THIEVERY
Any place that attracts a large amount of people with money to lose attracts thieves. In the first six weeks of play in Atlantic City, there were two armed robberies in the rest rooms. I found out what was possible quite by accident once while seeing a show at the Stardust in Las Vegas.

Our party had excellent seats at the Lido show, a table at center stage front. One of the acts was a French pickpocket who could take anything. He was walking by where we were seated and suddenly dropped the mike. I grabbed and caught it, and as a reward was invited onstage. Here I was, a winning Blackjack player trying to take money out of the casino in obscurity up onstage during the Lido show!

I thought I was going up to hold the mike for him, but instead found that I was to be part of the act. The pickpocket pointed to a spot on the stage and asked me to stand there. I remember being terribly nervous because I noticed I was standing directly on a trap door. He began to ask me questions and walked around me as I answered, Suddenly he waited for me to hold onto my pants, which made me even more nervous. I knew he could take my belt off and drop my pants if he wanted to.

The next thing I knew he was holding a bag of jewelry (souvenirs for the home folks) I had in my inside coat pocket, my watch, my wallet, and my site with all the little phone numbers in it. All I could think about was, “When do I go through the trap door?” He finally let me step down and the act got a big hand. After the show, people were complimenting me because they thought I was part of the act, even though I tried to convince them that I wasn’t. What started me thinking was the ease at which my valuables had been taken and how open an available purse or a rear-pocket wallet is to nimble and dishonest fingers.

Sometimes a little clever daring is all you need. A woman told me of losing an entire fifty-dollar jackpot at the dime slots. She had just finished filling up two cups with dimes from the jackpot and had begun playing again. Suddenly a well-groomed man immaculately dressed in an expensive-looking suit walked up, grabbed the cups, and said, “Let me cash these in for you.” He then quickly turned and walked down the line of slots toward the cashier’s cage.

The woman was momentarily caught off guard, thinking the man must work for the casino. When she realized a few moments later that a stranger had walked off with her money, she ran to follow. Rounding the corner where she had seen him last, she found only the typical casino crowd with no suited thief. She went to a nearby security guard, who immediately ordered the doors locked. The casino was searched, but the bandit was never found.

Although I sympathized with the woman, I had to laugh, thinking about a thief getting up, showering, dressing in a suit, kissing his wife good-bye in the morning and saying, “See you late this evening. I’ve got a heavy load of stealing to do today.” One thing you can be certain of: Anywhere there are large sums of money, there will be countless swindle schemes in operation. If you’re really intent on losing all of your money, at least get some enjoyment out of it and gamble it away.

Carry your valuables carefully, and watch your chips at all times in the casino. I’ve seen chips “snitched” at the table, chips dropped, or just left somewhere only to disappear instantly. There’s no reason to be a winning black jack player if you’re going to give your winnings away.

CASINO CREDIT
Marketing studies have shown that retail credit customers will buy more than cash customers. The casino industry has recognized this fact in gambling as well, and caters to players who use significant credit lines. A player using credit will be given a slip of paper called a marker, upon which he or she fills out an amount and then signs. (The marker is a negotiable instrument, which can be presented to the player’s bank for payment.) The safest way for the casino to let the player use markers is to have the player deposit the gambling stakes in cash at the casino cage on arrival. The stake is then returned to the player minus any markers that were signed during the stay.

For most players, casino credit is similar to the check-cashing privilege you may have at the neighborhood grocery store. You fill out an application for credit, which is sent to Central Credit for verification. Once your credit is established, you are allowed to cash checks up to your credit limit. The typical procedure is to sign markers during your trip and then settle them with a single check at the end of your trip.

The problems arise when a player is unable to pay for his gambling losses. Having credit lines at several casinos can be the cause of this. For example, a player with a ten-thousand-dollar line of credit at five casinos could lose as much as fifty thousand dollars, well beyond his credit line and ability to pay. In most cases, the casino will co-operate with a valued player to the point of making compromises if there is a hardship in paying. Big bettors with credit problems can still be allowed to play on a cash-only basis if they agree to apply a portion of their winnings (normally 50 per cent) to the outstanding debt.

The occasional player who has written an insufficient-funds check will be the object of more vigorous collection efforts. A phone call or telegram will request that additional money be put in the account so that the check can be redeposited. If it bounces a second time, the casino will try more phone calls and letters. Important credit debts may be turned over to a lawyer or collection agency where the player lives. There is little need to worry about strong-arm tactics from the casino. Legally, the Federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, passed in 1978, bans the use of threats, telephone harassment, or other extralegal actions by credit collectors.

In fact, there is little legal basis for collecting a Nevada gambling debt at all. A casino debt is unenforceable in Nevada, and therefore unenforceable in any other state. Of course, filing a suit makes the debt public knowledge, which alone encourages many players to pay up. Also, if the defendant doesn’t respond, the casino can win a default judgment against the player. Bahamian casino debts are also legally unenforceable. But in New Jersey and Puerto Rico, casino debts are legal obligations.

While casino collection tactics may be controlled, the danger lies in running up a bad debt on a junket. A junket is a specially chartered trip to a casino at the expense of the casino. Junket agents arrange for groups of large bettors to take these complementary trips asking only that the gambler play at the sponsoring casino for a certain number of hours at a specified betting level. Junket agents whose clients are credit problems risk cancellation of their profitable junket trips. Once fired by a casino, the junket agent has little chance of getting dates at other casinos.

Because the junket business is so competitive, some junket agents guarantee the debts of their clients. While the casino allows between 3 per cent and 5 per cent for bad debts, the junket agent must collect all markers he guarantees. A couple of high rollers with bad debts can put him out of business. So the junket agent can be a tough man to owe, because he must have your money.

I believe the best way to play Blackjack is as a cash player. I don’t want anybody connected with the casino to know how much I have played, won, or lost. All casinos provide safe-deposit boxes for valuables or money. Use those instead of the casino cage, where your transactions will be watched. With casino credit, you can lose what you don’t have. With cash, you can handle the game without anyone else’s help.