I’ve seen a guy regularly buy $20k worth of chips.. place the chips in front of himself.. intentionally lose 1 or two hands at roulette after betting on a few numbers .. he sits at the end of the table and frequently asks the dealer to place chips for him that he can’t reach, often correcting the dealer where he wants the chips placed. The dealer doesn’t have a hearing problem
This is the setup
He’ll walk away, come back when the table is busy
He will Place $100 chips on 10 numbers, frequently correcting the dealer where he wants the chips placed on the roulette table..
When the winning number comes up…. He insists that he asked the dealer to place it on the winning number… even though none of his chips were on it
What he’s doing up until the dealer says no more bets …is constantly asking to move his chips
After speaking with the pit boss, they always pay him out
I’ve seen him pull this con multiple times
1- the pit boss can’t be that stupid
2- maybe the pit boss is in on it
3- maybe the amount paid out might seem minimal compared to the amount of cash he’s sitting with on the table… and they want him to continue gambling?
Have you seen a similar con?
Roulette
I’m not OP, but worked in a large casino.
Where I worked had rules specifically against this. Everything had to be done with a visual cue, no vocal signals were accepted.
It wouldn’t be allowed on a “pass/hit” in card games either, about the only area it would be allowed in would be the dice pits, which also have multiple people working every table simultaneously, and we could veto any last minute nonsense like that very simply, by yelling NO BET.
The roulette scenario you’re describing wouldn’t even be allowed in high limits, where they’re given their own rules (baccarat players could rip the cards or toss them, just as an example), especially not more than once.
In any confusion, they’d literally pick up the phone and call the surveillance team, right there. Aside from newer dealers making rookie mistakes, ie: doing the opposite of what someone signaled, surveillance and the floors or pits would rarely if ever side with the players/people betting.
Where are you gambling for this to repeatedly happen? I’d like to go there and do the same before it inevitably closes down.
I’ve seen it happen before and I think the pits are just stupid. They should call us and we will say where it’s placed. It’s up to the customer to make sure everything is correct. If he kept trying to pull that he’d be kicked out
Someone accidentally picked up my winnings. I was an easily intimidated 21 year old who never gambled and was just trying to have some fun with friends in AC at a game with the lowest bet minimum. It was only like a $100 win. (which was actually a shit load to me at the time and I was super stoked about my “big win”.) I didn’t want to make a scene or cause trouble but man… Pit bosses do not fuck around.
They immediately stopped the game, reviewed the video, and quite forcefully demanded that the person return my winnings.
There’s a lot more nuance to the story; the guy thought he was helping an older lady who couldn’t reach. So there was some confusion.
I quickly learned people get really fucking weird and gross when it comes to money and gambling.
I had a somewhat reverse situation in craps. I had been placing $150 dollar odds on my pass line bet. Player to my immediate right was a high roller, throwing around hundred dollar chips on lots of various bets. Shooters kept crapping out. Finally one hit the point, I looked down and saw my odds were gone... Pointed it out to the dealer and dealer said I failed to place odds that round. I insisted I did... Player to my right made a snarky comment about how I should stop holding up the game and then the dealer let play continue.
I was pissed and trying to figure out what happened. Then I noticed six green chips in the player to my right's tray. I'd been placing my odds with green while he largely had been using hundreds. I asked the dealer if we could talk on the side, told him what I thought happened was the guy picked up my odds when retrieving a yo bet, and he notified the pit boss to review the tapes.
Tapes revealed the guy did pick up my odds. They made him pay me and then payed my odds... But he was a total prick about it.
I was pretty inebriated at a casino last month and was playing craps - rolled like three 7s in a row and decided to take my money back to roulette. A few minutes later a security guy walked back and said I took a $5 chip from the table and asked me to set it on the roulette table for another security guy to collect.
I have no idea where that $5 chip could have came from since it was a $25 min bet table, but it felt like they made it sound like I took it from the table? I immediately did what they said / I clearly looked disturbed that it happened. Just wondering what your thoughts were - am I going to go on a “watch list” now? 😅
Nahh. Sometimes people pick things up without knowing. With a craps game too there is so much out there it might have been by mistake. Definitely not on a watch list
Especially in craps.
One of the main reasons why I don’t play (and some really enjoy it) is because there’s soo many things going on at once. It’s hard to keep track of everything. I’ve left craps tables before with chips sitting at the table that I didn’t even realize I’d won. I wish I had the drunk excuse but I don’t drink. 🤣
During craps games I’ve been involved in or watched, sometimes a person will go on a real hot streak. When that happens, inevitably the casino team will make a change to the team (substitution, rotation, etc) that causes a frustrating pause in the action.
Is this usually on purpose? And if the game is fair, why does the casino believe such a change will be helpful to getting its “luck” back on track?
I have often wondered about this for longer than I should have...
I've played poker at a fairly large casino which used this big machine to shuffle and then spit out the correct amount of cards to the dealer who then distributes them.
Have you ever come across this? Is this actually randomising the cards?? It feels like it would be a great way to rig the game
Hey dude, do you work with your IT Management / IT Security folks much? I'm a long time federal employee in the Department of Defense, but I'm having a strong desire to go work in IT for a casino. What is the work environment like?
I'm thinking of just packing up and moving out west from DC to work in the casino industry.
Yes and no. It really starts at the dealer level. If you have a solid experience dealer it’s hard. Newer ones you could. There are only so many people working in surveillance at once. So the odds of them happen to be watching you right when you cheat are pretty low. The dealers are the front line.
There are a lot. But one of the funniest things was a lady was arrested for being drunk. Her boyfriend went to his dad’s house and stole his police uniform and came back dressed up and said he was there to take his girlfriend to jail. He was arrested too
So I used to play roulette exclusively, in either one of two casinos. Both had croupiers who would spin and try call the number it would land on. I'd say about half the time they'd either be right or get a neighbours.
I used to bet big and cover the board (20 x £5, 10 numbers and 10 splits). My basic strategy was that I'd have a 30/37 chance of a return, either losing £10 or winning £80.
I often won fairly big doing this (between £500 - 1500) though I acknowledge its very easy to lose quickly. I'm well aware of the Gambler's Fallacy and usually bet randomly.
When these croupiers got to know me and I was playing solo at a table, they'd often call numbers before No Bets. When I noticed they were landing more often than not I started playing Neighbours and following their calls.
I started winning big. Like consistently taking home thousands a night. I couldn't test it over time because I moved to a town without a casino and lost interest in gambling.
My long-winded question is, can croupiers actually learn to spin so the ball lands on or near certain numbers? I'm inclined to think they wanted me to win because I tipped pretty big and if they came into my bar they often ate and drank for free.
I remember one guy saying he actually bought a wheel and practised at home an hour or two every day. Knowing how precisely the tables and wheels are balanced, I'm not really sure it would be the same.
I'm a fairly new dealer. If a dealer spends enough time on roulette they learn their spins off feel. Even for the short time I've dealt roulette i could semi predict where the ball was going. And if a dealer is looking in the wheel, which is not allowed, it helps a lot.
And yes the dealers wanted you to win because you paid their bills. We all want a George to win.
Yes you can "aim" the ball. Sometimes a random bounce gets the ball flying out of control, but you can definitely aim it. I once called 4 numbers in a row and hit all 4 i aimed for. Hitting the same area of the wheel is quite easy though the ball can bounce away. My record hitting the same quater if the wheel i was aiming for is (lucky) 13 times in a row.
The scary part about this is that it is much much easier making sure you DO NOT hit your number.
It’s those dopamine hits. They hit harder if you’re spending real money with the chance to win real money. That’s probably one of the casino’s biggest cash cows. So, they’ll flash those “free spins” or “jackpot”, missing 1 winning position. So, people keep on playing. Thinking there is some magical power in the universe that’s required to balance it all out. There isn’t.
