According to executives, the cornerstone of Harrah’s growth strategy is the now-renamed Total Rewards program, its IT-powered customer loyalty program. It sought not only to identify its best and most loyal customers it also wanted to use that data to reward them in ways they hadn’t been rewarded before. While recognition cards aimed at boosting customer loyalty had been in the industry for some time, Harrah’s wanted to go one step further. The relaxation of state gaming laws only intensified the rivalry among casinos. When Harrah’s first started its Total Gold loyalty program in 1997, it was during a time of rapid expansion of casinos in hot spots like Las Vegas and Atlantic City, N.J.
