Exchanging Players Cards and Free Play Offers?

It seems to me that there could be a bit of an "underground economy" when it comes to casino free play offers.

I frequently get in the mail free play offers at various casinos in other cities that I don't travel to. I think it would be rather easy to send my player's card to someone in that city (along with pass code) so a friend could play the free play.

This could work if there were a coupon (card must be inserted to validate the free play coupon), or if the free play requires a code to download the credits.

Without revealing names of casinos or companies has anyone done this -- shipped off the coupon or code with your players card to a friend in another city?

I recall Caears/Total Rewards had a promotion a year or so ago that required play in a certain number of casinos around the country for some sort of prize. On another forum, players were talking about exchanging player cards in the mail with the required minimum bet money to score a credit in the promotion. Did anyone participate in that?

At Horseshoe Cincinnati or Southern Indiana I normally get a visit from a host within the first few minutes of putting my players card in a machine. I don't think giving my player card to anyone is a great idea. I am two hours from Cincinnati or Louisville so a lot of my offers go unused. I think TR should invalidate your old player card once a new card is issued.

We did participate in that system and we received many points that we could not have otherwise. I imagine that is why CET did not continue the program.

They can kick you out of the TR program and ban you from the casino for this. They probably won't if you're otherwise an active player (i.e. you make them a lot of money), but I think this would piss them off in most cases because it's contradictory to the whole purpose of attaching offers to specific players, based upon their own expected play.

Now, some hosts may look the other way because they'll figure it doesn't affect them, and they don't want to piss off a customer earning them commission.

If you are going to do this, I would suggest at least keeping the gender the same, so you're not getting a visit from a host at a machine where they're expecting Jennifer and see Bill instead.

In general, I would only suggest doing this with people you trust, and be ready with a cover story "Oh, sorry, must have grabbed my buddy's card by mistake!" if confronted by casino staff.

Also, obviously it's better to do this at Vegas/AC casinos where they rarely approach you upon inserting your card, rather than smaller market casinos where hosts rush down to greet players as soon as they show up in the system as starting to play.

That was the "Great Race to Rewards" promotion...which was fabulous and probably cost somebody(s) their job(s) because it was really too good to be true and too easy to exploit.

The prize was RCs...and you could earn/win thousands by just visiting CET properties.

My recollection is that at first you only had to swipe at the different properties to earn $350 reward credits, soon after you had to earn one tier credit to earn the RCs. Folks were mailing their duplicate TR cards all over the country, having each other swipe the others' cards...and...frankly...cleaning up.

Google "Great Race to Rewards" or "Race to Rewards"...there are many discussions out there to read.

Thank you coach belly. Great info and that is indeed the promotion that had people mailing player cards and $5 all over the country.

Dan since you probably know the TR rules the best: where does it say you can't play with someone else's card? And if there is such a rule how does it apply to spouses?

Edited to add: indeed the official rules appear to block anyone using another's card. So what about spouses? Isn't it advantageous for spouses to play on one card to maximize tier scores and comps?

And who was ever told they couldn't use another player's card? Who was told to read the official rules when they signed up?

I'm certainly not as knowledgeable as the others, but I have been told by a number of VIP reps to have my wife and I play using my card. This is after years ago when I first got my card that I was told it was best to use two cards -- not so. And how is this different from the guy who is playing two or three machines at the same time? Its not and its done by every player I know who has a significant other who also plays.

Carolinajacket thanks for posting.

If it's okay for spouses to play on the same card (violating the published rule) why can't friends play on the same card? In this day and age of same sex marriages and shared households and domestic partnerships who can say that accounts can't be shared?

I'm not sure that anyone would care. What would happen, for instance, if someone started playing a machine that you inadvertently left your card in? Would that be an issue? Maybe, maybe not. But I would be delighted to get the tier points if that ever happened, because the word is that they are getting ready to really cut down on comps, especially for Seven Star players.

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Originally Posted by carolinajacket

because the word is that they are getting ready to really cut down on comps, especially for Seven Star players.

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What have you heard?

I have heard from an agent who got this directly from a casino rep that among other things limo access will be restricted to a higher level of Seven Star, free play will be harder to obtain, free meals will be harder -- and other cuts to come. I wish they would go ahead and send out next year's program so we know exactly what we will be dealing with.

Thanks carolinajacket. Those changes would not surprise me, but I wonder if those are "local changes" or if they are going to be system wide? The cost of a limo in Vegas from any of the casinos is about $30 per trip -- and with the Vegas market as competitive as it is, I really doubt Caesars would start restricting limos. Most Total Rewards members do not get discretionary comps and they "pay" for their meals with reward credits.

A cut in free play offers is likely -- and we've seen free play offers getting cut over the past couple of years.

Unfortunately, I doubt we will see any published changes until around April 1st when the new "year" starts for Total Rewards. It is unfortunate because it means that most of us could be "wasting" our time and play during the first quarter if the "new terms" of Total Rewards are not attractive.

My biggest fear is that they raise the number of tier points required for 7 Stars. In the past it was 100,000... and then 150,000. What if they raise it to 200,000?

The previous increase to 150,000 was made easier because of the bonus tier points. But what if they increase the tier points requirement to 200,000 and "massage" the bonus tier points so it requires more "coin in" or bigger bets to reach 7 Stars again?

I think all of these are possibilities and as I have said before, I think it will cost them dearly. As far as the things I reported they may be for a specific location, but I think the trend will be in that direction everywhere.

