JAY DAVID IS HARDLY

what you'd call a high roller. For the Chicago-based consultant, the extent of his gambling is feeding $100 into a video poker machine once a month at his local riverboat casino. But on a recent trip to Las Vegas, David and his mother spent five nights at two top hotels, feasted at several buffets and picked up two $125 silk Tommy Bahama shirts all without paying a penny. David's entire trip was on the "house" the house being Harrah's Entertainment and MGM Mirage, the two largest operators of casinos in the country.

Attention, freeloaders: As U.S. casinos pull in more bets than ever gambling revenue has nearly doubled, to $32.5 billion, in the past decade they're also giving away more in "comps," the free food, hotel rooms and other goodies designed to get gamblers into the casinos and keep them there. Last year alone, casinos gave out roughly $10 billion worth of these freebies. And while drinks and hotel rooms remain the most popular comps, these days casinos are giving away everything from spa treatments to all-terrain vehicles. In 2005 the MGM Mirage chain paid to install air conditioning in the vacation home of one of its high rollers.

But if you think you need to be a whale (industry lingo for a big-time gambler) to get in on the comping game, think again. Thanks to everything from better tracking technology to competition that's forcing casinos to try to keep even low rollers loyal, casinos are doling out freebies to gambling neophytes like never before. Even the awards themselves, once limited to hotel suites and A-list concert tickets, now include toasters, buffet lunches and coffeemakers. Indeed, anyone willing to hand over his email address and direct-marketing particulars will get at least a free buffet or two and it may not take much more to score a hotel suite. No wonder a mini-universe of comp-related blogs has sprouted up.

Why the change? In large part it's due to technology that has made the process far more automated. While getting comped used to happen with little more than a covert tap on the shoulder by a pit boss, these days most freebies are doled out through frequent-gambler cards. Gamblers at Harrah's, for instance, now sign up for one of three tiers of reward status and log on to an online catalog to redeem points (recent rewards: a Black & Decker cordless garden sprayer for 8,300 points; a Polaris all-terrain vehicle for 870,000 points). If this sounds like a credit card loyalty program, it's no coincidence; Harrah's marketing exec in charge of the plan came from American Express. Nearly all the major casinos have similar programs.

But just because it's more high-tech doesn't mean scoring comps is easy. For one thing, the automated reward structure may be transparent in terms of points earned, but figuring out just how points accrue is still a mystery. In the hard-goods category, to get anything of value, you have to spend a lot of money maybe the reason why the most-redeemed freebie for 2005's holiday season by MGM Mirage cardholders was a cake pan. And while the reward programs control much of the comps, most casino hosts still hand out some freebies at will. Below, our tips on how best to score comps in four categories.

Food and Drink

Free drinks are, of course, the universal comp, given to all players on the gambling floor. The best way to get meals on top of that, though, is to sign up for the casino's gambling card. One tip: Casinos award points faster on games where the odds are better for them (the more money you stand to lose, the longer they want to keep you there). Since the odds on slots tend to favor the house even more so than table games, the points add up more quickly there than, say, at the blackjack table.

But it will still take a lot of gambling to rack up points. At Bally's Atlantic City, you need 1,000 points to get a $10 comp at its Pickles Deli; at one point for every $5 spent on slots, it will cost you $5,000 in bets. It's sometimes better to try to land comps the old-fashioned way by asking. Steven Moore, VP of loyalty marketing at MGM Mirage, says casino hosts still have wide discretion to dole them out. "We want to comp the things that make the customer happy," he says. During your stay, charge every meal to your room. At the end of your trip, ask a casino host to review your hotel bill and compare it with your gambling card. If he likes what you gambled, he might reduce your food bill or tear it up entirely, says Jeffrey Compton, casino-industry consultant.

Hotel Room

When it comes to scoring a free room, John Schloegel has a tip: Watch the calendar. The Austin, Tex., portfolio manager travels to Las Vegas at least twice a year, and his average bet, $50 a hand at the blackjack table, is usually enough to get a free room. But not the weekend of Mar. 17, 2005: It was the opening of the men's NCAA tournament, one of the most crowded weekends in Vegas, and Schloegel was frozen out.

Unless you're a superhigh roller, it pays to plan your trip when the casino business is slow. Atlantic City crowds drop off markedly over the summer, and while Las Vegas is never quiet, the slowest time on the Strip is the window between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Another rule of thumb, says George Nassef, CEO of casino reward-tracking service Valet Noir: The more dependent a hotel is on gambling revenue, the more comps it hands out. Avoid hotels that have high-end shops, Nassef says, like the Bellagio or the Wynn in Las Vegas; instead, go where the casino is the biggest draw say, the nearby Silverton.

Your money will go further toward comps at less glamorous casinos too. To get a free night at the Bellagio, you need 7,000 points but at the Luxor, MGM's resort a mile away, you need just 4,000 points.

Concert Tickets

Concert tickets are the fastest-growing giveaway category in Las Vegas, according to MGM Mirage's Moore. Casinos like to give out tickets because it doesn't cost them much and they're almost guaranteed to increase gamblers' spending. Here, your best bet is to be strategic, says Moore. Ask for tickets to long-running shows; A-list acts like Celine Dion or title-bout boxing matches are usually only for heavy hitters.

This is one category where it pays to do some advance research. Before you leave, check out the Casino Comps message board on Yahoo: Members report which shows gamblers have gotten comped for (recent scores: Penn and Teller and Bally's Jubilee).

VIP Treatment

Of course, the biggest comps are the ones that make you feel like a VIP limo rides, entry into the hottest clubs, a prime pool cabana. Here, it's all about one thing and one thing only: how much you gamble. But experts say you can nudge yourself into this league if you're new and you exchange a lot of chips. Hosts at Station Casinos who hand out comps are known to "invest" in players they feel will gamble more in the future. One criterion: how much you cash in. At other casinos, it pays to join the frequent-gambler club; just signing up for the card can get you priority reservations and discounts at the spa, perks usually reserved for high rollers.

For Mark Pyms, VIP status came from just staying at the table a little longer. Two years ago in Vegas, he had several hours to kill before a flight. Thanks to a lucky streak, he started betting a little more than usual and got rated a $100-a-hand player by Valet Noir. He's had room and food covered ever since and last fall accrued enough points for a 10-day cruise to Alaska. The upside? He says he's still won more than he lost.