Last year, I won a myVegas sweepstakes for a 2 nights stay at NYNY with $100 in freeplay and $200 in resort credit. I had to submit a W9 form with playstudios because the winnings are considered as income. I expected to be taxed but I was definitely surprised at how much they valued the prize.
I received my 1099-misc for the winnings and the prize was valued at $1000. They seemed to just pick a random number for the value of the prize, without considering the actual value. At a 30% state + federal tax rate, I would owe an addition $300. The actual value of the prize, based on publicly available rates on the same day, was:
2 weekday nights at NYNY: No resort fees. Had to go on weekdays due to schedule. Actual value: $220
$100 freeplay: Actual value: $100
$200 resort credit: Actual value: $120
The resort credit value is based on the premium they add for their room rates with a food and beverage credit. Typically, for $100 daily credit you only pay $50-$60 per night. So the actual value of the stay was only about $450, yet I had to pay $300 in taxes for it.
What’s even worse is that the REAL value for me is significantly lower. If I had to book this trip, I would have paid:
2 weekdays nights at NYNY: free through myVegas, no resort fee through MGM Gold. Price: $0
$100 freeplay: Price: $100
$200 resort credit Price: $120
If I booked the trip myself, I would have only spent $220! Yet by winning the prize I would pay $300 in taxes.
Conclusion
The lesson here is 1) if you win a prize, ask about taxes 2) book weekend rates to maximize value 3) consider decline the prize if the taxes is more than you would pay for the trip.
In the above picture, if someone won the NCL cruise, they would owe taxes on $1800, in addition to the gratuities and port fees. They could have gotten the cruise for free and saved $540 if they purchased the NCL reward directly loyalty
Separate from loyalty points, you can get myVIP points through daily play and by purchasing on most apps. It is intended to give incentives and rewards to the most active and highest paying players.
What is myVIP Status good for?
Higher myVIP levels will get you marginally more chips, priority support and, access tournaments, and a personal host at tier 7. At tier 7, you can ask your host for some sold-out rewards or to convert your LP into freeplay. You may also receive some gifts from your host.
Without spending any money, the highest you can get is myVIP level 5, which nets you priority support and access to special tournaments. The tournaments may be worth participating in because the pool of players is smaller and your odds of winning is higher than a general tournament.
How do you earn myVIP points?
You can earn myVIP points by collecting hourly/daily bonuses. The ways to earn myVIP points are:
Pop Slots (60/day)
myVegas (30/day) and 5 every 2 hours.
myVegas Classic (30/day)
Konami Slots (30/day) and 5 every 2 hours.
Bellagio Poker (15/day)
So you can earn 175/day by logging in once in each of these apps, up to 285 day if you collect every 2 hours.
You can also earn myVIP points by making purchases in most games at the rate of 80 points per dollar spent. The only game that isn’t linked to the myVIP system is Tetris and all the other games seem to earn 80 points per dollar.
How do you earn myVIP status?
The chart showing earning requirements is a bit misleading. For example, you don’t need only 5500 points to get to tier 5. Once you get to a tier 4, you need an additional 5500 points to get to tier 5. So to get to tier 5 you need to earn 5500+1600+300+75=7475 points. Once you reach tier 5, you can maintain tier 5 by earning 7400 points (tier 4 + tier 5 requirement). Or you have 45 days to earn 22k points to get to tier 6.
At a rate of 285/day, you can get 12k+ points per 45 days so you can realistically keep tier 5 forever since it only requires 7400 points to maintain. To get to tier 6 from tier 5, you will need to spend about $125 on top of daily bonuses. To get to tier 7 from tier 6, you would need to spend at least $550 in addition to the daily bonuses.
Here is the current room availability calendar as of 1/23/24. Availability will change as people book rooms. One day and two day comp room availability is usually the same. There is no weekend availability, but some of the free rooms are valued at $300+ per night.
myVegas is currently offering an reward for $1000 off cruises. Two people can buy a certificate each and get $2000 off their cruise fare. Or a single certificate can take $1000 off. You can stack this with CruiseFirst on cruises 7 days or longer, the free at sea offers, Amex offers, and some personalized cruise offers.
They don’t pull any tricks with the base price of the fare. The price is the same price that you can quote on their website. It is also valid on any type of stateroom.
Sample Itinerary
Sample itinerary found directly on their website. The $1000 per person discount applies off just the Stateroom portion of the fare (in this case, $1998), so your total fare would be $512.64. Not included are gratuities at $20 per person per day.
