Players steals chips (Venetian)
so last night my brother was at Venetian. We got up to go eat and came back and the chips were gone. After checking the security footage, they explain that another player took them (probably by mistake, they believe). They are trying to contact the player that took the chips but say that if he doesn’t come back, we are out of luck.
What should be the next course of action?
My brother is about to board a flight home.
11 Replies
It depends on the next time the player decides to come back, since they're just gonna tell him "you won't be able to play here again until you pay the money back" so there's a chance he'll decide just never to come back instead, especially if it was a sizeable amount. And of course it looked like it was a mistake, he knows cameras are watching him so if he did it on purpose I'm sure he would make it look like a mistake anyway.
The casinos generally don't reimburse us for these things unless the money's recovered.
It is a dirty secret that the casinos have never been responsible for chips left at the poker table, you and you alone are. This is true even though there is no practical way for you to protect those chips when you go to the bathroom or take a meal break. Sometimes you might remove the high denom chips and replace them when you return, which would stop a casual theft but not someone who accidentally picked up the wrong stack.
Casinos will generally assist as far as they have in this case - check the tapes, figure out what happened, and contact the offender the next time they are in the casino, usually with the threat of being banned if they do not return the money.
In some cases, you might get lucky and the person really did just pick up the wrong stack, and they left their stack somewhere else, and it was bagged up and sent to security, so they would only have to make up the net really. If you're really lucky they had a larger stack than you, so the person is extra incented to return "your" money and get theirs back.
If you want to do more, I suspect you'd have to file a police report. Perhaps have a lawyer request the surveillance and any identification the casino made, so you could file a civil complaint against the offender. I doubt it would be worth the costs, but who knows.
Casinos generally take a dim view of being involved in other people's legal affairs, but as long as you're not coming after them it's possible they would view this neutrally and wouldn't necessarily ban you as a result of being subpoenaed or whatever.
If the amount isn't huge, I would just make sure to leave your contact info and explain you are leaving the areas, maybe follow it up with a paper letter saying the same, and then hope for the best. Next time you're there you can follow up on it.
So it was only around $210. He left his info. Seems very weak on their part.
This is why I don't get up to eat at cash games in any casino...
Many years ago at Foxwoods a guy lost over $600 when he went to eat. It was stolen quickly by a guy who pretended it was his stack and was going home. He exited the room (without going to the cage) and left the casino. My guess is he gave the chips to somebody else to cash in on another date.
The problem is that Dealers rotate every 30 minutes so if the dealer who was at the table when you get up to go rotates out then the next dealer will have no clue that the thief is not really the player. That is why I no longer leave to eat.
There are some casinos that will put a glass bubble over the chip stack which is done by the Floor and will only be taken off by the Floor when the exact player comes back, but I think this is done typically in high stakes rooms. Not sure if the Venetian does that.
Even when I get up to go to the bathroom in a high stakes cash game (like 2/5 NL or higher) I will take all hundred dollar bills off the table and sometimes $100 chips (or I will put $5 chips on top of the $100 chips so they can't really be seen).
If I do need to eat I will take my chips and get on the dinner list for my game which generally means that when I come back I will be 2nd on the list.
This has always been the policy. Usually posted that while casino will attempt to protect chips left, they assume no liability. And cash is not mentioned. When cash used to commonly play, I only know of one non-reservation casino still allows cash to play, houses I played at recommended taking cash with you.
As to a bubble, though always a box when I have seen, that is only used afaik when someone is “playing over”. IOW playing that spot temporarily while other player is on break. Agree that is usually at higher stakes only.
As to your dinner break, that is certainly a viable solution. But if is a juicy table or a single table of that game/stakes with slow ta, there is an option. There is no rule you must leave chips behind. If there was then there would be at least some liability on the house. You can take your chips with you but have dealer use a reserve button.
If a dealer attempts to say the chips must stay, just step back from table and have a quick conversation with a floor. He may want a count to ensure you come back with same number chips but they are not going to assume liability for those chips. They might have some other way, like holding your rack somewhere secure.
I like the casino with chip-over boxes, but that's rare now.
I don't think there is much brother can do besides leaving phone and email contact with floor, and calling back for an update.
I would ask the floor if the casino has player's phone number, as if they do, there is a much better chance of him returning the chips easily.
I also agree that (especially for that sum of money), that someone probably did take the chips by mistake and is likely to return them. At worst, I think casino is required to cooperate if brother wants to file a police report (and police may take action on these kind of easy open-and-shut cases; especially since Casino may want to deter this kind of behavior).
Just realize, the casino is unlikely to take involving the police well. They will certainly comply with authorities but once that is complete, SOME (I know nothing about Venetian on this topic) casinos will simply ban both parties.
I would email the manager of the room and ask for any info they have on the person who took it. The floor may not take initiative and follow up on their own if you just leave your contact info with them.
Incidentally, I once had a pit boss tell me the reason they don't take responsibility for money taken is it would open them to scammers. I leave the table, my partner picks up my chips, I go back and try to get the casino to pay me back.
What if someone stole a backpack or purse or headphones. Same thing, basically. The casino is not responsible for the amount, but it's still theft and they should do whatever they can to help. At least, that's my belief.
