A disclosed gaming machine is used to provide a method of registering a player
to a loyalty program such as a player tracking program at the gaming machine. At
the gaming machine, the player or a casino service representative may enter identification
information such as a name, an address and biometric information using an input
mechanism located on the gaming machine or on a hand-held wireless device. The
loyalty program information may be combined with information such as serial number
or a bar-code read from a loyalty program instrument in a loyalty program registration
request message sent to a loyalty program server such as a player tracking server.
The loyalty program instrument may include a magnetic striped card, a smart card,
a printed ticket, a room key, a cell-phone or a portable computing device. When
the registration request is confirmed by the loyalty program server, the player
may begin a loyalty program session on a gaming machine and earn loyalty points.