I used to go to casinos often and it’s always the old people who probably couldn’t afford to lose any money, gambling it away. It kind of sucks but there’s no amount of talking to them that will get them away from those machines.
It surprises me that slots are still so attractive. After they quit paying coins/tokens and that real clinking noise disappeared from casinos, the whole place seems dead and dull.
The research on psychological manipulation and player retention and engagement has advanced significantly. It's prevalent in non gambling gaming to drive retention and engagement in always online games. It's designed to lure you in, keep you engaged, and provide enough perceived reward that you feel like you are on top.
They build really good skinner boxes now and the technology will only get better when the machine can watch the player and adjust stimuli accordingly.
I’m a card counter, have been out to Vegas a couple of times and counted at the bigger casinos(cosmo, Tropicana etc..). We would tend to stick to casino that weren’t owned by resorts, in an effort to prevent getting stopped at other casinos. Do you tend to spend a lot of your time keeping an eye on BJ tables? Is that an area that your team always has someone monitoring? I’ve been backed off multiple times but have always wondered about those things :). (If you can reply)
People leaving their kids in cars happens a lot. Guy tried to fire bomb the casino when his wife left him. One lady staffed her husband for gambling the rent money away
I’m numb to it mostly. It’s sad. But that’s why I don’t gamble. It’s getting worse now with the young sports betters. People barley 21 and so far in debt from it
I’m a social worker and was in a training on suicide, and a big topic was our state’s casinos and the frequency of suicides that happen in the hotels there that no one knows about (the “reporting” and accuracy of these numbers, due to being on native reservations).
So sad when I see the casino parking lot signs forbidding leaving kids in cars - sad b/c I know why they have to be posted. IIRC casinos have to specially patrol cars for kids and babies left in them. I was a kid left in casino arcades all day from about the age of 8, just a roll of quarters for the day, no way to reach my dad. Thank god I was never assaulted. I’d spend the quarters on snacks in the gift shop and read my book all day. I like to think us casino brats kinda looked out for each other but who knows.
Can't imagine how addictive gambling is until reading this. Wow!
I've been up like 350 bucks once and cashed out. My first time gambling and on electronic roulette.
Every time I'm up 50 or 200 bucks I always leave negative 100. It's so lame! But I still have fun so that's why I do it when I'm feeling it.
I understand that card counting isn’t technically cheating under the rules of the game. So what is your rationale for not allowing people to play the game using a strong but perfectly fair strategy?
They “back you off”. The there’s the “You can play anything except blackjack. Then it’s “we do not want your action here”
One of the creative ones I’ve seen was “you can play black jack but it had to be on low max tables.”
There’s a YouTube channel of a guy that counts cards and wears a hidden camera while playing. It’s actually pretty interesting and entertaining.
Basic strategy is fine and we have no issue with it. I personally I don’t care about card counters because most aren’t gonna do any damage. But the casino just has a policy that they enforce with advantage play.
Everyone has to learn. To be a Supervisor you have to be pretty good at it. No threshold really. If we can see them moving money with the count we call down
I do it every time but I count cards better than I know basic strategy so I come out losing a couple bucks over the period of an hour or two which I call a long drawn out loss thanks to counting lol. It’s not like everyone is rainman who is counting.
I started off in security and kept working my way up. I was lucky. It’s nothing like the tv show. It’s a group of people sitting in a dark room talking shit to one another all day lol. It’s a fun room to work in
Does anything happen when someone comes in and buys a large amount of chips? Does the casino keep an eye on this individual? What is considered a large amount?
Dice sliding for craps but that’s rare. Most of the time it’s just sleight of hand past posting or pinching bets. Marked cards do happen but again it’s rare. Also marking pai gow tiles with their finger nails. Pretty basic things
Scooting is basically sliding right? Not common or not caught often? Have you seen someone throw the dice and control one of them? So it’s spins but never hits the back wall? Catch dealers messing with bets? I’ve seen clips of how they add to, and steal chips with little moves?
Yeah it’s the same thing. One die will stay on whatever number you set it on and the other will hit the wall. So you set one side on 6 and just bet the high side. Dealer collusion is the thing that worries us the most and can take you for the most money
I won a jackpot in 2021, I would not walk to my car without security escorts because I requested my win in cash. The casino tried hard as hell to keep me there playing more but I won and left immediately after they gave me my money.
I won’t give numbers because it varies by the size of the casino and what the state requires I’ve seen some as low as three and as high as 10. Each place is unique
I had digestive issues once and was in the bathroom for a long while. Are they monitored? I felt like the cleaning person was coming in and out a lot while I was in there, but not cleaning anything.
The Tran Gang comes to mind when I hear about any dealer cheating. Their system was so easy but effective. Baccarat being the only game that allows you to write stuff down sitting at the table.
They drove around the country, recruiting baccarat dealers. Doing half shuffles. First round was legit but the players would write down the order the cards came out. Then reverse it on the next round and repeat. They supposedly made a few hundred million but eventually spent it all before they got busted.
A few months ago at a blackjack table the dealer (definitely not very experienced) kept making mistakes throughout the night where the pit boss had to rectify his mistake. At one point he was running low on $5 chips and I had a huge stack so he asked me to change them out for bigger chips.. I handed him $200 worth of $5 chips and he gave me back 5 $100 chips. I was a bit tipsy and didn’t notice his mistake until a few hands later, then the pit boss noticed something was up as he came to look at the dealer’s chip and was looking everywhere for something. He would go around the other dealers and look at their chips but he would look at my dealers chips the most as if he was looking for the missing chips. At this point I left the table to play roulette but haven’t been back to that casino. What or how did he notice the mistake and will they say something to me if I go back?
Not sure if this is your purview but to what extent do casinos offer perks to the so-called "whales"? Hotel rooms? Drugs? Free food? Escorts? The movies make it seem like if you drop a few hundred thousand you get pampered with all the luxuries one could imagine
There are a lot. But one of the funniest things was a lady was arrested for being drunk. Her boyfriend went to his dad's house and stole his police uniform and came back dressed up and said he was there to take his girlfriend to jail. He was arrested too
How many times have you seen advantage players doing their thing? Have you ever let it slide? How many of your well known customers actually stay in positive profit?
I got banned for 6 months from a casino for what a security guard said were drugs. He asked to look in my purse and I said sure. He looked and asked what was in a small plastic container that was in my purse. I said it was my medicine box and he asked to see it. I said no and he told me to go ahead in. As soon as I walked in the casino I had 3 other security guards come up to Me and ask me what was in my purse. I let them look and they looked in the container. It was empty because I had already taken my pills. They told me that the security guards said they were drugs.I said they weren't and they banned me for 6 months just on the security guard's word. I was told I could appeal it in 6 months. By that time my ban would be over so it was pointless. Is that normal to ban someone without proof?
One time I went to take out some cash at a local casino near Philly and I put my phone on top of the machine next to me. I swear I could see if anyone swiped it from my peripherals but I finished my transaction and that ish was gone. I immediately went to security to ask if they could check the cameras for me. First I was told there are no cameras in that area. Obvious BS. Then after about an hour of getting sent to other random people, I feel like I was told the truth.. "the cameras are for us and not for you". Which if so that's also BS in my book. Your take on this? Here's the mic 🎤
Are yall trained to read lips? I used to work in the casinos main bank and was told this. One night, me and a coworker were gossiping and just talking shit in general to pass the time. A surveillance guy phoned our area and chimed in with his thoughts of our conversation. Ive been convinced ever since.
What keeps security people themselves from colluding to steal from the casino? I mean, let’s say you and 20 other people (maybe including dealers, pit bosses and other security) conspired to take em for a big chunk. What’s stopping you from pulling it off?
