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In down economy, crimes against casinos are up
Agents making more arrests; casinos reluctant to publicize cheats
Chris Morris
Monday, Oct. 19, 2009 | 2 a.m.
Sun Coverage
Beyond the Sun
The state’s casino cops have been busy. Could recession-fueled money troubles be blamed for the brazen acts of theft that have been reported in recent months? Among them:
• Gaming Control Board agents arrested a man in July for allegedly exploiting a glitch that allowed him to multiply the money he inserted into slot machines and cash out with 10 times that amount. With no apparent accomplices, John Kane, according to the board, ripped off the Silverton and other casinos for tens of thousands of dollars.
• In August board agents arrested four casino supervisors at Planet Hollywood who are suspected of pocketing winnings after falsifying poker room payouts to show that players had won jackpots when they hadn’t.
• In September agents arrested a ticket writer at the Caesars Palace sports book for allegedly stealing chips used to pay for bets and passing them off to an associate who cashed them out. The same month agents caught a craps dealer at the River Palms in Laughlin pocketing $1,000 in chips that slipped from a hole in his pocket into his shoe.
• This month agents arrested a manager who was allegedly embezzling money from a small company that provides slot machines to locations such as gas stations and grocery stores.
Gaming board agents have made nearly 400 arrests in connection with casino and gambling-related crimes in Nevada this year, compared with fewer than 300 for all of 2008.
Regulators can’t explain the uptick, especially given that law enforcement resources to combat theft haven’t increased amid budget cuts. It’s logical, then, to assume that the poor economy may be leading more people to steal, said Jerry Markling, the Gaming Control Board’s enforcement chief.
Casino security consultant Willy Allison, who trains surveillance workers and founded the World Game Protection conference, says casinos nationwide have reported increased theft yet are frustrated in their efforts to catch criminals because of workforce cutbacks. Casino managers, Allison said, are increasingly concerned about their own workers, as low morale and ever-present cash make casinos ripe for employee theft.
“You’ve got staff on the floor whose tips have dropped 40 percent, they’re having trouble paying their mortgages and they don’t know whether they’ll have a job tomorrow,” he said. “You have opportunity, motivation and rationalization. People who were honest before the recession aren’t now, now that their children are starving.”
Add to that an increase in slot scams, which are especially maddening because they can be more difficult to spot than old-fashioned theft, Allison said. Cheats like Kane who have exploited a glitch by pushing buttons on a machine may not attract attention if they look like they’re gambling.
Slots are, like video games, governed by computer chips. Techno-thieves have discovered glitches by buying slot machines under false pretenses and reverse engineering them.
Successful cheats aren’t simply computer geeks but social networking experts who can hoodwink casino employees or approach them for their cooperation in exchange for a cut of the ill-gotten gains, Allison said. A recent slot scam at the Cannery-casino-chain-owned Meadows Racetrack and Casino near Pittsburgh involved men who posed as high rollers and persuaded a slot technician to tinker with the machine, he said.
Casinos are reluctant to publicize scams, he said, yet more widely disseminating such information could help the industry better combat thieves who seek out not only glitches but also weak spots in staffing.
Casino accounting departments have a crime-fighting tool: For easier tax collection, large casinos are required by law to have online accounting systems that monitor the flow of money in their slot machines. By networking their slots, casinos can more easily detect any tinkering with a machine or an anomaly in how the machine is paying out.
In addition to testing slots for glitches before the machines are played by the public, the Gaming Control Board’s Technology Division identifies and fixes flaws discovered while slots are in use. When a flaw is uncovered, slot manufacturers must remove the defective machines and submit corrective changes for board approval.
Even with casinos’ anti-theft technology and regulatory oversight, glitches can still occur. “It is usually a matter of time” before they are detected, however, said Travis Foley, the Gaming Control Board’s technology chief.
While casinos are good about spotting shady-looking activity on the casino floor, they don’t often employ IT security experts who are skilled at detecting suspicious financial records, which might be the first indicator of larceny, Allison said.
“There are hundreds of new slot games each year with new software,” he said. “I don’t think any of us can keep up with it.”
Discussion: 25 comments so far…
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I HATE ANY KIND OF A CHEATER.
ACE'S
Fire all of the dishonest employees, jain them, fine them, and hire all of the honest people standing in line out there waiting for work! An while their at it, the casinos could loosen up their machines back to pre-recession levels so a poor miserable gambler stands a little bit of a chance...
You must hate all casinos ACESBET
The GTB finds it acceptable for casino's to manipulate payouts as well as allow casino's to falsley advertise high payouts to encourage play.The GTB has absolutely no credibilty any more and it has lost credibility since their bought and paid for goon Sayre was the chief in charge of this once legitimate board.
