UPDATE: Treasure Island Ends Free Play Promo Early, Patron Claims ‘Almost Riot-Like’ Response After 5-Hour Wait

UPDATE: Treasure Island has prematurely ended its $200 free slot play promotion. Originally scheduled to run Mondays through Wednesdays until Sept. 7, it was shut down after only three days.

“Due to overwhelming response, the offer reached its planned capacity earlier than anticipated,” read a short statement emailed from a casino spokesperson to Casino.org.

The article below, published on Wednesday (Aug. 12), documents the chaos the promotion caused on the casino floor and featured quotes from Vegas experts predicting exactly this outcome.

In addition, after this week’s promotion concluded, Casino.org received the following email from casino patron Michelle Miller, who wrote that she waited in line on Wednesday (Aug. 12) beginning at 6:38 p.m….

“At 7 p.m., a placard-like sign was set up to follow the end of the line, announcing that the ‘cutoff point’ for the promotion was there at the end of the line behind me.  

“Myself and hundreds, perhaps several thousand people, were allowed to stand in line for 5 1/2 hours… We were repeatedly assured that as long as we were before the cutoff point in the line, we would be included in the free play giveaway.    

“However, at approximately 11:50 p.m., the story changed, resulting in almost riot-like responses…  No one would take accountability for the many different stories we were told all night while in line.  We were totally and completely disrespected,” Miller added.

EARLIER: Treasure Island created a Black Friday-style rush on the Las Vegas Strip this week after an emergency database alert offering $200 in free slot play triggered massive crowds and hours-long lines.

News of the promotion — redeemable only Monday through Wednesday until Sept. 7, 2026 — was distributed via email, app notifications, and mailers. But it didn’t take long to spread like wildfire across social media.

Path to Redemption

By Tuesday (Aug.11), the redemption line extended across multiple areas of the casino floor and moved slowly due to limited kiosk capacity and high demand. Some guests reported waiting up to six hours before reaching a kiosk, while others left without redeeming the offer due to the length of the line.

The promotion is so attractive not only because typical free play rewards on the Strip range from $20 to $75, but also because it’s open to new loyalty club members as well as existing ones. (Many of those on line were waiting to sign up for cards at the TI Rewards desk.)

The offer requires players to bet the entire $200 in one gambling session. Still, with an average return-to-player of 92% on the Strip, that should net players around $184 — unless they keep playing, which is what TI probably hopes and what probably does happen after waiting six hours to start.

Too Good to Last?

While TI insists its promotion will continue through Sept. 7, many industry observers are advising gamblers to collect on the offer while they can.

“I expect by the end of this week, it’s going to be canceled,” said co-host Shawn Coomer on the latest Miles to Memories Vegas podcast. “This is way too much money, lines out the door.”

Coomer continued: “There is a long list of past offers with marketing budgets that were blown in a way that they didn’t expect and these things do tend to end early… Even things like Tuscany a couple years ago, this went wide and you’re talking about just everybody — people just share it with their friends.”

Treasure Island has not publicly commented about the response to its promotion, nor revealed the number of redemptions or new loyalty club signups.

But if the property owner’s intention was merely to get Las Vegas talking about it again, mission accomplished.