Question of the Day - 27 February 2018

As we wrote in yesterday’s answer, there are — and can be — no play benefits from having a players club card inserted (or not). In other words, the slot machine doesn’t know or care if you’re accruing club points while you’re feeding it with cash, credits, or free-play and spinning the reels.

That said, what more do you want? Points add up to comps, with which you can get free parking, food and beverage, accommodations, entertainment, gift cards, gasoline, cruises, cars, invitations to parties and gambling tournaments, and whatever other goodies for which you qualify from the casino candy store.

And let’s not forget cash back, bounceback, and free-play. With these, the casino is returning actual cash and/or playing credits for your action that’s tracked through the card.

Finally, as you say, the win-loss statements, though not a perfect representation of your casino action, are at least some backup proof if you can use it. And without the card inserted, that goes out the window.

There are two arguments on the no side -- one minor and the other potentially important. The minor one is convenience. If you want to play for a few minutes, possibly to get a comped drink or parking validation, and you don't have a card, it's often not worth the time to go to the booth to get one. The important consideration is anonymity. There are many possible reasons that you might not want a casino to know who you are or that you're even in the casino (generating a "trip"), and using a players card will be detrimental to that objective.

The nos are typically higher-level gambling considerations. For the most part, you should always use a card when you play.