High rollers (also known as whales) are the big kahunas of the gambling world, the players who get the ultimate red-carpet treatment. At land-based casinos, especially the top casinos and casino cities like Las Vegas or Macau, these players are treated like royalty and anything they want gets attended to by the casinos.
Private jet to get you to the destination? Waiting. Limousine or sports car to drive you to the casino? Done. Finest hotel suite with every possible taste in food and drink catered for? Sorted.
But it actually goes further than comped rooms and prime seats at sports events and concerts. High rollers can often get the casino to change their gambling rules to favour the player, they can get massive bankrolls covered by the house (who knows that they are good for the ‘loan’) and they can get the table or slots maximum bet lifted to play for ridiculous amounts of money.
The risks are huge but for these big spenders it makes all the difference. For them it’s all about the show of wealth, the ability to bet and win or lose amounts of money that many of us can only dream of having.
But these are just the very pinnacle of the high roller mountain, the power movers and shakers in the world who don’t blink at million-dollar losses at business or play. For us mere money earners there is still a chance to move into the high roller game – especially in the online casino world.
So, how do you become a high roller?
It’s quite simple: you need money. High rollers have only one thing that separates them from us normal, day-to-day players – a bigger bankroll.
What sets high rollers apart is their ability to wager large amounts. Where you or I will put R1,000 aside to play for a few hours over the weekend, high rollers will have R100,000 to burn through.
To get on the high roller lists you have to have, and be prepared to play and possibly lose, big bucks.
A big bankroll is the start, but not the only horse you have in the race. Another good way of getting onto the high roller list at an online casino is how you play.
You want to get noticed by the data algorithms so you get invited into the exclusive members-only world of the high roller and a good way of doing this is to play regularly at a chosen online casino. Spreading the love between a lot of different online casinos will make your playing experience exciting and fun and different but concentrating on one or two top online casinos like PlayLive Casino or Casino.com will get you noticed.
But you will still need to play with a bigger bankroll than the normal punters. Maybe not in the millions of ZAR, but regular play on higher limit tables or slots and max betting – all with a nice chunk deposited in your online casino account – will soon have the online casino inviting you to the higher levels.
Online casinos will take your average bet size, the length of time you spend playing, how often you visit and even the games you select into consideration when deciding whether or not to invite you into their high roller program
It’s easy to see the allure of being a high roller in a land-based casino – the rock ‘n roll lifestyle. It’s a bit different at an online casino.
But no less rewarding.
The benefits of being a high roller at an online casino are less about the show of wealth and the glitz of being ‘someone important’ and more about making your playing more rewarding.
High rollers at online casinos get access to very select promotions, deal and specials such as:
Because high rollers are so valuable, online casinos don’t really advertise their high roller programs. However, if you know that your online casino is a licensed, trusted and consistently excellent establishment, the chances are high that they have a high roller program.
These are invitation only so CasinoPlay haven’t managed to crack the nod – yet – but we can say that the best online casinos (based on reviews and playing experience) to try get into a high roller program are:
In the game of luck that is casino playing, there is no guarantee of a win – not even for the big bucks betters. There is a higher risk of losing bigger amounts though. With big bankrolls comes big risk, and big responsibility.
Even the land-based casinos can’t really affect the outcome for their whales (not that they would, when a whale loses millions the casino makes millions!).
Kerry Packer, the ultimate high roller, is a perfect example. This Australian billionaire was famous for his gambling exploits, often putting down millions of US dollars at the casinos in Las Vegas. Sometimes he won, sometimes he lost. His most famous win was US$20 million playing blackjack, baccarat and roulette over the course of a few days. But he is also famous for losing £15 million in one evening playing roulette.
On the flip side, one of the biggest online slots wins in history was over US$24 million on a 25-cent spin!
CasinoPlay are all about having fun at online casinos. Would we become high rollers? Absolutely – if we could.
The benefits are great, the bonuses and promotions awesome, the status undeniable. But it takes money and time to get there.
If you have a lot of spare cash that you don’t mind losing then go for it. But if you are a normal, having-fun-and-winding-down kinda player like we are then rather just enjoy your playing and, if you win that big progressive jackpot, then consider moving up the ranks.
Remember, it’s all about luck at the end of the day. The software doesn’t care whether you’re Daddy Megabucks, it will roll those numbers randomly anyway.
