I've checked and lost over $1000 in comps combined at several MGM properties. Most employees are clueless right now about what's going on but a couple told me similar things. One said comps before October of 2015 have expired. Another said he only found out 2 days ago that comps now expire if they weren't used in about a year and as a result I've lost a lot of comps in that room.

At Mirage the computer showed my comps being expired on Wednesday less than a week ago. At Aria I had $584 in comps last Tuesday and last night the total was $277 when I asked someone to check. I also know that I've lost comps at MGM and Bellagio.

One person at MGM said that some people have lost amounts like $700. The guy I talked to at Aria wasn't aware of what was going on at other MGM properties.

I did hear from one source that "there was a mass purging of old comps by IT as part of a plan to merge the comps into the points systems for table games/slots."

Has anybody checked very recently and noticed any issues? Could anybody check and ask about what's going on? One person told me he checked yesterday and didn't notice anything was wrong.

I'm the one who checked yesterday at Bellagio and had nothing wrong. Just wanted to clarify that I have tons of comps there, but if they use the FIFO system for comps (so I would have used the oldest ones first), all my current comps would have been earned since October 2015. So if they really are deleting comps older than that, it likely wouldn't have affected me.

I'm sorry to offend any MLife desk employees; however, I would say that they are generally less knowledgeable about how their program works than one would expect. Some of that is deliberate as the company doesn't want players to be too knowledgeable. The best kind of gambler is not an advantage gambler or someone who maximizes a comp program's EV but instead is a ploppy who goes with the flow.

My recommendation for "getting your comps back" is to talk to a host. They can review your past play and should treat you well accordingly. Remember that you are entitled to between 2 and 2.5x your express comps. This comes in the form of primary comps. A gentleman at an MLife desk (if you whisper) may allow you to tap into some of these, yet players' knowing the phrase primary comps is taboo. The MLife desk will generally refer you to a host, so again, chat with a host who hopefully can relieve your concerns.

Best of luck out there!

Oh, also, my comps were all from playing poker. OP, you might want to clarify how yours were earned.

The comps I'm talking about were all earned in the poker room.

I haven't had a chance to check but hopefully more people check and see what's going on. It's ridiculous that MGM did this without any sort of warning. With parking, there was a heads up and plenty of info released ahead of time. This seems like they are trying to sneak it in behind our backs!

I've never dealt with a host before since I only play poker so let's see what will happen when I complain.

Sadly, the only 3 ways I can protest this is not play at MGM rooms (which hurts me more than MGM unless everyone does the same but just like Venetian, not everyone will do the same), not tip the dealers till I recoup how much I lost (hurts dealers who are not responsible for this mess), or act like a d*ck at MGM properties (which hurts fellow players). So what to do if the comps are stolen for good?

If the comps are "stolen" from you, there are legal options. If they aren't legally bound to honoring the comps, they didn't steal anything.

I have >$200 in Bellagio poker room comps, would be sad if they were gone.

Have you been talking to the poker room floor staff/managers? If not, this is who you need to contact. Poker room comps are completely separate from casino comps, at least at Aria.

I have been told several times by the floor at Aria that their poker room comps don't expire. I was told this as recently as this past march.

I hope this is just a mix up and not MGM finding ways to cut costs along with increasing revenue by charging for parking.

Yes. I also asked them to check how many comps I had and this is something I've done several times before. I never had them give me numbers that were way off until the last few days. Every number they told me was much lower than it should have been.

Whatever changes that have been made were made in the last week. Also I don't remember comps ever expiring at Bellagio, Mirage and MGM either until just a few days ago. The people working at the poker room at Mirage didn't have any idea what was going on when some of my comps were shown to be expired on Wednesday.

Poker room comps definitely didn't expire in the past. Last fall, a friend of mine found out he still had $130 in his account from the 2011 WSOP.

