| What's you're best story about someone trying to con/steel from the casino? | I figure you're looking for some kind of crazy Oceans 11 story (of which there are several in the industry but none on my watch), but honestly the best ones are people trying to steal from the fucking buffet. |
| Mom comes in with two kids and says they're not eating so she shouldn't have to pay. The cashier says OK. |
| Fast forward 15 minutes and the cashier notices that the kids are missing. |
| THE FUCKING MOTHER IS FEEDING THEM UNDER THE TABLE LIKE FUCKING DOGS. |
| Best AMA response ever. have an upvote! | We had set out in the foyer those bags for your umbrella so the floor doesn't get wet. |
| Lady takes one, goes to the buffet, and starts filling it with food. Brazenly. Not trying to hide it. |
| We stop her and she says "what? this is all you can eat?!" |
| "Sit down and eat the contents of the bag then..." | We found a HUGE ziplock bag of food by a table. The "customer" had obviously left it behind. |
| She realized she forgot it and came back to get it about 30 minutes later. |
| You should hire me as a buffet monitor i can pose as a customer then obnoxiously call them out for stuffing their purses with chicken fingers and mashed potatoes w/gravy. "HEY FAT LADAYYY I SEE YOU STEALIN THEM CHIKKAN FINGAZ!" | Have a lady who consistently bitches about having to pay full price since she can't consume a lot because of her gastric bypass. |
| Do you actually have a policy to ask people to leave if you feel they lost more than they can afford? i watched a piece by loius theroux once where he asked this question to some of the managers of a casino and they all said "oh, i know they can afford it, of course we would ask them to stop if they couldnt". but obviously, from a business perspective, this is counter-intuitive towards making profits. so what is your take on this whole thing? and what is the overhead like for running a casino? what are some expenses you have which may be surprisingly high? | We never make judgment on whether or not they can afford it. We really only step in if they come to us or start doing something overt like begging for money or asking for loans, etc. In the macro view, it's very bad for business if we don't do something about problem gambling when it presents itself. |
| Overhead... EBITDA margin of 30% is great. |
| Expenses... I guess crab legs would be too obvious? Besides that, maybe table games labor. You have a 0.5% house advantage at blackjack and have to have a physical person here 24/7 plus a supervisor for every 5-6 games. |
| What games are the biggest money makers for the casino? and coincidentally, Ace, ever ran a sports book? | Penny slots by far. |
| Ha. No. But have worked in casinos that have them. |
| But why do I always win/come out ahead max-betting on the fucking Sex and the City penny slot? | Google "law of large numbers" |
| 1) How do you like the city? (So many people hate on it, and I don't understand why). Also, how did you like UNLV and when were you there? | 1.) I actually just moved away for a job. I just think Vegas is OK. I moved there when I was in my mid-20s with a decent job so it was cool and exciting then. Fast forward a decade or so and the allure isn't there anymore. It's not "home" and I don't think it will ever will be because of how transient the population is. |
| 2) to me it seems like a pretty small about of locals gamble (at least at the strip properties), do you guys keep tabs on those numbers? If so, what is the ratio of your gambling customers? | 2.) I don't have the numbers in front of me, but we did a study one time and showed that Vegas has the highest incidence of regularly gambling activity in the nation. I always just felt that was a function of accessibility and self selection on the part of the residents. But you're right that locals don't go to the strip. The marketing offers are terrible compared to the non-strip properties and it's a pain to get to the strip just to get your gambling fix. |
| To what extent is organized crime still present in or around the casinos? Any personal encounters? | Virtually none AFAIK. |
| The industry is very, very heavily regulated. When you get to the executive ranks you have to go through very, very thorough background checks. 5 years of tax returns, 5 years of all cancelled checks, explanations of all withdrawals > $200 and deposits > $500, in depth interview with an agent, etc. |
| The last time I've heard of legit organized crime here in the states (places like Macau are an entirely different story) was in Rosemont, IL I think in the mid-90s. |
| Link to casinoconnectionac.com |
| Damn, all withdrawals over $200? For the past 5 years? "Uh, I dunno, I don't really remember why I withdrew $300 from an ATM 3 years ago. Maybe I spent it buying some off of Craig's List, I dunno." | Yeah, it's really ridiculous. |
