An Illinois Gaming Board survey found that a third of casino patrons were members of slot machine clubs, and a critic says that is proof the operators are targeting problem gamblers to increase income. Club members get cards with magnetic strips that record how much they spend on a slot machine, when they play and which machines they play most often.
Casinos give gifts and special deals to the members who use the machines the most.
They are identifying people who are most susceptible to gambling problems, said Tom Grey, director of the National Coalition Against Gambling Expansion. The slot club members go twice as much as anyone else. These casinos bread and butter comes out of the slot clubs. The signature-gathering effort opened less than a month ago with an expensive direct mail blitz to millions of registered votes, followed by phone calls to the same households. Acknowledging he did not have the votes to win this round, Sen. Dan Coats, R-Ind., on Tuesday withdrew an amendment to eliminate the federal tax deduction for gambling losses.