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Question of the Day - 06 May 2023

Q:

Are there new offers that will allow you to put cash on your players club card? If so, are these just tied to a credit card or do you have to set up an account with that particular casino? Wondering if they're just following what has been done on cruise ships for so many years.

A:

Regulators, with great reluctance and trepidation, have tiptoed into cashless gaming. So using loyalty-program cards as currency seems too much of a stretch, even for the industry itself. Whatever cruise lines may or may not being doing (like letting 18-year-olds gamble), it’s definitely not happening onshore.

We asked a few companies known for their loyalty programs. 

Station Casinos spokesman Alexander Acuna told us, “No, we do not offer that." But like a number of other casinos that do offer cashless via e-wallets, he noted, "We do offer STN Cash, our mobile app. It allows guests to link a funding option to the app, wirelessly connect to the game, and begin gaming with funds through their phone.”

“I'm not aware of any program like that at Boyd properties,” agreed Boyd Gaming spokesman David Strow, “though I wonder if your reader is thinking of cashless gaming programs, like BoydPay. In BoydPay, you link your cashless gaming wallet to your Boyd Rewards player card (which can be used to access the wallet on the gaming floor) and you fund your BoydPay wallet with your credit card or checking account. However, we don't have any promotions where you receive cash for signing up for cashless gaming.”

MGM Resorts International politely declined to discuss the topic.

Multiple queries to Caesars Entertainment went unanswered, although we’ve not heard anything to suggest even remotely that you can put cash on your Caesars Rewards card.

All in all, we believe that you’re ahead of the curve when it comes to loading your players card with cash, at least in Nevada.

 

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Comments

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  • Kevin Lewis May-06-2023
    A storm drain for money
    I'm sure that the casino operators would cheerfully strangle their grandmothers if this option was implemented. Soon, though, I expect an "app" where you think about gambling and money is automatically debited from your account.

  • Dave_Miller_DJTB May-06-2023
    Corrections…
    It is my understanding at Resorts World in Vegas does exactly that: allow players at table games to put their money on their card and use that cash in and cash out. I haven’t tried it, so I don’t know for sure.
    
    And your comment about 18 year olds is wrong. The minimum age to get in a casino has more to do with the minimum age to drink than anything else. there are many casinos, both tribal, and non-tribal, that allow 18 year olds to play. Those casinos do not offer free drinks. 

  • Doozey May-06-2023
    free drinks
    No casino gives free drinks. There are scammers who pretend to gamble in order to get a "free" drink and stiff the server but consider the time involved they could do better working at a real job. Drinks are "free" if you take a gamble at a game that favors the casino.

  • Diamonddog2801 May-06-2023
    Could I just nominate......
    Doozey as the very early, undisputed winner of the "Stating The Obvious" award for today? 

  • Sam Glantzow May-06-2023
    not the same
    the card you use in casinos in ships is used everywhere on the ship, including as your room key. it's tied to a credit card, and it's the intermediary between the various venues and that credit card. in my experiences, you buy in with cash, or can use the card, which debits your credit card. any winnings is registered on the card.

  • rokgpsman May-06-2023
    Free drinks
    @Doozey
    
    Sometimes there are free drinks in the casino. For years the M Resort in Las Vegas had free self-serve soft drink and beverage machines on the casino floor. You could get unlimited coffee, tea and soda type beverages. Same thing at some of the casinos in Kansas City and Tunica. As for free alcohol drinks my wife has often gotten a free drink while sitting next to me at a table game or a video poker machine and she wasn't playing anything. And while sitting at but not playing an empty machine waiting for my wife to return from the restroom I've had the casino cocktail girl hand me a free drink like a bottle of beer off her tray that someone had ordered but they left the area before the drink girl got back around. Also, when I play with some awarded free play from the player's club like for signing up for a new player's card I'm not gambling with my own money but I still get free drinks from the casino. So there's plenty of truly free drinks that get handed out. 

  • O2bnVegas May-06-2023
    mostly free but varies
    I haven't ever had to pay for a drink on the casino floor in Las Vegas.  Now, sometimes if you call for a double, or a really expensive brand, they might require you to be in one of the upper tiers, though I've only seen that happen once.  Also, sometimes it depends on the server, and they'll be generous with a happy customer who pays them a little attention, tips more than $1, etc.  Just depends.  Some states (mine, for example), charge for drinks on the floor period.  State law.  Fooey on them.
    
    Candy

  • Kevin Rough May-06-2023
    Turning Stone
    The Oneida tribe which runs the Turning Stone casino in upstate New York used to require slot players to put their money on a card to gamble.  The reasoning was once the money was gone, a patron just couldn't get out another $100 bill and keep going but would have to stop and hunt down someone to put more money on the card where they might consider that they've already gambled enough.  At some time in the previous decade, they changed to the normal way.

  • AlwaysTails May-07-2023
    Resorts World
    I went about a year ago shortly after it opened. You could do to the cashier and load cash into your app which would work at a table (if it was working) and machines. You can use the app to use a bank account to add cash but you pay a fee (3% I think?). I assume you can wire cash in but I didn’t. 
    
    What’s more interesting imo is the ability to use TITOs to cash in and out from table games. Plus the game can tell what chips are on the table.