Hi, I'm Tim Anderson. Today we're going to talk about slot clubs. As slot players learn
to play and enjoy the various games that casinos offer, they also want to learn how to get
more value from their play. And about as soon as that quest for knowledge begins, players
will be introduced to the benefits of a slot club. Maybe you've heard the term slot club,
but weren't sure what it meant or maybe you do have some idea about how they work. Well,
today we'll get the inside scoop on what a slot club is and how you as a player can
benefit from learning more about them. We're lucky to have with us today one of the world's
leading experts on slot clubs in North America, Jeffrey Compton. Jeff is the author of the
Las Vegas Advisor Guide to Slot Clubs. He's also the slot club editor for Strictly Slots
and Casino Player Magazines. And when he's not writing about gaming, Jeff visits and
plays at over 100 of the most exciting and interesting casinos across North America each
year. Now during these visits, Jeff joins the slot clubs. He's a member of over 200
slot clubs in casinos all over the country. And then in between writing and actually playing
every conceivable type of slot machine, Jeff lectures widely at gaming conventions in practically
every region in the United States. Ladies and gentlemen, Jeffrey Compton. Jeff, thanks
for joining us today. Thank you for inviting me, Timothy. And thank you for bringing us
all to one of the more exciting new high roller rooms in Las Vegas, at the Resort at Summerland.
Nice place, huh? Very nice place. You've played here before? Yes, I have. Yes, I have. And
there's been a lot of, along with improvements in slot clubs, we have seen improvement in high
limit rooms lately, and this is one of the best examples. Okay, well let's get started. What
exactly is a slot club? A slot club is an electronic player tracking system set up to
recognize and reward slot players. When casinos first opened, they concentrated on table play,
blackjack, craps and the like, and they would comp the players and give them free rooms and
meals. But the slot machines were sort of put off in the corner, and they were for the wives or
the girlfriends or the whatever of the gamblers at the tables. Well, as the years went by, slot
machines started taking up more and more of the casino floor because they were getting more popular,
and slot players started contributing more and more to the casino bottom line. Several casinos,
most of them, if not all of them, in Atlantic City, were the places that decided that they
should start rewarding and treating slot players well. Okay. Okay. So they came up with several
different methods, and the one that worked involved using cards and electronic tracking
devices that are attached to every slot machine. Cards. Cards. Okay. So, well, show me, how do these
cards work? These cards? These cards keep track of your total play, what we call handle. Okay. Every
casino has a specially designed card that looks like a credit card, an ATM. It is neither. Okay,
now this one at the Resort at Summerland is called Certis, okay, which is Latin for all in one. Their
main job is to tell the slot computer who is gambling what machines they're playing and how
long the person has been playing. Okay. So, you know, are you a quarter player playing a three coin
slot machine and you play for two hours, or you're a five dollar player as they would play in this
room and play for three hours at a video poker machine. So that's what the computer tells it.
As we shall see, this gives the casino enough information to reward the player and also create
marketing programs aimed at getting that player back to the casino. That's why they have slot
clubs. Okay. Well, then why would I want to join a slot club? What benefit is this to me as a player?
Casinos are passing out every year millions and millions of dollars in benefits to slot players
and joining the slot club is the only way you're going to get your hands on them. Also, slot
club membership is free. No casino charges to join the slot club. All of it's free and it entitles
you to all sorts of rewards that you're not going to get any other way. Okay. Okay. And so let's say
you're the member of a slot club and I'm not a member of a slot club and we play two machines
right next to each other. Okay. And we play for a couple of hours. Let's say we play two dollar,
two one dollar machines and you play one and I play the other and we come out both at the end
with nothing. I mean we didn't win anything, we didn't lose anything. You probably are entitled
to some cash back, maybe a room discount, maybe a free meal. I wouldn't be. I've heard about some
of the promotions that slot clubs offer and I've heard that some of them actually offer cash back.
Now is that some kind of gimmick? No, that's no gimmick. Most of the slot clubs in the United
States are currently including service at the resort at Summerland pay cash back. You earn
cash back every time you pull the lever or push the button or play the cards or whatever, a small
percentage of what you play, usually less than one percent, is added to your cash back score.
Now that doesn't sound like much but over the course of several bets that's going to accumulate.
So and sometimes it's the only money you end up taking home.
All right, I can get cash back. What other kind of benefits will accrue to the member of a slot
club? Almost every slot club rewards complimentary rooms and complimentary meals. Wow, okay.
Many offer free gifts, especially let's say on the player's birthday or when you've reached so many
points you get a free gift or on your anniversary. Casinos, especially in Atlantic City and on river
boats on the Mississippi, usually send their slot club members what we call bounce back cash coupons.
