I was in Las Vegas July 28 - Aug 3 and was playing at the Stardust on a quarter cherry pie machine. There were 15 cherries missing ( yes, I know, not enough to play) but I was getting killed at the Super Aces progressive and decided to take a break.
I had 3 cherries to go when a tall man walked by, looked down at my machine and then kept walking. My spider senses were tingling but I thought he was just looking at a now very profitable cherry pie machine. After quite a while , I finally hit the pie, lost $35, cashed out and went on my way. I then realized that I left my cell phone in the coin tray and went back to the machine. Cell phone was gone and so was the tall guy. From the time left the machine until I returned to the machine was less than a minute. I called my wife, then called my cell phone number. It rang to voice mail . I talked to my wife later and she also called my cell number. A guy tried to answer, didn't know how to work the phone and my wife heard him pressing buttons and swearing. I called my cell phone company and had the service suspended.
I take full blame for leaving the phone in the coin tray. I was surprised that it disappeared so quickly. I guess the tall guy walking by looked at the coin tray, saw that there was a cell phone there and that I was almost done with the machine and waited in the wings. By leaving my phone unattended, I gave him the opportunity to take it. I just looked on pacebutler.com and an Audiovox CDM8600 brings in a cool $12.
Lessons learned:
1) Leaving anything in, by or around a machine is inviting it to disappear.
2) cell phones seem to be a desirable theft item even though the resale is about 10% - 15% of the list price.
3) If something doesn't look or feel right, take a couple of minutes and re assess the situation and the environment
Advantage gambling is all about risk/reward. I should have invested the time to protect my phone and I wouldn't have lost several hours getting the phone turned off, checking in with security at the Stardust and the extra time and effort in using a phone card instead of cell phone.
John Zaroff
Delphi Electronics and Safety
313-996-3682 (w)
ยทยทยท
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