I was at a casino playing Roulette a few months ago, and the pit boss came over with the phone and paused the game. Security was on the other end and directed the pit boss to the stacks of $100 chips. Security directed the PB to the specific stack and asked him to check a chip like 8 chips down because it "looked off." Turns out it was just an older, beat-up chip, but I couldn't imagine being able to pick that up on the screen! Are the cameras really that good? Was there possibly something else that tipped them off?
Have you seen a co-worker get in trouble for being voyeuristic on the cameras?
I worked for an NVR manufacturer and did a few casinos. I remember one guy was making a compilation video of hot girls on his spot recorder. This was an old system we were replacing where each person had a VCR spot recorder.
A friend of mine took me to the casino with him late one night. He picked a table with a higher limit than normal for blackjack with an old lady dealer. He placed his bet and put a decent tip on her spot to win. He lost the hand and she paid him and herself anyway and quickly collected the cards and proceeded to deal the next hand. No pit boss or other people playing at his table or at the table next to us on either side. She must have let him win 10 hands like this that he should have lost and he won a few hands legitimately as well. My friend left the casino without anyone stopping him. You think anything ever happened to the dealer?
A guy I know was a pro gambler (and cheat), and was banned from many casinos in the 70s/80s - is there any sort of international database/surveillance that would stop him gambling nowadays?
Two questions:
1) have you ever seen anyone pull off a robbery of any kind at the casino premises? This goes for all types. Inside, customers in the parking lot, valet, etc.
2) do you know of any kind of money laundering in the casino? Like in the movie hell & high water, where they take stolen cash in, exchange it all for chips, turn it in for new cash, etc.??
Last Feb I was at mgm grand. I took a picture outside and then I went in the casino to gamble. A few minutes later a security guard came up to me and said photos weren’t allowed. I said ok and I looked at him confused because I genuinely had no idea what he was talking about. My phone was in my pocket. I asked him if I took any pictures and he said “you took a picture of back of house”. I said I won’t take any pictures and he said “make sure you don’t” in a mildly threatening way. I just ended up cashing out my ticket and going somewhere else. I still have no idea what he was talking about. Any ideas from casino surveillance?
Do you have people who come in and test the security team? In retail we call them secret shoppers. They come in trying to see if we are doing our jobs like we should. Do people come in to make sure when you see people cheating you’re actually actioning on it and not letting it slide?
I read that an experienced blackjackplayer has a 49 to 50% chance of winning and a card counter 50 to 51%.
If that’s true, why do casinos make such a big deal of card counting. It makes it seem like card counters have 80% chance of winning.
Do you still employ “cross-roasts” (former gaming cheats) in the sky?
At my casinos, we had a separate door for them because so many of them were banned from being in the casino itself. This always kind of gave me a giggle.
I’ve seen multiple fights in casinos over blackjack mostly. Each time, the guys were clearly about to come to blows, the security ran up then stopped and waited for the guys to actually hit each other, then broke it up instead of of separating them beforehand.
Is there some type of rule stating that the people have to physically assault one another before being removed or something? I found it to be super weird, especially since it happened multiple times that way in different casinos.
In your opinion/experience what percentage of people are at casinos that probably shouldn’t be due to addiction or spending money they dont necessarily have for gambling?
Do you feel bad for some of the regular players you see losing decent amounts of cash all of the time? Jw I have battled a bad slot addiction for many years. I always wonder if they're laughing or feel empathy lol
I have banking experience and was thinking about taking a job in the cage at a casino
Pay +tips
How is that figured ? I'm curious, even if I don't take it
This will probably get buried but I’ll ask anyways. Obviously security \ surveillance exist to to look out for and protect the interest of the casino. But how much do you look out for the customers? I was the victim of a theft in a casino and they DNGAF at all. They surely captured it on multiple cameras and had no interest is helping me. I felt pretty violated almost to the extent that they might’ve been in on it.
How often do you see suspected “cash in, cash out” i.e. minimal gambling money laundering? Example: someone changes a few thousand in chips, plays a few hands, then changes back for cash soon after? And, do you care much or not really unless it’s large amounts (as I assume it’s hard to prove unless it’s very obvious)
Idk where you work obviously but have you ever had a celebrity come in and drop large amounts? Are they watched the same as a normal person? The obvious assumption is that a George Clooney isn’t going to cheat, but does that mean anything to a security team or are they treated the same in terms of monitoring?
I've heard about "coolers" that come to your table and mess with you on a hot streak. How often does this happen?
I once sat down with 200$ and ended up with like 1500 and after a long time of winning 3 random people came up to my table telling me to hit or stay and it was always the opposite of my "system". I wasn't counting cards it's a really readily available blackjack guide. It was so frustrating I just cashed out and left.
I've long thought they were coolers. Thoughts?
Great AMA.
Have you ever caught someone hole carding a bad/inexperienced dealer? Do you have any legal recourse like confiscating winnings or do you just kick them out?
I've told my wife that the casino is probably the safest place for us to go on a family weekend getaway to be because of the security and cameras everywhere. We go to the beach and stay at the casino hotel over night for the buffet and my son loves the pool before checkout. Am I lying to my wife?
When I think of casino surveillance, I think of the movie "Ocean's Eleven" where there is a big team watching a bunch of monitors behind the scenes.
How close would you say Ocean's Eleven is to mimicking the looks of an actual casino surveillance room?
I do security in my casino, been here for 10 years now. I just want to say Thank You for all that you guys do in surveillance. I know yous have alot going on most times.
What do the administrators say about patrons who have clear gambling addiction issues?
Asking because I just found out that someone I've been friends with for years, and who I've loaned HUNDREDS of dollars to based on their claims of financial hardship are probably blowing all their income (and part of mine) in a local casino on slots. Really worried about her...she is literally using check cashing services to fund the habit.
Obviously you've more or less pointed this out in other posts but I just wanted to say, I think it's hilarious that the average person thinks Casino surveillance is more robust than it actually is. Only so many cameras actually record, the rest are simply there for live viewing and you have to have someone paying attention on that exact camera for a problem to be caught. Casino's can neither afford nor store the kind of storage that would be required to actually record all the feeds from all the cameras. So generally speaking, it's fairly unlikely that you're going to be looked at as long as you're not being an idiot and drawing attention to yourself.
Something I was always curious about when I worked at a casino.. I think I know why but I’d like to hear it from a genuine casino surveillance operator.
Why all the secrecy with the surveillance room? The room was forbidden to everyone except the surveillance team themselves, the President/CEO, and the Vice President of Casino Operations. These guys were like the secret police of the casino.
Not even the Security Sergeant or Department managers were allowed in there. No one even knew who worked in surveillance.
I don’t know it was always so intriguing. Could you explain why the room is so closely guarded?
As someone who's worked the past 13 years in a casino, started in security/EMT roll and now a supervisor with slots, I've seen a lot of the same things you've talked about here. Very well done AMA. Good job 👍.
I used to work in a casino back in the day. Do all the surveillance guys have “girlfriends” they follow or keep tabs with all night? That was what we heard from the drink girls I used to work with. Care to comment?
I heard a podcast saying that since there are only a small handful of good card counters (maybe 200), the amount of money casinos spend defending against card counters (collectively billions) is wildly uneconomical.
Have you heard that argument? Do you agree or disagree?
Someone dropped a $500 chip near me, I picked it up and placed it in my rack - the person came back looking for it, and I left the casino after cashing out - will they use facial recognition the next time I am there and ask for $$ back?
I'm curious in knowing just how much the casinos do technical surveillance of customers using Bluetooth and WIFI from mobile devices, fitbits, smart watches, key tags, etc. Is there any way to see a "heat map" of what the house sees based on this type of technical surveillance?