The $1000 off per person only covers the cost of the stateroom and does not cover taxes, gratuities, or excursions. The total out of pocket cost, not including airfare to the port, would be $512 + gratuities ($20/day per person) for a total of $952.
You can also stack this with a Cruisefirst certificate ($250 for $500 credit), making it $702 for two people. This also stacks with amex offers if it is available at the time.
This also stacks with some personal offers that may be on your NCL account. For example, a 25% discount due to changed itinerary would be stacklable but the dollar off from the myVegas applies first and you get a discount on the remaining fare.
How to purchase the reward
The $1000 off reward currently costs 300,000 loyalty points on myVegas. If you’re starting off today, it is possible to get this number of loyalty points in as few as 4 days, depending on how much time you want to invest in the apps.
If the reward is sold out, there is a good chance it will be available at the standard reset time.
Most rewards refresh daily. These are the approximate refresh times. There are some exceptions that do not refresh daily (helicopter flights, special events, and some cruises).
Sunday 11:40AM
Monday 11:05AM
Tuesday 11:15AM
Wednesday 8:05AM
Thursday 9:05AM
Friday 1:30PM
Sunday 1:40PM
To snag a reward that sells out quickly, I find that Tetris is one of the better apps because you do not have to enter your name/email and it checks availability every time you click the reward.
Redemption Limits
For rewards at MGM properties, you are limited to 3 premium rewards every rolling 30 days. You can increase this limit to 4 premiums permanently after spending roughly $100 in-game. The 5th and 6th slots open up after more spending. You can redeem an unlimited number of non-premium rewards.
Other rewards (e.g. NCL cruises, Maverick Helicopters, or Sycuan Casino) have different redemption limits and don’t count toward your 3 premium limit. Each partner will have their limits written out in the terms when you purchase the reward.
Many of the popular rewards are limited to one purchase per batch. Every couple months the batches are refreshed so it is possible to use multiple of the same reward in any given year. Historically, batches are refreshed less than a month before the MGM free hotel calendars end. They are often refreshed at other times a well, for example, if the LP price of the rewards change.
Popular redemptions
Reward
Premium
Refresh
1-day and 2-day Hotel Stays
Yes
Usually available
Regular Freeplay
Yes
Usually available
myKonami Freeplay
Yes
Daily
Shark Tank Admission
Yes
Daily
BOGO Buffets (Excalibur, Bellagio, Luxor)
No
Daily
NCL Free Cruises
No
Daily, based on availability
NCL Cruises $750 off
No
Daily, based on availability
Sycuan Casino Rewards
No
Daily
Restaurant $ off or free food
No
Daily
Maverick Vegas Flight
No
Daily
Maverick Grand Canyon Flight
No
Rarely
Details about each redemption
Maverick Vegas Flight
The Maverick Vegas flight is updated frequently at the regular refresh times. Only a few rewards (possibly one) are released each day. There may be some days where this doesn’t refresh at all but historically it has refreshed multiple times a week. Instructions to redeem are on the reward and involves calling in to find an available time.
Maverick Grand Canyon Flight
This reward is refreshed infrequently. Possibly once a month or less.
Restaurant $ off or free food with purchase
These are usually refreshed every day. Some sell out while others seem to be more available. They are not premium rewards and you can use an unlimited number per trip. Typically, you can only get one per batch. Popular ones include the $10 off $20 at Posh Burger in the Aria, $20 off $40 at Moneyline pizza (stacks with their happy hour), Free Entree with entree + drink purchase at Wolfgang Puck’s, etc.
BOGO Buffets at the Luxor, MGM, Excalibur, Bellagio
These are refreshed daily. They are buy one get one and you can’t get half off a single buffet. The bellagio buffet sells out relatively quickly.
NCL Free Cruises
These are based on availability of a particular sailing. There are times when no sailings are available and other times where they release dozens at a time. Unfortunately, there is an additional admin fee of $20/night when booking so typically the dollar off rewards are much better.
NCL Cruises $500, $750, $1000 off
You can only apply one per person per booking so it only makes sense to buy the highest reward unless your cruise is lower priced. If you buy two $1000 rewards, you can apply both and get $2000 off the voyage fare of the cruise. The cruise prices are identical to the published rates on the NCL website and there are no extra charges. There is no admin fee. The dollar off only applies to the base voyage fare and doesn’t apply to airfare, taxes, add-ons, excursions, or gratuities. You can stack them with the CruiseFirst certificates and other discounts to save even more.
The true expiration date may be later than the stated date. You have to call the number on the reward to book and confirm expirations.