The next time you come back, the next time you bounce back to the casino, we're going to give
you five dollars, ten dollars, sometimes even as much as a hundred dollars. I got one from a casino
on the strip for three hundred dollars. Nice. Okay. Also strip casinos, usually casinos on the strip
and other places, usually invite members back for special parties and events. Okay. Okay. All right,
that sounds good for somebody who plays quite a bit but how about an occasional player? I might
play once or twice a month. How is belonging to a slot club going to help somebody who plays as
infrequently as I do? Most people who say they gamble only a little really, really never think
about how much they're putting through a machine. For example, if you're only playing two hours of
quarter video poker every month, just two hours quarter video poker, you are putting through
eighteen thousand dollars through the machine, total handle per year. Wow. Okay. And of course
you don't notice it because you're not winning or losing that much. Okay. That would entitle you to
several free meals. At some places if it was a slot machine or a real machine it might entitle
you to as much as a hundred and eighty dollars in cash benefits. Wow. Assuming you use your card.
Right. You've joined the club. Right. All those good things. Okay. Right. Now when I go into a casino
should I sort of check the place out a little bit and get some information about their slot club and
and play a little bit or should I join the slot club right away? Hopefully by the time this video
is over you know the value of joining a slot club. Okay. It should be the first stop for a variety
of reasons when you visit a casino. Like? The first thing is it's real tempting to on the way there
to while you're looking around for the booth to stop at a machine and play just a few coins. Well
then you win and you play a few coins more and then you play a few coins more. Pretty soon an
hour has gone by you've put through seven hundred dollars through this machine and you are getting
nothing for it. Bad. Okay. So to avoid that temptation head to the slot club booth first.
Besides even if you don't play at all if you walk into that casino join the slot club and end up
walking out because there's nothing you really saw you will still get probably get some sort of
room offer or room invitation to come back at half price rooms plus a buffet or something like that
particularly at the Las Vegas casinos or Laughlin and Reno casinos. Okay. Well that sounds good.
Now I live in Las Vegas so I have a choice of you know the big strip mega resorts or local joints.
Where am I going to find the best slot clubs? Okay the best slot club depends on you the player
more than the casino. There are some wonderful slot clubs in Las Vegas there are wonderful slot
clubs across the country. Okay. There are some crappy slot clubs in Las Vegas there are some
crappy slot clubs all over the country. Okay. But most slot clubs do a very decent job in
rewarding their players though no two slot clubs do it the exact same way. Even slot clubs owned
by the same casinos located right next door to each other tend to reward customers differently.
Some slot clubs particularly on the strip pay a lot of money in cash back. Some places for example
local casinos tend to push free meals. Others on the north end of the strip and downtown are very
quick to offer room discounts. So now you if you live in Las Vegas room discounts aren't a lot of
help. Right. Okay. Obviously if you look at me free meals are a big deal so it depends on the player.
Okay I'm convinced I'm sold where do I sign up? Okay every casino hat with a slot club has a slot
club booth. Most of them have the same name you know that's called the service club booth. Okay.
Or it's called the players club booth or it's called the promotions desk but they have one.