I despise any kind of computerized manipulation of ANY slot machine EVER! The Gaming Control Board better understand that if they approve of this type of device, this will be the ruin of the entire gaming industry...
How about arresting the execs who manipulate the slots . The reason for the down market besides the depression is that the average Joe does not have a chance. A plague to all of them. As an example Southpoint advertises loose slots. I have been their a couple of times and they are probably tighter than the rest of them!
Sounds like a lot of Robin Hoods trying to get back a little from the Crooks that are the current casino owners.
Chazbean: The southpoint is one of the most crooked casino's out there behind all the MGM casino's.
Any total payouts beyond what is expected for the slots is subject to investigation. The trick is to stay within those margins to remain undetected. Conversely, the slot owners might be ablet o skim if the winnings exceed the expected percentage advantage of the house.
I agree Southpoint is absolutely the WORST slot play I have ever experienced. Even Atlantic City was better than this place. There were a lot of hotties walking around though...
COUNTRY IS ON THE BRINK OF A REVOLUTION:
Perhaps some haven't noticed, but the country is on the brink of a full-fledged revolution. No wonder, you've got this communist Obama regime which is destroying the economy and is taking over people's lives step by step. And there's absolut incompetency in the White House on economic issues as they have no qualifications. People are losing their jobs and homes left and right, and the small crimes in casinos is only a small sign of what's coming and of what is going on in reality.
Maybe we don't see it, but when people have to live in tent cities and their kids go hungry as there are simply no jobs and Washington D.C. is as incompetent as anyone can be and at the same time they (Obama and his cohorts) abuse their power to proceed with their evil communist agenda, then it's worth looking deeper under the covers. It ain't pretty as "support" groups are forming all across the country and huge tea parties of tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands are making their concerns and desperation know, but Washington D.C. instead is turning a deaf ear occupied with their vicious plan of undoing the core principles of the precious United States of America. True Americans don't like that and underneath a revolution is forming which is energized by desperation.
scherf_com : Bring back the Nazi's while your at it with this blow hard babble..
rewriting history I see. The recession began in Dec/2007 under Bush. The economy cratered 6 per cent in 4th qtr/ 2008 and 1st qtr 2009, all under Bush's watch. At that point we were at the point of a depression. It took some unpleasant heavy lifting to avert the crisis but as we cll all see fixing years of neglect in a few months is not possible. Imagine getting a car from the older brother who never maintained it and you drive it one block and it breaks down from several failures. Who really is at fault for the crappy state of the car? It has got to be big brother. The republicans are turing blue huffing and puffing about the current economic state but fail to mention that the seeds of our problems began under the prior administration. And please do not mention Franks or Dodd because the Republicans controlled Congressional committees from 1994 onward and Dems had no chance of writing or influencing legislation if the Republicans felt otherwise.
How is it possible to cheat a slot machine? They no longer accept coins, and the payout is only in those bar-coded vouchers. Or are the casino computers running on Microsoft Vista? lol
people are watching too many george clooney movies instead of keeping their eye on the ball. if someone is successful at duping the casinos at their own game more power to them; those people who keep their greed under control have a better chance of walking away scot free in any case.
manfromuncle : The way the casino's get away with cheating on the slots is a GTB sanctioned system of which all the Video Poker and some slot machines are tied into one main frame computer system which allows them to change the payout schedule odds on their machines based on how busy the casino is. This should be illegal. But the casino's lined the pockets of the GTB with bribe $ to approve this practice. Believe me buddy their ain't no G left in the word Gamble...
Hey environprotector what does "GTB" stand for... I Never heard of the GTB. Do you know how gaming is regulated in Nevada? Just wondering. By the way the main frame computer thing is called "Server Based Gaming". You may want to do just a tad more research.
Forget Las Vegas; play at the smaller casinos in the other towns in Nevada, or go to an Indian Casino where this type of thing doesn't occur as often.
The Las Vegas casinos have been ripping people off for 20 years at least; once in a while, they find someone smarter than they are.
lvcomments : Thanks for correcting me GTB stands for Gaming Control Board, or in Nevada known as the GRC Gaming Regulatory Commision or whatever, and thanks also for reminding me of the name of the system "Server Based Gaming" or better referred to as " Server for customer Rip Off ". As I said above there aint no gambling left here, its just fleece the customer.
Gamblers = LOSERS! How anyone, especially broke people or people with kids can gamble is beyond me. Just goes to show you the power of addiction and the lack of morals that is the core reason the US has become ripe for destruction.
