As a poker room patron I have noticed some players who do not wish to provide their identification to get a player's card. There are many benefits to having a player's card such as earning $2 comps per hour, free food, and being eligible for jackpot and promotions. I recently saw a guy turn down his share of a $1800 jackpot because he did not have a player's card and refused to get one when asked.

What are some of the possible reasons for players who refuse to get a player's card?

The reasons I can think of are:

-Criminals who wish to remain anonymous
-Famous or infamous people who don't want to be recognized
-Illegal immigrants with no valid ID
-Wealthy people who don't care for the comps or jackpots

People hiding gambling from spouses or family members is usually the biggest.

The turning down $1800 is likely a criminal or undocumented.

There are some casinos I go to once every few years for an evening and a show or something, and might play for 2 hours while I am there. Its hardly worth it to get 90 cents in comps I will never use.

You are overlooking what is probably the most likely and frequent reason:

They have self-trespassed themselves from the property because of a gambling problem and/or have otherwise been banned from the property previously.

What if this was at a major casino in Vegas, say the Aria, where they have advanced facial recognition software? It would seem difficult for people who have been banned to return.

“A share of $1800” is most likely $200.

Some people don’t like to be tracked and try to avoid it where they still can. Same reason they don’t have a frequent shopper card at their local grocery store.

Im only referring to regular players. I should have made the title of this post “Regulars who refuse to get a player’s card for comps or jackpots”.

If any mod can correct the title to make the topic more clear, that would be great.

Actually, the guy would’ve received $1800. The jackpot was 30k for the table. Winning hand got 20%, losing hand got 40%, and the rest of the table split the remaining 40%

I can see some players not wanting to be tracked or sent any offers in the mail in effort to hide the gambling habit from their spouse

Then you start realizing the position of poker players and poker rooms on the corporate hierarchy of things that they care about.

For 1800 it's definitely something shady
Be it underage ,banned, something criminal

For normal comps
Could be the person just doesn't care/use the comps

If it's a large casino/part of a casino group it could be they don't want to drag their adt down

For example if someone gets really good totalrewards comps -lots of free rooms free play etc.-if they won't be playing at TR properties that day besides poker and they're already not in a TR hotel room it would be very stupid of them to swipe in at the poker table

I remember playing in Daytona
It may have changed as this was years ago but the comps were such a joke I would have had to play all week to.hrt a hamburger
Once I realized this I threw the players card out

this ^^^^

they don't want mail promo's coming to the house

knew a reg who was on unemployment and played 6-8 hrs daily
didn't want anything documented that could be used against him as to his not job hunting

For normal comps, they may be getting much better comps from playing in the pits. In some casinos, using your card to play poker will tank your rating so you'd actually lose. That, or they simply don't like being tracked and don't want the free food anyway.

For $1800 it could be any number of things, very few of them innocent. Custody agreement might prohibit gambling, could be behind on alimony/child support, maybe they're on parole or house arrest and aren't supposed to be there, they could be underage, undocumented alien, or wanted by law enforcement.

Reducto pretty much nailed it. Card in for minor prizes or comps can destroy a slot rating for months.

LOL at "it must be criminal."

Dude lied to his wife and went out gambling has to be the most common reason. By a large margin.

A lot of the answers are answering why a player wouldn't give a players card while playing (which is usually because they play table games and don't wanna lower their theoretical loss) but the OP said a player won a share of $1,800 and still refused to show ID to claim his share.
This is usually because they either don't have an ID (illegal immigrant) or they have a felony warrant and don't wanna risk getting caught.

I've seen a few people do it where I work. For these guys it's not criminal, nor is it because they are rich and/or famous.

In our state, if you win a jackpot or any large amount of money where an ID is required, your name is run through a database to see if you owe anything like back taxes or child support. I've heard stories of people hitting $5,000 jackpots and not getting a dime because they owed it all in child support.

Sounds criminal to me. Not only is someone not supporting his kids, but he'd rather no one get the money than it go towards their support?

Yeah I guess it's criminal to not pay child support, I guess I failed to realize that.

LOL people who equate a desire for privacy with criminal behavior.

If you're talking in general about people who desire privacy - because they want to avoid having their name posted in public, because they want to avoid uncomfortable questions from their wife, because they ran their Senatorial campaign on an anti-gambling platform and don't want the liberal media spreading fake news about their alleged gambling problem, etc - that's very different from talking about people who are specifically evading child support.

The latter is legally and morally criminal.

Not arguing with the bolded. That reason is likely a tiny percentage of players who don't want a players card.

Assuming that's why they don't want a card is ludicrous.

Yes, it makes total sense for someone to wander into a casino and turn down a 4 figure score when they have to provide their identity in the name privacy.

Sure, not getting 80 cents in ****ty comps is one thing, but for the most part people go to casinos with the hope of winning big money. The venn diagram of people who gamble in a casino and the people who would refuse to give their id to the casino and forgo $1800 just to prevent disseminating their personal info likely doesnt overlap.

If the casino is legally required to send a 1099 G for the 4 figure score, they won't pay it out without getting some form of ID.

They won't need a players card, just a valid drivers license.

And again, the percentage of no players card people who would turn down the cash is a small subset of the total, and if they don't take the money, I just call that a stupidity tax.

Some require you to have a players card in order to win any promotional games/prizes/jackpots. Either way, the reason they don't want a players card is because they don't want to give their ID so your point is what? 9 times out of 10 when someone is willing to turn down jackpot/promo money, it is one of 4 things:

1) They owe back taxes or child support.
2) They are banned from the property.
3) They are wanted.
4) They don't want their spouse to find out they are gambling.

if somebody turns down a significant amount of money over not showing an ID , likely the reason is NOT some philosophical or ethical problem with privacy laws. Other laws are more likely being considered by that guy!