Using non refundable OBC in the casino

[mackfam]

Is it possible to buy chips with non refundable OBC in the casino, gamble then cash out the chips (assuming you don’t lose everything) for cash at the end of the cruise?

[wrk2cruise]

Yes.  When using non-refundable OBC to buy chips they give you special promo chips which can't be redeemed for cash, they have to be bet.  Any winnings are paid in regular chips which can be cashed out.  If you look in your cruise planner there is a way to buy chips ahead of time and get a 10% bonus, these work the same way even if you don't use OBC to buy them.

[Mynki]

2 minutes ago, wrk2cruise said:

Yes.  When using non-refundable OBC to buy chips they give you special promo chips which can't be redeemed for cash, they have to be bet.  Any winnings are paid in regular chips which can be cashed out.  If you look in your cruise planner there is a way to buy chips ahead of time and get a 10% bonus, these work the same way even if you don't use OBC to buy them.

 

So go to the roulette table and bet half on red and half on black then before cashing out? 😁

[AUPilot14]

7 minutes ago, wrk2cruise said:

Yes.  When using non-refundable OBC to buy chips they give you special promo chips which can't be redeemed for cash, they have to be bet.  Any winnings are paid in regular chips which can be cashed out.  If you look in your cruise planner there is a way to buy chips ahead of time and get a 10% bonus, these work the same way even if you don't use OBC to buy them.

 

Was going to post this exact thing. I'd encourage you buy ahead of time, we did and it was an nice perk. 

[PTC DAWG]

34 minutes ago, Mynki said:

 

So go to the roulette table and bet half on red and half on black then before cashing out? 😁

Green lurks..

[Illsticktocrusing]

I do this all the time.  I typically play the slots and have the OBC transferred to my player account, cash in the winnings

[hammo]

5 hours ago, Illsticktocrusing said:

I do this all the time.  I typically play the slots and have the OBC transferred to my player account, cash in the winnings

Yes we do this with Celebrity every cruise and enjoy the casino time especially on sea days. We usually breakout about even with the winnings .

Sadly it seems its not possible on Regent - forbidden to use OBC in the casino ( we are just having a look see at Regent to see if the $ difference is worth it - have no idea what we will do with the $500 ObC as everything including shore excursions are included ))

[tartana]

We just did this on Summit last week.  You cash in whatever amount you wish from your onboard credit at the desk for either slot machines or tables.  With the slot machines, you insert your card and follow the prompts and designate how much you want to play with at that time in that machine. Always remember to log out when you leave that machine. For the tables, you play with promo chips, and then, as others have said, what you win above those amounts, you can pocket. So I kept playing with my promo chips and we kept the winnings aside to cash in. We came out about even with $250 OBC by the end of our cruise.  I had pretty good luck with roulette.  The first dealer didn't tell me I could break down my $5 promo chips to $1 ones and spread them out, but the 2nd dealer I got was more helpful, so we could spread it around a bit more.  Roulette was minimum $5 bet and the outside choices were $5; inside single numbers were $1. I had fun with it. They would not let you bid on both red/green or odd/even, etc at the same time.   

[mickey89]

10 minutes ago, tartana said:

................ They would not let you bid on both red/green or odd/even, etc at the same time.   

................so the wife bet RED and you bet BLACK....easy, peasy, problem solved.

[Miaminice]

Just now, mickey89 said:

................so the wife bet RED and you bet BLACK....easy, peasy, problem solved.

 

it will only work once. Then they won’t let you do it any more. We tried... 

and there‘s no use starting a discussion... 

 

[tartana]

Yeah, it may work a time or two, but they catch on fast. 

[Merly]

6 hours ago, mickey89 said:

................so the wife bet RED and you bet BLACK....easy, peasy, problem solved.

 

6 hours ago, tartana said:

Yeah, it may work a time or two, but they catch on fast. 

We do it with our 3 match plays and have never been stopped. End up $15 profit.

[bayonnejoe]

7 hours ago, mickey89 said:

................so the wife bet RED and you bet BLACK....easy, peasy, problem solved.

Slots are an okay way to get back a lot of your OBC if you choose to try. Nobody loses too much of their money before the promotional slot credit runs out. (You may even come out ahead of the game.) However, I have always maintained that if you were allowed to do so, betting half on red and half on black in roulette is a really bad bet. Remember, one out of every 19 people loses all their money when 0 or 00 hits.

[mickey89]

12 hours ago, bayonnejoe said:

Slots are an okay way to get back a lot of your OBC if you choose to try. Nobody loses too much of their money before the promotional slot credit runs out. (You may even come out ahead of the game.) However, I have always maintained that if you were allowed to do so, betting half on red and half on black in roulette is a really bad bet. Remember, one out of every 19 people loses all their money when 0 or 00 hits.

The objective is to convert your obc into cash not to gamble (a $5 cover will take care of the green devil for most).  Shame they void this attempt according to earlier posters.  Slots is not the answer, they are heavily weighted against you.

