Chasing My Losses

As I walked through a strip casino I passed the craps tables and noticed a show girl standing there wearing her outfit and hat.  I walked up to her and asked, “I’m curious, is your hat heavy?” She replied, “Yes, it’s very heavy.” Then in a sultry voice she asked, “Do you want to play craps?” I obediently nodded my head yes and in a meek voice I said, "OK".  Within 30 minutes I lost $600 on that craps table. Then I went full tilt. Trying to chase my losses I went into the High Limit room (without the showgirl) and tried playing blackjack. In an hour I lost $5,400; so in 90 minutes I lost a total of $6,000. This is not the worse gambling loss I've ever suffered but it ranks right up there.

~Stoney

A Type Of Crack Called Blackjack

I don’t really think about other people’s perceptions about Las Vegas locals. It doesn’t come up until I have to travel somewhere. Whenever I meet someone new the first question I’m asked is, “Where are you from?” I’ll answer Las Vegas and the persons face will light up and immediately the next question that comes out of their mouth is, “What hotel do you live in?” It’s embarrassing to have to explain to grown adults that Las Vegas locals live in houses; just like everyone else. Next, they’ll ask, “What do you do for a living?” I’ll reply, “I’m a dealer.” Again, the eyes will go wide and they’ll say, “You’re a drug dealer?! What kind of drugs do you sell?” By that point I won’t even bother explaining. Once in a while, I’ll answer sarcastically, “I sell a type of crack called blackjack…”

~Heather 2010

A $10 Mistake That Cost Hundreds

I was dealing blackjack in the back of the casino next to the bar on a really slow day. I had nothing to do so I would watch people play on the slot machines while I wait for a player to sit down at my table. I started watching this guy play on a slot machine next to me and he was down to $10 in the machine. He stopped playing, tilted his chair forward (so to save his spot) and then walked to the restrooms. While he was in the bathroom another man walked over to the slot machine, took the $10 out and walked away. The slot player came back from the bathroom and when he saw that his $10 was gone he went crazy. He ran to our pit and screamed at my floorman, “Help! I’ve been mugged; call security!” My floorman hadn’t seen what happened so he thought the guy actually did get mugged. He picked up the phone, called security and security came running over. When the slot player told the security guard what happened the guard gave him a nasty look and said, “Wait; if you were stupid enough to leave your money in a slot machine and go to the bathroom, what did you expect? I can’t help you from your own stupidity.” The slot player was so furious that he started punching the security guard in the face. He got in a good first punch but then the security guard threw him down and used a taser on him. The slot player ended up going to jail for assault, all over $10. That cost him bail, a trip back to Las Vegas for his court date and a hefty fine. That $10 mistake cost him a few hundred dollars at least.

~Heather 2008

Make A Decision & Stick To It

I was dealing roulette and I had a really nice drunk guy and his girlfriend at my table. They had been playing for about 2 hours and it was just the guy playing while she watched. He would bet $5 on one spin and then sit out the next 5 spins, he played very sporadically. He had been losing and was down to 23 chips ($23) when he took his entire stack and put it straight up on 11. So I spun the ball and waited… and waited… and then I waved off the table saying, “No more bets”. Right when I did that he freaked out and yelled, “Wait! Stop! I changed my mind!” and he started to grab his chips. The chips he didn’t manage to grab were knocked off the table. “No, you can’t do that! The ball has already dropped.” I yelled. He dropped the chips that were in his hand and they splashed in front of him. He started to panic and said frantically, “You didn’t wave it off; I can still change my bet. You didn’t wave it off.” I looked over and saw that the ball had hit 11. He had won the bet, so I turned to him and told him that he won and his expression changed from that of anxiety to disbelief. “You waved it off! You waved it off!” he screamed with his eyes open wide. I called over the floorman, Jeff and told him what happened and he ran to the phone and called the eye-in-the-sky. We waited 5 minutes while they reviewed the tapes and then Jeff came back and without a word straightened up the chips. The chips the man took off were not counted and the chips that were still on number 11 were counted. He ended up getting paid for 16 chips straight up which is $560. If he had left up his original bet he would have made $805. This guy was so happy that we paid him that afterwards he tipped me $50.  He immediately left with the money and a huge grin on his face.

