Updated: 06.01.2025, 22:44
3 min read
Junket – trips offered to VIP casino players with the promise of free travel costs, accommodations, and food and drinks.
Junket Casino and Junket Travel
Starting about one hundred years ago, what was previously seen as a shameful, secret problem has taken a turn and is now viewed as a skillful hobby. Everyday gambling is becoming more socially accepted, so much so that professional gamblers are using their experience and success as their ticket to VIP-style travel around the world.
Check out this video from the Wall Street Journal to see what a VIP junket looks like:
WHAT IS A JUNKET?
Invented in Las Vegas in the 1950s, Casino Junkets, “Junkets” for short, were aimed at attracting players to certain gambling establishments. Upon gaining their loyalty and their word to continue playing in specific casinos, the players would receive incentives in return, such as all-expenses-paid international trips, stays at 5-star hotels, and exclusive, top-tier gambling experiences.
Such an all-inclusive service for the gamblers got the name “junket travel”.
Another way of looking at the junket definition is to imagine a scout-recruit dynamic. The scout searches for potential players for his team, and the recruit proves his/her worth. If the scout is pleased, the recruit comes to the team and plays to the best of his abilities in return for money or other benefits.
The same principle is applied to the casino junket operator and gambler duo, except on a bigger, more luxurious scale.
HOW DOES THE SYSTEM WORK?
The three main parties to keep in mind here are the casinos, junket operators, and the gamblers. Each party is interconnected with each other; here’s how it works:
- Junket operators hold the responsibility of recruiting only the best players, mostly based on their strategies and winnings.
- Once found, the players are enticed by operators to partner with their company by offering deluxe trips around the world, playing in the finest clubhouses, all for the price of a minimum deposit and a certain number of hours playing at the casino.
- Junket operators partner with globally recognized gambling saloons, offering their newly scouted players to gamble there for hours, promising a revenue for these junket gambling businesses.
WHERE ARE GAMBLERS USUALLY TAKEN?
These trips are mostly undertaken to Malta and Montenegro, but as the business expands and clients seek more unique destinations, some tours are organized to Greece, Cyprus, and Croatia, just to name a few. There are talks about offering travels to Georgia and other places. Destinations depend on the price of airfares.
Besides an agreement to take part in such casino games as Blackjack, Baccarat, Roulette, and Poker, gamblers traveling on a junket have free time in the morning or at night, which they may spend on entertainment and fine dining.
HOW TO DIFFERENTIATE CASINO JUNKET FROM USUAL JUNKETS?
Now that the junket casino meaning is well-explained, it’s necessary to define “junket” in a traditional sense of the word. It’s a term with several definitions. One explanation is that of a promotional trip made at another person’s expense. Another meaning is a trip made by an official at public cost.
However, don’t get confused! Both these definitions sound like casino junkets, but the funds are not provided by a casino.
