Thanks for the many responses to my original query. It seems there is a
consensus that using a spouse's card is not likely to cause much of an
issue, but it is a bit grayer when using someone else's card whether a
friend or relative. In any event I do not propose using anyone's card
that has not willingly offered it to me for use and that I know
personally. Nor do I have an entire cache of them like some people
referred to in the various responses.
I did not hear anyone specifically mention that they have ever had
experience in getting a hand pay denied. This is my biggest fear. The
Royal comes infrequently enough, that losing one to the "wrong card"
would certainly negate any advantage from accumulating bounce back on
multiple accounts. I suppose a call to gaming in the jurisdiction might
be the best way to verify what are the possible consequences. If the
casino takes counter measure with the slot club benefits for this
practice, so be it. That is a risk I can manage.
This following response from Miss Craps raised a few topics that I
thought I would comment on further.
Thanks!
SB
misscraps@... wrote:
First, if you are playing with cards that aren't yours, you don't want
to be
obvious about it. A player was recently banned because of this.
Should you
win a jackpot while playing with someone else's cards, their win/loss
statement may show this as a win, and will show all your play on their
card.
Assuming you were to hit a taxable jackpot, you could just remove the
offending
card before someone comes to pay you and hand them your ID and social
security
number. Or leave the offending card in, and when they come to pay
you, hand
them your ID, if they notice the card just say, "oh, that isn't mine,
I don't
usually play with a card." But of course in either case it is
possible you
could get in trouble.
Good advice. Discretion is the better part of valor. I avoid cashing
coupons in the same machine for different accounts. For that matter I
move to a different area entirely before processing another. I also
avoid using the same redemption terminal too to get the cash for the
TITO. If (when?) I hit a hand pay with another card, I would plan to
remove it. I don't think I'd go as far as to insert my own card, but
I'd probably offer my card and my ID to the attendant when they came by.
Unless they pressed me on the issue, I'd offer no information about a
foreign card.
I do sometimes play with my husband's card. I have never had a
problem with
it, even if I hit a W2G (even at the Palms). If I hit while his card
is in,
I usually say "Oh I was playing with my husband's card" - I have
already
taken his card out of the machine, and I hand them my ID and my
players card.
Normally the W2G will come out correctly labeled to me. One time it
came out
in my husband's name, and I asked for a correction, which was done.
But I
have noticed on win/loss statements that often that W2G amount is
listed on my
husband's win loss statement as a "jackpot" rather than on mine.
Seems to be a fairly safe playing using the wife's card. Sometimes she
is with me, but more often than not she is at home watching the kids.
I'm pretty sure the W2-G will be correctly issued to the person playing
the machine. That's the reason they ask for ID to confirm that you are
who you say you are. I would hope that would take precedent over a
players card. Then again if they somehow try to deny the jackpot based
on the mismatch, I would be very concerned. I need to make a call to
the local gaming control to verify for myself the options. As for
win/loss statements, I'm not concerned about those. My gambling log
includes the amount of play wagered by the particular card I used. I'm
positive the IRS could care less about what card was used so log as I
report all of my income.
If you are consistently playing with other people's cards, you are
more
likely to get into trouble, so I wouldn't advise you to do this.
By far the lions share of my play still is on my own card. For example
in a recent session I put about $55K on my card, about $11K on my wife's
and about $8K on my mother-in-laws card. I started out playing 2
machines, but after a certain point I played the cards sequentially on
different machines, as I'm not used to playing 2 machines and I found
my hourly hands rate to be less effective bouncing between 2 screens.
Also, you won't be getting the comps or mailers for yourself.
Presumably
your friends could claim comps, but not you.
I could care less about the comps at the local stores. I'm already at
the point where I get free rooms, food and golf every day I want it.
For the local store where I'm employing this techniques, it's all about
the $$.
Also, usually the more you play at a casino, the more comps you will
get.
It could well be that you would be better off just to play a lot more
under
your own name, and you'll (in the long run) get more in comps and
cashback that
way.
In this particular case this assumption was one that I originally
maintained too, but turns out is flat out wrong at this store in
question. The intricacies of the bounce back programs are often
difficult to decipher. I've shared some info with friends for
comparison, but I get the best data when I collect it myself on the
various cards I use. A single visit in February for my "mother-in-law"
with 12K coin in generated weekly coupons in the amount of $80. In the
same month I put in $200K over 4 visits and got back $110 per week.
Obviously the demographic of my mother-in-law being a Senior and
perhaps because she is not local causes them to offer incentives to her
at a rate that is nearly 20 times my bounce back offer.
Again, for my purposes comps are secondary. I'm a card counter first
and foremost, but the BJ sucks in my area, plus I've all but been backed
off locally. Half shoeing is often the norm when I attempt to play. So
I started playing VP heavily in the last year or so. I like VP for the
lack of harassment and I limit my play to days when the direct slot club
cash back multipliers drive the game I play positive or if a progressive
gets to my paying threshold. The bounce back is not directly figured
into my decision to play, but nonetheless is another important component
in my total return. It certainly has been my experience that the best
advantage play from bounce back is not by accumulating all play on one
account. Maybe for safety I'll just limit my extra play to my wife's
card and milk the other mailers from the remaining cards until they dry
up from lack of play.
And instead of playing with different cards at one casino, you could
be
easily just as well off to play under your own card at several
casinos, each with
different promotions. This would give you all the comps and eliminate
any
possibility that you are going to get into trouble. Playing under
your own
name eliminates any fraud you might be doing.
The local venues near me don't offer many opportunities for attacking
promotions. In fact there is only one that offers decent cash back with
multipliers. If the advertised direct cash back plus the base machine
pay table don't make the play >100%, I don't have much desire to play.
Most of the other close stores either have crappy CB or crappy pay
tables. As for out of town casinos, most offers I can't use as my
schedule does not permit returning when the casino offers them.