~Heather 2008

A Fortunate Mistake

The first week I started dealing blackjack I was on a double deck table which was completely full. There was a pretty woman playing on 3^rd base and she was laughing and talking to her friends who were next to her. I dealt her 2 cards and she glanced at them and made the hitting motion. I had flipped the card half-way over when she jumped up and started waving her hands around screaming, “No! I made a mistake. Don’t!” By the time she had finished that sentence I had already given her the card and it was an ace. She flipped over her two cards to show a 20. She had hit a 20 and got an ace for 21. In the 5 years I’ve dealt blackjack I’ve never seen that happen again.

~Heather 2004

Name Mix-up

*All the names are fake.

I went to Las Vegas on vacation and I was staying at a well-known hotel & casino. On my 3rd night I had a blast partying, getting drunk, etc. I started to go back to my room at the end of the night but I had forgotten my room key so I went to the front desk and asked them for help. They sent a security guard up to my room with me, he unlocked the door and we tried to open it but it was manually locked from the inside. We heard a voice from the room which is weird because I was staying alone, nobody should have been in my room. The man behind the door starts screaming, “What are you doing? Why do you want in?” The security guard said, “I’m Craig Thompson. I’m a security guard. We have Ted Bromber here; he is drunk and has lost his key so we were letting him back in his room.” “I’m Ted Bromber, I’m not drunk and there is no one here but me; so leave me alone, you got the wrong room!” We walked back down to the front desk and told her what happened. Apparently there were 2 Ted Bromber’s in the hotel and she had gotten us mixed up. To make up for it they comped me one night free in my room and they did the same to the other Ted Bromber.

~Anonymous 2007

If It Worked Before, It Should Work Again

I was dealing single deck blackjack when a woman sat down and changed $100. After playing for 5 minutes it was obvious to me that she was new to blackjack and had no idea what she was doing. I tried to be nice and tell her how to play but she insisted on playing her way, which was fine with me. My gambling motto has always been “It’s your money; you earned it, so you can spend it however you please.” The woman at the table told me, “I started playing yesterday morning; before that I had never played blackjack before. My husband received a blackjack tournament invitation and he didn’t want to play so he gave his ticket to me. I played my way yesterday in the tournament and won 1^st place, so I want to keep playing my way. It worked in the tournament so it will work here.” I didn’t argue with that and she left an hour later with $125.

~Heather 2006

What's One Way To Get Kicked Out Of A Casino? Honesty

My wife's favorite game is Blackjack Switch. A couple years ago my wife and I were playing Blackjack Switch together and betting green chips. I'm a progressive bettor and I increase my bet by one chip every time I win. My wife and I were on a winning streak and had worked our way up to $100 per spot. We won our next hand and I, out of habit, added another green chip to the stack. I had added it before the dealer had paid the bet. After she paid me, I corrected her and told her I had inadvertently pressed my bet before she paid me.

The dealer told the lady pit boss who immediately told us to leave the premises, saying I was caught capping my bet. I argued and she called the casino manager who had watched me on the monitor, showing me capping my bet. Luckily the other players at the table backed me up, saying I had brought my error to the dealer’s attention. My more experienced gambling associates told me that I could have been arrested and turned over to the local constabulary.

~Stoney 2007

How Casinos Save Money

Usually, the way casinos are built, the dealer’s break room or dining area is usually a level or 2 below or above the ground floor. A group of dealers and I were walking back to our tables after our break when one of the dealers tripped and fell down the flight of stairs. He hurt his head and his ankle so the casino automatically had a security guard drive him to the 24 hour clinic to have a doctor look at him. The first thing they check for was drugs and then they took care of his injuries. Unfortunately the drug test came back positive for marijuana so he was immediately fired. He had to pay for all of the medical bills and the drug test on his own and it was expensive. That’s what every casino does. If their employees get injured on the job then they can get workers comp, they can get disability or they can sue. That is why the casino will make security drive you to the doctors right then and there, so they can have a drug test done. Since a good amount of tests are going to come back positive for drugs or alcohol then that cuts down on the workers comp claims and disability claims that the casino has to pay and that saves the casino money.

