Players card help casinos know how to comp players. But what data do they track?
What do player cards keep track of? Simply money in and money out? Or does it track the size of the bet as well, and type of games you play? Frequency of bets? Length of time played?
John
All of the above! The main reason why casinos have been so bullish to adopt players cards over the years is the level of granularity of the data they can capture.
Unlike table games, where each individual wager isn’t tracked but instead an average is recorded periodically in a computer (you’ll see the pit boss punching those numbers in when they come around to check on tables), electronic games like slots, Video Poker and Video Keno allow casinos to capture:
- The game you’re playing (and the long-term house edge of the game)
- The size of your wager
- The number of wagers
- How long you’re on the machine
- The actual wins/losses of the session
This lets them much more precisely capture the value of the session, and in turn better know how to value your play and award comps, whether it be the earned comps you accrue as you play, the tier credits you get or the offers they mail to you to come back.
Casinos will look at each player individually, and grade them and put them into different groups. These groups are how they determine what to offer each player in terms of comps and offers, and place players of a similar type together for easier management of these rewards.
So yes, all of the things you mention are part of a casino’s tracking of data, and that level of granularity is critical for them to successfully manage their players club and how they reward players. But it works out for us as players too, as the better their data about us, the better their ability to comp us in return. Think of it as the trade-off we make by giving them data for them to take care of us.
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After putting your money in a slot and getting a bonus in the first couple of spins does the game just gobble up your money or do they let you play longer?
Hope I put this right.
Because any outcome the game can offer is available on any spin, the game is not designed to do either. More information here:
https://fliptheswitch.com/are-losing-streaks-programmed-into-slots/