RJ: You’re listening to Morning Edition, I’m Rick Jackson. Odds are good you’ve heard about the Horseshoe Casino in Cleveland. While customers aim to score big, casinos are raking in their own jackpot: data.
Here to explain how casinos are using technology to track players’ gambling habits and behaviors, is Ideastream’s Brian Bull. Good morning, Brian!
BB: Hello, Rick!
RJ: So…it’s not all floormen, pit bosses, and those mysterious black ceiling orbs with security cameras inside them?
BB: Not at all. Whether it’s the Horseshoe or Caesar’s Palace in Vegas, practically every casino is gathering data on you. How often you visit, how much your average bet is, how long you stay, your win-loss ratio…even what you like to drink while working the games.
RJ: Sounds more like James Bond’s “Casino Royale” --- with all that spying going on.
BB: True. But it’s not so much spying as it is practical business…and often done with the player’s cooperation.
RJ: Really! How?
BB: Through a simple bit of plastic called a rewards card. You probably have one already for your grocery store, or a preferred airline. It’s in your name, and every time you swipe it in a slot machine or present it when buying casino souvies or food, it records it into a database. And boy, do the casino folks push it. Here’s Kelley Frey of Caesar’s Entertainment, on a media tour she gave. She told us about the Total Rewards programs at every other stop…
Kelly Frey: “So you know, you get your card, anybody can sign up, 21 years of age or older. You basically earn points by gaming, dining, shopping, to basically redeem for a lot of cool stuff.”
BB: Now no one’s required to sign up for a Total Rewards card, but most get immediate discounts on the buffet, gaming, or merchandise. Members accumulate credits with the card, earning one for every five bucks played on a slot machine, and one for every ten bucks spent on video poker. They also get credit for winnings that they keep playing at the casino.
RJ: Do casinos use the cards for more than offering discounts and other enticements?
BB: Yes. They also help in customer service. Bally Technologies has developed an application called Service Tracking Manager, which uses rewards cards. Here’s Bally spokesman Mike Trask…
Mike Trask: “Say you sit down at a slot machine, you put your players card in. It will come up on the screen of the slot machine, say you’re the type of guy that really just wants a scotch and soda. You’re able to type that into the machine that you’re playing. And a customer service representative – or in layman’s terms, a cocktail waitress – will be able to see on her iPhone, that you have ordered a scotch and soda, and the cocktail waitress is immediately able to bring that to you. It knows you, it recognizes you, and the people who are bringing you drinks or food and other items are going to know exactly what you want when you sit down.”
RJ: That’s a big win for customer service. What other high-tech things are in today’s casinos?
BB: Well, Bally also has what’s called TableView Chip Recognition. Trask says this technology uses cameras to track a casino’s chips, and what’s being wagered at a casino’s gaming tables.
Mike Trask: “So they’re able to see, ‘Hey! This person’s betting maybe ten dollars a hand, twenty dollars a hand,…” or whatever it might be. The casino’s able to track that play and put in what your appropriate rewards are going to be for that play.”
RJ: And I’m guessing that the more often people play, and the higher the amount, the better the rewards are from the casino. So Brian, anything coming down the pipeline for casino technology?
BB: Bally’s vice-president of product management was recently quoted as saying biometric facial recognition may be coming. This would allow a gaming machine to scan a person’s face, and access his or her personalized database…which would mean not only a regular customer getting their preferred cocktail delivered to their favorite slot machine, but also letting them play off their bankroll stored in the casino’s server.
RJ: One criticism about rewards systems and incentives is that they can create – or encourage – problem gamblers.
BB: And if biometric facial recognition becomes standard, it would help curb that. Again, Bally’s Mike Trask….
Mike Trask: “One of most exciting parts about biometric recognition is that it would give players the ability to opt out. So you could go to casinos or casino companies and say, “Hey I don’t want to gamble anymore. It’s not for me, I have a problem.” And the way bio metric recognition would work, is if you were to sit down at the machine, it would literally not let you bet.”
BB: So whether they’re nudging you to play and play often – or telling you to go home while you’ve still the shirt on your back – today’s casinos are watching you. That’s just as true for the coveted “high roller” crowd, as it is for the random guy who comes in with a pickle jar of loose change.
RJ: Ideastream’s Brian Bull, on the latest in casino technology. Thanks Brian.
BB: Thank you.