~Heather 2004

Cashier's Mistake

I'm a gambler but I'm also very frugal.  In the downtown casino we were staying at it had a McDonalds and this restaurant always has derelicts and homeless people milling around it. My wife and I would get up early, get our senior coffees and then drive out to Red Rock canyon and hike. When we would get our coffee, my wife would get one and I would get two for myself, for a total of three. When I ordered three senior coffees to go the female manager started quizzing me and asked, “Who are the coffees for?” I don’t know but I think she was insinuating that I was getting the coffee for some of the homeless milling around.

Now, you have to understand, this was our second day in Vegas and we had hiked the day before. We got back exhausted and crashed without showering. The next morning, knowing we were just going to get nasty and sweaty on our hike, we didn’t change our clothes. The manager asked me who the coffees were for, I told her, “Two are for me and one is for my wife.” She asked, “Where is your wife and how old is she?” I lied and said “She's 60 (she was really 54) and she is right behind me.” I turned around and instead of seeing my wife I see this homeless looking woman who did look to be every bit of 60. The manager let me have two coffees.

~Stoney

Late At Night

When you are at a casino late at night, make sure to look under the tables (and on the floors) for chips that people have dropped. There are plenty of times when we have a player so drunk that he drops his money and doesn’t realize it. The dealer’s and people who work at a casino are technically not allowed to pick them up, but you will see maintenance casually sweeping the chips into their dust pans for later. The most I ever saw was a $5,000 chip. I was new to the casino industry so the first thing I did was pick it up and yell “Look what I found!” My co-worker ran over and scolded me, “Why did you have to go and do that? Don’t pick it up! Now you have to go turn it in at the security station. You will never get any money now. The casino will hold it for 30 days and if no one claims it then the casino gets it. You should have waited until after your shift and then pick it up and hope no one sees you. Then you have to have someone turn it in for you. They won’t let you change that if you are an employee here.” “Damn.”

~Heather 2004

Remember: Casinos Are Corporations

I was dealing Let It Ride to a woman who had never gambled before and had never been to Las Vegas before. Her husband brought her down for the first time and she was having a blast. She was playing $10 on all 3 hands plus she had a $5 bet on the 3 Card Bonus and she had the $1 bonus up as well. I dealt the hand and I asked her to see it, so I could help her play. She flipped over a 10, Queen, and Ace of hearts. “Oh great!” I said, “Tuck your cards, and leave it, you won! Great job! You got paid for a flush on your 3 Card Bonus, that’s $15.” She was so excited, she tucked her cards. I flipped over a Jack of hearts. Then I flipped the second card and it was a King of hearts, she got a Royal Flush. “Congratulations! You got a Royal Flush! Let’s see… that’s $50,000!” I told her. Her face grew into a huge smile and then, before anyone could stop her, she grabbed her cards, then grabbed my cards and ran to the craps tables to show her husband. I screamed at her to stop, my floorman screamed at her to stop and the players were yelling at her too. She was so excited she didn’t hear. When she got to her husband and showed him the cards he started screaming at her, “You don’t take the cards off the table! Now you’re disqualified! Why did you do that?” Unfortunately he was right; even though everyone saw her win; because she took the cards off the table she was automatically disqualified and lost the $50,000 win. Why would the casino do that? Because they are a corporation and they will look for any reason not to pay you.

~Tom 2008

Please Let Me Explain

As a dealer you are not allowed to take anything out of a player’s hands. This is so dealers can’t secretly hand the player a chip that was just stolen or exchange anything. It’s part of game security and if the dealers don’t follow protocol then the cameras will see us and we will get a write up.

Well I had this black man walk up to my table and try to hand me some money. I told him to put it on the table so I could take it. He got so upset; he screamed, “What? You can’t touch me because I’m black! Screw You!” He stormed away completely furious. He thought I was a racist. I was so embarrassed and I felt so bad; I wish I could explain.

~Heather 2007