| Explain Macau? | The Triad are heavily influential there. Kind of like what you'd imagine in Vegas in the 50s. |
| Holy shit, I live in Des Plaines. | Des Plaines' only problem now is how to more quickly count all the money they're making |
| The scene from Skyfall comes to mind. | Yep. |
| Organized crime is the muscle of the casino, the security guards, the directors of security, the private investigators, the small business owners, the gamblers who launder money through the casinos. Of course the mob isn't like the movies anymore. | Well i'm going to have to respectfully disagree with you on everything except the money laundering despite the fact we have to live by Title 31 Link to en.wikipedia.org |
| It is true that if a person is on a helluva winning streak and is consistantly winning and you cant figure out why... you will demand that he take his winnings and leave and never show his face in the place again? (kick him out for winning). | It's possible but relatively rare. you have to have enough cash to really turn out our lights to get to that point. for the vast vast majority of people, we have more money than you so as long as feel like we can get you back in the door, go ahead and win away |
| So that scene in Rain man is totally bullshit then? Where they consistently win and make $80,000 from a couple of thousand... then are told to GTFO after the casino guys couldnt figure out how they were doing it. | Bullshit only in the sense that couldn't figure out what was going on |
| What gives a person the best odds when playing Blackjack-playing with more decks or less decks? i seem to win more with tables that use 6 decks and my friends do better with 4 decks.. | It's a lot more than the number of decks and the casinos use that information asymmetry to their advantage (e.g., $5 SINGLE DECK BLACKJACK!!!) Everything being the same, the less amount of decks the better but we will change the payouts for BJ, rules for splitting and double down, etc. to our advantage. So you can have a 6-deck shoe with otherwise very liberal rules that have a lower house advantage than a single deck show with very unfavorable rules. |
| So with the same set of rules, less decks is more favourable? | Yes everything else being equal |
| Is that just because it's easier to count or is it fancy math stuff. | Fancy math stuff. |
| USING FEWER DECKS. |
| Six Decks: -0.02% Five Decks: -0.03% Four Decks: -0.06% Two Decks: -0.19% One Deck: -0.48% |
| Link to www.onlineblackjack.com |
| Ever seen anyone get naked or have sex in the casino or bathrooms? | Boobs pop out of the cocktail waitresses' uniforms relatively often because they'll get tops 3 sizes too small in order to get bigger cleveage/tips. |
| Saw chick blowing a dude at a slot machine at the entrance of a club. |
| And Vegas has all of these European-style pools so if you're out there "inspecting the grounds" then all those girls are topless. |
| Sweet. What'd you do with the BJ couple? Pic of one of the pools please? | Security was running towards them so I just assumed they got the boot. |
| Pools = just go to imagefap and look for topless beaches. |
| Do you ever feel guilty for all the money people lose to your business? | Of course. |
| Did you see the fictional series "Tilt" on ESPN about 5-7 years ago? Any opinions on it? Did you find it entertaining? Did you find any of it accurate at all? | Vaguely. And when I say that I mean I remember the series and watching a bit of it and that's it. |
| To us, the holy grail of Casino movies is Casino and Rounders. |
| Thanks for the response! I love Rounders, but it seemed to focus more on the players, and more on non-casino-based games, whereas Tilt was as much about the casino management as anything else. I should watch Casino. | Yeah if you're interested in the casino management piece then Casino. |
| Does your casino make any efforts to stop problem gamblers from betting more than they can afford? | Every casino company has policies regarding problem gambling that are audited by the state. Each state also has its own minimum guidelines like mandating that brochures be placed in very visible areas of the casinos, hotline numbers printed on every ad, etc. |
| It's a delicate situation when you think someone might have a problem because, well it might not be a problem. So we generally only do things if they specifically ask us to (e.g., they can ban themselves) or if they start doing something really egregious like asking players or employees for loans at which point we'd probably pull them aside and hand them a brochure and ask if there's anything we can do to help because what they're currently doing is unacceptable (the begging). |
