Don’t Gamble With Your Credibility: How Casino Loyalty Cards Can Betray Your Personal Injury Claim

Loyalty programs are great. Most of us participate in one type of loyalty program or another, whether it’s travel points for booking flights or spending money on a credit card. Loyal programs make us feel like we are getting something for nothing, “I was going to spend the money anyway”. However, the cost of loyalty programs is often hidden in high credit card fees and the high interest charged on account balances. At the end of the day, there is no free ride.

Unfortunately, the loyalty card that you swipe every time you play a slot machine at the casino may also end up costing you more than you could ever imagine. At casinos, loyalty programs lure you in with the promise of free meals, discounted rooms, and exclusive perks. But those “free” rewards come with a hidden price. Every swipe of your casino loyalty card gives away information about where you were, how long you stayed, and what you did.

At Derfel Injury Law, we’ve seen insurers and defence lawyers use casino loyalty-card records to challenge a plaintiff’s credibility, minimize damages, and convince juries that someone claiming to be injured is perfectly capable of working or functioning normally.

The “Rewards” That Reward the Other Side

Casinos collect precise data on every loyalty cardholder. Each tap or swipe records when you entered, what tables or slot machines you used, how much you won or lost, how long you played, and where you ate or stayed. Also, if you use your card when parking, the casino will know when you arrived and when you left. For the casino, it’s marketed as convenience. However, when you are involved in a personal injury claim for claiming disability benefits, it’s nothing more than surveillance.

When you sign up for a loyalty rewards program, you agree, often without realizing it to let the casino store your data. Once you start a lawsuit, that data can become fair game for the other side to use against you. The casino can be ordered to produce your entire player history under Rule 30.10 of the Ontario Rules of Civil Procedure. The insurance company will try to use the information it gets to paint you as an exaggerator or not injured or impaired at all.

You think you’re collecting points, but you are actually collecting evidence for the insurance company.

Why the Data Matters in a Personal Injury Claim

Loyalty-card records are timestamped and objective. They show exactly where you were and for how long, which makes them valuable to insurers trying to:

• Contradict your story: showing you continued to walk or gamble after a supposed disabling fall.
• Challenge your medical reports: arguing that long play sessions prove you can sit, focus, and function.
• Reconstruct timelines: pinpointing when you entered, left, and moved within the casino.
• Question your damages: showing you were active and social when you claim isolation or reduced enjoyment of life.

In Ontario, the information collected is relevant, just like medical records or tax returns. If you have an active (or inactive) loyalty account, the court can order you to request and produce that information. Refusing to produce that information can result in court fees and dismissal of your claim. Also, be aware that the court can demand that you produce records that could go back many years. The casino never forgets!

How This Can Play Out in a Slip-and-Fall Claim

Slip-and-fall cases often turn on mobility and function; how badly you were hurt and how that injury affected your life.

If your loyalty data shows you spent hours at the same casino days after the fall, or returned multiple times while claiming serious limitations, the defence will argue that you’ve exaggerated your injuries. Even if the data was generated by someone else using your card, it still reads as you, and telling a jury “my friend used it” will always come off as self-serving.

Casinos don’t record who’s holding the card; they record the account number. To the insurer, every transaction looks like your movement, your spending, your activity.

How This Can Play Out in a Long-Term Disability Claim

In long-term disability (LTD) litigation, insurers use loyalty-card data to argue that your daily activities contradict your claimed restrictions.

If you say you can’t sit for long periods, but casino logs show four-hour slot sessions, the insurer will claim you could sit at a desk job. If you say you can’t concentrate, but your record shows consistent casino play, they’ll argue you can focus well enough to return to work.

The Jury Problem: Perception Over Reality

You may know that pain feels different under distraction or that gambling is brief escapism. Unfortunately, juries will rarely appreciate those nuances. To them, it’s proof that you’re fine. For a juror, perception often outweighs proof. Character and credibility carry the day.

A juror may think, “If she can sit and gamble, she can sit and work.” Or they may say to themselves, “If he can focus on slot machines, he can focus on spreadsheets.” Also, they will conclude that, “If they can afford to keep gambling, they don’t need money that badly.”

At Derfel Injury Lawyers, we understand that the casino and the workplace are nothing alike. One is voluntary, distracting, and stimulating, whereas the other is structured and demanding. But to a juror, activity looks like ability. And once that doubt takes root, even strong medical evidence and supportive experts cannot undo a juror’s perception.

Why You Should Never Share Your Loyalty Card

Another mistake we often encounter at Derfel Injury Lawyers is when a client shares their casino loyalty card with a friend or family member. They think that what they are doing is good because are collecting more points and therefore getting more rewards. But at the end of the day, it’s your card and as far as the insurance company is concerned, your data.

When the defence gets those records, they’ll assume every visit and every transaction is yours. Trying to explain later that “someone else used my card” almost always sounds convenient and unbelievable. Insurance companies, judges and juries may view such statements as desperate attempts to explain away bad evidence. If the defence presents a timeline that contradicts your testimony, that single explanation can make you look dishonest. Jurors don’t remember your clarification; they remember that you had to give one. It’s not an explanation, it’s an excuse.

Never share your loyalty card. Treat it like your driver’s licence. If you have, tell your lawyer immediately so they can disclose it proactively before the insurer does.

Privacy and Production: You Can Be Ordered to Get the Records

Ontario courts regularly order plaintiffs to obtain their own loyalty-card data from a casino. Under PIPEDA (the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act), you have the right to request it, and once you’re in litigation, you have the obligation to produce it if it’s relevant.

If you refuse, the defence can bring a motion for a production order, and judges often grant it because the data speaks directly to credibility, activity, and damages. Casinos will then provide an official log, listing every play, redemption, and transaction tied to your name.

The Bigger Lesson: Free Isn’t Free

You spend hundreds to earn a free dinner, and in return, the casino collects a detailed profile of your habits. Later, the insurer uses that same data to deny your claim. That voucher for a free buffet dinner could end up costing you your claim.

Protect Yourself Before You Play

If you’ve been injured in a slip-and-fall, car accident, or are pursuing long-term disability
benefits:

1. Tell your lawyer immediately if you have a casino loyalty account.
2. Request your own records early and don’t wait for the defence to surprise you.
3. Never share or lend your card.
4. Avoid new casino activity while your claim is active.
5. Be honest about what you can and cannot do; your lawyer can explain the context before the insurer twists it.