Since Harrah's has always had this "secret slot club" policy where
they won't even TELL you what it takes to earn a point (depends on
the phases of the moon, the weather, etc.), I'm not SURE if I got
drilled or not, but these are my three (count 'em, three) Harrah's
experiences:
Five years ago I stayed in a leased condo at Tahoe for the ski
season. I played a lot of .25 FPVP. I accumulated comps and/or
cashback at what seemed like a dismally slow rate. One day I
remember playing 7000 hands and then being told I did not have
enough points earned for a BREAKFAST buffet comp. I got the feeling
that the points were being figuratively squeezed through a funnel
since I was playing fullpay machines.
(BTW since I am prone to report bad results I should note that I
CRUSHED these machines, hitting five royals and over 20 sets of
deuces for a +$5000 win that winter and lots of free skiing.)
Two years ago I decided to "establish" myself at Harrah's (part of
an ongoing effort to play sequentially at the bad-VP megatoilets to
see what kind of goodies I could get). Anyway, I played some
abortion like $1 8/5 BP to the tune of $18000 coin-in (on three
different machines). I walked away with a modest $100 loss, and when
I went to the slot booth to ask for a food comp, I was told that
I "didn't have any points". I remarked that I had just been playing
dollar VP for five hours and that I had made sure my card was
reading properly. She said that "sometimes the computer's slow" and
that I could get a host comp. Well, they gave me a buffet comp, no
problem, but those points NEVER DID show up on my account.
Last month I played $2 and $1 FPDW at Harvey's (Harrah's) Tahoe. The
points that the reader said I had accumulated did not make it to the
slot club when I asked for a meal comp. She, like the girl at
Harrah's, suggested that the points may be taking some time to post.
I paid for my dinner (too hungry and tired to try to squeeze a slot
host), and the nezt day the points I had earned the PREVIOUS day
seemed to have posted, but my points on the second day hadn't been
recorded by the end of the second day. I assume they have posted
since...?
It seems that Harrah's has the world's glitchiest computer system,
and that you can't count of points recording in a timely fashion, or
sometimes at all. It's not too much of a worry for me, because it's
so rare that a reason ever occurs to set foot inside a Harrah's
property.