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FleaStiff

I've had Floor Men automatically hand me a golf-pencil and a chart when I buy-in at a Baccarat or MiniBacc table. It is the most absurd thing ever to waste time and effort creating charts.

Streaks in Baccarat? Sure. Just look at the photograph that accompanies your article. One of the lovely young ladies sitting there has very attractive streaks in her hair. No other streaks are at all relevant.

It may have been a misunderstanding as to "once the card leaves the shoe" versus "once the card is exposed to view". I don't know. It seems the player felt he was in the right and was walking away rather than fleeing. I'd like to see retraining for all personnel involved. Laid off employees and budget cuts may have made inroads into casino operations that are best addressed by retraining rather than by harsh fines. Not all dealers are native speakers of English and the entire event may have been the dealer's fault.

Utterly absurd to think an honorable businessman would want to attract people who had such problems. Drawing fine distinctions about entertainment rather than gambling is not going to cut it. You do not invite an alcoholic near a bar, you do not invite young children near an abandoned refrigerator, you not lead a horse near a gopher hole or cliff edge.

Signage, layout and sounds of gambling are a lure even if one goes to the casino's swimming pool or jazz lounge. It is not proper to market to someone with a known problem. Not ever. If a casino owner can't make money from those who gamble for entertainment he should get out of the business rather than try to lure those who are desperate.

Its good to have the nimbleness that results from there being no committees and its certainly good to have an independent when other players in town form an oligarchy, but this puff piece creates a lingering impression of some major change having taken place and that is simply not true.

Don't get me wrong. I think that casinos should indeed be more generous and that most casinos are acting towards their customers today as if there were no recession.

The actions taken by Mr. Gaughan were quite correct, but they are insufficient and clearly do not indicate any fundamental changes that have taken place. It seems to me that the chip changes were but a technically necessary precursor to the writing of the deceptive article.