It’s that latter model they’re questioning. This model is seen in Las Vegas particularly, but casinos outside Las Vegas use it too.

You must deposit money and make a wager, and the game will reimburse you for the spin from the free play at the conclusion of the spin and any wins being paid.

In this way it works like cash, but can’t be actually cashed in until you play through it once. If you cash out of a machine before it is, you usually can get another TITO with the remaining balance by cashing out a second time (but not always, so always check your machine). You have to play it through once before it’s completely converted.

Some casinos let you add it to a machine, or insert a TITO, and it works like cash.

There’s two main ways casinos handle freeplay:

Is free play truly free if you have to put money into the machine to use it? I know each casino is different and that we had to do it when we played with free play at the Luxor. A player asked on a forum I’m a part about slot free play offers, and how some casinos handle free play when you go to actually play it:

Free play slot game with out money