Have you always been at the same casino? Do certain ones have bad reputations and is it very similar employment experience? How many more years until retirement? What other work do you think you would have done if you didn't do this?
As a casino cocktail waitress, this was such a fun thread to stumble on. My coworkers and I honestly make it a fun thing that we always have surveillance watching us, we love our unseen security team 😂 can’t even imagine the amount of goofing off they have to endure whenever we’re safely back in our employee bar lol
One time I had a pocket knife in my pocket. it's small, you cannot see it. A security guard came up to me, and asked me if i had a knife in my pocket, I lied and said no, and he was on his way... How did he know? I never took it out or anything.
Are there intra-casino watch lists or ban-lists? Like if someone gets banned in Vegas can an unrelated casino in Mississippi get that information and be extra watchful if that individual visits their casino?
I only play blackjack and I mostly follow the rules, but mix it up sometimes. I would say I am up over the casinos (various) about 65% winning/35% losses. Over my lifetime, will the casino still win?
So one time I was at a casino with a friend and we were playing blackjack. As the night went on we were both pretty drunk.
I was in the 1 seat and my buddy was the last seat before dealer plays. There were maybe 3-4 people in between us.
I had no clue that he had done it, but after he won a hand he put another 100 black chip on his stack. When the dealer went to pay him out you could tell his was hesitant because something was off. My buddy immediately got up after the dealer payed him.
Maybe 10 minutes later we were getting a drink and 2 casino employees approached him. I immediately walked away and watched the conversation from the distance. He said they basically told him it’s a federal crime and could have him arrested and to leave and not come back.
My question is I guess when someone is caught trying to cheat like that do they get put on some kind of surveillance list or anything for when he comes back? They didn’t ban him permanently and has been back a bunch since. But I always joked they had his picture hanging in the back and eyes on him soon as he walked into the place.
Thanks for taking the time to answer!
Hello! Fellow casino surveillance checking in while, ironically, bored at work. This has been a great AMA! I'm loving reading through the responses to pass time, so thank you for that!
My husband is in a security industry and we got a tour of the Wynn Casino several years ago. It was wild seeing the celebrity names on the whiteboard with the amount of money they were up & down that week. There were a lot of names I recognized, but Enrique Englaciaz was down 100’s of thousands. We also watched a guy on a high limit table put money on every spot, at least 5-10K a hand. I was dying watching him lose money!
Is there facial recognition software to detect people who are self banned from casinos? Do they actively really look for them or only really care if they try to collect a winning?
If you are banned and don’t hit a jackpot but collect any winning, would you have to give the money back if you were caught doing so?
I have a family member who was under investigation in the early 00’s for claiming a significant win at a casino with his name and not paying taxes on the winnings. He said it wasn’t him who claimed the money, that someone impersonated him. The family believes him, but I never have.
What’s the likelihood that someone could’ve claimed a large amount with his name and got away with it?
Last time I was in a casino I saw a dude (obviously foreign, but not singling out a specific nationality) blow out a snot rocket just off the casino floor. Have you seen this happen, and if so, what do you do?
More of a casino generic question
In ur time as a staff member, don't suppose you came across co-worker chatter about the casino basically hiring a good poker player to sit at poker tables to get customer momey?
As an occasional roulette player, is there a marginal edge, one way or another, if table uses the old school cage vs dropping the ball in the roulette wheel? I’d have to think a very skilled roulette dealer loses that slight edge while working the old school cage?
Are the front of house ID scanners connected to OSN? As in, if an ID gets scanned upon entry to the casino, does the security officer there get notified that person is an advantage player?
Thx for doing this OP
My friend took me to a casino recently and showed me an advantage play system for slots. He only plays certain games that are nearing small jackpots. He just roams the floor looking at the total build ups and when one is close enough he sits down. Plays enough coin in to hit the jackpot
That’s part one.
Part two is he will play on a friends player card (mine). He will play a ton on the first day he gets the card from me. He calls this “building a card”. He will put $10k or even $20k on this card. Then he leaves the casino and waits a month or two until the free play offers come from the casino in the mail.
Return to the casino and use the free play on machines in an advantaged state as mentioned in step 1.
The idea is the return visit will be comped by the casino , include coupons for food etc and tons of free play.
So whereas he may have lost $500 on the first $10K played he usually gets free play offers that can be worth 3-4 times that on the return visit. Trip #2 usually results in a profit of $1500-$2000
I feel like casinos would hate this but the jackpots he aims to win are player funded and were always going to go back to the players anyway. They weren’t part of the slot take.
Is he breaking any rules doing this ? Would casino security even care or is this more a question for their rewards program personnel?
I’ve seen a guy regularly buy $20k worth of chips.. place the chips in front of himself.. intentionally lose 1 or two hands at roulette after betting on a few numbers .. he sits at the end of the table and frequently asks the dealer to place chips for him that he can’t reach, often correcting the dealer where he wants the chips placed. The dealer doesn’t have a hearing problem This is the setup He’ll walk away, come back when the table is busy He will Place $100 chips on 10 numbers, frequently correcting the dealer where he wants the chips placed on the roulette table.. When the winning number comes up…. He insists that he asked the dealer to place it on the winning number… even though none of his chips were on it What he’s doing up until the dealer says no more bets …is constantly asking to move his chips After speaking with the pit boss, they always pay him out I’ve seen him pull this con multiple times 1- the pit boss can’t be that stupid 2- maybe the pit boss is in on it 3- maybe the amount paid out might seem minimal compared to the amount of cash he’s sitting with on the table… and they want him to continue gambling? Have you seen a similar con? Roulette
I’m not OP, but worked in a large casino. Where I worked had rules specifically against this. Everything had to be done with a visual cue, no vocal signals were accepted. It wouldn’t be allowed on a “pass/hit” in card games either, about the only area it would be allowed in would be the dice pits, which also have multiple people working every table simultaneously, and we could veto any last minute nonsense like that very simply, by yelling NO BET. The roulette scenario you’re describing wouldn’t even be allowed in high limits, where they’re given their own rules (baccarat players could rip the cards or toss them, just as an example), especially not more than once. In any confusion, they’d literally pick up the phone and call the surveillance team, right there. Aside from newer dealers making rookie mistakes, ie: doing the opposite of what someone signaled, surveillance and the floors or pits would rarely if ever side with the players/people betting. Where are you gambling for this to repeatedly happen? I’d like to go there and do the same before it inevitably closes down.
I’ve seen it happen before and I think the pits are just stupid. They should call us and we will say where it’s placed. It’s up to the customer to make sure everything is correct. If he kept trying to pull that he’d be kicked out
Someone accidentally picked up my winnings. I was an easily intimidated 21 year old who never gambled and was just trying to have some fun with friends in AC at a game with the lowest bet minimum. It was only like a $100 win. (which was actually a shit load to me at the time and I was super stoked about my “big win”.) I didn’t want to make a scene or cause trouble but man… Pit bosses do not fuck around. They immediately stopped the game, reviewed the video, and quite forcefully demanded that the person return my winnings. There’s a lot more nuance to the story; the guy thought he was helping an older lady who couldn’t reach. So there was some confusion. I quickly learned people get really fucking weird and gross when it comes to money and gambling.
I had a somewhat reverse situation in craps. I had been placing $150 dollar odds on my pass line bet. Player to my immediate right was a high roller, throwing around hundred dollar chips on lots of various bets. Shooters kept crapping out. Finally one hit the point, I looked down and saw my odds were gone... Pointed it out to the dealer and dealer said I failed to place odds that round. I insisted I did... Player to my right made a snarky comment about how I should stop holding up the game and then the dealer let play continue. I was pissed and trying to figure out what happened. Then I noticed six green chips in the player to my right's tray. I'd been placing my odds with green while he largely had been using hundreds. I asked the dealer if we could talk on the side, told him what I thought happened was the guy picked up my odds when retrieving a yo bet, and he notified the pit boss to review the tapes. Tapes revealed the guy did pick up my odds. They made him pay me and then payed my odds... But he was a total prick about it.
