This is a post from 8 years ago, but it still is interesting to me, hopefully for you gentle readers as well:
I keep finding things on Bruce Schneier’s security website that make me want to scream, but not necessarily just because of the Security Concerns. The post in specific (click here to read the whole thing) says:
After a few hours of losses, he goes to the cashier and asks for a casino advance off of his credit card. The card tells the casino his name, but not much else. As is required by card issuers, the cashier asks for some other identification, such as a driver’s license. That license offers the casino a ton of CRM identification goodies, but the cashier is only supposed to glance at the picture and the name to verify identity and hand the license–and its info treasure trove–back to the gambler. Not any more, at least if a Minneapolis company called Cash Systems Inc. has anything to say about it.
The firm was recently awarded a U.S. patent for a device that can grab all of the data of almost any U.S. driver’s license in seconds and instantly dump it into a casino’s CRM system.
Bruce Schneier 2005
OK, so who in the name of Methuselah is making cash withdrawals from their Credit Card at a CASINO? If you are doing this, YOU HAVE A PROBLEM, and it is not just your DEBT REDUCTION plan is in the crapper.
If this is you, I beg of you to see Gamblers Anonymous or something like that because your life is not your own anymore. OK, I’ll get off my soapbox now. Be afraid of these companies that want to get all the information they can about you. The more they know about you, the less privacy we all have.
Yes, please do! Gamblers anonymous is a sound organization and it does help people. I have a relative who lost his business and nearly his home. With help from GA he has been gambling and debt free for twenty years now. Like with alcoholism, gambling addiction is not something that goes away by itself. Get help!
I agree that a cash advance at a casino is a huge red flag! I think I only visited a casino about 3-4 times in my life! I brought $40-60 cash for gambling and I viewed it as my entertainment money. For the wrong prson, a casino can become a money pit.
If you have to go to the casino, or play video poker, please get help: http://www.gamblersanonymous.org/ga/