Station Casino Poker Online
[toc]It appears the future is now at Station Casinos properties in Las Vegas, Nevada. And, it’s easy to see how the US casino industry will soon adopt the technology this organization has.
Slots and gaming technology giant International Game Technology PLCannounced this week its Cardless Connect mobile technology will roll out at several Station Casinos properties in Las Vegas before the end of the calendar year.
Station Casinos go cardless
Station Casinos offers craps at all of our casinos for your gaming pleasure. Pai Gow Poker Progressive Jackpots One of the fastest growing table games in Las Vegas, Stations offers a multi-casino-linked Pai Gow progressive—with more chances to win big across all of our properties. Station Casinos was the first company to launch a regulated online poker site in the U.S. That happened on April 30, 2013. The Ultimate Gaming brand was used. This was to help customers associate it with the UFC, also owned by the Fertitta family.
The technology has already been deployed at one Station Casinos property for testing, and was well received. The idea is somewhat brilliant in the simple way it allows players to do away with one of what is almost always dozens of different player’s cards they carry with them from casino to casino, and replace it with another thing most also bring with them: a smartphone.
With IGT’s Cardless Connect mobile technology, participating players in Station Casinos’ MyBoardingPass loyalty program just tap their smartphones on a slot machine card reader to ensure they earn comps the same way they did when they were previously inserting a player’s card into the machine.
Leash-free slot machine perks
Anyone who has ever left a player’s card behind at a slot machine can see the benefits of this type of technology right away. Those who have been attached by leash to their player’s cards for years will finally be free.
The IGT Cardless Connect technology was so successful in its first Station Casinos property, the organization plans to start using it at two more Las Vegas locations later this year. The rest of Station Casinos’ 20 Las Vegas-area casinos will soon follow. Plus, it seems like a no-brainer to say that other major US casino corporations won’t be far behind.
It turns out the program is also a smart way to get more people to download the STN mobile app.
Mobile apps required
The trick is, in order to use the Cardless Connect technology, players have to download the Station Casinos mobile app and sign in with their account. Only then can they tap the phone on a slot machine and start earning comps for their play.
Show me a US casino with a mobile app. I’ll show you a casino that wishes more gamblers would download it. Show me a gambler. I’ll show you a person who has yet to figure out one good reason they should.
While player loyalty clubs have emerged as the top way for casinos to market to customers, mobile apps have lagged behind. Finding a way to combine the two more effectively has to be seen as a great way for casinos that have poured a ton of money into mobile technology to finally start pulling some out.
A reason for gamblers to embrace the tech
Gamblers have had few reasons to embrace emerging mobile technology in the past. This certainly gives them one. Early adopters and the next generation of gamblers who have grown up attached to their smartphones should love this. Casinos, who seem to be endlessly looking for the best ways to attract them should as well.
Let’s not get to carried away. This isn’t the kind of technology that’s going to change the world. However, it is something that will ultimately improve the player experience. Plus, it will most certainly help bridge the gap between traditional casinos and mobile technology. A particularly important step for an industry that has yet to find many successful ways to do that.
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Station Casinos has decided to discontinue the bad beat jackpot promotions at its casinos a month after the Nevada Gaming Control Board ruled that the company had to pay out a disputed jackpot.
The controversy dates back to July 7th, when a $120,000 bad beat jackpot was hit at the Red Rock Casino, one of Station’s properties in the Las Vegas area. Len Schreter had the top end of a straight flush while Avi Shamir had the low end. This would normally spell disaster for Shamir, but they were in a bad beat jackpot game, which meant that Shamir won about $60,000 for having such an amazing hand lose and Schreter. The more than 80 players active at bad beat jackpot tables at Station’s other casinos also stood to share in the rest of the jackpot.
Red Rock management, though, ruled that because Schreter had, in his excitement, accidentally revealed his cards out of the turn on the river, the jackpot was nullified. Part of the promotions rules states that “discussion of hands during the play by players, at the discretion of management, may void a Jumbo Hold ‘Em Jackpot,” which is what management believed happened.
Everyone who witnessed the hand agreed that Schreter’s actions had no effect on the outcome of the hand, but management wouldn’t budge. Schreter, Shamir, and a couple other players filed complaints to the Nevada Gaming Control Board. An NGCB investigator agreed with the players and the Board ruled in December that the casino must pay the jackpot, but Station appealed the ruling.
In February, the players won the appeal and Station Casinos opted not to appeal to the Clark County District Court and just pay the jackpot.
“The player-funded bad-beat jackpot had always been ready for payment pending the GCB’s decision,” Station’s Lori Nelson told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “The three players who filed a claim were paid in accordance with standard Gaming Control Board procedures. Additionally, we have been distributing jackpot awards to all of the qualified poker players who participated, not just the three who filed a claim.”
Free Casino Poker Games
Many – including yours truly – wondered why Station Casinos would go to such lengths to avoid paying out the jackpot. As Nelson said, the bad beat jackpot was player-funded via additional rake, so Station was out no money. The one possibility that might exist is that the six-figure jackpot attracted a lot of poker players hoping to get lucky and that if it was reset, poker room traffic would decrease. Conventional wisdom, though, has been that the bad publicity from challenging the jackpot would hurt Station.
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And it seems like it has. Nelson wouldn’t tell the Review-Journal is player traffic has changed. Michael Bluestein, one of the players who filed the complaint, said he isn’t playing at Station casinos as much as he used to and the Review-Journal added that other players have said that it looks like the poker room isn’t as busy as it was. Then again, that could just be because the jackpot is no longer over $100,000.