Read Marlene's first and most recent article published in the Septemeber 2010 edition of Global Gaming Business titled, Players Club Essentials, the best slot clubs in the industry have five crucial elements in common. Click here to enjoy reading the full article.

When I was asked to write an article about the best players clubs in the industry, two thoughts immediately came to my mind. The first was, being that Randall Fine, my boss at the Fine Point Group, is the patent holder for technology used behind the current version of Harrah’s Total Rewards program and the fact that many of us (including me) were involved in the launch of that program, I will get it out of the way now and say that putting it on the list just seemed too self-serving—even for a consultant in the gaming space.

My second thought: Our industry involves so many jurisdictions with different tax rates, regulatory requirements, etc., that it was hard to decide which clubs I truly thought were the best  in the industry, because we as marketers design and implement customized clubs that work for our individual businesses—and each is unique. Some are really good, and some are really bad. Therefore, I picked players clubs that I felt each did a great job meeting one of the core tenets of what makes a good loyalty program.