Most other casinos on the strip and just about all of downtown have free wifi and then there is Caesars properties. Where the wifi is expensive and only free at Starbucks and diamond lounges. Wifi was broken and down at the flamingo's diamond lounge this trip

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Originally Posted by carolinajacket

I have heard from an agent who got this directly from a casino rep that among other things limo access will be restricted to a higher level of Seven Star, free play will be harder to obtain, free meals will be harder -- and other cuts to come. I wish they would go ahead and send out next year's program so we know exactly what we will be dealing with.

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This is odd, because Seven Stars status has nothing to do with freeplay or free meals. Those are offered at the local property level based upon recent and semi-recent play. Your tier status does NOT increase or decrease your freeplay or free meal rewards. I am Seven Stars, yet I get almost no freeplay or free meals, while people I know who are Gold get some fairly nice offers (FAR exceeding mine!)

The Seven Stars program mainly offers constant or predictable 1-time perks such as:

- Free rooms
- Annual trip
- Annual cruise
- Annual gift
- Priority valet parking
- Better exchange rates for RCs to freeplay
- Priority lines
- Priority restaurant reservations
- Limos from airport

I am finding myself constantly having to correct friends who believe that I can get them free rooms and free meals in Vegas, simply because I have Seven Stars status.

Anyway, perhaps the cuts you heard about are more related to freebie offers, rather than Seven Stars benefits/perks. It sure sounds like it.

Still, Alan raises a good point in that it's also possible they will either cut Seven Stars perks, make it tougher to achieve Seven Stars, or both.

Hopefully they will at least release these changes sometime within the next month or so, as it's unfair to have people playing for these statuses "in the dark", without knowing when they'll get there or what they will get for it. But I could easily see CET waiting until almost April to release this stuff, knowing them.

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Originally Posted by Alan Mendelson

Thank you coach belly. Great info and that is indeed the promotion that had people mailing player cards and $5 all over the country.

Dan since you probably know the TR rules the best: where does it say you can't play with someone else's card? And if there is such a rule how does it apply to spouses?

Edited to add: indeed the official rules appear to block anyone using another's card. So what about spouses? Isn't it advantageous for spouses to play on one card to maximize tier scores and comps?

And who was ever told they couldn't use another player's card? Who was told to read the official rules when they signed up?

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The reason cards aren't supposed to be shared is simple: Comps and offers are provided based upon each individual's play. If more than one person use the same card, it misleads the system.

There are various ways one can mislead the system for profit:

- Active play on a new card, tricking the system into believing a new high-value player has shown up (and thus generating offers for that player). That is, it's much more profitable for your wife (who never had a card before) to suddenly play a lot as a new player than for you to continue your usual play.

- Extra play to earn people statuses for which they otherwise wouldn't qualify. For example, if I only had 70,000 tier credits and didn't plan to play anymore, but gave my card to a buddy who played regularly, so he could pump up my account to 150,000 and earn me Seven Stars status.

- Husband and wife, who always travel together anyway, play on one card in order to make it appear that it is one person playing more, thus increasing tier status and freeplay.

- The reverse of the above. Wife doesn't gamble, husband does. Husband earns Seven Stars first, then uses wife's card in order to earn second Seven Stars perks, entitling them to two free rooms, two free cruises, two annual trips, two $500 dinners, etc.

- Redemption of freeplay without benefit to casino. You get an offer for $400 freeplay in New Orelans, but you live in California. You mail your card to your buddy in New Orleans, and he runs the freeplay for you, splitting the proceeds. Your buddy does not play anything else but the freeplay. Here the casino loses because the purpose of the freeplay (to get you down there) was defeated, yet you got the benefit of it anyway.

I am the last guy to criticize people for trying to "game" the casinos, as you all know. This is not an attempt to give people a hard time for doing any of the above, but rather to explain from the casino's point of view why sharing cards is considered a no-no.

So why do some hosts tell you it's okay? Because hosts are generally greedy and are simply out to make the maximum for themselves. So if they realize that they'll get more commission for a husband and wife playing on the same card, they will encourage it, figuring no one is likely to find out.

Truthfully, sharing player cards isn't a very big sin in the eyes of the casino, and it's not one of their major worries. However, it is still clearly against the rules, and they can easily clamp down on you (by way of kicking you out) if they decide you are using it to gain an advantage. As I said before, they are probably more willing to tolerate this from customers who otherwise make them a lot of money. They're never going to kick out a whale because he's sharing his player card with his wife.

Just be careful.

Actually the real reason that Caesars dropped shared cards and accounts for spouses is that they got fed up with divorce cases and subpoenas about which spouse deserves what comps and perks and reward credits. There are players who put through big money gambling and then the casino is brought into the court fight about who gets the cashback or the trips or the gift cards or the shopping sprees. Caesars was just sick of it. By having individual accounts for everyone Caesars saves a fortune responding to subpoenas.

At HSI the hosts get a ping to their phones if you are coded to them and are on property. They are supposed to go greet you so this is good way to get banned or get the person in trouble for theft.

At every casino that I know of there is a tracking system for players so that hosts know what machine or table you are on. Want to get around it? Play at 2am.

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Originally Posted by cantbeatluck

At HSI the hosts get a ping to their phones if you are coded to them and are on property. They are supposed to go greet you so this is good way to get banned or get the person in trouble for theft.

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On several occasions, a host at Harrah's Lake Tahoe and at Ceasars Palace stopped by to greet me when they found my card being used on a machine -- only to find my wife playing on my card. There was never any repercussions, just a hello.

That's right. It happens with us all the time. Why would it be any different for me to sit and play two (or three) machines at the same time or for me to play one machine while my wife plays one? In fact, they will get more play if two of us are playing because we can play faster than one person can play two at the same time.