These are usually refreshed every day at the regular time, but there are times when the reward isn’t available at all.
Since it is often possible to book $0 voyage fares with these certificates, it makes the cruise effectively fully refundable up until the date of the cruise. Since taxes, gratuities, and packages are always refundable, and you’re paying $0 for the actual cruise, you should get all your money back if you cancel. Just confirm with the booking agent before booking.
Room Rewards
Room rewards (1 and 2 night comped rooms) have a special redemption rules. You can only have one room reward in your wallet regardless of property. That is, if you have a Bellagio room reward you can’t buy an Aria room reward. Once you book a room reward, you can’t buy another room reward until the stay is over. The redemption date is the must redeem by date, but you can book a room in the future, as long as the calendar is available. A booked room uses a premium slot for 30 days prior and 30 days after check-in. If you cancel a room after booking, you can sometimes get a refund by contacting support but it’s up to the discretion of the agent. Room calendars for the next couple months are usually released 2-3 weeks before the current room calendars run out. Although terms state room rewards are limited to one redemption every 30 days, it is sometimes possible to buy another reward after your stay so you can use more than one comp per month. To combine stays, two people can purchase rewards and you can book twice but ask the front desk stay in the same room. Booking a myvegas comp reward prevents you from using your own MGM offers for similar dates. However, you can book your own MGM offer, then book the myvegas comp rooms so you can stay consecutive nights. Comp rooms are not eligible for the freeplay rewards and you are responsible for resort fees unless you have Gold status or above with mgm rewards.
Regular Freeplay
The regular freeplay requires a 2 or 3 night paid stay. You have to be checked in at the property for a single stay where 2 or 3 nights are paid/not comped. For example, a 4 day stay with 3 nights paid and 1 comped is eligible. Resort fees and upgrade fees aren’t considered a paid stay. Only one freeplay may be used per booking. You must go to the MGM rewards desk to redeem this reward, and they check their system to make sure you are checked-in to an eligible stay to load the freeplay. The freeplay is valid at most games at that particular property except system-wide progressives. They sometimes have special freeplay where a reduced number of stays are required. These rewards usually don’t sell out but may be removed from time to time. A secondary person that is added to the room can redeem freeplay if the primary person does not. They usually notate on the primary’s account when the secondary redeems freeplay so you can’t double dip.
Konami Freeplay
Konami freeplay is only available on the Konami Slots app and does not require a paid stay. They can only be activated at the particular property and they can be used on most machines at the property. They are limited to one per property per batch.
Park MGM Matchplay
Matchplay is a premium reward that is available only at Park MGM. It allows you to match your even bet at a table game. You can redeem by going to the reward desk and they will provide a voucher. You lose the voucher whether or not you win or lose.
Here are (in my opinion) the fastest ways to earn loyalty points in myVegas, sorted by easiest to hardest. You can do any or all of these to maximize your earning rate. Each method of earning LP requires different levels of attention and time.
Pop Slots and MGM Slots: You can earn 8k points per day in each game just by logging on and keeping them open. It takes about 1 minute to open the game and 1 hour of idle time. This refreshes twice a day. Total: 16k/day
MyVegas Blackjack on iOS: You earn roughly 4k a day by playing 20 hands of blackjack. Bet enough that you get LP every hand and it should only take 2 minutes. Total: 4k/day
MyVegas Slots on iOS or Browser: You earn 10k per day and your LP rate is correlated to how much you bet. Alternatively, you can use the android version and just stay online for 1 hour. The cap resets at midnight PST, but it also resets 23 hours after you hit the cap. Total time: 5 minutes for 5k a day. Total: 10k/day
myVegas Blackjack on Android: Autospin the slots at min bet for 1 hour for 4k LP/day. Total: 4k/day
myKonami on Android: Same as #6, Autospin the slots at min bet for 1 hour for 4k LP/day. Total: 4k/day
Tetris. Buy the no-ads in game for 30 days for $2.99 and forfeit 16 hard games per day. You will earn 4k points per day for roughly 20 minutes of work. Note: They limited Tetris earnings to 4k/day total
myVegas Classic: This caps out at 1k LP/day, plus whatever you get from leveling and collecting from the strip. I’ll estimate this at 2k LP/day for 3 minutes of active and 30 minutes of idle time. I always run out of chips, though. Total: 2k LP/day
myKonami iOS/Browser. This caps at 4k LP/day but I always run out of chips. LP is directly correlated to the amount bet. Total: 4k LP/day
Total is 40k+ LP per day, not counting any hourly and daily bonuses.
Median Travels 