TURNING STONE TRIP REPORT

The Turning Stone Casino is located in the middle of NY State. This resort is quite different than most casinos. First of all there is no alcoholic beverages permitted anywhere. All the gaming machines are really "slotless machines"; they neither accept nor dispense coins or bills.

Customers must open an account and deposit cash into the account at a cashier. They are issued a black "Diamond Card", which can be used like an ATM card at each machine. You must select a PIN number and enter it at each machine. Your balance is constantly displayed on the machine and all "wins" are immediatly added to your account.

The cards are not usable at table games, and there seems to no comp system involved. Your balance may be withdrawn at any time.

Unfortunatly for us card collectors, the casino will only give you one card at a time and none for your spouse unless present. Also people hang on to these cards, like they would an ATM card; so seldom are any "Diamond Cards" abandoned, lost or forgotten. However, they will issue you another card if you say you lost or forgot the old one.

Fortunatly for us card collectors, they have 2 types of temporary cards in use, and they come in different denominations.

FREE MULTI-GAME CREDITS card - These cards seem to be used with special promotions, like bus tours, and offer credit for playing, but not cashing (below the face value). There is an obsolete set (TYPE A) of these cards.
The current set is TYPE B. Each set comes in the following denominations: $5, $10, $15, $20, and $25. These cards are often discarded, and relatively easy to find between or on top of machines.

EXPRESS cards - These cards are sold to patrons who do not want to wait or join the Diamond Club. Cards are purchased from a vendor for the face value and are used like a Diamond Card; the PIN number is printed on the card. From my observation, these cards are only sold during busy peak times.
EXPRESS cards come in the following denominations: $5, $10, $15, $20, $25, and $50.