Question of the Day - 02 January 2024

Yes, there’s a high-roller database. It’s not just national, but international as well.

It’s called Central Credit LLC and it's a wholly owned subsidiary of Everi, which used to be called Global Cash Access. Las Vegas-based Everi is one of the world's largest suppliers of financial technology (fintech) for casino operations, including cash and cash-compliance (AML)  platforms, mobile transaction processing, remote-game servers and game content, and loyalty-management services.  

Central Credit is the casino-industry’s longest running provider of credit data and reporting services on gamblers, offering a variety of tools that simplify the credit-granting decision process for casino operators. Everi's maintain a private database of the credit and transaction histories of literally millions of casino patrons from hundreds of casinos worldwide. 

Central Credit has been  collecting data on gamblers since 1956. "Central," as it’s known in the trade, verifies Social Security numbers, bank-account and rating info, general credit reports, and current marker activities and collects derogatory data (known as "derogs"). All this information helps casinos make decisions on extending casino credit to gamblers. Central also provides a service that verifies bank checks and collects on delinquent checks and markers.

It’s hard to say exactly how your friends were immediately comped on check-in. We've never heard of front-desk personnel consulting the Central Credit database on check-ins; clerks wouldn't be given that kind of access to such a sensitive database. 

But a reasonable assumption, given that they're "quite the gamblers," would be that this didn't happen "out of the blue," as you suspct. Rather, they called in advance and talked to a casino host, who looked up their Central, then rolled out the red carpet when they arrived, hoping to get a shot at their bankroll.