Question of the Day - 15 June 2024

[Editor's Note: This question was tailor-made for Jean Scott, who graciously, as always, answered it for us.]

This is another it-depends casino question, like so many others we're asked.

If the other's card name is someone with whom you have a joint account, you can both use each other’s cards and earn benefits with the casino’s blessings. However, few if any casinos that I know of offer joint accounts anymore, as was more customary in the past. Nowadays, most offer only individual accounts, each with its own PIN.

I mention the PIN right away, because that’s the key issue. I know of no casino players club that would offer a chance to get someone else’s benefits at a kiosk without using that person’s PIN. Now, many players know other people’s PINs, sharing this information with spouses or partners or even other family members and friends. Thus, they obviously approve of them accessing some of the benefits. 

However, since this is usually against the casino’s written policies, the risks come in if the casino becomes aware of it. This often happens during juicy casino-promotion periods when multiple players are involved.  

For example, one gambler pays non-gamblers to join the players club, then he plays on those new cards to harvest the big promotional benefits. He might be caught if, for some reason like hitting a taxable jackpot, he can't produce an ID that matches the name on the players card he's using. The casino is looking to identify players who are more frequently visible and active. The most minor consequence is having your players club account shut down; a more severe punishment is being officially 86ed. 

And this can catch up with spouses during some big-money promotions, especially if they have the same last name and/or the same address. Sometimes the casinos will just give them a warning, but they might close accounts.

A more common problem can come up in redeeming benefits from the kiosk. A second step may require showing an ID. For example, you could easily print a food-comp coupon from the kiosk with the card your relative or friend gave you, but you might have to show ID at the food outlet. 

So you can see, all kinds of details can trip up players using club cards that aren't their own. I recommend against it.