| There's a casino near my house that keeps a full time car appraiser on staff. I've always felt that's a little shady. You ever run into anything like that? | No way. |
| Even though I believe casino gambling should be legal, I find the practice of casino's providing credit to be morally indefensible. What is your opinion on the practice? Would it be a reasonable compromise to allow for more casinos on the stipulation that gambling on a margin is banned? | So if I'm a high worth individual who likes to gamble, your expectation is that I just bring in a suitcase of $100s to gamble with? |
| No, a debit card. | Reasonable. |
| A debit card? not reasonable...a credit limit is the only feasible way some patrons can gamble...most people do not want to walk around with 50k in there pocket...and I'm not sure how you would go about withdrawing thousands of dollars from an ATM machine. | I was being sarcastic. It's a huge competitive disadvantage to not be able to offer credit (e.g., Missouri) because no high roller wants to play there. You'd have to physically go to the bank, withdraw 20K cash or whatever, somehow survive walking to your car, and then somehow survive walking to the casino from your car. TBF, there's also what is called front money which is where you can wire money to us and we will hold it for you but you have to pay the fees vs us offering you credit free. I did have a millionaire player who strictly got his money off of a variety of credit cards and would just do cash advances. We obviously never questioned it but he had apparently had a huge credit line (evidenced by the amount he was able to withdraw) and enough to pay it back (evidenced by him able to come often). |
| notjabba...no one cares if "you believe casino gambling should or shouldn't be legal" | |
| How do you know if i am card counting, and do you care if i am not playing for big money? | Primarily odd fluctuations in your betting patterns. $5, 5, 5, 5, then $1,000, then $5, 5, 5, 5 would catch our eye big time. |
| , big money! | We care. Small wins add up. |
| What if i went 5,5,5,20? Would you care then? | At those low levels no one would be on the lookout for you. |
| How automated is the alerting system for this? Pit boss getting info from the sky I assume? | Not very automated. There are a variety of technologies out there designed to thwart this but they're expensive and casinos are too staid to invest. |
| So basically it's just either surveillance or the pit supervisor noticing something odd then starting to keep track of the bets. |
| Might be a silly question, but does stuff ever go down like it does in the movies? Like, say some guy is cheating in one way or another or doesn't take a hint to leave. Is he going to get taken into a back room and get his ass kicked or just escorted out? Taking fingers, breaking knee caps etc. etc. | Nah, too highly regulated these days. |
| At what point do you start looking for card counters? If I'm playing with a $50-200 bet spread am I noticeable? Is the the spread (4:1, 8:1, 20:1) the dollar figure or a combination? | Sorry this isn't my area of expertise so I can't with this level of specificity. I'd think a 4X spread wouldn't be bad, though, but just an educated guess. |
| You could buy a membership to the Green Chip forum (bj21.com), though and read up on the reverse engineering they've done. |
| I would venture a guess that electronic card games have pattern recognition built right in? | I don't know how they do the shuffle. I'd imagine it's a fresh shuffle before every hand like in video poker thus nullifying counting. |
| Well I understand that, but profits on a casino are through the roof, are they not? I assume that there is a relatively low amount of card counters , and that you still will make a very good profit. | Profits aren't as good as you'd think post 2008 economy. |
| Bottom line is that it ain't ever gonna happen. Sorry. |
| What is the biggest amount you have seen someone lose? | I was working at Wynn when Andy Beal played "The Corporation" so that was like $16.5MM he lost to them I believe. |
| That's fucking cool, I read the book detailing the events of this, Link to en.m.wikipedia.org. Any cool stories etc from your point of view from then? | Honestly, everything I found out about it at the time was from 2+2. I didn't have direct access to the players so it wasn't really like I could analyze the session with Phil afterwards. |
| Urban legends of someone winning big at the slots but having it taken away to a glitch. Has this really happened to your knowledge? | Not urban legend. Many cases like this. The player never wins. Google it and you'll find tons of them. E.g., |
| Link to www.lasvegassun.com |
