Casino Thievery

Funny stories submitted by my buddy KB:

Q:

With so much money and chips laying around, I figure there must be stories of employees trying to steal from casinos, but my boyfriend says there's too much surveillance for anyone to even try an "inside job." Who's right?

A:

You are.

For this answer, we turned to a friend of ours, a stealth casino manager we'll call Arnie Rothstein (to protect his identity). We asked him to share with us -- and you -- a few of the "weirdest, cleverest, biggest, smallest, funniest, stupidest, and saddest episodes of casino-employee theft" that he's encountered in his long experience in the casino business.

Here they are.

My Friends Were Worried about Me
And that's why he's doing time. A cage employee took racks of casino checks [gaming chips] in excess of a million dollars. The employee did so by removing the racks that were the farthest back on the lowest part of their storage shelf over a period of time. The cage employees failed to notice the missing checks and simply assumed that the casino's entire chip inventory was present an accounted for. Thus, they just entered them as a matter of course in on the shift-assumption tally sheet. This went on for months.

The guilty employee slowly cycled a good portion of the stolen chips back to the casino, using agents and friends to get the cash. Finally, he just disappeared, leaving town for the Bahamas.

After several months, a group of his friends became worried about him and filed a missing-persons report. Because he was a casino cage employee, the story went out over the wires. It was just his luck that, while drinking a beer at a beach bar, he saw his photo on television. He didn't hear the story (the volume was turned down), so he assumed that the feds were on to him. He then went directly to the authorities and turned himself in.

The Bahamians didn't quite understand him, so he wrote out a full confession, which was quickly faxed to the Missing Persons Bureau. Needless to say the Bureau was taken aback by the confession to a major crime from an individual who was either dead or gone.

The employee was arrested, tried, convicted, and sentenced to 20 plus full restitution. He turned on everyone who helped him and they too were sentenced to lengthy sentences.

Go On, Take the Money and Run
But use a change cart; it's easier that way.

This crime took place on opening night in a Midwest casino about seven years ago, only a couple of years after the state passed legislation allowing for Nevada-style gambling. Table floats bulging, slot hoppers were overflowing, and the change carts were full. Everyone was excited and anticipating a hard and busy opening night. Everyone, that is, except for a couple of change people.

It seems that these two young girls had filled their change carts with about $80,000-plus, with the intention of pushing them right out the casino door into a waiting vehicle. The girls and their change carts weren't discovered missing for two days.

It also turned out that the thieves' was gaming permit cards hadn't been approved, due to the Control Board being overloaded with permit requests, and that both girls had applied with fake Social Security numbers and altered photographs (wigs, added moles, and exaggerated weight). They were never caught.

I'll Take that Lamp and Matching Headboard -- Aw Hell, I'll Take It All!
This one took place at a northern Nevada casino about five years ago.

One Friday night, a housekeeper was dispatched to clean one of the finer suites on the eve of the arrival of a high roller. The previous guests of the suite had requested and received a late check-out time. The hotel manager had it timed down to the minute. The housekeeper had about an hour to make up the room.

The next morning, another maid reported that the room was empty and she meant empty! Everything -- from the TV to the bed -- was missing. The hotel manager was completely flummoxed. How could a room that was occupied overnight by a guy who expected to be treated like royalty be completely devoid of furniture without a peep from the high roller?

It turns out that the first maid, with two accomplices dressed in casino maintenance uniforms, emptied the room of all the furniture, TV, coffeemaker, towels, soap, sheets, etc. Meanwhile, down at the hotel desk, the reservations clerk gave the high roller the wrong room number and key. The gambler liked the room, so he decided to just stay there and never said a word. The theft wasn't discovered till a day-shift housekeeper went into the empty suite to make up the high-roller's bed.

The maid was later caught and deported. The TV was located at a local pawn shop. The bed frame mattress and other furniture were never recovered.

Fire Me for Theft? OK! I'll Just Rob You!
This weirdness happened about 10 years ago in a southern Nevada casino. A floor supervisor was caught stealing black chips from a roulette wheel. He was fired. A week later, he returned to the casino, packing a .44 magnum Smith & Wesson handgun, and robbed the same roulette wheel of its chips. He filled a medium-sized trash bag with the chips, then ran toward the door. Unfortunately, two things happened. One, the bag got caught on something and ripped open, spilling chips all over the place. He managed to make it outside with the mostly empty trash bag, only to face down a skinny bike-riding security guard.

At that point, probably figuring that, the Dirty Harry cannon notwithstanding, he was as good as busted, he surrendered to the guy in the bike helmet. The robber got 18 years and is still doing time. Believe it or not, the roulette dealer he held up at gunpoint is his pen pal.

25 Cents, 50 Cents, 75 Cents, My Career
Think no one in his or her right mind would give up a 10-plus-year gaming career for less than a dollar? Think again. This next incident happened in a central Nevada casino about seven years ago.

So, you work for the slot department and you're advised that any money in the tray belongs to the machine (i.e., the casino) and it must be returned to said machine. Conversely, any money found belonging to a customer must be turned in and may be claimed after 30 days. These are the rules and, as an employee, you've signed an agreement swearing to abide by this rule.

Now, say you're making $18 an hour with benefits and you find change in a slot tray that adds up to less than $1. Again, company policy requires that you turn it in. Taking both values into consideration, what do you do? I'm no Monty Hall, but I think the choice is obvious.

But not for this particular slot employee. First, she looked around for several minutes. Then, thinking she was shielded from the eye in the sky, God, and the whole world, she dumped the cup containing 78 cents into her pocket. When confronted with her offense, she was generously offered a deal: Fess up and be forgiven, or lie and take your lumps. She lied. Then, when shown the surveillance tape (three different angles in color), she continued to deny it was her image on the tape. After the surveillance director proved, during her employee hearing, that the image on the tape was, without a doubt, her, she finally admitted it.

By then it was too late. She was a single mother with two young children. She not only stole, but lied, all for an ill-gotten 78 cents. She applied for unemployment, but was denied (by the state).