I was told by the players club rep yesterday that MGM properties comps (poker and all others) expire 12 months from your last visit.

i learned my lesson when i lost my venetian comps. now i burn 'em as i earn 'em (as best i can anyway). i usually make it to vegas 2-4 times a year, but no guarantees. also no certainty about making it to any given room on any given trip. so ya, i try not to leave them on the books with these shifty bistards.

They do now unfortunately.

I'll use my comps a lot more often now. They took over $1000 from me but I'll try to make sure I use up the next $1000 I get.

Have you asked if they could be reinstated? I have had that done at other casinos that implemented such policies without much warning.

Ive always been under the assumption that comps at mgm properties expire after 1 year. I dont have any reason to think otherwise because everytime I had inquired abouttyat topic while at an mgm room, Ive always been told it was 12 months.

Other properties might be different, but I never really track the comps that closely becuase they are always being generated.

What's the point in saving comps? The best solution is to blow through them about once a week on a decent meal to eat away the pain of a losing session.

At Bellagio they never expired, at least unless it has just recently changed.

I can confirm the policy has changed and poker management did not know about it.

Well, this alone kinda sucks, but maybe it could be a good thing in the long run if they change how the comp system works and merge it with the comps from other gambling. I have tons of Bellagio poker comps that I never use because it is very inconvenient having to get a print out every time, and I don't care for the restaurants where they can be used. If you could in the future use them just by handing your card to any restaurant in any MGM system (like you can at CET properties), it would be a big improvement. And I have a feeling the poker rooms may be willing and able to reinstate your lost comps.

Very annoying for those of us who are occasional visitors to Vegas. On every trip, I confirm that the comps don't expire so that I'll be all set up for the next trip. That's been policy at all the MGM strip poker rooms since forever.

The only time I've ever been screwed was when Venetian purged their comps. Now MGM does the same thing.

Vegas is becoming increasingly less attractive, and I've been cutting back on my trip frequency (like others that I know). Lol, I feel like I post this every six months or so, but the bad news just keeps coming!

+1.

On the last day of my most recent trip, I used $60 from my Bellagio poker room comps to buy breakfast for 3 at the Bellagio buffet which left me with a little over $200 that I had planned to save for my next trip.

I figured this was going to be the case. They never expired in the past and all of a sudden OP is missing a bunch. It's just another way MGM is cutting costs and benefits to its customers. It will be interesting to see if this, along with paid parking, has any affect on customer retention. I'm guessing for the majority it won't since most customers don't care as long as they are in Vegas.

I hear you. I have about $200 left at Aria. I used $50ish on my trip in March and saved the rest for next year.

The comp game is so frustrating... At Foxwoods, they give decent comps, but there is no system for you to see how you earned them and how you spent them. They also accumulate points that are used to move up the comp level card.
About 2 years ago, I started tracking my comp points that I could spend using my iphone.

....simply opened up a new Note and would update at noon, the day after I played, and I would screen shot and date it.

it seemed like I kept losing a small percentage ????

Finally, it happens. I play on Saturday and Sunday..... and look at my points on Tuesday. I started the weekend at 325 points and on Tuesday I had 380. I did not use my card all weekend except to log into poker and games.

On Friday, I get ready to head down, and check my points, now I have 352 ? So I call them and they say points had to be adjusted ??? huh ?? I got no where... so decided to just do it face to face when I got there.

.................................................. ......................... 30 minutes later, they said I was wrong and never had 380, and I was making a mistake.... so having them fall in the trap, I showed them the screen shot.... "obv you photo shopped it"

...surrendered, and now keep a zero balance of points. spend every one every trip

I haven't checked my comps yet, but I do know 100 percent for sure a while back the poker room manager at Mirage said comps never expire. I guess MLIFE changed their policy.

That being said, I am going to try to drain all of them sooner than later because if its one year expiration now, eventually it will 6 months expiration and so on.

I don't live in Vegas but all these changes among MLife, parking, comps etc, sure make me not want to go back as much.