| This one is international but I think is the funniest. Not only did you "win" $55MM on a machine that stated the max jackpot was $50K but after winning $55MM, you went ahead and played another spin... just in case... |
| Link to www.thanhniennews.com |
| Damn that sucks. Well here is one for you. Did you know that in Panama you can double down at the black jack tables at any point. It gives you a huge advantage and you can win a lot of money that way. | I'd heard something like that. My best friend (avid gambler) went to Costa Rica and basically came back saying he had to totally re-learn BJ when he was down there because of all of their crazy rules. |
| If that's true about Panama, I'm surprised there aren't people haven't just set up shop down there and pillaged that place until they went bust. |
| No i didnt have sex with the hooker but my friend did make out with her drunk. | As would I. What's up with fucking people who just make out? Fucking amateur hour. This isn't fucking 7th grade. |
| He didn't know that she was a hooker and was just putting the moves on her. He thought he was just really smooth with his broken spanish. What he didn't know what that I paid her to keep quiet about it. He looked REALLY sad when someone else bought her and he realized what she was. | I actually did something similar for my friend after he split up with his whore wife. We wanted to boost his spirits so gave a hooker $100 to go and flirt with him. |
| Shit man in Panama you can get a lot more than flirting for a hundo. Granted she won me a grand and i think i threw her 50 back. Well that and she got to make out with my friend...Worth it. Did your friend end up with the hooker hilarious movie style? | Nah, this was in Vegas, he's cheap, and we're not that generous. |
| How do Vegas casinos differ from Native American casinos? Or are they essentially the same? | Depends in the jurisdiction. in some there is no difference (e.g florida) while others are wildly different (e.g north Carolina) |
| I'm curious as to how they differ. I'm from NC but haven't been to any of the casinos around here. | In NC, for example, games have to be "games of skill" so like on the slot machines you don't just pull the handle and watch the reels go round and round, you have to physically touch the game to stop each reel. |
| That's not true (I've been there). | Admittedly it's been awhile since I've dealt with them (I used to work for Harrah's) but it was like that for awhile. |
| Link to wizardofodds.com (scroll down a bit) |
| They might have some that are like that, but the handful I played (there are a shit ton) were not. Apparently they've got table games there now, too, which is new from when I was last there just a year ago. | Well the states quickly understand that they're leaving money on the table (no pun intended) but creating this arcane regulations. |
| Fastest growing casino region? AC? Vegas? Macau? | Macau. |
| Absolutely nothing domestically. |
| Why? Distance to the large volume of middle and wealthy chinese? | Yes, and whose culture has a high propensity for gambling. |
| Why isn't counting cards allowed? Lets say I was a math genius, isn't it just part of the game then? | Because we reserve the right to serve whomever we please as long as we're not discriminatory against a protected class. |
| I see. It just seems like mocking people for being good. Maybe if I was a black math genius with down syndrome I could get along with it. No offense to either btw. | Perhaps but we're not particularly concerned. |
| Btw, I'm a bit of an advantage gambler myself. I only play low house advantage games, maximize my coupons and promotions etc. so I'm sympathetic but there's just nothing that can be done on the card counting front. |
| Private business CAN discriminate based on protected classes, just bad business to do so. | Then don't come to my casino. |
| Semi-serious question: have you ever crashed someone's hand with a hammer because he/she was found cheating? | Boy do I wish, but no. |
| Could you explain why it is so difficult to get casinos in states that do not already have them? Im from Dallas, and it seems that the Oklahoma casinos are 70%+ Texans. It seems our state is losing a ton of $ to other states. (Oklahoma, Louisiana...) | In Texas it's because your legislature meets relatively irregularly. expansion since the 90s has been predicated on budget shortfalls and using gaming to patch up those holes. |
| Texas' economy has been relatively good so combine that with a conservative legislature that doesn't meet often as we'd have have to have the perfect storm of you having a bad economic run at the same time the legislature is meeting. |
| Trust me, we are ready to pounce when that happens. |
