Last week I met up with a group of old comrades for a Sunday champagne brunch. These were all level headed casino �lifers� most of which had surveillance and game protection experience. Numerous topics were discussed and old memories were shared. After about the 3rd bottle of champagne, the topic turned to game protection. Many questions were raised and discussed. Numerous arguments were made with the ending results being very little bloodshed and promises of meeting again next month, same time, same place.
One of the members of this �Surveillance Mob� mentioned how interesting it would have been to be a fly on the wall of that restaurant. With that in mind I thought people might be interested in what a group of savvy casino game protectors talk about while getting liquored up on a Sunday morning. During the breakfast portion, I asked one of the members of the group (presently working in surveillance) if I could quote him on a comment he made. He quickly dumped sugar on my 2 eggs, over easy, sunny side up. After that incident, I refrained from commenting on how hot his wife looked.
Anyway, from a fly on the walls perspective, here are some of the topics discussed but not in any special order.
1- Pay, why the big gap between a surveillance observer and a floor person? Why do most other casino departments supervisors get gold mine bonuses and surveillance people get the shaft?
2- Why are the surveillance people so blindly loyal to an operation that sees them as pond scum?
3- Knowledge levels; who are these people that are giving these �hole card� detection classes and calling �card counter�s� cheaters? What are their credentials? Isn�t their a law pertaining to the licensing of a post secondary educational group and are they breaking any laws by having vendors for financial sponsors?
4- The Floor people today. Have suit, will travel. Floor people refuse to go to school unless the casinos pay them for their time. One person commented that she thought that these �floor people� were hired for their skills and abilities. Hearing this, entire group (9 people) broke out in laughter and we were threatened by the waitress that another such out burst and we would have to leave. After she walked away, we tried to calculate her tip E.V. but we lost interest when we came up with a negative expectation (stealing some of the silverware). It was agreed that most floor people think that since they�re already getting paid for the job, why should they have to learn it?
5- Card Counters. This subject came up more than the price of gas last month. But what surprised me was when one of the party (after 2 hours and 4 bottles of champagne, it really was a party) tossed up a question for a vote. The question was �How many of you would go out and count cards if you were bankrolled?� All 9 people raised their hands including a little 2 year old girl that was seated at the table across from us. We assumed that she was just mimicking our actions but�..you never know.
6- Treatment of employees. This brought out horror stories the likes of which would make an interesting book or 1 hour segment on Ripley�s Believe it or Not. All agreed that the club bosses made too much money, worked very little if at all, were juiced into their positions, took advantage of their employees, received large bonuses even during the fallout of employee lay offs after the 9/11/2001 tragedy, treated most employees like third world beggars, abused their powers and made uncalculated mistakes that cost their companies up to hundreds of thousands of dollars without even receiving a reprimand.
7- Why do the casinos keep stealing each others employees? It was agreed that the casino circuit was like a merry-go-round from hell. It looks like fun and even was fun in the beginning but after being on it for a while, it was apparent that there was no way of getting off. You just had to bite your lip and wait your turn to get bumped or picked off by some jealous, corporate ladder climber that had no scruples and could only advance his or her career by destroying others.
8- A call for a nation wide �Close Your Eyes Day�. All agreed that since they were treated like dirt and walked on and disrespected they should have what the police call the �Blue Flu� except they would show up for work but keep their eyes un-peeled. A couple of people tried to calculate what such an act would cost the industry. They came up with 2 different figures; $1.47 and $12 Billion dollars (did I mention we were on our 8th bottle of champagne?) So to stop all arguments, we all agreed that it would cost the industry roughly between $1.47 and $12 Billion dollars. Someone suggested a toast so we drank to that.
9- Discrimination. Do casinos discriminate? This was a queer topic to address since almost every race distinction was represented. Some had tales from the past but when pressed, they reluctantly agreed that the actions on behalf of the casino were justified. The question of how many female shift managers, African American, Oriental, or Hispanic department managers has anyone known of? One drunken fool asked if it had dawned on anyone else how no management positions were being held by any female, African American lesbians that were married to Puerto Rican Jews that were recently emigrated from Alaska. One voice from the group quickly shouted out �What about Wynn?� He quickly rescinded his claim and said �I forgot all about them.� All of a sudden it �who was going to be driving home� became a hot issue. We all agreed to throw our keys in the center of the table and call somebody�s wife who had a Caravan or commandeer a school bus. �You idiot� I replied, �its Sunday! There�s no school today.� The group got hostile and pelted him with packets of �equal.�
10- Blackjack table win was discussed and the group figured that the average strip casino with 60+ tables wins about $1.5 million dollars on a fair to average month. With this in mind, I asked anyone if they�ve ever been offered a bribe. Nobody said anything. I then asked if some one offered you a bribe (tip) would you take it? They all said yes.
After that the snooty but rude waitress came over and told us we had to leave because they needed our booth. We asked if she cared who paid the tab and she said �I don�t care who pays the damn tab.� I replied �Very Good then, you pay the tab!� She then shook her finger in my face and said �I don�t need any you shit today.� I said �Yes Sir� and we quickly departed. One of the surveillance supervisors got the table cloth caught on his pants and was half way out the door before he noticed that he had pulled most of the dishes off the table. I asked for the manager and paid him $200 for the damages and gave him my name (I used Al Rogers�s name) and said if the $200 didn�t cover it to call me, Al Rogers. When we got into the Caravan, we tried to figure out what the real damages were and settled between $1.27 and $12 Billion dollars.
On the drive home the reality that this was an election year sparked an interesting conversation. I will spare you the details but Al Rogers received 90% of the vote and Viktor Nacht got 90% too but then we were reminded Viktors hot wife and driver (Bettie) that Al was a religious man. �You guys are toasted�, she said. �Don�t you know about the separation of church and state law? Religious people can�t run for the presidency because they live in churches outside of the state.� Did I mention that she was a natural blonde?
Al Rogers for President in 2004!
