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Ask the Slot Expert: Why did slot attendant want to see my players card?

5 February 2025

Previously on Ask the Slot Expert:

I had a perfectly good-looking ticket that none of the video poker machines I wanted to play could read. I tried a Buffalo machine, but it couldn't read the ticket either. When this machine rejected the ticket, it didn't come out of the ticket slot. Instead half of the ticket went under the button deck.

I couldn't get the ticket out without ripping it, so I hit the Service button to call a slot attendant. She opened the machine to get the ticket, then she went to one of the video poker machines and tried the ticket herself. After the machine rejected the ticket again, she read off the ticket number on her radio. A minute or so later, she asked to see my players card.

I asked you to tell me your theory about why she wanted to see my players card. This reply was the closest.

My guess is she asked for your card to make sure you weren't playing someone else's card.

Oh, so close. Given all of the letters from players saying they were hassled or barred for playing on someone else's card, this was a logical guess.

The reason she wanted my card had everything to do with identity, but she didn't want to check whether I might have been playing on someone else's card. At this point, I wasn't playing at all at this point because none of the machines would read my ticket.

What happened after I gave her my card will give you more clues.

She read off my players card number over the radio too. Then she redeemed the ticket, which was worth $365, herself from her wallet.

This is kinda like the ticket system equivalent of clearing an app's data or cache when it's not working right. We don't know what exactly is wrong that is causing the problems and we're not going to take the time to figure it out. Let's just get things working again.

When you cash out while your players card is still in the reader, the ticket system will store your players card number along with the other ticket data. Casino personnel can then query the ticket database to find out who owns a ticket.

She radioed my number to verify that the ticket belonged to me and I wasn't trying to redeem a ticket I had found.


If you would like to see more non-smoking areas on slot floors in Las Vegas, please sign my petition on change.org.


John Robison

John Robison is an expert on slot machines and how to play them. John is a slot and video poker columnist and has written for many of gaming’s leading publications. He holds a master's degree in computer science from the prestigious Stevens Institute of Technology.

You may hear John give his slot and video poker tips live on The Good Times Show, hosted by Rudi Schiffer and Mike Schiffer, which is broadcast from Memphis on KXIQ 1180AM Friday afternoon from from 2PM to 5PM Central Time. John is on the show from 4:30 to 5. You can listen to archives of the show on the web anytime.

Books by John Robison:

The Slot Expert's Guide to Playing Slots
John Robison
John Robison is an expert on slot machines and how to play them. John is a slot and video poker columnist and has written for many of gaming’s leading publications. He holds a master's degree in computer science from the prestigious Stevens Institute of Technology.

You may hear John give his slot and video poker tips live on The Good Times Show, hosted by Rudi Schiffer and Mike Schiffer, which is broadcast from Memphis on KXIQ 1180AM Friday afternoon from from 2PM to 5PM Central Time. John is on the show from 4:30 to 5. You can listen to archives of the show on the web anytime.

Books by John Robison:

The Slot Expert's Guide to Playing Slots