Edited November 24, 2019 by mickey89

[dani negreanu]

11 hours ago, mickey89 said:

The objective is to convert your obc into cash not to gamble

 

My objective is to convert my non-refundable OBC to cash without the need to gamble....🤨

[NantahalaCruiser]

Seem to remember seeing posts as recently as a year ago that indicated you could exchange NR OBC to regular chips by paying a 5% fee. Anyone no if this is still true?

 

If so, you could then cash in the regular chips and convert your NR OBC to cash with a 5% transaction fee and no gambling.

[WAVTAM]

17 hours ago, dani negreanu said:

 

My objective is to convert my non-refundable OBC to cash without the need to gamble....🤨

Do this all the time without fail...….go to table to buy chips. Say $300 NR OBC. Ask for 300 for real chips(tables do not have the gray promotional chips). Signed receipt for 315(5% charge)

Excuse yourself and go to cage to cash out the 300 of real chips.

[vkb2751]

2 hours ago, WAVTAM said:

Do this all the time without fail...….go to table to buy chips. Say $300 NR OBC. Ask for 300 for real chips(tables do not have the gray promotional chips). Signed receipt for 315(5% charge)

Excuse yourself and go to cage to cash out the 300 of real chips.

 

Just tried this on Reflection TA - didn’t work the way you say. He told us to go to the cage and get promo chips as we had NR OBC!!!!!

[dani negreanu]

2 hours ago, WAVTAM said:

Do this all the time without fail...….go to table to buy chips. Say $300 NR OBC. Ask for 300 for real chips(tables do not have the gray promotional chips). Signed receipt for 315(5% charge)

Excuse yourself and go to cage to cash out the 300 of real chips.

 

Thank you, I appreciate the advice 😁.

 

36 minutes ago, vkb2751 said:

 

Just tried this on Reflection TA - didn’t work the way you say. He told us to go to the cage and get promo chips as we had NR OBC!!!!!

 

It seems my hopes were quickly dashed....😒

[WAVTAM]

2 hours ago, dani negreanu said:

 

Thank you, I appreciate the advice 😁.

 

 

It seems my hopes were quickly dashed....😒

I would still try. I have literally done this a dozen times without fail!!!!

[dani negreanu]

1 hour ago, WAVTAM said:

I would still try. I have literally done this a dozen times without fail!!!!

 

Thanks again.

On the Royal Caribbean forum I've received another "innovative" idea -- to add same amount of NR OBC I'll have in cash to my account (gratuities are already pre-paid) -- I have 400$ NR OBC, I'll add to it 400$ in cash.

Then I'm supposed to go to the casino, and I'll be issued a voucher, which I'll enter into the "machine" and then immediately "cash-out"... at the end of the cruise, I'll take back "my" 400$ cash...

I'm sure I'll report back😀

[Hlitner]

So hear is an amusing personal story about non-refundable OBC.  Last Nov/Dec we took our first MSC cruise (in their Yacht Club) and our booking included a pretty generous OBC (this happens when you use decent cruise agencies).  On most lines this OBC would have been "refundable" so we did not pay much attention during the first 20 days of our 21 day cruise.  On the last day of our journey I asked the Concierge about our OBC and how it would be refunded.  He looked at the computer screen and said we still had about $500 of OBC...NONE of which was refundable.  It seems that MSC does not often categorize OBCs as refundable.  So, out of desperation I went into their casino (late on our last night) and turned our remaining OBC into chips...thinking, why not?  I am a pretty competent gambler (at both Craps and Black Jack) but seldom waste my time in a cruise ship casino.  But I sat down at a Black Jack table and within 15 min managed to double my money.  This probably happened because I really wasn't trying to win :).  At that point I cashed out (all the Chips were turned into cash).  

 

I suppose this also works on Celebrity although you are expected to at least "churn" the chips.  If you happen to turn those marked chips into winners....well that is a very nice bonus.  

 

Hank

[ShawninFL]

I'm on Infinity right now.  You're not going to get away with cashing in your non refundable OBC for cash.  You are going to get the "promotional chips".  The only way you can use your refundable OBC in the casino is to go to the cage.  The tables cannot give you chips against the non refundable OBC.  We were on Millennium last month and it was the same on there.  You will have to gamble the OBC through one time, then you can cash out whatever winnings remain.

[kathynorth]

On 11/24/2019 at 5:32 PM, NantahalaCruiser said:

Seem to remember seeing posts as recently as a year ago that indicated you could exchange NR OBC to regular chips by paying a 5% fee. Anyone no if this is still true?

 

If so, you could then cash in the regular chips and convert your NR OBC to cash with a 5% transaction fee and no gambling.

 

We have done this in the past, but this is no longer permitted. On our recent Silhouette cruise our only option was to trade in OBC for promotional chips at the cage and hold back any winnings until the promotional chips were gone. Fortunately we came out $80 ahead.

[RichYak]

What about refundable OBC? Do they still give you promotional chips for that?