| Okay so a couple of years ago there was a show called "Las Vegas" and it was about a casino. | Hosts are basically your sales team to high worth players. The compensation structure is just like any other salesperson: base + commission. |
| Not sure if you ever saw it, but there was a character named Sam and she was a casino hostess and she was kind of a bitch but I always wanted to be that (casino host not bitch). How can I get into that? | So, if you've never done that kind of work before or sales at all for that matter, you just need to take anykind of remotely similar job and then just keep trying to plug along with the job search. |
| Well I cant wait until it happens. I will gladly donate my fair share for a free Paula Dean buffet. | We've owned land for decades in preparation. |
| You see where companies like PENN have already bought stakes in racetracks there, taking a bet that racinos (adding slots to tracks) will be the states first foray. |
| The owner of Landry's (also owns the Nugget) has said repeatedly that as soon as the law is passed he can have working slots in Galveston overnight. | Yeah. His family (Fertitta) started Stations casinos in Vegas (and MMA) and really big shots in town. |
| Yeah, as a Houstonian and gambler, I am really hoping one day it finally happens. I hate hate HATE driving to Louisiana and I haven't been able to make it out to Vegas in 2+ years. | The folks in Lake Charles and Shreveport do not share your sentiment. |
| I'm sure they don't. Bud of mine wanted to make an ad campaign of just going to Isle of Capri and showing the license plates. | You mean Pile of Debris. |
| Highest progressive payout you've ever seen paid out? And what was the game? And any good stories about throwing out patrons? | That I've physically seen? Probably like a $75K Caribbean Stud. |
| I have been encouraged by many people to get a job there, but no one, even me, knows where I should start. Personally, I don't enjoy gambling and have only been in the Hard Rock a couple times, just to see the lobby and buy shirts with some out of town guests. | Probably on the non-gaming side. Not sure of your educational background but NA with degrees go very, very far very, very quickly. |
| So my question is where would you recommend someone to start in the casino industry, if they don't particulary like/understand gambling? | If you want to work the front line, then hotel front desk or something like that. |
| I don't have a degree yet, but I do have 10 years in B2B (business to business) sales in telephony, so I know a lot about circuits/phone systems/general telecom. | Native American. |
| EDIT: what does "NA" stand for? | So then in your case either work in IT or maybe some kind of sales position like convention sales? |
| Oh I didn't know there would be some sort of sales team with a casino. Sweet. I considered IT, but I assumed it would be in the realm of network security, which I know little to nothing about. | Who do you think maintains the phone switch, PCs, servers, etc.? |
| Proof? | What would suffice without outing me? |
| You would know best what you have, however this sounds like it would be easier to prove confidentially to the mods. Things such as work ID, paystub, business card, etc are acceptable forms of confidential verification. | I'll send a pic over to them. Never done this before so wasn't sure. |
| I have a BA in Accounting and am currently a Project Manager (Prior exp in Cost, Tax and Accural accounting, worked for the Big 4, Now I make Warheads for the Army). If I wanted to get into the Casino industry what jobs should I persue. What is the best way to persue them? Do people telecommute? Whats the pay range? | We always need good finance people. There are always other industries they can work in so it's hard to find good people. |
| So I'd say just go be an accountant? |
| We post on all the major job boards and casinocareers.com is the main industry-specific job board. |
| Telecommuting is not a regularly accepted practice. |
| For finance, it's just market rate salary. |
| How did you get your job? | Was in undergrad and needed a job. responded to ad in paper for entry level job. worked my way up. |
| I'm going to guess that wasn't a typo. | Not going to edit for the lulz. |
| You know what, why the hell not? Best way to make money fast? | Well, assuming you have one and only one bet to make, the math always says banker on baccarat. |
| Any tips/secrets for slot machine players? Which one's your favorite type/brand? | Learn to play video poker, blackjack, baccarat, or craps. |
| Anything video scares me..are there 'rules' in place for video poker or Bj blackjack to guarantee payouts or is it completely random? If random, how do we know the game isn't rigged in your favor? | Completely Random. |
| Because it behooves the state not to let us rig the games so they employ strict regulations to prevent such. |
