Each casino (or casino company) has its own players club program. One element of it is how you earn tiers, and that’s managed by tier credit scores.Some are more transparent than others.
Good content, Brian. One major problem in NY is that casinos don’t disclose how much money must pass through a slot machine to earn one tier credit/point. So players are constantly chasing points. Perhaps casinos should make patrons feel comfortable by providing a safe space and giving clear, concise information to support responsible play, even though this is not a mandate/regulation.
Tom R.
We’re with you – transparency on a players club program can be a really helpful way to know what you’re getting out of your play, and whether you want to invest your gambling budget in one casino vs. another.
If it helps, this is definitely not limited to New York. Many tribal casinos offer less than transparent earnings rates when it comes to tier credits – one of our locals doesn’t even show you a tier score, so you don’t ever really know where you are relative to another tier.
In Las Vegas alone in recent years, MGM got less transparent when they transitioned from Mlife to MGM Rewards, whereas the Venetian got more transparent when they updated their rewards program.
There generally appears to be two ways that casinos run their rewards program. The more transparent way is earning points per $1 wagered. A great example of this is Caesars Rewards – in general you earn 1 tier credit per $5 wagered on slots.
The second approach is to earn tier credits based on theoretical loss. That’s how MGM Rewards works at the moment. While that means all players, both high and low bettors, are treated similarly because high limit players aren’t rewarded with more tier credits for playing machines with higher payback percentages, it also means less helpful information for players to know how they’re earning points.
It doesn’t look like things are going to change anytime soon, but we are also fans of more transparent tier earnings structures because it makes it much more understandable what to expect.
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