Harrah’s Woos Gamblers on the Floor

Harrah’s Entertainment, Inc. is testing a new marketing program in its East Chicago, IN, location that lets casino employees market directly to gamblers on the gaming floor.

The new program allows Harrah’s employees to intercept gamblers on a losing streak to offer them a free meal or other rewards. The test effort, called Marketing at Slots, is part of Harrah’s long-term effort to reach customers in real-time based on their current gambling activity. Harrah’s expects to roll the program out to other casinos during the second half of 2004.

This test is centered around Harrah’s loyalty program for slots players, Total Rewards, which provides real-time data on wins and losses. That enables the casino to keep a detailed profile of each Total Rewards member.

Total Rewards has 28 million members, who earn credits to redeem for premiums, special offers and cash prizes. It also gives Harrah’s highly detailed information about members’ gaming habits. Harrah’s uses its Total Rewards loyalty card for direct-mail and targeted promotions; but this is the first time that Harrah’s is using Total Rewards to target gamblers in real-time.