I signed up for my rewards card from Lumiere Place Casino yesterday, and blew a few bucks at the slots, for the lulz. Obviously the computer was able to keep track of how much I wagered, since the whole thing is computerized.
How does that shake out at table games, however? Clearly the dealer can’t be bothered to record my wager at every bet - he’d spend half his time doing that! Does the casino’s computer just record the amount of time I spent at the table and factor in the table minimums to compute the points I’ve generated?
ETA: Sorry about the grammar error in the title. Yes, I know better.
The pit boss wanders around and observes the average bet by the players, and they’re notified when a player is buying more chips too. I assume they have a computer unit somewhere that has everyone’s card login information based on their seat, and then they simply estimate the number of dollars being bet. It’s not as precisely accurate as a computer, obviously, but good enough.
At table games, one presents their comp card to the dealer who hands it off to the pit boss. The pit boss will keep track of each player’s buy in and cash out, as well as a rough average bet size, and the time spent at the table. Larger casinos have touch-screen systems at every table so the boss can quickly adjust the stats for each player and check them in and out. Smaller or older venues may have one computer in the middle of the pit for keeping track of everything.
Has a table at the end that supposedly was given by an exec at a strip casino for purposes of comps.
They use something like what is on that site - as the other above me have posted - they are looking for AVERAGE bet per hand. While it wouldn’t surprise me if they keep track of what people buy in for - some get confused and think this is what they base the comps on - it absolutely is NOT - while they might use that as a sanity check - casinos are too smart to use this as the factor - as lots of people think they can buy in for large amounts - and then get comps based off this.
Also - FWIW - the casinos I’ve been to will announce any large buy in (and it doesn’t have to be that large) - whether you have a card or not. This is done as a security procedure - not for player tracking (but they might use it there as well).
Normally - when you leave the table they don’t really know how much you left with (unless they want to view the tapes - or you “color up”).
I’ve been somewhat unimpressed with the tracking on table games - it seems somewhat inconsistent - but I haven’t done any real tests or anything - just the general impression compared to slots and the like.