By Thomas Moore, Las Vegas Sun

Free booze, handed out by casinos to reward regular gamblers is a tradition that may be going by the wayside.

“There’s always been this unspoken rule that the bartenders decide who gets what,” said Scott Roeben, a blogger who reported on the issue last week. “They’re watching the play and if you don’t play enough, they say you gotta play more. They’re automating that system … so there’s a very one-to-one correlation between play and the rewards.”

Roeben thinks automating the process is a way for the casinos to tighten up on comps and ensure people are really gambling before they get free booze.

On his blog vitalvegas.com, Roeben posted pictures of a system at Caesars Entertainment properties that feature red and green lights that tell the servers when to hand out comps. In a statement, Caesars officials confirmed they rolled out a comp-validation system in all its Nevada resorts, which includes Harrah’s Lake Tahoe and Harveys.

Read the whole story