vpFREE2 Forums

Protecting Your Winnings

#1

1a. Protecting Your Winnings
Date: Sun Jan 11, 2009 4:50 am ((PST))

What could you have advised this gentleman beforehand to circumvent this
expensive lesson?
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Problem #1 is getting away from the payoff area - one option is the check, as you mention. If you take cash, ask for an escort, preferably security. You want to arrive somewhere safe (and be assured that you have done so) with no one following you if you're carrying the cash and someone might have seen you get it.

Once you have the cash safe in your room (or at home) and need to carry it again (to airport, or back to casino, or whatever), I recommend dividing it up -- different places on your person, some in your carry-on, some in your spouse/friend's carry-on if traveling with others, so that if robbed, you can deliver some $$ to protect your safety (hopefully, no guarantee) and still hold most of it back. I don't put it in my shoes, but I've heard of that. I have used a leg strap-on wallet, and have seen money belts, etc.

My daughter had a safety lesson by an expert, and was taught if someone approaches you and asks for your purse when alone on a street or in a parking garage, lay down your purse and then step back - this keeps the crook from getting nervous from your proximity, and increases your safety, which is more important than the money.

Thinking before you do anything is the key -- am I safe right now, how might someone try to get me, what can I do to prevent that?

If you enter a garage and there are suspicious characters around, you don't have to continue to your car, if it's easier / safer to go back into the building somehow (same for elevator, can wait for one that's empty before leaving the building, just in case..)

--BG

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#2

Are hotel safes really 'safe'? A friend told me that he heard about an
incident where a person robbed several hotel room safes in a single
heist. Since he told me that, I don't trust these anymore. Anyone else
hear of this? Is it possible?

I'm guessing that if this really happened, the hotel would not be
responsible, since there would be no way to verify anyones loss
claims? Or are they insured to a certain point and have to take your
word for what you lost?

#3

There are two kinds of safes at a casino -- there is the room safe where the safe is generally in a closet and then there are safe deposit boxes at the cashier similar to a bank safe deposit box where you get a key and have to sign in.

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To: vpFREE@yahoogroups.com
From: superskydog@yahoo.com
Date: Tue, 13 Jan 2009 00:31:43 +0000
Subject: [vpFREE] Re: Protecting Your Winnings

Are hotel safes really 'safe'? A friend told me that he heard about an
incident where a person robbed several hotel room safes in a single
heist. Since he told me that, I don't trust these anymore. Anyone else
hear of this? Is it possible?

I'm guessing that if this really happened, the hotel would not be
responsible, since there would be no way to verify anyones loss
claims? Or are they insured to a certain point and have to take your
word for what you lost?

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#4

Are hotel safes really 'safe'? A friend told me that he heard about

an

incident where a person robbed several hotel room safes in a single
heist. Since he told me that, I don't trust these anymore. Anyone

else

hear of this? Is it possible?

   I suppose just about anything is possible.
   When I check into a room and find the room safe already locked
(apparently left that way by the previous occupant), I usually call
for security to unlock the safe. It invariably takes the one or two
person team 15 minutes or more to unlock the safe even though they
have Mission Impossible-type magnetic devices with digital readouts
they stick on the safe. They usually end up getting on the phone for
an additional security code before the safe will open.
   The fact that unlocking the safe is so difficult for these
security people who have the necessary equipment and at least some
training gives me confidence that it would be very difficult for
the "casual" thief to break in. I also believe that a "professional"
thief who really had my safe targeted could probably get in and out
of my room safe before I was done brushing my teeth.
   My real security concern is the hotel housekeeping staff (while
acknowledging that the vast majority are very honest, hard-working
people). If I have enough cash or other valuables that I would still
worry about my room safe being broken into, I use the safe deposit
boxes that most hotels seem to have available for guests.
Dan

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--- In vpFREE@yahoogroups.com, "superskydog" <superskydog@...> wrote:

#5

I always open a safe deposit box in every casino in which I am
staying overnight. Usually, I get the box when I'm checking in
to the hotel. Most of the better hotels provide safe deposit
boxes, w/o charge, to hotel guests.

In some of the lesser casino hotels, it is necessary to open a
SDB at the Cashier's Cage. Sometimes a deposit of $35 - $50 is
required at the time the box is opened. This basically a "key"
deposit, and is fully refunded when the box is closed and the
key is returned. I've been told that the reason for the deposit
is that, should the key be lost, the box could only be opened by
drilling out the old lock. Should that happen, of course the
deposit would be forfeited.

I have never lost a SDB key. Upon being given a key, I
immediately stow it in a very secure area.

I prefer not to use the individual safe deposit boxes that are
sometimes provided in rooms, though I have done so on occasion,
so far, at least, w/o incident.

Though I have never heard of a thief emptying the contents of a
SDB, by "breaking into the box", I have heard and read that it
is possible, with the right tools, to part the safe from it's
moorings, and cart off the entire box.

Though it might defy logic, I would be much more likely to use
a room SDB in the Wynn, than I would in the El Cortez.

The one thing that I will NOT do, is to carry a large sum of
money, on my person in any casino.

~Babe~

···

==========================================================
--- In vpFREE@yahoogroups.com, "sechkardan" <sechkar@...> wrote:

I suppose just about anything is possible.

When I check into a room and find the room safe already locked
(apparently left that way by the previous occupant), I usually
call for security to unlock the safe. It invariably takes the
one or two person team 15 minutes or more to unlock the safe
even though they have Mission Impossible-type magnetic
devices........
  
If I have enough cash or other valuables that I would still
worry about my room safe being broken into, I use the safe
deposit boxes that most hotels seem to have available for guests.
Dan

==============================================================
--- In vpFREE@yahoogroups.com, "superskydog" <superskydog@> wrote:

Are hotel safes really 'safe'? A friend told me that he heard about

an incident where a person robbed several hotel room safes in a
single heist. Since he told me that, I don't trust these anymore...