So you go in and you ask an attendant or you ask security or you ask somebody where where can I
sign up for the slot club? Okay. You go up to the booth and you fill out a form giving them your name
your address and in case you're paying the slot club pays cash you usually have to give them your
social security number. Okay. Okay. The form will also ask a few questions on what games do you play
do you play table games do you just play slots do you play video poker do you play video keynote
and we'll also ask you what kind of special events you want to be invited to do you like to go to
bowling events do you like to go to boxing events do you like to go to hunting events which some
hold really do you like to go to birthday parties that sort of thing you will be asked to show ID
when you sign up one to verify who you are okay okay and the other thing is is they don't sign
up anybody under 21 well they won't have any trouble with me yeah well inevitably whenever
I'm signing up for anything I fail to ask some kind of question that's important so
in this instance what what are the important questions I should ask when I'm signing up for
a slot club okay I always ask about the club's basic benefits such as points cash back points
comps and what should I do to obtain them okay how does your system work and what do I have to do
I also read any literature at the booth regarding the club or special promotion they may be running
for example when I stopped out here and I stopped at the booth they're running a deal where you get
a bonus if you hit a certain four of a kind on Tuesdays I wouldn't have known about that I might
have hit that four of a kind and played it away without trying to get the bonus sure okay okay
you mentioned points what exactly are points okay let's go to a slot machine and look at how
a slot club works okay good the okay slot clubs you have a display here you have a reader here
okay the how it works is it is based on the total amount of money or handle that you put into the
machine we call this earning points via coin in because it's based on the number of coins you
put in to the machine okay as you play you earn coins via a countdown so we'll put the card into
the machine please reinsert card now you notice there was a very careful thing there when I put
the card in the first time it told me to please reinsert the card yeah that meant it didn't read
it right okay okay what would have happened had we ignored that is we would have been playing away
and not getting anything okay okay all right so so the so what happens is it flashes up
the countdown which is two which means you need two coins to earn a point in in this session okay
at the resort at summerland okay every every casino has a peculiar system to design on how
they reward points okay for example at the resort at summerland you have to deposit two dollars
to earn one point okay which means if you're playing dollar coins you put in two one dollar
coins all right if you're playing quarters you would put in eight quarters if you were playing
nickels you would put in 40 nickels to earn a point okay so it's two dollars that's on reels
by the way on video poker it's slightly different we'll get into that later so now we're playing a
25-dollar machine okay thanks to the generosity of the resort at summerland
so we will see what happens we play our two coins
we don't win anything but you notice we got 25 points because we deposited two 25-dollar coins
okay we'll try this again
okay now we're up to 50 coins we played it we counted down another two it gave us another
25 points okay so we now have 50 points now in any given casino do all the machines count down
the same yes and no because video poker machines earn a lot less money for a casino than slot
machines do they usually you usually have to play them twice as long to earn the same amount
of points including like here here the it's a countdown of four not a countdown of two to
earn points okay now can i earn points on any machine yes you can earn points on any machine
in the house okay usually uh some usually usually most most casinos now are putting in on any
any machine in the house but some casinos including for example mirage in las vegas
and treasure island and belagio do not cover quarter play and some casinos don't cover nickel
play now with the increase in 45 coin nickel machines we're seeing more and more casinos
covering nickel play but you still that's something you should check if you are a nickel player okay
as i told you before i live in las vegas let's say i want to go cross country and take a trip
to atlantic city are the slot clubs there operated differently than they are here yes
atlantic city slot clubs base their reward system including cash back comps bounce back cash whatever
else they send you on a concept known as theoretical win theoretical win yes it's what they feel the
average player will lose in the casino based on the type of machine he plays and how long he plays
this is obviously a hard concept to explain to players because what it sounds like is
we reward losers more than we reward winners okay so because of that most atlantic city slot clubs
don't explain the system they just tell you what your benefits are they use a lot of kiosks out
there those little machines that look you know big big electronic computers you put your card in it
says you have you know ten dollars in cash and 25 dollars in comps and all that but they won't
explain to you how they earn them just as in anything else i know experience counts so are
there any little tricks i can employ to get more points to rack up more points yeah casinos
especially those catering to local residents either local las vegas residents or riverboat
casinos or indian or native american casinos that cater to folks that live within 50 miles of the
casino usually offer what is called double and triple point period bonus periods really yes
usually it's in the middle of the week or in the middle of the night or during the slow months such
as december december is really an excellent month to go to a casino to check out promotions almost
anywhere in america because december is the slowest month for entertainment before christmas the days
weeks before christmas because everybody's home going to christmas parties or going to you know
doing their shopping so you should really visit your favorite casino in december if you can
okay then let's say i've got points how do i keep track of my accumulated points
okay every system almost every system i know of at least when you put your card in
it tells you how many points you have now those are unredeemed points okay okay so it means the
number of points you haven't taken to the booth or done anything about okay all right so let's
say i've got a lot of points how do i redeem them what do i do with them now that i've got so many
