Which Casino Had the First Slot Club?

Which casino had the first slot club?

We answered this question way back in 2005 -- in the first year that we were posting Question of the Day. Here's an updated version.

According to Jeffrey Compton, author of The Las Vegas Advisor Guide to Slot Clubs (long since out of print), it all started in Atlantic City in the early 1980s.

The world’s first slot club debuted at the Atlantic City Sands in 1982. The Sands’ slot managers recognized that their customers were, in Jeff’s words, "cost-conscious day-trippers playing quarter slot machines and unless their bread-and-butter customers were recognized and rewarded, they would walk next door." The Galaxy Slot Club was born. Originally, the Sands identified its top slot players, invited them to special events and parties, and gave them gold lapel pins to signify them as casino VIPs. Jeff says that after the first year, the Galaxy Slot Club had "600 customers and was considered a rousing success."

In 1984, Harrah’s Atlantic City took a big step forward in the burgeoning slot-club movement by devising a new system in which slot players received a bonus ticket for every $100 they put through a machine. The tickets were issued by special dispensers attached to the machines, similar to skee ball pin ball tickets in kids arcades. Tickets could be redeemed for various amenities in the hotel -- rooms, food, gift-shop items, and the like.

The Golden Nugget was the first casino in Las Vegas to institute a slot club, with a similar ticket-issuing system, in the mid-1980s. Anthony Curtis remembers scufflers lurking by the slots, waiting for players who were unaware of the value of the tickets, to leave them at the machines.

From there, slot clubs grew much more sophisticated, with plastic ID cards, electronic player-tracking systems, multiple-point promotions, point-of-purchase redemption, and endless variations on the theme of "the more you play, the more goodies you get." In fact, even the name has been updated to players clubs.

And we're sure they'll continue to evolve, at least technologically. The history shows that slot/players clubs have been undergoing non-stop technological and marketing improvements for nearly four decades.

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O2bnVegas Feb-18-2020

Sands Las Vegas

I still have my green (bendable) plastic Sands players card with rectangular cutouts.  Called "Easy Money", with a cute little slot machine 'guy' clutching green bills in each hand.  Best guess, around 1988 or '89.  A casino employee walked around offering a form to fill out; shortly brought back a paper card.  Can't remember when the plastic one came, either that day or in the mail? 

Back of the card reads "EASY MONEY, Get Paid While You Play!...Earn Bonus Points while playing your favorite slot or poker machine (excluding 5c machines.)"  [Their misuse of the period/parenthetical bracket, not mine--LOL].

rokgpsman Feb-18-2020

Another reason for sitting only

Here's another reason casinos prefer blackjack players to sit - there was a story in the news a few years ago about a guy that would walk up to a blackjack table and make a big bet while he was standing behind the chair. He didn't put any other chips on the table, just the bet. If the hand won then great. But if the hand lost he would quickly grab his bet off the table and run for the door, usually got away. Since it was only his chips that he grabbed the casino often didn't pursue him, although he had lost the bet. He did this several times at different places until photos of him got around enough that security was ready and they caught him. So that's may be another reason they don't want you playing while standing up.

Dave in Seattle. Feb-18-2020

Slot club cars.

Most of these have expired...

[img]https://i.imgur.com/Q4IwhRH.jpg[/img]
I remember the cards with square hole punched in 'em.

Larry Stone Feb-18-2020

players club international

telly savalas was spokesperson for a card from players club international in the 1980s.  i dont think it was an actual slot club card, but you can see the commercials on youtube.

IdahoPat Feb-18-2020

Players Club International Wiki

More successful than I had remembered ...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Players_International

Roy Furukawa Feb-18-2020

Who loves you baby

I remember the Players Club International commercials with Telly Savalas, but wasn’t that more akin to junkets which were still around in the early 80’s? Of course I was far too young to gamble back then.

Bud Ackley Feb-18-2020

SNL parody of Telly Savalas commerical

The Players Club reminded me of a hilarious SNL sketch in which Phil Hartman parodied those Telly Savalas Players Club commercials. If you Google "snltranscripts 90gsavalas" the first hit should be the script for one of the parodies. It's a text-only webpage but still adult content and maybe NSFW.

[email protected] Feb-18-2020

Those were the days

When I first started going to LAS in the early '90s, TI had a slot club only for dollar and up players.  It payed .67% cash back (not free play, but actual cash) plus another .67% in comps (although when I calculated mine it always was more like .85%).  I played 9/6 JOB, so I was playing a positive expectation in cash alone, plus comps that put me at around a 1% house edge.  But here's the best part.  I guess no one had fully figured out the correct play for DW, because TI had a full bank of $1, full-pay DW machines - which mostly sat empty!  So if anyone had known the correct strategy, they could have played at a 1.37% cash advantage plus comps putting them at better than 2% in the black!  Of course, the DW machines quickly vanished, and the club cut VP cash back to .33%, but even there is was a pretty sweet deal for a 9/6 JOB player!

O2bnVegas Feb-18-2020

that SNL clip

That is a funny clip.  "2 Ply!"  LOL.  Thanks, Bud.

I miss Phil Hartman.

Question of the Day - 18 February 2020

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