Ask the Slot Expert: Is it illegal to use someone else's player's card?

John,

Is it illegal to play slots using someone else's card (non family member)?

A host told my friend it was illegal.

Thanks,
Mike

Dear Mike,

Illegal may be too strong a word, but it could be against the rules.

In the early days of electronic slot clubs, cheats would collect a number of "replacement" cards and put them in machines throughout a casino. Slot clubs were new, so not many players had cards or knew what the readers were for. They just played the machine without ever knowing that someone else would get credit for it.

At Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, I once found a bank of four machines that had cards for the same account in each of them. It's possible that someone could have been bouncing around playing all four machines, but it's not likely.

To combat this problem, the casino can have a rule against playing on another player's card and invalidate any points earned by anyone other than the player whose name is on the card. I've heard that some casinos don't even want married couples to use the same card.

Best of luck in and out of the casinos,
John

Send your slot and video poker questions to John Robison, Slot Expert, at slotexpert@comcast.net. Because of the volume of mail I receive, I regret that I can't reply to every question.