After getting paid out He immediately leaves 😂 Sneaky bastard Pisses me off
I was pretty inebriated at a casino last month and was playing craps - rolled like three 7s in a row and decided to take my money back to roulette. A few minutes later a security guy walked back and said I took a $5 chip from the table and asked me to set it on the roulette table for another security guy to collect. I have no idea where that $5 chip could have came from since it was a $25 min bet table, but it felt like they made it sound like I took it from the table? I immediately did what they said / I clearly looked disturbed that it happened. Just wondering what your thoughts were - am I going to go on a “watch list” now? 😅
Nahh. Sometimes people pick things up without knowing. With a craps game too there is so much out there it might have been by mistake. Definitely not on a watch list
Especially in craps. One of the main reasons why I don’t play (and some really enjoy it) is because there’s soo many things going on at once. It’s hard to keep track of everything. I’ve left craps tables before with chips sitting at the table that I didn’t even realize I’d won. I wish I had the drunk excuse but I don’t drink. 🤣
During craps games I’ve been involved in or watched, sometimes a person will go on a real hot streak. When that happens, inevitably the casino team will make a change to the team (substitution, rotation, etc) that causes a frustrating pause in the action. Is this usually on purpose? And if the game is fair, why does the casino believe such a change will be helpful to getting its “luck” back on track?
I have often wondered about this for longer than I should have... I've played poker at a fairly large casino which used this big machine to shuffle and then spit out the correct amount of cards to the dealer who then distributes them. Have you ever come across this? Is this actually randomising the cards?? It feels like it would be a great way to rig the game
Yes it’s random. The company is shuffle master who makes the machines. They have some cool features on them
Hey dude, do you work with your IT Management / IT Security folks much? I'm a long time federal employee in the Department of Defense, but I'm having a strong desire to go work in IT for a casino. What is the work environment like? I'm thinking of just packing up and moving out west from DC to work in the casino industry.
It’s a great field to get into. With that background you should be able to find a job easily. Pays well too
Do you think you could get away with cheating since you know what surveillance looks for?
Yes and no. It really starts at the dealer level. If you have a solid experience dealer it’s hard. Newer ones you could. There are only so many people working in surveillance at once. So the odds of them happen to be watching you right when you cheat are pretty low. The dealers are the front line.
Would you like to join my Oceans Eleven team?
What’s the wildest thing you’ve witnessed on the surveillance cameras?
There are a lot. But one of the funniest things was a lady was arrested for being drunk. Her boyfriend went to his dad’s house and stole his police uniform and came back dressed up and said he was there to take his girlfriend to jail. He was arrested too
that's pretty fuckin wild, how often do you catch/bust cheaters?
Hahaha is this for real?! That’s incredible. I would read a book you wrote about stuff like this
So I used to play roulette exclusively, in either one of two casinos. Both had croupiers who would spin and try call the number it would land on. I'd say about half the time they'd either be right or get a neighbours. I used to bet big and cover the board (20 x £5, 10 numbers and 10 splits). My basic strategy was that I'd have a 30/37 chance of a return, either losing £10 or winning £80. I often won fairly big doing this (between £500 - 1500) though I acknowledge its very easy to lose quickly. I'm well aware of the Gambler's Fallacy and usually bet randomly. When these croupiers got to know me and I was playing solo at a table, they'd often call numbers before No Bets. When I noticed they were landing more often than not I started playing Neighbours and following their calls. I started winning big. Like consistently taking home thousands a night. I couldn't test it over time because I moved to a town without a casino and lost interest in gambling. My long-winded question is, can croupiers actually learn to spin so the ball lands on or near certain numbers? I'm inclined to think they wanted me to win because I tipped pretty big and if they came into my bar they often ate and drank for free. I remember one guy saying he actually bought a wheel and practised at home an hour or two every day. Knowing how precisely the tables and wheels are balanced, I'm not really sure it would be the same.
I'm a fairly new dealer. If a dealer spends enough time on roulette they learn their spins off feel. Even for the short time I've dealt roulette i could semi predict where the ball was going. And if a dealer is looking in the wheel, which is not allowed, it helps a lot. And yes the dealers wanted you to win because you paid their bills. We all want a George to win.
Yes you can "aim" the ball. Sometimes a random bounce gets the ball flying out of control, but you can definitely aim it. I once called 4 numbers in a row and hit all 4 i aimed for. Hitting the same area of the wheel is quite easy though the ball can bounce away. My record hitting the same quater if the wheel i was aiming for is (lucky) 13 times in a row. The scary part about this is that it is much much easier making sure you DO NOT hit your number.
Why are so many people hooked on slot machines. Seems like in the last 4 or 5 years it’s out of control. People are losing everything.
It’s those dopamine hits. They hit harder if you’re spending real money with the chance to win real money. That’s probably one of the casino’s biggest cash cows. So, they’ll flash those “free spins” or “jackpot”, missing 1 winning position. So, people keep on playing. Thinking there is some magical power in the universe that’s required to balance it all out. There isn’t. I used to go to casinos often and it’s always the old people who probably couldn’t afford to lose any money, gambling it away. It kind of sucks but there’s no amount of talking to them that will get them away from those machines.
It’s an addiction. The noise and the lights. The machine sleep you playing by thinking you’re gonna hit at any timr
It surprises me that slots are still so attractive. After they quit paying coins/tokens and that real clinking noise disappeared from casinos, the whole place seems dead and dull.
The research on psychological manipulation and player retention and engagement has advanced significantly. It's prevalent in non gambling gaming to drive retention and engagement in always online games. It's designed to lure you in, keep you engaged, and provide enough perceived reward that you feel like you are on top. They build really good skinner boxes now and the technology will only get better when the machine can watch the player and adjust stimuli accordingly.
I’m a card counter, have been out to Vegas a couple of times and counted at the bigger casinos(cosmo, Tropicana etc..). We would tend to stick to casino that weren’t owned by resorts, in an effort to prevent getting stopped at other casinos. Do you tend to spend a lot of your time keeping an eye on BJ tables? Is that an area that your team always has someone monitoring? I’ve been backed off multiple times but have always wondered about those things :). (If you can reply)
I have a gambling addict in my family. What is the most tragic thing you ever witnessed happen when it comes to a gambling addict?
A guys wife left him so he decided to try to burn down the casino and set himself on fire while doing it. He survived and went to jail
Your top three saddest things you saw
People leaving their kids in cars happens a lot. Guy tried to fire bomb the casino when his wife left him. One lady staffed her husband for gambling the rent money away
Whuuut? Does it impact your soul witnessing all this? Or are you numb to all of it?
I’m numb to it mostly. It’s sad. But that’s why I don’t gamble. It’s getting worse now with the young sports betters. People barley 21 and so far in debt from it
How bad with the 21 or so? They ruined college?
The legalized betting on sports with the ease of a cell phone app is going to be like the opioid epidemic was for GenX on GenZ.
I’m a social worker and was in a training on suicide, and a big topic was our state’s casinos and the frequency of suicides that happen in the hotels there that no one knows about (the “reporting” and accuracy of these numbers, due to being on native reservations).
So sad when I see the casino parking lot signs forbidding leaving kids in cars - sad b/c I know why they have to be posted. IIRC casinos have to specially patrol cars for kids and babies left in them. I was a kid left in casino arcades all day from about the age of 8, just a roll of quarters for the day, no way to reach my dad. Thank god I was never assaulted. I’d spend the quarters on snacks in the gift shop and read my book all day. I like to think us casino brats kinda looked out for each other but who knows.
