MGM Gift Cards Are 20% Off With a Groupon Amex Offer

The play is simple: if you have the targeted Groupon Amex Offer and Groupon is selling MGM Resorts gift cards at face value, you may be able to turn an Amex statement credit into a real 20% discount. I’d jump on this one immediately if targeted.n Vegas rooms, resort fees, cocktails, steak dinners, and spa charges. That’s a very good discount at MGM properties, where even a casual weekend can make your wallet sweat.

But this is not a risk-free arbitrage. The two words that should slow you down are gift cards. Amex Offers often have exclusions, Groupon deals can be quirky, and MGM gift cards aren’t the same as cash. If you were already going to spend money at an MGM property soon, this is worth a serious look. If you’re buying speculatively because 20% off sounds cute, I’d be more careful.

What changed

A targeted American Express Offer for Groupon has been floating around recently. The exact version can vary by cardholder, so check your own Amex account or app before doing anything. Some cardholders may see a percentage-back offer, while others may not see it at all. Read the terms for the cap, expiration date, eligible purchase channels, and any exclusions.

The useful twist, first flagged in the miles-and-points world by Frequent Miler, is that Groupon sells MGM Resorts gift cards. If your Amex Offer gives 20% back at Groupon and your MGM gift card purchase is processed by Groupon in a way that qualifies, you’ve effectively bought MGM credit at a discount.

That MGM credit can be useful because MGM’s footprint is broad. In Las Vegas, think Bellagio, Aria, Park MGM, MGM Grand, Mandalay Bay, The Cosmopolitan, Luxor, Excalibur, New York-New York, and others. Outside Vegas, MGM also has properties such as Borgata in Atlantic City, MGM National Harbor, MGM Grand Detroit, Beau Rivage, and more.

The big catch: you need to verify the current Groupon listing and MGM gift card terms before buying. Gift card acceptance rules can change, and not every outlet inside a casino resort is necessarily MGM-operated.

The math can be excellent

Let’s use a clean example.

Say your targeted Amex Offer is 20% back at Groupon, up to $20 back. You buy a $100 MGM Resorts gift card from Groupon using the enrolled Amex card. If the offer tracks correctly, Amex later posts a $20 statement credit. Your net cost is $80 for $100 of MGM spending power.

That’s a real 20% discount.

Now scale it, but only within the offer cap. If you and a partner each have the Groupon offer on separate Amex cards, and each offer allows $20 back, you could buy two $100 MGM gift cards for a combined $200 face value and $160 net cost. That’s $40 saved before you’ve even set foot in a casino.

For a Vegas weekend, $200 doesn’t go far, but it’s not nothing. It could cover a chunk of resort fees, a casual dinner, a couple of brunches, or part of a hotel folio. If you’re staring at a $700 stay at Park MGM or a $1,200 long weekend at Bellagio, saving $20 or $40 is useful. If your version of the offer has a higher cap, the savings get more interesting.

Just don’t assume your cap is the same as someone else’s. Amex Offers are targeted, and the details matter.

Where this can actually be used

MGM Resorts gift cards are typically designed for use at participating MGM Resorts locations, including hotels, restaurants, entertainment, spas, retail, and other eligible resort charges. In practice, the safest way to use them is often at the front desk to pay down your hotel folio before checkout.

That matters because a resort folio can collect a lot of charges in one place: room rate, taxes, resort fees, parking, dining charged to the room, spa treatments, and more. If the front desk accepts the gift card for those eligible charges, you’ve turned the Groupon-Amex discount into a broad MGM discount.

There are limits. MGM gift cards generally won’t work for gambling, sports betting, chips, cash advances, or anything treated like gaming. They may not work at restaurants or shops inside an MGM resort that are operated by third parties. They also may not be usable for online prepaid rates or certain advance-purchase bookings.

That last point is huge. If you book a prepaid MGM stay and your credit card is charged at booking, you may not be able to retroactively apply a gift card to that payment later. If you want to use MGM gift cards for a hotel stay, a pay-at-hotel or flexible booking is usually cleaner. Charge eligible expenses to the room, then ask to apply the gift card at checkout.

Ask before you rely on it. A 30-second front desk question can save you from holding a discounted gift card you can’t use the way you expected.

