During a recent play at the Biloxi Grand, I noted that the slot card
reader display no longer gives a total of points earned on the current
date when the card is inserted, nor any mention of tier credits or
total reward credits. You still get a countdown and a "session
points" total, but once you pull your card, poof - no more info. When
the card is re-inserted, the display goes directly from "Welcome Joe
Blow, gathering your information" to "0000 session points". I tested
several different machines, and all that I tested did the same thing.
Why is this annoying? The main reason for pulling your card once in a
while is to verify that the central computer is actually capturing
your play. Much better to lose just a small block of points than to
play all day long only to find out that none of your points have been
recorded. But now you get no indication whatsoever of any previous
play - you just hope it's being recorded. I suppose one could go to
the Total Rewards desk every 45 minutes or so and ask them to check on
your progress that day just to make sure the points are showing up,
but this would be a royal PITA. Additionally, the change makes it
much more difficult to keep up with how much play you've put in during
the day if you pull your card for other obvious reasons, i.e. you
change machines, or take breaks, or your card gets pulled for a
jackpot, etc. Basically, you have to keep up with your play
manually. One more thing - it means there is no easy way to find out
how many Bonus Reward Credits you are getting from a particular
machine, other than something like an indirect calculation based on
points showing up on the Harrah's web site.
I wonder if this is going to be a permanent change. Do casino
executives stay up late at night thinking of new ways to annoy the
customer?
EE