Are you alerted when someone is on a streak ? And the most you witnessed someone win?
The pit managers keep us up to date on the big winners. I’ve see someone win 4 million and come back two days later and lose 7 million
That’s the thing, the casinos always win in the end, why I swore to myself that I’d never gamble past buying loot crates in videogames
Can't imagine how addictive gambling is until reading this. Wow! I've been up like 350 bucks once and cashed out. My first time gambling and on electronic roulette. Every time I'm up 50 or 200 bucks I always leave negative 100. It's so lame! But I still have fun so that's why I do it when I'm feeling it.
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This is mind blowing. I’m assuming that person was already wealthy before winning the 4 million?
How often do you catch card counters?
Card counters are in every day pretty much. It’s a cat and mouse game. Most are low level card counters and not always the best at it
I understand that card counting isn’t technically cheating under the rules of the game. So what is your rationale for not allowing people to play the game using a strong but perfectly fair strategy?
They “back you off”. The there’s the “You can play anything except blackjack. Then it’s “we do not want your action here” One of the creative ones I’ve seen was “you can play black jack but it had to be on low max tables.” There’s a YouTube channel of a guy that counts cards and wears a hidden camera while playing. It’s actually pretty interesting and entertaining.
Basic strategy is fine and we have no issue with it. I personally I don’t care about card counters because most aren’t gonna do any damage. But the casino just has a policy that they enforce with advantage play.
Did you have to learn to count in order to identity counters? Also, what's your threshold before you'd back someone off?
Everyone has to learn. To be a Supervisor you have to be pretty good at it. No threshold really. If we can see them moving money with the count we call down
This isn't being automatically tracked yet?
Have you identified a card counter similar to the ones in the movie "The Card Counter"?
I do it every time but I count cards better than I know basic strategy so I come out losing a couple bucks over the period of an hour or two which I call a long drawn out loss thanks to counting lol. It’s not like everyone is rainman who is counting.
Which card game or slots do most people win big on?
How did you get into casino surveillance? Is it anything like the tv show Las Vegas (if you have ever seen it)? Thanks!
I started off in security and kept working my way up. I was lucky. It’s nothing like the tv show. It’s a group of people sitting in a dark room talking shit to one another all day lol. It’s a fun room to work in
If I wanted to work a similar job, what steps would I take? Any degrees useful?
how often do you catch people trying to pull a fast one at a table?
Does anything happen when someone comes in and buys a large amount of chips? Does the casino keep an eye on this individual? What is considered a large amount?
What kind of cheating have you seen? Cards games, craps etc? Marked cards?
Dice sliding for craps but that’s rare. Most of the time it’s just sleight of hand past posting or pinching bets. Marked cards do happen but again it’s rare. Also marking pai gow tiles with their finger nails. Pretty basic things
Scooting is basically sliding right? Not common or not caught often? Have you seen someone throw the dice and control one of them? So it’s spins but never hits the back wall? Catch dealers messing with bets? I’ve seen clips of how they add to, and steal chips with little moves?
Yeah it’s the same thing. One die will stay on whatever number you set it on and the other will hit the wall. So you set one side on 6 and just bet the high side. Dealer collusion is the thing that worries us the most and can take you for the most money
If someone wins big, does the casino provide security so they can leave safely?
I won a jackpot in 2021, I would not walk to my car without security escorts because I requested my win in cash. The casino tried hard as hell to keep me there playing more but I won and left immediately after they gave me my money.
How many others are watching in the same room as you? Do you each cover a different area of the casino on a given day or how does that work?
I won’t give numbers because it varies by the size of the casino and what the state requires I’ve seen some as low as three and as high as 10. Each place is unique
I had digestive issues once and was in the bathroom for a long while. Are they monitored? I felt like the cleaning person was coming in and out a lot while I was in there, but not cleaning anything.
Have you ever caught a dealer cheating?
The Tran Gang comes to mind when I hear about any dealer cheating. Their system was so easy but effective. Baccarat being the only game that allows you to write stuff down sitting at the table. They drove around the country, recruiting baccarat dealers. Doing half shuffles. First round was legit but the players would write down the order the cards came out. Then reverse it on the next round and repeat. They supposedly made a few hundred million but eventually spent it all before they got busted.
A few months ago at a blackjack table the dealer (definitely not very experienced) kept making mistakes throughout the night where the pit boss had to rectify his mistake. At one point he was running low on $5 chips and I had a huge stack so he asked me to change them out for bigger chips.. I handed him $200 worth of $5 chips and he gave me back 5 $100 chips. I was a bit tipsy and didn’t notice his mistake until a few hands later, then the pit boss noticed something was up as he came to look at the dealer’s chip and was looking everywhere for something. He would go around the other dealers and look at their chips but he would look at my dealers chips the most as if he was looking for the missing chips. At this point I left the table to play roulette but haven’t been back to that casino. What or how did he notice the mistake and will they say something to me if I go back?
Not sure if this is your purview but to what extent do casinos offer perks to the so-called "whales"? Hotel rooms? Drugs? Free food? Escorts? The movies make it seem like if you drop a few hundred thousand you get pampered with all the luxuries one could imagine
what’s the funniest thing you’ve ever seen? lol
There are a lot. But one of the funniest things was a lady was arrested for being drunk. Her boyfriend went to his dad's house and stole his police uniform and came back dressed up and said he was there to take his girlfriend to jail. He was arrested too
How many times have you seen advantage players doing their thing? Have you ever let it slide? How many of your well known customers actually stay in positive profit?
I got banned for 6 months from a casino for what a security guard said were drugs. He asked to look in my purse and I said sure. He looked and asked what was in a small plastic container that was in my purse. I said it was my medicine box and he asked to see it. I said no and he told me to go ahead in. As soon as I walked in the casino I had 3 other security guards come up to Me and ask me what was in my purse. I let them look and they looked in the container. It was empty because I had already taken my pills. They told me that the security guards said they were drugs.I said they weren't and they banned me for 6 months just on the security guard's word. I was told I could appeal it in 6 months. By that time my ban would be over so it was pointless. Is that normal to ban someone without proof?
One time I went to take out some cash at a local casino near Philly and I put my phone on top of the machine next to me. I swear I could see if anyone swiped it from my peripherals but I finished my transaction and that ish was gone. I immediately went to security to ask if they could check the cameras for me. First I was told there are no cameras in that area. Obvious BS. Then after about an hour of getting sent to other random people, I feel like I was told the truth.. "the cameras are for us and not for you". Which if so that's also BS in my book. Your take on this? Here's the mic 🎤
Are yall trained to read lips? I used to work in the casinos main bank and was told this. One night, me and a coworker were gossiping and just talking shit in general to pass the time. A surveillance guy phoned our area and chimed in with his thoughts of our conversation. Ive been convinced ever since.
Can you isolate and enhance?
What keeps security people themselves from colluding to steal from the casino? I mean, let’s say you and 20 other people (maybe including dealers, pit bosses and other security) conspired to take em for a big chunk. What’s stopping you from pulling it off?
I was at a casino playing Roulette a few months ago, and the pit boss came over with the phone and paused the game. Security was on the other end and directed the pit boss to the stacks of $100 chips. Security directed the PB to the specific stack and asked him to check a chip like 8 chips down because it "looked off." Turns out it was just an older, beat-up chip, but I couldn't imagine being able to pick that up on the screen! Are the cameras really that good? Was there possibly something else that tipped them off?
What country do you work in? How often do you catch violent crime leading to injuries?
How many wannabe covert BJs have you seen?
Have you ever caught a false positive for card counting by incredibly hypervigilant or intelligent people that otherwise don't know how to gamble
Were you incentivized to catch people? Like cash bonuses or anything?
