A recent mailer from Peppermill in Reno referred me to the Strictly Slots site on the WWW. Not a bad site for those interested in reel games and video poker.

I liked this page of info on Influential People in the History of Slot Machines. You can view it from the link below if you have an Adobe Acrobat viewer (free).

On Ed Fishman and "Players Club", for example:

"Members received discounted casino
hotel rooms in Las Vegas and Atlantic City,
restaurant and show discounts, airline packages,
a newsletter, and other offers. In retrospect,
these premiums might seem a bit
mundane compared to the total-cashbackrewards-
platinum-style of modern comp programs,
but in the early 1980s Players Club
was the only club. Ed hired Telly Savalas,
TV’s Kojak, to be the Players Club
spokesman. The service amassed over
350,000 members and became the prototype
for the industry. So it was Ed Fishman who
brought comps to the average slot player."