I like the Horseshoe in Tunica, and I've long felt that their slot
attendants and floor managers are among the best in Tunica in terms
of trying to make players happy. They're easy with the comps, helpful
with machine problems, fairly quick on hand pays. But yesterday I had
a bad experience with two of the managers, who I'll call Dan and Bob
(not their real names), that I wanted to pass along and see what
ya'll thought.
To make a long story short, I left my machine with about $70 in
credits on it for about 5 minutes without asking a slot attendant to
watch it. During that time someone cashed it out and took the money.
After I returned and began telling floor manager Dan what had
happened, a fellow player spoke up and said he had seen a middle-
aged, heavy set white-haired lady near the machine. While I continued
to talk to Dan and his supervisor Bob, my fellow player walked
through the VP aisles and found that the lady he had seen was still
there, at the back of the area. I asked Bob to come with me to
approach the lady, to which he readily agreed, to his credit. The
lady claimed that she had never been near my machine, that she had
only been on the row where she now was at the other end of the VP
area. My fellow VP player said he was 95% certain it was the same
lady he had seen hovering near my machine.
Here's the crux I asked Bob and Dan to have the "eye-in-the-sky"
films reviewed for the last 5 minutes, to see who cashed out my
machine and where they went after they did it. They refused to do
this, and further stated that there was nothing illegal in someone
taking the credits from an "abandoned" machine (I had my chair leaned
up against the machine, had an open water bottle next to it and my
usual litter in the coin tray cigarettes and lighter, strategy
cards, notebook and pen). They said that they did not condone the
practice, and that if they noticed it happening they would have
interfered "just because we don't want that kind of person in our
casino" but that they were not going to get involved in making one
guest give money back to another guest who had abandoned it.
(Note: I also later learned, from personnel at another casino who I
told about the incident, that they could have checked my machine for
the voucher number and then checked the cage to see if the voucher
had been cashed yet - remember this was less than 5 minutes after the
theft. If it had not been cashed they could have voided it. If it had
been cashed they would have additional, better quality film of who
the person was, including probably level facial shots and not just
the view from above.)
Now, the loss of $70 isn't really a big deal. I would most likely
have lost it on that machine in another 30 minutes anyway, and as
things turned out it probably saved me several hundred dollars (I was
chasing a one-machine-progressive and after losing my seat was unable
to get back on, and judging by the meter the dern thing swallowed
another couple thousand before finally giving up the royal). But I
have to say that I had previously taken apparently unfounded comfort
in the existence of the surveillance inside casinos. And I was
especially shocked by Dan and Bob's attitude and their refusal to
help when, if my fellow player was correct in identifying the lady,
the solution was clearly within their power. Now, I don't think they
acted individually or on a whim it was pretty clear that they were
following long held management policies, as there was no hesitation
or discussion or disagreement in what the two of them told me.
Abandoned credits are fair game and the casino's films are not for
the player's protection, only for the casino's apparently that is
Horseshoe's policy.
Do you think the Horseshoe was right in what they did? Would most
other casinos act the same way? Would it do any good to contact the
gaming commission? (Bob stated that the commission would refuse to
get involved for losses under $500.) Would the same policy apply if
it had been a pick-pocket?
I'm posting this on several boards because I think my experience may
help others avoid trouble in the future, by relieving you of any mis-
placed faith you may have in the surveillance system, so sorry for
the multiple posts if you read the same boards I do. I usually don't
multi-post like this but this case seemed an exception.