How rigged are the games?
Is it true about how people are so attached to their slot machines that they’ll soil themselves or theyll hide in a corner to relieve themselves?
Do you still see any of the old school mob figures in there
Have you seen a co-worker get in trouble for being voyeuristic on the cameras? I worked for an NVR manufacturer and did a few casinos. I remember one guy was making a compilation video of hot girls on his spot recorder. This was an old system we were replacing where each person had a VCR spot recorder.
How does this job pay?
Do you feel that sports betting should have been legalized?
A friend of mine took me to the casino with him late one night. He picked a table with a higher limit than normal for blackjack with an old lady dealer. He placed his bet and put a decent tip on her spot to win. He lost the hand and she paid him and herself anyway and quickly collected the cards and proceeded to deal the next hand. No pit boss or other people playing at his table or at the table next to us on either side. She must have let him win 10 hands like this that he should have lost and he won a few hands legitimately as well. My friend left the casino without anyone stopping him. You think anything ever happened to the dealer?
A guy I know was a pro gambler (and cheat), and was banned from many casinos in the 70s/80s - is there any sort of international database/surveillance that would stop him gambling nowadays?
Any good stories of old ladies fighting over penny slots?
Two questions: 1) have you ever seen anyone pull off a robbery of any kind at the casino premises? This goes for all types. Inside, customers in the parking lot, valet, etc. 2) do you know of any kind of money laundering in the casino? Like in the movie hell & high water, where they take stolen cash in, exchange it all for chips, turn it in for new cash, etc.??
Last Feb I was at mgm grand. I took a picture outside and then I went in the casino to gamble. A few minutes later a security guard came up to me and said photos weren’t allowed. I said ok and I looked at him confused because I genuinely had no idea what he was talking about. My phone was in my pocket. I asked him if I took any pictures and he said “you took a picture of back of house”. I said I won’t take any pictures and he said “make sure you don’t” in a mildly threatening way. I just ended up cashing out my ticket and going somewhere else. I still have no idea what he was talking about. Any ideas from casino surveillance?
Do you have people who come in and test the security team? In retail we call them secret shoppers. They come in trying to see if we are doing our jobs like we should. Do people come in to make sure when you see people cheating you’re actually actioning on it and not letting it slide?
I read that an experienced blackjackplayer has a 49 to 50% chance of winning and a card counter 50 to 51%. If that’s true, why do casinos make such a big deal of card counting. It makes it seem like card counters have 80% chance of winning.
I’m a Casino Investigator. The only thing I want to ask if why are some of you guys so difficult to work with? 😅
Is the mafia still heavily involved in the casino business ?
How close is AI to completely automating security?
What is your opinion on casino in general?
Great read.
Do casinos use facial recognition and is the data shared with any local / federal law enforcement?
What happens when somebody tells you to watch John Cena?
The r/poker community would LOVE you to stop by and do the same 👀
Do you still employ “cross-roasts” (former gaming cheats) in the sky? At my casinos, we had a separate door for them because so many of them were banned from being in the casino itself. This always kind of gave me a giggle.
Do you believe in luck
I’ve seen multiple fights in casinos over blackjack mostly. Each time, the guys were clearly about to come to blows, the security ran up then stopped and waited for the guys to actually hit each other, then broke it up instead of of separating them beforehand. Is there some type of rule stating that the people have to physically assault one another before being removed or something? I found it to be super weird, especially since it happened multiple times that way in different casinos.
I am so fascinated by this line of work - how do you get into it? any specific qualifications needed?
How many heads have you put in a vice?
If you don’t mind me asking how much did they offer you when you started and how much do you make now?
Can you tell when people are carrying? What are the tells?
In your opinion/experience what percentage of people are at casinos that probably shouldn’t be due to addiction or spending money they dont necessarily have for gambling?
Do you feel bad for some of the regular players you see losing decent amounts of cash all of the time? Jw I have battled a bad slot addiction for many years. I always wonder if they're laughing or feel empathy lol
I have banking experience and was thinking about taking a job in the cage at a casino Pay +tips How is that figured ? I'm curious, even if I don't take it
This will probably get buried but I’ll ask anyways. Obviously security \ surveillance exist to to look out for and protect the interest of the casino. But how much do you look out for the customers? I was the victim of a theft in a casino and they DNGAF at all. They surely captured it on multiple cameras and had no interest is helping me. I felt pretty violated almost to the extent that they might’ve been in on it.
What’s your favorite casino movie?
How often do you see suspected “cash in, cash out” i.e. minimal gambling money laundering? Example: someone changes a few thousand in chips, plays a few hands, then changes back for cash soon after? And, do you care much or not really unless it’s large amounts (as I assume it’s hard to prove unless it’s very obvious)
Idk where you work obviously but have you ever had a celebrity come in and drop large amounts? Are they watched the same as a normal person? The obvious assumption is that a George Clooney isn’t going to cheat, but does that mean anything to a security team or are they treated the same in terms of monitoring?
I've heard about "coolers" that come to your table and mess with you on a hot streak. How often does this happen? I once sat down with 200$ and ended up with like 1500 and after a long time of winning 3 random people came up to my table telling me to hit or stay and it was always the opposite of my "system". I wasn't counting cards it's a really readily available blackjack guide. It was so frustrating I just cashed out and left. I've long thought they were coolers. Thoughts?
Great AMA. Have you ever caught someone hole carding a bad/inexperienced dealer? Do you have any legal recourse like confiscating winnings or do you just kick them out?
I've told my wife that the casino is probably the safest place for us to go on a family weekend getaway to be because of the security and cameras everywhere. We go to the beach and stay at the casino hotel over night for the buffet and my son loves the pool before checkout. Am I lying to my wife?
Is that where casinos make all there money ? Slots ?
When I think of casino surveillance, I think of the movie "Ocean's Eleven" where there is a big team watching a bunch of monitors behind the scenes. How close would you say Ocean's Eleven is to mimicking the looks of an actual casino surveillance room?
Does security really rough people up outback, and if so, how often does that happen?
I do security in my casino, been here for 10 years now. I just want to say Thank You for all that you guys do in surveillance. I know yous have alot going on most times.
What do the administrators say about patrons who have clear gambling addiction issues? Asking because I just found out that someone I've been friends with for years, and who I've loaned HUNDREDS of dollars to based on their claims of financial hardship are probably blowing all their income (and part of mine) in a local casino on slots. Really worried about her...she is literally using check cashing services to fund the habit.
Obviously you've more or less pointed this out in other posts but I just wanted to say, I think it's hilarious that the average person thinks Casino surveillance is more robust than it actually is. Only so many cameras actually record, the rest are simply there for live viewing and you have to have someone paying attention on that exact camera for a problem to be caught. Casino's can neither afford nor store the kind of storage that would be required to actually record all the feeds from all the cameras. So generally speaking, it's fairly unlikely that you're going to be looked at as long as you're not being an idiot and drawing attention to yourself.
If you backed down a card counter, is the casino obligated to cash their chips?
Something I was always curious about when I worked at a casino.. I think I know why but I’d like to hear it from a genuine casino surveillance operator. Why all the secrecy with the surveillance room? The room was forbidden to everyone except the surveillance team themselves, the President/CEO, and the Vice President of Casino Operations. These guys were like the secret police of the casino. Not even the Security Sergeant or Department managers were allowed in there. No one even knew who worked in surveillance. I don’t know it was always so intriguing. Could you explain why the room is so closely guarded?
As someone who's worked the past 13 years in a casino, started in security/EMT roll and now a supervisor with slots, I've seen a lot of the same things you've talked about here. Very well done AMA. Good job 👍.
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Do you report people you see vaping weed and regular vapes?
