month, we needed free hotel rooms, free food, and hopefully some freeplay.
MGM or Caesars?
The two big contenders on the Las Vegas Strip are MGM and Caesars. Each has their benefits, as do all of the dozen or more loyalty programs. We chose MGM. The reason? Simple. MGM offered us free rooms with no resort fees and we like their resorts.
MGM also offers a Daily Tier Status Accelerator Program, which I’ve used to move from Sapphire to Pearl, and now Pearl to Gold. Here’s are the MGM tiers:
- Sapphire tier: Everyone starts here
- Pearl tier: requires 20K tier credits
- Gold tier: requires 75K credits
- Platinum tier: 200K credits
- Noir tier: by invitation only
We aren’t millionaires. Gold tier seemed unattainable because it requires gambling $75,000 …until I found out about tier accelerators.
Use Accelerators for Better Comps Faster
Tier accelerators take a couple of forms:
a) Daily milestones
b) Multiplier days
For MGM, reaching a 24-hour tier multiplier milestone results in bonus tier credits. MGM runs these promotions for several months in Las Vegas. In theory, it’s possible to go from Sapphire tier (the lowest) to Diamond (the highest) in a day.
Caesars multiplies tier credits (usually 5x to 10x) on specific days in specific locations. However, the cost of flying to these locations and paying for lodging and meals outweighs the benefit for us.
We chose MGM.
MGM Daily Tier Accelerators
At the time I’m writing this (Nov. 2024), the MGM tier accelerators have the following milestones and benefits:
- 5K tier credits in a 24-hour period (midnight until 11:59pm) gets you a 1,250 tier credit bonus.
- 10K = an additional 5K tier credits
- 20K = 20K bonus
- 40K = 60K bonus
NOTE: What I didn’t understand until our last trip is that the bonus credits you receive the following day count towards your next milestone. If you achieved 5K credits on Day 1, on Day 2 you would only need 3,750 tier credits to reach the 5K milestone again.
Gold in 25-hours
When we arrived in Vegas, I needed 19,544 credits to get to Gold tier, so I brought a $2K bankroll with me (double what I normally bring) and began playing slots just after midnight. Apart from sleeping and eating, it was non-stop gambling for the next 24-hours.
The Hurdles…
- With a $2,000 bankroll, I would need to push all of it through the slots five times
- I checked my progress obsessively. MGM recently upgraded their already sophisticated win/loss tracking system, so tracking my balance was much easier.
- The MGM tier accelerator doesn’t give partial credit. If I earned 10,999 credits in the 24-hour period, the additional 999 credits wouldn’t count towards the next milestone.
Missed by That Much
We missed our goal, but it was easy to fix. At 9:30am the next day, I was still short $1,353. I gambled until 9:38 am, which is when I hit the magic 75,000 tier credit finish line. Gold tier was ours to enjoy for the next 13 months.
Tips
No stamina? Don’t do it: While playing slots isn’t physically demanding, the mental stress and endless endorphin rushes took their toll. By the time 11:59pm rolled around, I was exhausted, and that was with a 3-hour nap halfway through it.
Stop if you’re losing: We took many, many breaks if I hit a dry spell. We’d grab a slice of pizza, visit the pool, or even just go for a walk. If you’re burning through your bankroll in the first hour, stop and reassess which games you’re playing and your bet amounts.
Don’t be afraid of the high-limits room: We were lucky and got two hand pays during the 25 hours, which was enough to let us continue gambling without withdrawing more money. High limits is of course a high-risk gamble, but in this case it paid off.