The Amex Offer risk is real

Here’s the part I don’t love: Amex Offer terms often exclude gift cards, even when the purchase is made from the named merchant. That doesn’t always mean the statement credit won’t post. Sometimes Amex simply sees an eligible merchant charge and credits automatically. But if the terms exclude gift cards and the credit doesn’t post, you don’t have much of a complaint.

This is why I wouldn’t buy a large pile of MGM gift cards unless I was comfortable with the outcome either way.

Before buying, do three things:

First, add the offer to your Amex card. Sounds obvious, but Amex Offers only work after enrollment. If you have multiple Amex cards, choose carefully because the same offer may disappear from other cards after you add it to one.

Second, pay directly with the enrolled Amex card at Groupon. Avoid PayPal, Apple Pay, Groupon Bucks, or other payment layers unless the offer terms clearly allow them. You want the charge to look as clean as possible.

Third, check whether the Groupon checkout is actually charging Groupon. If you’re redirected to another gift card processor or the merchant descriptor looks like something other than Groupon, the Amex Offer may not trigger. I’d rather miss the deal than fight a $20 statement credit on principle.

A small test purchase can make sense if the offer doesn’t expire soon. Buy one gift card, wait to see whether the Amex email or credit appears, then decide whether to buy more. The downside is that Amex credits can take days or weeks, and the gift cards or offer may vanish while you wait.

Don’t ignore the opportunity cost

Buying an MGM gift card through Groupon means the purchase probably won’t code as hotel or travel. You may earn only 1x Membership Rewards, cash back, or whatever your card earns on general purchases. You also won’t get the same consumer protections as paying the hotel directly with a premium travel card.

For most people, that’s fine. A 20% discount beats earning a few extra points per dollar.

But there are cases where it’s not fine. If you’re using a card with a hotel statement credit, a Fine Hotels + Resorts booking, a travel insurance benefit, or a business expense reimbursement policy that requires direct hotel payment, gift cards can complicate things. The same goes if you’re trying to trigger a specific card-linked offer for MGM, Marriott, or a casino property. A Groupon gift card purchase won’t look like a hotel stay to your card issuer.

There’s also breakage. Gift cards are famous for it. You buy $100, use $82.37, and then forget the remaining balance exists. Or you pick a restaurant at Aria that doesn’t accept MGM gift cards because it’s independently operated. Or your trip gets canceled and now you’re sitting on casino resort credit you don’t need.

That’s how a clever deal becomes clutter.

Who should jump on this

This is a good deal if you have an MGM stay coming up, especially in Las Vegas, and you’re confident you can use the gift card at checkout or at eligible MGM-operated outlets. It’s also good if you visit MGM properties regularly and won’t forget about the card.

I’d be especially interested if your Amex Offer has a meaningful cap and the Groupon listing sells denominations that line up neatly with that cap. For example, if your offer maxes out after $100 in spend, buying exactly $100 is cleaner than buying $150 and getting no extra rebate on the excess.

This is also a decent play for people who are allergic to casino resort pricing but end up at MGM anyway for conferences, weddings, concerts, or group trips. You may not control the venue, but you can at least shave a bit off the bill.

Who should skip it

Skip this if you’re not going to an MGM property soon. A discount on money you weren’t going to spend is not savings; it’s a hostage situation with a logo on it.

Also skip it if the Amex Offer terms on your card clearly exclude gift cards and you’ll be annoyed if the credit doesn’t post. You can take the shot, but don’t pretend Amex owes you a manual credit if the fine print said no.

I’d also avoid this for prepaid stays, third-party bookings, or trips where every dollar has to be reimbursed cleanly by an employer. Gift cards introduce friction, and front desk friction is the worst kind because it happens when you’re trying to leave.

How I’d play it

If I had an MGM trip on the calendar, I’d add the Amex Offer, screenshot the terms, buy only enough MGM gift card value to match the statement-credit cap, and pay directly with the enrolled Amex at Groupon. Then I’d save the gift card details in two places and bring them to the front desk before checkout.

I would not buy hundreds of dollars just because Groupon and Amex made the math look good. I’d also check the balance after purchase and again after redemption. Gift card housekeeping is boring, but losing the card number or PIN is a dumb way to erase the discount.

The practical sweet spot is small and deliberate: buy what you know you’ll use, get the Amex credit if it tracks, and treat any portal cash back or Groupon promo-code stack as gravy, not the plan.

This can be a very nice 20% MGM discount. It can also be a mildly annoying gift card experiment. The difference is whether you already have a use case and whether you’ve read the terms before clicking buy.

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