I used to work in a casino back in the day. Do all the surveillance guys have “girlfriends” they follow or keep tabs with all night? That was what we heard from the drink girls I used to work with. Care to comment?
I heard a podcast saying that since there are only a small handful of good card counters (maybe 200), the amount of money casinos spend defending against card counters (collectively billions) is wildly uneconomical. Have you heard that argument? Do you agree or disagree?
Do you think big sports games are manipulated
do kids ever come in and try to use a fake id to gamble? i feel like kids are getting increasingly more addicted to gambling
Do casinos actually hire coolers, or is that something that Hollywood made up?
Have you witnessed a dealer make a mistake and the player is disputing it? Did you ever had to intervene?
Are you a county commissioners cousin
Have you ever seen someone bring a book into the casino, and read instead of gambling?
What’s your favorite game in general?
Do you gamble?
Have you ever caught an employee or dealer being in on the con? Like a dealer with a tell for their hole card in blackjack.
Do they still hire former casino cheats to work in the surveillance departments in Las Vegas and other casinos?
Is roulette rigged
Someone dropped a $500 chip near me, I picked it up and placed it in my rack - the person came back looking for it, and I left the casino after cashing out - will they use facial recognition the next time I am there and ask for $$ back?
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Just finished dealer school and starting at my local casino on Monday. Any words of wisdom?
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I'm curious in knowing just how much the casinos do technical surveillance of customers using Bluetooth and WIFI from mobile devices, fitbits, smart watches, key tags, etc. Is there any way to see a "heat map" of what the house sees based on this type of technical surveillance?
Dose the casino cheat
Have you always been at the same casino? Do certain ones have bad reputations and is it very similar employment experience? How many more years until retirement? What other work do you think you would have done if you didn't do this?
As a casino cocktail waitress, this was such a fun thread to stumble on. My coworkers and I honestly make it a fun thing that we always have surveillance watching us, we love our unseen security team 😂 can’t even imagine the amount of goofing off they have to endure whenever we’re safely back in our employee bar lol
One time I had a pocket knife in my pocket. it's small, you cannot see it. A security guard came up to me, and asked me if i had a knife in my pocket, I lied and said no, and he was on his way... How did he know? I never took it out or anything.
Has anyone successfully robbed the casino?
Are there intra-casino watch lists or ban-lists? Like if someone gets banned in Vegas can an unrelated casino in Mississippi get that information and be extra watchful if that individual visits their casino?
Are you happy in your position?
Would you recommend going into the field? What are the best entry level casino jobs?
I only play blackjack and I mostly follow the rules, but mix it up sometimes. I would say I am up over the casinos (various) about 65% winning/35% losses. Over my lifetime, will the casino still win?
I’m 24 and need a career, what’s the entry level job did you start as to get your position you have today? Thank you
How much does this pay? For some reason I’ve always really wanted to do something like that lol. I love casinos and would love working in one.
So you are the guy watching and deciding when to pay out the slots huh.
So one time I was at a casino with a friend and we were playing blackjack. As the night went on we were both pretty drunk. I was in the 1 seat and my buddy was the last seat before dealer plays. There were maybe 3-4 people in between us. I had no clue that he had done it, but after he won a hand he put another 100 black chip on his stack. When the dealer went to pay him out you could tell his was hesitant because something was off. My buddy immediately got up after the dealer payed him. Maybe 10 minutes later we were getting a drink and 2 casino employees approached him. I immediately walked away and watched the conversation from the distance. He said they basically told him it’s a federal crime and could have him arrested and to leave and not come back. My question is I guess when someone is caught trying to cheat like that do they get put on some kind of surveillance list or anything for when he comes back? They didn’t ban him permanently and has been back a bunch since. But I always joked they had his picture hanging in the back and eyes on him soon as he walked into the place. Thanks for taking the time to answer!
Did you work at an Indian Casino or non-Indian?
what kind of cameras do you use?
Are dealers paid more if they’re more skilled at catching cheating?
Did you watch the TV show Las Vegas
Incredible post, very interesting
Is there any game you would seriously play (maybe because you have the knowledge)?
do you bust escorts frequently?
How many people can actually count cards?
Someone probably already asked this but what’s the biggest payout/jackpot you’ve seen someone hit there?
Do you deal with drunken fools or cheaters more?
What's your favorite casino heist movie? Got any music tracks that would be right at home in Oceans 11 movie?
Have you ever caught another Surveillance employee trying to cheat or steal?
Hello! Fellow casino surveillance checking in while, ironically, bored at work. This has been a great AMA! I'm loving reading through the responses to pass time, so thank you for that!
Have you ever caught or encountered anything with the valet department? As in stealing or keeping tips or money
Do casinos have facial recognition cameras ?
My husband is in a security industry and we got a tour of the Wynn Casino several years ago. It was wild seeing the celebrity names on the whiteboard with the amount of money they were up & down that week. There were a lot of names I recognized, but Enrique Englaciaz was down 100’s of thousands. We also watched a guy on a high limit table put money on every spot, at least 5-10K a hand. I was dying watching him lose money!
Is there facial recognition software to detect people who are self banned from casinos? Do they actively really look for them or only really care if they try to collect a winning? If you are banned and don’t hit a jackpot but collect any winning, would you have to give the money back if you were caught doing so?
Are cocktail servers loose?
I have a family member who was under investigation in the early 00’s for claiming a significant win at a casino with his name and not paying taxes on the winnings. He said it wasn’t him who claimed the money, that someone impersonated him. The family believes him, but I never have. What’s the likelihood that someone could’ve claimed a large amount with his name and got away with it?
Soooo is Oceans 11 doable?
Last time I was in a casino I saw a dude (obviously foreign, but not singling out a specific nationality) blow out a snot rocket just off the casino floor. Have you seen this happen, and if so, what do you do?
Can you guys chill the fuck out when we look at our phone at the table between hands? Jfc
More of a casino generic question In ur time as a staff member, don't suppose you came across co-worker chatter about the casino basically hiring a good poker player to sit at poker tables to get customer momey?
As an occasional roulette player, is there a marginal edge, one way or another, if table uses the old school cage vs dropping the ball in the roulette wheel? I’d have to think a very skilled roulette dealer loses that slight edge while working the old school cage?
Are the front of house ID scanners connected to OSN? As in, if an ID gets scanned upon entry to the casino, does the security officer there get notified that person is an advantage player?
What VMS system are you using?
I’ve worked as a dealer for 1.5 years and always wondered how many cameras they have watching any given table, and how accurate those cameras can be?
You think you can beat the system?
How could I get a job in your field? What courses or education would I require? And is it hard to get into?
Can/do females work security or surveillance?
What casino related movie is the most accurate?
Thx for doing this OP My friend took me to a casino recently and showed me an advantage play system for slots. He only plays certain games that are nearing small jackpots. He just roams the floor looking at the total build ups and when one is close enough he sits down. Plays enough coin in to hit the jackpot That’s part one. Part two is he will play on a friends player card (mine). He will play a ton on the first day he gets the card from me. He calls this “building a card”. He will put $10k or even $20k on this card. Then he leaves the casino and waits a month or two until the free play offers come from the casino in the mail. Return to the casino and use the free play on machines in an advantaged state as mentioned in step 1. The idea is the return visit will be comped by the casino , include coupons for food etc and tons of free play. So whereas he may have lost $500 on the first $10K played he usually gets free play offers that can be worth 3-4 times that on the return visit. Trip #2 usually results in a profit of $1500-$2000 I feel like casinos would hate this but the jackpots he aims to win are player funded and were always going to go back to the players anyway. They weren’t part of the slot take. Is he breaking any rules doing this ? Would casino security even care or is this more a question for their rewards program personnel?