Accrued Expenses and Other Current Liabilities

Accounting Policies

Total Rewards Program Liability

Our customer loyalty program, Total Rewards, offers incentives to customers who gamble at all of our casino entertainment facilities located in the U.S. and Canada for on-property entertainment expenses, including gaming, hotel, dining, and retail shopping. Under the program, customers are able to accumulate, or bank, reward credits over time that they may redeem at their discretion under the terms of the program. The reward credit balance will be forfeited if the customer does not earn a reward credit over the prior six-month period. As a result of the ability of the customer to bank the reward credits, we accrue the estimated cost of fulfilling the redemption of reward credits, after consideration of estimated forfeitures (referred to as “breakage”), as they are earned. The estimated value of reward credits is expensed as the reward credits are earned by customers and is included in direct casino expense. To arrive at the estimated cost associated with reward credits, estimates and assumptions are made regarding incremental marginal costs of the benefits, breakage rates, and the mix of goods and services for which reward credits will be redeemed. We use historical data to assist in the determination of estimated accruals. As of December 31, 2014 and 2013, we had Total Rewards liabilities of $47 million and $50 million, respectively.

In addition to reward credits, customers at certain of our properties can earn points based on play that are redeemable in the form of credits playable at the gaming machine. We accrue the cost of redeemable points, after consideration of estimated breakage, as they are earned. The cost is recorded as contra-revenue and is included in casino promotional allowances.

Self-Insurance Accruals

We are self-insured for various levels of workers’ compensation, property and general liability, employee medical coverage, and other coverage. Insurance claims and reserves include accruals of estimated settlements for known claims, as well as accruals of actuarial estimates of incurred but not reported claims. In estimating these reserves, historical loss experience and judgments about the expected levels of costs per claim are considered. These claims are accounted for based on actuarial estimates of the undiscounted claims, including those claims incurred but not reported. We believe the use of actuarial methods to account for these liabilities provides a consistent and effective way to measure these highly judgmental accruals. We regularly monitor the potential for changes in estimates, evaluate our insurance accruals, and adjust our recorded provisions. As of December 31, 2014 and 2013, we had total self-insurance accruals of $204 million and $208 million, respectively.

Detail of Accrued Expenses and Other Current Liabilities

	As of December 31,
(In millions)	2014		2013
Accrued Expenses
Payroll and other compensation	$	220	$	233
Self-insurance accruals	204		208
Advance deposits	150		204
Accrued taxes	146		130
Total Rewards liability	47		50
Other accruals	432		387
Total	$	1,199	$	1,212