Vegas and drinking go together like peanut butter & jelly. When you land in Vegas, one of the first things you start looking for is a drink so you can unwind and let loose.
You’ve probably also heard that you can pretty much drink for free in Vegas. While that’s true, there’s a lot more to it, and if you know a few tips and tricks, you can drink whatever you want and never have to pay for a single round.
With the prices of drinks in Vegas today, these tips can easily save you hundreds of dollars over a weekend trip to Sin City.
In this guide, I’ll explain exactly how free drinks in Vegas work and how to avoid looking like a Vegas noob. I’ll also give you some important advice on what the bartenders look for to decide if they’ll comp you a drink or not.
Drinks Are Free if You Gamble (But There’s A Catch)
Vegas is a gambling town and the casinos want you to be happy when you’re throwing your money down on the table. It makes sense then if you’re gambling that they offer you comped drinks. The goal is to keep you drunk so you make silly bets and lose your money before flying home.
But there are two main areas for free drinks. The casino floor and the casino bar with tabletop video poker machines. Each location has its own rules when it comes to free drinks.
The Casino Floor
The most common area for comped drinks is the casino floor. Whether you’re playing table games like blackjack or one of the slot machines, you can get free drinks. If you’re just walking around, you won’t get any comped drinks.
On the floor, you will have to wait for a cocktail waitress to come around and take your order. The waitresses are easy to spot and are all dressed alike depending on the casino. They only make one round around the casino for each round of drinks. So if you miss the waitress, you’ll have to wait around until she comes back.
The wait times can vary a lot which makes this one of the worst ways to get free drinks if you plan on drinking a lot. It’s not unusual to finish your drink well before the waitress comes back.
However, you can speed this up with a little generous tipping. If you tip $5 or more on your first drink, the waitress will likely come back to you sooner. This depends on the casino and how crowded it is. But you would be surprised how many gamblers only tip $1 per drink. If you drop $5, you’ll stand out with the waitress. I do this all the time and the waitress will often make a special trip just to see if I want anything before doing her normal round.
Another trick is to start with $10. Yes, that means the drink isn’t free, but you don’t have to keep tipping $10. You can probably get 2-3 drinks on that $10 before the waitress goes back to her normal rounds. That’s 3 rounds of drinks for $10, which would normally cost you well over $40 in Vegas. You can also get those drinks whenever you want and not have to wait up to 30 minutes between rounds.
Most drinks on the casino floor are limited to beer, wine, and well liquor. Although nice casinos generally offer mid-tier liquor as comped drinks.
The Casino Bar & Comped Drinks
The casino bar is the fastest way to get free drinks if they have bartop video poker or slot machines. Just walk up to the video poker and put $20 or more in the machine. If you’re truly trying to drink for free and not gamble, you can scroll through the different games until the bartender comes around and you order. This way you don’t gamble at all before getting your first free drink.
On the Vegas Strip, many bar top machines have color-coded lights that the bartender can see. If you don’t play the machine fast enough, the light turns red and they won’t comp a drink. Play at a normal pace, and it turns green.
Tips also work well here. Tip at least $5 on your first drink and you’ll get preferred service. Despite Vegas being known as a high-rolling town, $5 is still a decent tip for one drink. Trust me.
Fremont Street (Easiest Comped Drinks in Vegas)
Almost none of the casino bars on Fremont Street have the red light/green light system and they are more liberal with handing out free drinks.
If you’re being really frugal, you just have to look like you’re playing and you can bet the lowest amount, which is like 25 cents.
Fremont is definitely better for free drinking using this method. Just make sure to leave a decent tip as I mentioned. That will smooth over any cases where the bartender notices you’re not playing.
It’s not that the bartender cares if you gamble, it’s for the video cameras. If the management sees him giving you drinks and you don’t play, he can get in trouble. You just need to look like you’re gambling so he doesn’t get in trouble. That’s all he cares about.
Tipping Tricks For Free Drinks In Vegas
I already mentioned how tipping a few extra dollars goes a long way. Yes, this means you don’t technically drink for “free”, but it’s 90% cheaper than buying drinks. Drinks can cost anywhere from $15 to $30 each in Vegas, so even if you tip $10, you’re still saving money and you can get 2-3 drinks on that $10 before tipping another dollar or two.
Just make sure the bartender sees it. Don’t make it obvious, but watch out of the corner of your eye and have your tip ready. When he starts walking over with your drink, move to place the tip in the designated cup. Each seat at the bar has a cup for tips next to the slot machine. However, you can just place it in front of your machine if there’s no cup.
Like I said, don’t show it off or make a big deal about it. But just do it in a way that he sees it without you drawing attention to it. If you mess up, just make sure the $10 bill is sticking up.
The entire bar staff lives on tips. You’ll get noticed using these tricks and you’ll get whatever drinks you want.
Be A Baller On A Budget
If you’re meeting people at a casino bar or maybe meeting a date, arrive early and get your first drink. Leave a $20 tip that the bartender sees. When your friends or date shows up, you’ll get instant service the rest of the night, and your group will think you’re a baller.
This is an old salesman’s trick and it works great in Vegas. It’s a tipping town, so you can use tips strategically.
You can also just tip this much when your group first shows up. Your drinks will be stronger and you’ll get your drink order without having to flag down the bartender or wait. There have been so many times I’ve tipped $10 to $20 and my drinks were easily double shots or triple shots. I’ve ordered shots and the bartender fills half of a cocktail glass with top-shelf liquor.
Final Tips
Just remember that the Strip is much more strict with free drinks. You can still get them, but you may have a spend a few more bucks on tips or gambling to get them at the frequency you want.
If you just want free drinks above all else and want to save money, then go to Fremont Street.
But I can assure you, you’ll spend way less by using these methods than you would if you bought your drinks. Most drinks on the Strip are $25 or more.
We post a lot of information about visiting cheap Vegas strip clubs, and the one bad thing about all strip clubs in town is that the drinks are so expensive. Using the tips above, you can pre-drink at a casino for free before hitting the strip club to easily save a hundred dollars or more.
If you’re planning a trip to a strip club in Vegas, check out my Ultimate Vegas Strip Club Guide. It has all the inside information on every club, including which VIP rooms allow full contact and which ones are too strict to have any fun.
