Darryl McEwen did a great job decoding the Caesars Rewards program (don’t dare say Total Rewards, especially years after the change, or Caesar’s Rewards) and organizing information, including promotions, in his newsletter. Sadly, as far as I know, casinos never hired him as a consultant, so he continued his work independently with the help of reader contributions.
I met Darryl, and we toured the various Atlantic City lounges. He was gracious to share his lounge access with me and chat about various promotions. I kept in touch through email, often pointing out errors I found, and he published my photos in his newsletter.
I will hopefully never forget classics like Boy Choy (instead of Bok Choy) and General Chicken (not General Tso’s Chicken).
Scott Cronick, in 2021, published an obituary in Atlantic City Weekly calling Darryl “a beautiful friend to me and Atlantic City” who “developed a fan base and friendships with nearly everyone he encountered.”
Darryl would surely laugh at the ongoing inconsistency within Caesars Rewards, including recent rebranding at Harrah’s AC from Diamond Club to Laurel Lounge to Harbor Club (or is it The Harbor Club)? Old signage of Diamond Club (or was it Diamond Lounge?) remains, even after that name was changed years ago.
Ocean, formerly Revel, in Atlantic City, rightly continues lamenting people calling the casino Oceans or, worse yet, Ocean’s. Commenter Patti, one of my RIP Darryl posts, wrote, “Darryl would have been apoplectic when anyone called it “Oceans.” He could never get past the absence of the apostrophe in Caesars either.”
Darryl would have laughed at the signage inside Harrah’s Atlantic City cafe, Tazza, that said ‘Caesars Rewards® comp & room charge transactions’ (they could have used the proper phrase ‘Reward Credits®), “Caesars Reward Card” (it’s Caesars Rewards), and “COMP 2:1 RATIO” (why the capital letters, and, again, it’s Reward Credits). A second Tazza sign made another mistake saying “REWARD COMPS 2:1 RATIO” (it’s Reward Credits), and “Please place your gelato orders inside the Cafe !” (it isn’t possible to place the orders somewhere else, and why is there a space after café?).
AC Burger Co., in 2022, couldn’t get its hours correct.
We at TravelZork hope to continue Darryl McEwen’s legacy by entertaining, helping people gamble smarter, and gaining a better understanding of casino promotions to maximize value through gambling.
Darryl’s Articles Still Live On
You can read Darryl’s articles->HERE
The Man, the Myth and the Legend.