A comp stands for complementary, and it consists of all the items and services a casino gives a player to encourage and reward their patronage. Comps can range from the free drinks that Las Vegas casinos give their patrons while they are gambling to lavish suites and luxury automobiles, and almost anything in between.
Comp is short for Complementary
Some comps are really special courtesies that are extended to the casino’s better players, such as the ability to check-in to your hotel room when you arrive at the hotel, and not having to wait to the designated check-in time. Late room check-outs are rarely given to someone that is not a rated player, but are commonly given to good players. A rated player is someone that is recognized by the casino as a customer that has their played tracked by the casino, and is discussed more fully below.
Some Comps are really special courtesies that casinos extend to their better players, like late check-outs.
Cocktails, wine, beer, soft drinks are all routinely comped at Las Vegas casinos to anyone while they are gambling. Parking whether you self park or use valet service are free at Strip casinos, and really can be thought of as comps that are available to everyone. Once you start moving up the comp latter higher value comps are offered to customers. The meal comps usually start with a buffet comp, the next level would be a coffee-shop restaurant, then a mid range restaurant and finally the casinos top gourmet restaurants. Even when you reach the gourmet level, there are ranges of how much the casino will grant in a comp, a top level player will have the entire wine list comped, others will need to show more restraint in their wine selection.
A similar comp latter is often in play for show tickets. Many casinos will have several different shows playing in the same casino, some are more expensive, and hence more difficult to get comped. It also matters whether the show is produced by the casino themselves or the theater is rented out to a third party, in which case it is usually more difficult to get the tickets comped. Some shows are completely free to everyone, and are used to draw customers to a casino.