Moola or markers?

Money may be the root of all evil, but it is the root of all casino gambling, as well, including those who wish to challenge the one-armed bandits. The saying is simply "no pay; no play."

But how do you pay? In the good old days, you just put your coins in and spun the reels; then put in more coins and spun the reels. In the not quite so old days, you could pile up credits and play with those - you didn't have to keep feeding the machines with coins, at least you didn't as long as you had some credits remaining.

Today you have the benefits of credits and you don't have to deal with those dirty coins that discolor your fingers, because so many machines are now the newfangled coinless machines that (poorly) attempt to mimic the sound effects of the old machines.

The big question for many slot players today no longer revolves around which machines they will play, but rather how to put the money in them. More specifically, does one bring cash to the casinos to feed the metallic beasts or does one establish credit with the casinos so he or she can take out markers?

A cash player usually has a set limit of money to play with and once that is gone, the player is usually gone too. The chance to go on tilt and to throw more money after past losing money is not too great a danger.

The second way to handle playing money is to establish credit with the casino. Many slot players don't realize that, just as they do with table game players, the casinos will give slot players credit to play the machines. This means you don't have to carry wads of cash with you.

Casinos look favorably on credit players because they figure, usually correctly, that whatever the player has as his or her total credit line is what the player is willing to lose. With cash players, the casinos are not always sure of just how deep into their pockets these cash players will go.

Establishing casino credit is quite easy. While different jurisdictions have slightly different forms and questions — with Atlantic City probably being the most rigorous of the venues and Vegas being the most lenient — the bottom line for the casinos is simple: Do you have enough money in the bank account you are giving them to pay whatever markers you take out to play with? A marker is a check that you sign that can be deposited in your account. If you have the money, you usually get the credit — although many casinos will give you slightly less credit than you ask for.

Credit players are courted by the casinos because they are players who seem to be more committed to play than most cash players. After all, if you are asking for credit the assumption on the part of the casino credit manager is that you are going to be (or are) a steady player in their casino.

With the multi-state and multi-casino empires that have been established by certain mega-companies, getting credit at one of the properties makes it easier to get credit at another of the properties. This can help you in planning your casino vacations. You'll tend to go to the casinos where you have such credit.

The biggest danger for credit players has to do with going too deeply into the bankroll to play the machines. If you have a $5,000 credit line but you really shouldn't play more than $1,000 on any given trip, the urge might be there to "just dip in a little more" to make a comeback. Credit players have to train themselves to handle credit just the way they handle cash — cautiously.

Once you have your credit, how do you get the money to actually play the machines? Just walk up to the cage and tell the teller you want a marker to play the machines! The teller will do the paperwork, you'll sign your marker, and the teller will then give you the money you asked for. That's it. You then take the money to the machines and play to your heart's content or discontent.

Now once you are finished playing, if you have won, you should pay back your marker immediately. Casinos don't like winning players to "walk with the money." If you have lost all of the marker, then you will have two to six weeks to pay, depending on how big a credit line you have. If you have a certain amount of the marker left but not all of it, you should immediately pay what you can and then pay the rest in the allotted time.

Only you can decide if you wish to be a credit player or a cash player.