okay just take your card back to the booth remember where you signed up
and tell the attendant you you need redemption or do i yes you would like to redeem your points
okay and if the slot club pays cash the attendant will check the computer and then issue a voucher
she'll look at the computer and she'll say you have twelve dollars in cash coming or you have
fifteen dollars in cash coming and she will issue a voucher and then you you sign it and there's
signatures all around and then you will take your you will take your voucher to the cashier
who will then cash it for you they will probably both ask for id along the way and may even write
down your driver's license or social security number on that voucher now if it's a comp only
club a club that only you know supplies meals and free rooms and stuff like that they will
just write the comp right at the booth they'll write a comp that's good for free buffet for
example now most clubs do require a minimum number of points to be cashed usually you can't
go up and just get cash back for a dollar they want yeah they want five dollars they want ten
dollars so which is it well there's a reason you should know that that's something you should check
when you have walked in because if it takes five hours of quarter play in order to get a minimum
reward and you don't intend to be there for five hours right well maybe this isn't your place to
okay okay now i've got a pocket full of cards and i worry about losing them especially credit cards
because other people can use those and charge things on my account number what about my slot
club card can if i lose that can anybody else use it or redeem my points no because what did i say
they have to show id okay before you redeem your points okay one of the nice things about slot
club cards is you can always get a duplicate card you don't have to run around with a pocket full
of cards if you leave the card at home or just lost it when i showed up here today i didn't have
my card on me i just went to the booth and asked for a duplicate card it's also a good way to check
to see if there's any new promotions or a new brochure or something going on i personally always
check the booth when i walk in every time i visit the casino okay well like i told you before i'm
an infrequent player so what if i go for a good spell and i don't play will i lose my points
usually if you do not earn points in a year in other words if the account stays dormant for a
year your unredeemed points will be erased off by the computer now if you play a lot and leave the
points sitting there they usually they will accumulate but if if you but if you just don't
show up for a year they wipe them off the books okay now let's say you visit las vegas as a visitor
even from california you know you could get home and you lost your job or there's illness in the
family or something and you might not come back to las vegas for a year now you can call the club
and explain this to them and they'll usually keep the points but to avoid all that that's one reason
i say redeem as many points as you can on each trip all right clean out the accounts take the
money home as we started this session today we talked about cash back yeah do all slot clubs
no no they don't know clubs with extremely loose machines such as those surrounding
the las vegas area las vegas residents like to play video poker and they like to play loose video
poker and it's a big market for them so the casinos make a lot less hold than these casinos
let's say on the strip or in other places so they tend not to pay cash back okay the same
situation exists in reno okay you have a lot of on the boundaries of reno a lot of casinos
that are have very loose machines they don't pay cash back also isolated indian casinos
tend not to pay cash back because they don't have to because there's no competition right
all of them do reward their players with comp dollars for food comps meals other amenities in
the casino okay of all the ones that casinos that do pay cash back do they all use the same kind of
system or method no no no casinos on the las vegas strip tend to pay the highest cash back
percentages almost anywhere in the united states because they have a heavy crowd that plays reels
much more than they play video poker and they're tourists and they tend to get turned down by
cash back frequently the decision to pay cash back is based on your market okay places that
have tourists tend to pay higher cash back than places with locals okay it also depends on the
machines you have on the floor the tighter your machines the more cash back you play places with
loose machines cannot afford to pay cash back also it depends on what the casinos next door are doing
so a lot of times you see in one market you'll see everybody paying about a point three three
percent cash back go to another market it's all up to one percent it's because what the neighbors
are doing okay yeah now when i put my card into a machine it'll show me my points but
how can i calculate the cash back i deserve and on top of that who gives the best cash back rewards
are you good at math not particularly okay listen this one's tough okay you take the number of
dollars required to earn a point here it's two dollars to earn a point okay then you take the
number of points needed to earn one dollar in cash back okay okay you multiply those two figures
let's try it here two dollars to earn a point and if you had signed up at the booth and asked the
right question they would have told you it takes a hundred points to earn a dollar in cash back
okay so i take that two dollars times 100 points is 200 so it takes two hundred dollars
through the machine to earn a dollar in cash back okay all all set so i then reverse that percentage
and i get a i divide the one divided by 200 and i get 0.5 percent okay now with video poker it takes
four dollars to earn a point at the resort at summerland okay so that means i to do the math i
would divide one by 400 which gives me 0.25 percent okay okay all right i think i got that
now what's the difference then if i want to redeem my points through cash back or comp dollars let's
take for example the resort at summerland what is the best value for me as a player okay now here
you get either five dollars in cash or ten dollars in cash or five dollars in comp dollars
or ten dollars in comp dollars all right now i would pretty much go for the cash in this
instant really because american greenbacks are accepted almost anywhere a resort at summerland
comp dollars are good while you're under the roof but don't work too well at the drug store okay
okay now but let's say we're both hungry not only do comp dollars buy dinner at the resort
in several other places but you can sometimes avoid a long line by using a vip or comp only
line okay now here they have a very popular buffet so because of that it's a big dividend
