Question of the Day - 08 January 2019

What you’re experiencing is the fallout from a complicated transaction that saw Penn National Gaming buy Pinnacle Entertainment, then turn around — due to antitrust concerns — and sell four casinos, including Ameristar Kansas City, to Boyd Gaming (that’s the greatly simplified version). Boyd gained both Ameristar K.C. and Ameristar St. Charles, as well as Belterra in Indiana and Belterra Park in Ohio. To be specific, it leases them to Gaming & Leisure Properties, which owns the underlying real estate.

“Because of the complexity of the transaction (including our inability to coordinate transition efforts with these properties prior to Federal Trade approval), we had to keep the MyChoice loyalty program in place immediately after the acquisition — similar to how we have kept other loyalty programs in place immediately following our other property acquisitions,” explains Boyd Vice President of Corporate Communications David Strow.

“Obviously, there is much greater urgency to transition away from MyChoice, due to the program’s use at competing properties in the market (and customer confusion),” he adds, which is similar to what you're experiencing. “The good news is that we're very close to transitioning the two Ameristars (and Belterras) over to B Connected. That should happen sometime next month,” Strow predicts. “And yes, player point balances will carry over to B Connected.”

As for using your MyChoice card at M Resort and Tropicana Las Vegas, rest assured: Both properties honor the card, as do 34 other Penn-operated casinos. M Resort is even on the “splash page” for MyChoice, so Penn must think pretty highly of it.