The Westgate Las Vegas Resort and Casino is the latest venue in the region to introduce a new system that monitors complimentary drink orders. While casinos are happy to have the new technology to track player drinks, the players are not too keen on this new option. One of the main reasons casinos have been so appealing over the years is not only gameplay but also the fact that drinks were free and cocktail waitresses kept them coming. Now, casinos will be able to monitor drinks more carefully, catering to those who are within higher loyalty club tiers.

According to KTNV.com, Scott Roeben of VitalVegas.com stated that Westgate’s system is not the first one of its kind to be launched in Sin City. The system at the casino works by offering players drinks based on their loyalty club tier. According to Roeben, casinos are happy to give away free drinks but want to be sure that the drinks are warranted based on the player’s gaming actions. Roeben thinks that casinos on and off the strip will be monitoring drinks with this new technology within a year or two.

The Golden Nugget also has a drink monitoring system and Caesars Entertainment started the process back in 2016 to monitor gameplay, ensuring that players spent enough to compensate for their free drink. In mid-2017, we reported on Ardent Progressive Systems & Games, a company based in Las Vegas that specializes in Slot Accounting and Player Tracking Systems, among other data tracking options. This group has created a points validations system that can notify bartenders of comps, which streamlines the complimentary drinks process.

With this system, the bartenders are signaled to if the player has qualified for a drink or not, has met the requirements for continued complimentary beverages, qualifies for premium beverages, etc. The website of the company actually says that the new system will ‘completely eliminate bar fleas that don’t deserve beverage comps 24×7’. While this might be a good strategy for a casino to save on their bottom line, it is not something that players want to see take place.

According to our 2017 report, Caesars Entertainment had seen a savings of around 35% on comped drink costs since implementing the technology.