Point Chasing Not Permitted
March 26,
2010
Dear
Mark: Returning from a stay in Florida, I
had a balance of points left on my slot club
card at the Seminole Hard Rock Casino. Can I
give the card to a friend who lives in
Florida so she can continue using my card?
What would happen if she wins a jackpot on
the slots? Delores P.
The player's club card is probably the most
successful marketing tool casinos use
worldwide to make sure that gamblers return
to yank them handles time and time again.
Your club card is the key to those
complementary goodies that the casino
offers. Of course, there can’t be any
giveaways if Delores isn’t playing and her
card is not inserted.
That’s
why it’s recommended that every time you
play slots or video poker, you should use
your card so that the casino can track your
coin-in play so you can earn points to
justify comps. The greater the coin-in, the
more compensation the casino is willing to
part with.
.
So is it legit for
Delores to keep accumulating points when
she’s snowbound somewhere north and someone
else is surreptitiously using her card?
Program rules, somewhere in itsy bitsy
print on just about every club card
brochure, say NO. The wording probably
states something along these lines:
Members are only permitted to hold one
single person account.
Membership is
a privilege granted by such and such casino
and may be revoked or cancelled at any time.
Members may not distribute, lend or in
any way allow another person to use their
card.
Fraudulent uses of the card
including point chasing, card manipulation,
team playing and any type of point theft may
result in the loss of membership,
privileges, and elimination of all remaining
point balances.
Yep, Delores,
they get you on that last rule with the two
words “point chasing.” Point chasing is
defined as allowing individuals other than
the cardholder to play on his or her club
card.
Now that’s not to say
that some players don’t share cards to chase
points, plenty do, but if your friend tries
to redeem your points to engage in any
transaction related to that account, most
casinos are going to want to see some photo
identification that better say Delores P. on
it.
To date, Delores, I haven’t
heard of anyone being denied a sizable
jackpot because they were using someone
else’s card on the sly, but why be the
first. Besides, your friend should be
playing with her own Seminole Player’s Club
Wild Card and be rewarded accordingly.
Of course, there are exceptions. Many
casinos will issue multiple cards to those
cardholders wishing to play more than one
machine, but two is usually the maximum.
Also, some casinos, like the MGM MIRAGE
Resorts, allow two players with the same
address to link individual Player’s Club
accounts to share their point and comp
balances.
Dear Mark:
Are exposed cards in poker always declared
dead? Ned M.
Not
necessarily, Ned. All poker rooms have
various rules regarding cards inadvertently
exposed, such as, ruling the card is not
legally playable (dead), or dead some of the
time, but not others.
Allow me
give you a couple examples. In draw poker
(high), an exposed card during the initial
deal is often not declared dead, but is dead
at any time during the draw.
In
stud and flop games, down-cards
inadvertently exposed by the dealer are
usually ruled dead.
Or, take
lowball. During the initial deal, some card
rooms rule that any exposed card six or
higher is automatically declared dead, but
any card Ace through five can be kept by the
player. Yet, during the draw, any exposed
card is considered unplayable to whom it was
dealt.
Gambling Wisdom
of the Week: "I wouldn't miss what
I've lost so much, if I could only forget I
ever had it." --Ashleigh Brilliant, I Feel
Much Better Now
