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Station Casinos recently announced STN Charms. This is an NFT (non-fungible token) collection that is part of Station’s Boarding Pass casino loyalty rewards program.
NFTs are unique digital assets. While they can take many shapes, the most popular NFTs have been limited-edition art pieces and collectibles. STN Charms falls under this category.
Some NFTs are connected to cryptocurrency, which has limited the audience to those familiar with this type of money. STN Charms can be exchanged with traditional forms of currency when its marketplace opens on May 1.
STN Charms is available to players using a Boarding Pass rewards card on video poker and slot machine games at all Station Casinos and Wildfire casinos throughout Las Vegas.
Players don’t have to do anything to get started with STN Charms. All Boarding Pass members are automatically enrolled in the program. Each player starts their STN Charms journey with a Shamrock charm.
Tom Mikulich, Senior Vice President of Innovation at Station Casinos says:
“We are thrilled to be launching this innovative program to create a more engaging way for our guests to earn unique rewards and customize their play. Through our patent-pending, game-changing technology, we believe STN Charms will reshape the casino gaming landscape and modernize loyalty programs making for a more rewarding and fun gaming experience for our guests.”
Time will tell if this will be a game-changer for the Las Vegas casino operator and its customers. NFT marketplaces were hot during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. Buying and selling digital art has slowed down as tastes have changed over the past few years.
That said, this is a free program to join and acquire collectible art. If nothing else, STN Charms can be a fun challenge for collectors. In a perfect world, the charms will become valuable.
Acquiring STN Charms by playing slots and video poker
When a player inserts their Board Pass card into a machine they will receive a shamrock charm. This is the entry-level NFT of the collection. Players will see this right on the slot machine service window.
Guests earn charms based on their activity tracked by using their Boarding Pass cards. The more a guest plays, the more charms they will earn. Some charms may be rarer than others.
This is where STN Charms gets interesting. There are five different STN Charms NFT levels:
- Common
- Uncommon
- Rare
- Epic
- Legendary
Players can see their collection on the slot machine screens as they earn more. They can also look online at stncharms.com.
Station Casinos will have a new charms drop every month. Charm categories include lucky penny, shamrock, horseshoe, and panda.
Players can make money from selling their STN Charms
The value of an NFT is often because of a perceived limitation on the item. Since STN Charms have different availability, there should be different price points when the marketplace opens.
The STN Charms Marketplace will open on May 1. Players will be able to buy and sell their STN Charms NFTs.
The key to any marketplace is having both buyers and sellers. There should be ample Station Casinos players looking to turn their charms into money.
Players can earn free STN Charms today by playing their favorite machine games like normal. The first charm that is awarded to all players may not be scarce and therefore have no value.
Frequent players at Station Casinos properties will build up their collection that will eventually reward them with rare and possibly valuable charms. Playing often and leveling up charms to acquire rare collectibles seems to be the winning proposition for players.
Earning charms is great but the only way this can be financially beneficial is if there are buyers at the STN Charms marketplace. Time will tell if there’s enough demand from buyers to turn the free charms into valuable NFTs.
Will NFT offering be a hit with the Las Vegas casino customer base?
Las Vegas casinos have dabbled in the NFT world over the past couple of years. Circa has a Vegas Vickie NFT. Resorts World partnered with Theta for a luxury NFT collection.
Station Casinos has a different customer base than the operators with NFT offerings on the Vegas Strip or downtown Las Vegas.
The local casino operator depends on Las Vegas residents as the core of its customer base. During its most recent investor presentation Station Casinos touted the growth of the 65+ demographic in Las Vegas. This population is a large part of Station Casinos’ customer base.
NFT traders are typically part of the younger Millennial and Gen Z demographics. It will be interesting to see if the older Station Casinos customer base is ready to take on NFT trading.
Mixing digital artwork and collectibles with an age group unfamiliar with the technology could prove difficult. At the same time, gamblers like to easily make money.
Understanding how to earn and view STN Charms is simple. Will that translate to NFT trades? That’s the magic question as to whether or not there’s a value beyond just earning collectibles.