"But if nobody gambles, oh Prophet, then LV will become a ghost town". Well, maybe. There will still be a ton of very nice homes that the Prophet would like to buy for pennies on the dollar however, maybe rent them out to my future followers. (just kidding) Point is, I could give a damn if all casino's went broke tomorrow and closed! Legalized robbery has never pleased God, and it never will.
environprotector - It's called "Gaming", not gambling for a reason, it's a business to make a profit (when done correctly) and to provide tax revenues for the state.
GCB is the acronym for the gaming control board. In Nevada there is the Nevada Gaming Commission and the State Gaming Control Board. To formulate policy for the state there is the Gaming Policy Committee. The Gaming Control Board oversees the day to day activities of a gaming licensee.
You mentioned bribes paid to the "GTB". Do you have proof of the bribes? I would like to see the articles, it would be good reading.
You may want to read a little more on how Server Based Gaming is regulated in Nevada. This link is a good start. http://www.gaming.nv.gov/documents/pdf/a...
When you get a chance you may want to visit the website and read up on how gaming is regulated in the state. http://gaming.nv.gov/index.htm Take the time to read the minutes of the meetings of the NGC and GCB, pretty dry material, but it may enlighten you a bit.
lvcomments : are you suggesting that a "gaming" player doesn't deserve a fair bet in the casino? and thank you for the links. I will read up on them..
Not my suggestion at all... I just wanted to put it out there that this is a business. Myself if I operated a casino in the state I would try to balance a fair shake for the customers and hopefully with proper marketing and business plan, make money on volume and loyalty.
The major casinos are over extended on credit and have high overhead. Most of their business in the past was done on the backs of people with expendable money and easy credit. The credit side dried up. The casinos still have high overhead built in to their business models, guest counts are down and the guests are also spending less. That means companies have to attempt to increase revenue streams, by cutting back on service (employees) and tightening their games. Pretty ugly state that many of the strip casinos are in. 6-5 BJ is not the answer, makes a casino look tight and cheap. Slots they are probably set back to where before dollars became big in the late 1970's. I would guess are in the high 80's to low 90's (without looking at the stats). Slots in the 1960's and early 1970's were pretty tight on the strip - between 70-85% payback.
The question is what can you do to increase volume and get customers through your doors? Is it a high end model, model that caters to the middle class, or is it a model that caters to the lower class? Can you balance a model that caters to the high class, with middle class attractions? Whoever figures that one out for the strip will be the next king of the strip.
On to my rant on slots...
What a lot of people don't understand is that you can still lose plenty on a slot machine set at 99%. Over the cycle of the RNG (Random Number Generator), a person playing one machine for 2 hours is just a small time frame compared to a full cycle of the RNG. Also most people don't know that all they are doing is choosing a random number when they hit the spin button that corresponds with winning or losing. The reels (video or actual) are just smoke and mirrors to make the game fun.
I'm done rambling for now....
The RNG in all slots is fine with me as long as it stays Random! This server based gaming business makes me VERY suspicious about how the machines are being manipulated..
My concerns would not be cheating by casinos, my concern is a change in the payback percentage on the same game type. Which I feel would be less than honest. I would like to see how that is addressed by the various state gaming commissions.
But, it was alright for Harrah's Entertainment Inc. to perform illegal remodels on their hotel rooms, which left the rooms as "public fire safety traps!" Every room that Harrah's touched was compromised, and to add insult to injury construction workers, hotel employees and Guests were exposed to asbestos during the course of their illegal remodels. Where I ask is Mr."in the casino pockets" Randall Sayre? He opened his mouth when Harrah's was initially exposed for their wrongdoing saying that if...if it were found to be a willful act the Gaming Control Board would consider taking appropriate action...Mr. Sayre what part of willful do you not understand? You are yet another gutless public official in Nevada unwilling to do your job protecting the people of this state & our visitors. You are part of the problem, certainly not the solution!
You chase down card counters, which is not illegal, but when the President of Caesars Palace was being taken care of by the owners of PURE nightclub, remember the "suit" money seen being given to him by staff at the club - you did nothing. You fined the owner of the Imperial Palace for his not in good taste "Hitler" themed party, which had no chance of harming anyone physically, but if any of Harrah's Hotels had been engulfed in a fire people would have died, and Harrah's would have been totally responsible for their deaths!
We the people of Nevada need to get rid of puppets like you & the rest of your Board Members, Senator Harry Reid, Commissioner Rory Reid, Commissioner Tom Collins, Nevada Contractors Board Investigator George Lyford & for that matter the rest of the Contractors Board, Director of Development Services Ron Lynn, Fire Chief Steven Smith, Deputy Fire Chief Girard Page, DA David Roger, Governor Gibbons, Sig Rogich, Nevada Medical Board, Nevada OSHA, the Nevada Convention & Visitors Authority, Nevada Division of Environmental Protection, Judge Jackie Glass, and the list goes on & on.