A combination magnetic-stripe card reader with integrated contact-less chip card read/write functions, a direct replacement for a standard player tracking magnetic-stripe card reader installed in slot machines. It is a form, fit and function for existing player tracking readers, having the same front panel appearance, the same physical envelope, using the same mounting method, using the same cable connections and operating in the identical manner. The combined functions requires two command sets and a method to distinguish between them, the legacy command set of the existing reader to be replaced which is typically strings of American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) eight bit characters with a line terminator character and the contact-less chip card requiring the ability to send and receive all possible eight bit values with varying length commands and not having a dedicated character value to indicate the end of a command.