New innovations make things easier than ever for slot players
The slot club concept was created by casinos, for casinos. However, after nearly two decades of evolution, the casinos’ benefits from slot clubs are inexorably linked to the benefits they provide the players who join them.The first slot clubs, created in Atlantic City during the 1980s, existed for the sole benefit of casino marketing departments. Before the now-familiar club card, slot marketing was an inexact, hit-and-miss science. Marketing officials sent out mass direct-mailings, never knowing for sure whether or not their efforts were reaching the casino’s best players. In order to gather basic information on the demographics and preferences of their best players, as well as an accurate record of just how much they were playing, they invented slot clubs. Comps could now be based on actual customer worth, with no guesswork and no wasted efforts.
Getting customers to use the cards was, however, tough going at first. The first programs rewarded players with gifts, purchased by building up points like the old Green Stamps catalogues. At the time, comps in the hotel and restaurants were still strictly table-game territory. This changed as slot popularity grew to match and eventually overtake the popularity of table games. Slot players now had comp accounts, and a new reward system had become the method of choice for players—cashback.
As player preferences changed, the computers running the slot club systems changed right along with them. Advancing technology made it easier than ever to deliver comps to players, even allowing players to comp awards to themselves.
The Sands in Atlantic City has been one of the pioneers in this effort. In the early ‘90s, the casino developed a new slot club tracking system in-house, with consulting help from vendor Logical Solutions International. It was the first system to use a keypad that allowed customers to retrieve their own comps or cashback awards without leaving the machine; it’s still the only system that allows you to redeem cash awards right at the slot.
When a player places his club card in a Sands slot, a countdown appears, showing points racking up as he plays. The coins inserted bring the count down to zero, and a point accrues. When at least $5 in cashback is earned, collecting it is simply a matter of pressing a number to "withdraw" the cash. The money is then transferred directly to the credit meter.
Systems like this are also capable of electronic comps. If the player wants a comped meal, he just codes the restaurant choice into the keypad, and the comp is waiting for him when he arrives.
Since the initial system was developed, the Sands has added bonusing software that awards hourly "mystery jackpots" to players who have cards inserted in a dollar slot area known as "Jumpin’ Jackpots." Random awards of up to $1,000 are just as easy to collect as normal cashback.
"It’s the most convenient system in town," comments Mike Trageser, executive director of marketing programs at the Sands. "You don’t have to leave your machine, even for a random award. When someone wins a Jumpin’ Jackpots award, that amount goes right into the account. The player can then simply use the keypad to withdraw the money."
Convenience
The Sands system is an example of a trend toward customer convenience—the focus of slot club technology for several years. One of the most prominent ways customer convenience is being improved is through what is known in computer-speak as "system integration."
In layman’s terms, it means that there is no longer the need for separate computer systems—one to track slot play, one to track table play, and another to market targeted promotions to specific segments of players. In the larger properties, this is all now done by one system.
One casino company has taken this integration a step further by extending the reach of its slot club beyond the borders of one casino property. Harrah’s Entertainment, Inc. has one computer database covering all 15 Harrah’s gaming properties across the country, in what is the industry’s only nationwide slot club, the Total Gold Club.
For the past two years, Harrah’s Total Gold members have been able to access either cashback awards or comps earned at one Harrah’s properties at any of the 14 others.
"Cash you earn in Atlantic City will be accessible at any Harrah’s property," says Allen Strauss, Total Gold Card manager at Harrah’s Atlantic City. "Certain rewards are available at certain properties, but once the cash and comp points are in your account, they are accessible anywhere, and they are valid for 12 months.
"It has been a big positive for Harrah’s, and the Atlantic City property in particular. Our customers here know that if they are at Harrah’s Atlantic City on a day trip, but they’re planning a trip to Vegas, they can leave their rewards alone and they’ll have it available on their trip."
Strauss says the club is set to be renamed the "Total Rewards Program" in April. Among the refinements will be detailed information for players concerning exactly how much play is required to reach the club’s two premium levels—the Total Platinum level and the highest Total Diamond level.
The technology enabling the nationwide slot club is proprietary to Harrah’s Entertainment; it was developed at the Atlantic City property. Some time this year, says Strauss, the club will be linked electronically to the slot clubs at the company’s recently acquired Rio and Showboat casinos. While the clubs at those casinos will still have separate cashback and comp structures, play at the Rio or Showboat casinos will eventually be recognized as Harrah’s play.
According to Strauss, this means that by the end of this year, players will be able to earn points at Showboat or Rio and have those points count toward reaching the Platinum or Diamond levels of the Total Rewards Club.
Beyond the Games
Another manifestation of the very latest in slot club technology is now in place at the Resort at Summerlin. Last year, Summerlin opened its doors in the northwest suburbs of Las Vegas equipped with the first "single-card" system to track customer spending habits and issue rewards based on every penny spent at the resort—not just at slot and table play, but anywhere.
When guests arrive at Summerlin, they are issued a coded plastic card. This serves as their room key and as a club card for every location in the resort where money may be spent.
Las Vegas-based vendor Casino Data Systems (CDS) set up its "Oasis 2000" customer tracking system so that players can actually earn—and redeem—points anywhere on the property, whether it is a gaming or non-gaming area.
"One card is used globally, throughout the resort," explains Karen Kaetz, senior account executive for systems at CDS. "After a customer earns points, instead of going to the slot club to redeem them, they can go right to the restaurant, or right to a retail outlet. It allows the customer to be much more spontaneous. Plus, you get credit for all money you spend in the resort—not just in gaming areas. You receive compensation for the value of everything you’re spending."
"The greatest customer benefit is that you get credit for anything you spend at the resort," says Brian Bullard, database manager for the Resort at Summerlin. "Any food and beverage, retail or gaming transaction earns customer points, and those points can be redeemed at any location."
According to Bullard, each hotel guest at Summerlin is automatically enrolled in the player’s club. "You are assigned a player number at check-in, and as soon as you walk away from the front desk, that number is available for earning cash and comps," he says.
He adds that any transaction that is not charged to the room—including casino play, retail purchases, use of the spa, and meals—earns credit that the guest can use at checkout to reduce his overall bill.
"The best part is that when the stay is complete and the guest has checked out, they’ve earned points for that stay," says Bullard. "The room charge, every phone call, movies viewed in the room, video games played in the room—all those dollars spent are transmitted to the casino system and points are applied to their account."
Those points can already be redeemed by the player for cash, but Bullard notes that the casino is working with CDS to improve the system so players can redeem their points as cash right at the slot machine, similar to the Sands in Atlantic City.
The system at Summerlin is the nation’s first single-card tracking system, but industry sources have identified single-card systems as one of the next big trends for slot clubs. If it does spread (its potential implementation is tied to many factors, ranging from the existing tracking equipment at a given resort to jurisdictional regulations), the term "slot club" could one day be outdated.
But that won’t happen anytime soon. Slot play still drives the clubs. And the clubs still drive slot play. Players need only to remember one thing if they want to take full advantage of all that technology:
If you play slots, use the card.