Hello Haim,
Thank you for your question.
You're talking about what is known as a "slot card", and I don't
believe you need to have any privacy concerns about this practice, at
the moment at least. First of all, it's not required of all those who
use slot machines, only those who wish to be in the slot club and get
rewards for playing. Slot clubs are basically like cashback reward
credit cards-- you get money and/or rewards back every time you play
the slots at that particular casino and use the card.
If you're wondering whether the casino could track what cards you play
and somehow try to affect the game's odds after that when you play,
there is no reason to worry over that possibility, either. The odds
of winning are the same with or without the card, although people
often believe the myth that you will win less with a card because the
casino will be able to tell that you've won before.
Ask the Slot Expert
http://robison.casinocitytimes.com/articles/399.html
"Now, there is a connection between the main circuitry in a slot
machine and the slot club data collection board. The connection is
purely for reporting purposes. The slot machine reports to the slot
club board now much you bet on each spin and what the results of the
spin were. The slot club board collects the data and sends it back to
the main slot club computer. The slot club board does not tell the
computer in the slot machine to do anything differently.
Use your slot club card every time you play. Otherwise, you'll just be
cheating yourself out of comps you have earned."
It is within the realm of possibility that a casino could use the
cards to track each player's particular movements on each play, but it
is not in their interest. All they care about is tracking how much
the player wins and loses, not exactly how they get there. The system
is called SMART-Slot Marketing and Revenue Tracking. The casino can
track any information about you that they want. They track how many
hours you play, what machines are your favorites, and your
denomination.
'Column 56 - "Deal Me In" by Mark Pilarski'
http://www.markpilarski.com/column56.html
"With the swipe of your slot club card, onboard software knows your
name, address, interests, denomination of play, favorite machines, how
much you have invested, your winnings at any given hour and if you
have a dog named Sparky. Tell a slot host any pertinent information
about yourself and it's fair game for the casino's computer database."
In fact, many slot machine experts recommend to never play slots
without using you slot card, so that you can get rewards back for
every time you play.
http://www.readybetgo.com/slots/strategy/strategy-240.html
"Going Clubbing - Slot Clubbing That Is"
"One of the most common misconceptions concerning slot clubs is the
notion that the casinos gauge how much players are winning through the
card?that if you use a player?s club card, you will win less; or if
you do not use a card you will win more. The player?s club card is
only there to record play. It is hooked to a reading apparatus that is
completely separate from the random number generator which controls
whether or not the game returns a winning result on any given spin or
poker hand. The slot club card has absolutely no effect on the results
of the slot game to which it is linked. The slot club is linked to the
marketing department, which is concerned about how much you play, not
how much you win or lose."
When you sign up to the slot club, you are most likely given an
agreement from the casino that sets out the terms and conditions to be
anything they want. They could decide to keep this information on
each player, but why would they? Their only motive is to make money.
They don't care if you're a bad player or if you are gambling too
much. That makes them more money. That's why they have loyalty
programs like slot clubs-- to identify and reward loyal players. A
casino would have to track millions of games by thousands of users,
and this would cost them money.
Some people do have concerns about slot club privacy-- they don't want
to be on mailing lists or face the possibility of their total winnings
being reported to the IRS. Some are worried that losing players and
winning players will be treated differently; losing players could be
given rewards and rewards taken away from winning players, to maximise
the chances that the losing player will keep losing.
Basically, if you want complete and total privacy of your moves while
in the casino, don't use a slot card. If you want total privacy, you
should also not be in a land-based casino, because casinos have
surveillance cameras all over which are recording every inch of the
place.
Sources:
Strictly Slots
"Oh, No! Slot Clubs are Getting Better
As technology improves, players? privacy could become an issue"
http://www.strictlyslots.com/archive/0407ss/afaic.html
Search terms:
"slot club card"
"slot club card" + privacy
"slot club" + privacy concerns
If you need any additional clarification, let me know and I'll be glad
to assist you.
--keystroke-ga |
