Question of the Day - 08 June 2021

While I don’t believe the myth either, I’ve actually heard it the other way. That is, that the casino will pay more when a slot club card is inserted.

The reasoning is, a player that doesn’t use a card probably won’t become a regular customer no matter how much money they win. So why let them win?

Conspiracy theories have run amok in this country, coinciding the dumbing down of America.  Cards have no influence on if you win or lose.  None. 

There are no doubt tens of thousands of people who will tell anyone who will listen, "I played on Tuesday with my player's card inserted and lost my ass, then I played on Thursday without it and won eleventy squillion bucks!" Well, gee, that proves it. Though it might have been because on Thursday, you wore your lucky pink underwear.

"Correlation is not causation" is a concept that will forever elude the tiny-brained folk, who, as we've learned, are at least 75 million strong in this country.

Kevin Lewis....extremely immature last paragraph in your reply 

Some people believe that "if I'm winning, I better cash out, then the machine will think it's a new player and the winning will continue."

There are two reasons not to use a players card.
1. Your being tracked, the casino knows who you are, how much your spending, and can sell that data to other marketers if they so choose to do so. They at the minimum have your license on file, and possibly your SIN number. Marriot was hacked and a ton of data was stolen, then there is the ransomware epidemic and the possibility that the data will be taken and put out on the internet. They are doing this to police forces including publishing the names of informants, and home addresses of police officers homes. So don't think it can't happen with Casino data.

2. The second reason is the WIN/LOSS - this information is easily sent to the government for taxation. You might not get a W2G from playing poker or blackjack but believe me the government knows your playing. 

I am pretty boring as far as finances go and have a modest bankroll, live outside of the US so I don't care about either of these items.

Reeko, no one has ever accused Kevin of being mature, although it is surprising that you ONLY chose to point out his last paragraph. Hit a little too close to home? Don't you know that the casinos get everything they need when you put your card in...just like the chips that were inserted with our vaccinations?  Beware of Big Brother!!

We all know the casinos can track you when you put your card in the slot... That is how they give you the comps for your "action"... They already have your details from when you signed up for the cards so why not play with the card inserted??? Trust me "big brother" does not care if I spend $5000 playing slots or VP in Vegas. They only worry when I win a huge jackpot to make sure they get their cut.

This is what is referred to as "Small Sample Size Theater." Morons take one event and extrapolate that to mean everyone has the same experience. How many times have you heard an idiot say "Oh, the slots are cold at Bellagio" or some nonsense like that? No, the slots are fine, you just happened to lose that day. If you had statistics on how all of the players did at Bellagio over a statistically relevant period of time, then you can go ahead and make a blanket statement like that. 

I hear the casinos will be sponsoring the booster vaccinations. These will inject yet another chip into our systems thereby eliminating the need to use player cards. Feel free to copy and paste into your Facebook feeds.

Jay, regarding data breaches, yes, I'm concerned about hackers getting my personal information from hotels where they have my credit card and drivers license on file. However, I don't care if those same hackers also manage to get into the players club system and learn that I lost $200 on the slots or that I like to frequent a particular restaurant at the hotel. And I don't mind if the resorts use the information they have on me to market their services to me. That's the entire point: To entice regular customers to remain loyal to the resort by offering deals tailored to them.

As for your other point, you're just encouraging tax fraud. Not a good look.

Once in my life, in fact a week ago, I chose to not use a casino players card.  Why?  To keep from getting the tsunami of snail mail and emails begging me to return.

I actually have a card there but haven't played in so long I guess I'm off their mailing list.  Fine.  I don't really like the place that much (not Vegas).  I assume I'm still in their archives.

I'd been told they have a table game I like which isn't found in every casino.  I took one afternoon to walk there...short walk, exercise, etc.  Minimum was $10, yay.  I knew I wouldn't be there long win or lose, so I declined to be rated.  It was actually a very freeing experience!  The pit guy didn't hover around watching my bets.  Loved that.

I realize this was about table play which wasn't asked/answered  (thankfully) in the question.  But could apply to machines as well.

Let's face, tons of gamblers have superstitions. I play mostly craps and of course you can't say the number "7" out loud because a 7 will come up on the next roll.  If you roll a die off the table you better yell "same dice" because if you get a new one you will roll an immediate 7.  Don't hold you drink in your shooting hand, you'll cool it off and have a bad roll.  If you turn your head to look at a hot cocktail waitress when you turn it back to the table a 7 will have been rolled.  

Ray....I cannot even think what to say about the first part of Kevin's post. And yes, I'll take Trump anyway over the ass clown we have now.

There is another way to look at it that because these people think they're getting the raw end of the deal by using a player's card, that means there's more to be had for the rest of us. As long as there's easy marks walking the casino, that means the corporations are less likely to reduce the few comps we get. Of course that's no guarantee, but hopefully less likely.

I am all for the casinos marketing to me - assuming I have chosen to share my data. I am less ok when Walgreens and others start marketing to me because the data has been sold. 

There is however all sorts of form of grey - in this space. You give your data to xyz supermarket to get discounts, later you find out that this data is now shared with a bunch of other companies. When you read the very very fine details - you find out that the supermarket doesn't even run their own loyalty program but have outsourced it to a third party that agemates data from a variety of sources and all of sudden you find out you are get emails from Mikes Roofing, and Bens Gun shop. 

Per the tax fraud - no one is suggesting fraud of any kind, no W2gs are issued for table games. I am just dismayed by the lack of consistency For instance if your betting 1200 or more per hand. You should be issued a W2G one after every win. 

Fundamentally you are betting with after tax money, so when you win you are paid with after tax money. The reason the casino can afford to pay you is that they have collected a bunch of after tax money. Your not earning this money so why are you expected to pay tax on money that has already been taxed. If you expected to pay tax on winnings you should be able to deduct your losses, but you can't do that unless you obtain professional gambler status which requires you to keep records of win/loss and time commitment to back that up otherwise your not allowed to deduct my losses. Bottom line the Government should not have it both ways. Further more player data is sent to the government not just W2 w/l reports which is a violation of privacy.

Period. Such info could also easily be construed/defined as proprietorial, if it isn't already. Meaning the casino doesn't have to disclose it to anyone but the individual card holder. 

As far as the prevailing myth being discussed here, if players card usage truly was unlucky, an esteemed member of the gambling community, one with unimpeachable credentials, yet slightly imbittered, could easily blow the lid off it all. To date, no such person has stepped forward.

There's one time in which I would recommend against using a player's card -- you're in Vegas for two nights and have established yourself as a $1000 ADT player per day. But if you use your card for 20 minutes before heading to the airport, you've reduced yourself to a $670 ADT player per day, which will result in lower offers. In short, don't use a player's card for pop-in or getaway visits -- only if you plan on playing for your usual X hours that day, or close to it.