MGM resorts and casinos love money. They get a lot of it from gambling and their resorts. The more people they can get gambling and staying at their resorts, the more money they make. So, they provide many ways to incentivize people to spend. One of these ways is through the MyVegas rewards program, thus creating the travel hack you didn’t know you needed.
Understandably, this is going to seem ridiculous. We felt the same way when we first heard about it from my ingenious cousin Connor. Truthfully, it is ridiculous, but within even a couple of days, you can redeem these loyalty points for free meals, nights in Vegas, and even cruises. We recently redeemed two complimentary nights at the Aria in Las Vegas, which would’ve cost us close to $1,000. We also added a BOGO MGM Breakfast Buffet and turned it into a great trip.
Outside of these elaborate redemptions, there are also options for buffets, Vegas shows, free entrees at restaurants, and even discounts on hotels outside of the MGM realm.
The Apps
There are four main apps. MGM slots Live, POP! slots, Tetris, and MyVEGAS Bingo.
All these apps have in-game casinos where you can earn and spend just like a regular casino. Forget about that. No money is ever needed or used to get what you need. The apps also give you loyalty points for using them. These loyalty points can be redeemed for some pretty impressive rewards.
The Details.
Before we continue, it’s important to note that this takes time and dedication. Most people we share this with quit within a couple of days. It’s not an instant success. And, unfortunately, they have made some recent changes and it now requires a little bit of work. We’ll get to that in a moment.
Once you’ve downloaded the apps, open them up and set up your accounts. Create your account using the same platform/server across all four apps. You want to connect your points. I prefer Facebook because it’s easy.
After this, get yourself to the home screen. This sometimes requires a tutorial on how to use the casino portion. It’s annoying, but you’ve only got to deal with it once. You may also have to click through ads. They want your money. Ignore them and get to the home screen.
Once on the Home Screen of each app, you’ll see your loyalty point counter on the top or bottom of the screen. Your number will likely be in the low thousands. The bar will slowly be filling up. It takes about a 3 minutes and 30 seconds to fill. Once it fills up, you’ll get some points and it’ll start over. There’s a lot of mumbo-jumbo on these apps, but this is the only thing that matters. That bar filling up. You don’t need to worry about anything else in the app.
Unfortunately, they recently made some negative changes and the bar no longer resets by itself. Once filled, you have to touch the screen for it to start over. It’s a big blow to how passive it used to be, but I hope that it will make the rewards last longer before selling out and also increase the value for those who are dedicated to earning loyalty points.
MGM Slots Live and POP! Slots both max out at 4,000 coins. This takes roughly an hour. It can be done twice a day. In the morning and after 6 pm. This, of course, depends on how quick you are to touch the screen for the refill. MyVEGAS Bingo is still fully passive for now, meaning you can leave it alone, but it takes 1.5 hrs and only gets you 3,000 coins. It can only be maxed once a day.
And then there’s Tetris. Tetris has no passive earning, you actually have to play or “claim” points. The good news is that you can earn quite a bit of loyalty points by playing a few levels
All that being said, if you are able, and on top of it, you can earn 8,000 in the morning + 8,000 in the evening + 3,000 from Bingo for a total of 19,000/day. Not including any points you gain from Tetris.
To see your redemption options, tap on your loyalty points.
It may seem like a lot, but some free nights cost very little. You can redeem free nights in as little as two days. (Read the terms and conditions below)
Feeling really dedicated? Within a few months, you could have yourself a free cruise!
Norweigan Cruises can be really cheap so these offers are incredible and much easier to reach than the fully covered cruise. Because of the terms and conditions, these rewards make much more sense.
Conclusion
And that’s it. It’s a bit ridiculous, but it’s a pretty slick travel hack to get free stuff out of Las Vegas and around the world. It does take a little work and dedication, and people will tease and joke, but you’ll be the one laughing when you’re staying in Vegas or cruising for free.
Want to know about our other travel hacks? Check out our other posts.
Terms and Conditions Worth Noting
Rewards must be in your name, and any reward that equates to “free” can only be used once within 30 days. This means that with a complimentary night, you can only redeem one every month essentially. So, if you’re going to do this, it would be wise to have you and your spouse both do it. That way you could redeem for 2-4 nights in a row.
The cruises are similar. They have to be in your name and you can’t stack with other awards. Meaning you can’t both redeem a cruise and use them together. This means you’re essentially getting a BOGO. Because of that, the discounted rates are much better.
Even though the hotel or cruise is free, you must still pay taxes and fees. For Las Vegas, this is about $50 a night. Not as great as free, but it sure beats the hundreds of dollars it would cost. Our hotel suite was upgraded to a room that would’ve cost us about $900 per night.