to get to skip the line okay now some casinos and several in las vegas in fact give you the
same choice but they give you more in comp dollars the rio the reserve if you play there
you get maybe five dollars in cash or seven dollars and 50 cents or ten dollars in comp dollars
so then you just got to make a choice of which is more important to you at that particular time
right all right well let's say we're hungry and we want to go get a comped meal using our comp
dollars when you have a comp meal how much do you tip you tip at least 20 percent of whatever the
total bill would have been please remember it was the casino who gave you the free meal
not the food server so my stepmother's a waitress she reminds me of this all the time
okay now is it easier to get comp rooms or to get cash back it depends on where we're going
okay okay it depends on the market we're going to how many rooms do they have for quite frankly
right las vegas gives away or sells or whatever has 40 million room nights to get rid of every
year okay so that's a lot of rooms so they so it's much easier to get a free room in las vegas
particularly if you are staying downtown or you are staying in the large very nice but older
casinos located on the north end of the strip the sahara the frontier the riviera the stardust
okay the san rimo if you want to be on the south strip those places basically if you sign up for
the club you get a 50 room discount right off the bat on your next trip they won't reduce the
current bill but on the next trip they'll give you a current on the other hand atlantic city
and the mississippi golf course biloxi is filled up every weekend night so there's not a lot they
can do tahoe during the winter and summer is packed with people who pay cash right so they
don't want to give away a room exactly right well since i live in a casino town at las vegas i'm
aware that casinos have all kinds of special events yeah how can i as a player benefit from
all of these wonderful special events by joining the slot club uh you'll get invited to boxing
events you'll get invited to special birthday parties a lot of casinos will pass out things
free slot tournaments to their guests okay okay um some casinos specialize mirage casinos flamingo
loftland for example really specializes in special events for their players so but you got to join
the slot club okay can i use my slot club card points to get free meals and or discounts on
my room or free room too yes there are ways that you can get your cash back and eat it too let's
say okay almost every casino will give all three benefits including room discounts and free rooms
free meals and cash back to their preferred players okay and i don't just mean the high
rollers who hang out in this room but i'm talking about almost any steady customer playing quarter
machines or the 45 nickel machines or a steady dollar customer can do that okay well then how
do you do it how do you do that you have to learn two words slot host slot host slot host
these are the wonderful folks employed by the casino to take care of the players
and they have more authority to write comps than the people at the booth
that's because it's their job i mean they're employed to do that you want to make the slot
host your friend right and here's how you do that once you've decided that you like playing in a
particular casino and i don't mean just joining the club i mean you've played at the machines
you like where the casino's at you know you're going to visit again all this stuff have the
change person you know call the change person over the machine by hitting a little change button
okay and have them then speak to a host you want them to have a host visit the machine
so the host will come over introduce yourself hi i'm tim anderson i'm visiting from las vegas or
i am visiting las vegas or whatever and we want to come here again what can you do for us
and they will usually explain to you how the program basically works okay once they get to
know you and once they get to know your playing habits and they realize they have a player on
their hand and not somebody who's just trying to hustle comps sure you'd be surprised at all the
wonderful things i've heard the slot hosts have done for people fruit baskets in the room taking
care of small errands fixing you up at shows that aren't even at the casino but are the casino down
the street so they can do a lot of good things for you okay that sounds great i'll get to know
my slot host yes get to know your slot host all right let's say i've chosen a casino and well i
live in a casino town like i told you i live in las vegas and i'm aware that casinos offer some
pretty cool special events how can i as a slot club member take advantage of these
special events that casinos offer okay once you and your favorite slot club have become
friends and okay gotten to know each other you will probably get a whole slew of special invites
to parties on new year's eve super bowl boxing events are big particularly in las vegas sure
sometimes when they have a new show and they want the show to get grounded they will invite you to
a weekend to see the show many clubs throw monthly special events but for birthdays for example if
your birthday is in august you get invited to the august birthday party if your anniversary is in
june you get invited to the june anniversary party okay others will invite players to totally
free tournaments where the casino maybe gives away several thousand dollars plus free rooms
free free food you get invited to a wonderful banquet there's usually a game going on there
and they draw names and some people win five thousand dollars and some people win ten thousand
dollars and this is an entirely free weekend that they invited the players to like the sound of that
but remember if you want to get any of these benefits you have to join the slot club and use
your card every time you play i'm sold okay good all right you've convinced me that even as an
occasional player i can benefit from a slot club so let's go through the steps again the first thing
i should do when i go into a casino is join the slot club okay figure out as much as you can about
it before you play okay learn how it works get the information read the brochure okay and my slot
club card get your slot club card all right and use it every time you jump you play the thing
okay every time you play you use the slot club card and then i should make a particular friend
in the casino if you're going to play in the casino a great deal get to know the slot hosts
because they can do they can do marvelous things for you okay uh the sky's the limit on the slot
club slot clubs are adding more and more benefits every day but as you said you first have to join
and then you have to use your card okay sounds good to me thanks a lot jeff thank you tim
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