| For example, many states mandate that this company verify the legitimacy of a game: Link to www.gaminglabs.com |
| Those states that don't, do it themselves. |
| I accidently got my gf addicted to video poker but it paid well. Its a better chance and payoff than video slots IMO. | No opinion about it, it is true. |
| Does this only go for high roller tables? Or does it also go for some guy that hits a big jackpot on the slots? | Both. |
| Are security as horrible as people say in Vegas? I've heard from my relatives that purse snatching and such happens quite a bit and security shows up minutes after they were called (so pretty much useless). On the other hand, I've heard some amazing quick response time in Macau. Are these myths? | Need some reference point. Horrible as compared to what. You've got a 3-mile long street with literally a million people on it. There's gonna be crime. |
| Hmmm... how about relative to san diego or fort worth? | I'd say on par to Gaslamp but I'm no criminologist. |
| HOW DO YOU SLEEP AT NIGHT!? I'm serious, I want the gritty details... You use a sleep number? Memory foam? Standard matress with some box springs? And what kind of pillow to. Oh, oh, and what is the thread count of your sheets... | I'm a minimalist. Same mattress I've had for literally 15 years that I got at a department store. Hypoallergenic pillows from Target. 800 count. Also from Target. |
| Nice! Glad I registered my wedding at Target. Sounds like they got the good stuff. | Decent and reasonably priced. The girls can't tell the difference between it and the really nice stuff. |
| Counting cards actually means that you are playing the game very well and it isn't cheating. How can you justify kicking someone out of a casino for being too good at the game? Also as far as I'm aware it isn't illegal. | No it is not illegal but just like any other business we reserve the right to serve whomever we please (as long as we're not discriminating against a protected class, of course). |
| In essence you are keeping track of how many 10s/face cards and low cards are in the deck because high cards help the player, low cards help the dealer. |
| So if you know that the deck is rich in high cards you bet more and vice versa. |
| I will be attending UNLV for hospitality management in the fall. any tips? | For undergrad? Make the program what you want out of it. Just by graduating no one is going to hand you a huge job but if you do well the brand recognition can really work in your favor. |
| Yep for undergrad. thanks for the answer! | Go Rebels! |
| Does your business invest in gambling addictions or have employee training to prevent those who are gambling addicts from playing in your casino? | I take it you mean gambling addiction treatment... And yes, we do: Link to www.americangaming.org |
| And every employee, at least in the majority of casinos, is trained on how to identify problem gaming. |
| How do you hire trust worthy people, meaning do you have some dude or gal that is like HR on steroids watching people? I imagine you have seen more than one case where there is employee theft or people who are running a front for money laundering? | Well everyone goes through a background check through the state with fingerprints and whatnot then executives go through an FBI-style background check where they check all of your bank records and stuff. |
| But with so much cash floating around there is theft but it's basically like a bank so I can't imagine the incidence to be much higher than with tellers at banks. |
| How much do you make? | Six figures + bonus. |
| Awesome. What was your path to this career choice? Like education/jobs. | I just happened into it. Got entry level job during undergrad and worked my way up. Picked up master's while working. |
| Nice. Went to school for business I presume? | For my master's yes. Have doo doo lib arts degree for undergrad. |
| Awesome! So you managed to get the entry level job with just an arts degrees then worked your way up? Or was the MBA necessary for where you are at now? | I was in undergrad I got the job. It as entry level. $10/hr. |
| Master's not necessary but very helpful to stick out of the crowd. |
| Just noticed your name...classic. At around what limits are you able to get comps for free rooms out in either AC or Vegas? I would assume that Vegas is easier due to the vast amount of rooms, but what are your tips to earning comps faster? | Depends on the property and depends on the game. And by rooms, do you mean like direct mail offers or the ability to walk up to someone and say "bitch, I'm a baller - hook me up!" |
| What do you know of online gambling? | I did a bunch of preliminary work when I was a corporate person. |
