…or the Nevada budget situation is far more dire than we’ve been led to believe. From KLAS:
Buckley said one of those areas needs to be prisons. The finance committee went ahead with plans to close the Jean prison, saving the state $11 dollars. It had been closed and reopened twice before.
They’re really looking to save, aren’t they?
A friendly reminder from the LV Sun:
If $5,000 casino chips could talk, what would this one say? It might explain its recent travels and how it has ended up in the custody of a cashier at the MGM Grand, who questioned whether it really belonged to the gambler who turned it in.
The gambler, a poker player, made the mistake of treating the chip like currency. And all he’s got to show for it today is a piece of paper – a receipt for the chip he no longer has – and no money.
The harsh lesson he learned is that this isn’t old Vegas, where casino chips were the coin of the realm, used to settle debts between friends, buy groceries and pay for haircuts.
That culture started to change 20 years ago when Nevada defined tokens as the property of individual casinos and prohibited their use “for any monetary purpose” outside the casino. They were simply intended as stand-ins for cash, loaned to players for the sole purpose of gambling.
The regulation was adopted to bring state law in line with federal rules prohibiting the creation of new currencies and with existing casino accounting procedures. The rule also has favorable tax implications for casinos, which aren’t taxed on unreturned chips.
But churches still find chips in collection baskets and gamblers frequently tip with chips.
So Nolan Dalla, one of many poker players who casually trade, borrow and gift poker chips to colleagues, was surprised to learn he was, technically, breaking Nevada law.
I’ve discussed this issue from several angles. For example, lets say you are an employee and someone tips you a $5,000 chip, or you just find one out on the carpet. In most casinos (including the one I worked at) you’re required to report both immediately. As far as money on the floor goes, to this day I won’t pick up money I see down there, because not doing this was really hammered home to us. If I see a quarter on the floor, I’ll still say to someone nearby, “Hey, there’s a quarter–why don’t you take it.” You see, if the quarter belonged to a patron, taking it would be theft, and if it belonged to the casino (fell out of a hopper, etc), taking it would be skimming. Casinos aren’t mellow about either one.
Anyway, some people I’ve talked to have said that they’d just give the $5,000 chip to a friend to cash in for them. And I’d tell them that what happened to Nolan would happen to them. Apparently I was right. Casinos pretty much know who’s got $5000 chips, and anyone who walks up to the cage with one of them is going trip an alarm. Because, let’s face it, if you’re betting $5000 a hand or more, you’re not going to be cashing out one chip. In fact, you might not be cashing out at all, but either using whatever chips you have to settle markers or socking a credit away for your next trip. So I can see how this would happen.
On the other hand, anyone who’s familiar with poker players at all knows that Nolan’s description of how he got the chip rings absolutely true. And it’s not like he’s some bum off the street–he’s very, very well known in the poker world. I say, if the chip is genuine, give him his money. But, as always, be on guard for counterfeit and stolen chips.
I know that the thing that bugs me most about Nevada casino resorts is how hard it is to gamble. You often have to walk several feet to get to a slot machine. Luckily, the Gaming Control Board is on top of the problem and, thanks to Cantor Fitzgerald, a solution is on the horizon: From the LV Sun:
Come mid-2006, casinos will be able to offer the small devices to allow customers to play the slots, blackjack, craps or baccarat while they’re in lounges, swimming pools or restaurants.
The state Gaming Control Board on Tuesday held its final public hearing on a regulation to allow operation of “mobile gaming systems” in casinos.
“We see an appetite by a generation of people that have grown up using mobile devices,” said Joseph M. Asher, managing director of Cantor Gaming, whose company is going to manufacture the mobile devices. “Everybody has a cell phone. People have their BlackBerries. Systems like Nintendo and Xbox — entire generations have grown up with these things.”
Control Board Chairman Dennis Neilander said the regulation would be ready for full board consideration in January at a meeting in Las Vegas. The commission could give final approval in February or March.
Cantor Gaming has already applied for a state gaming license. After the regulation is adopted, Cantor would submit its system to the Control Board for review to check for security and other issues. If cleared, it would go into a casino for a 60-day or more trial period, after which it could be licensed.
“Each system will have to go through full board and commission scrutiny,” Neilander said.
The Control Board and the Nevada Gaming Commission would establish where the devices could be played.
Michael Wilson, chief counsel for the Control Board, said the devices would not tie into the Internet.
Cantor, which has an office in Las Vegas, now makes the devices for off-track, horseracing bettors in the United Kingdom. Other companies are expected to manufacture the systems to get a foot in the door to what may be an emerging industry.
…
Under the proposed method of operation, a player would deposit up-front money or use his credit at a casino to get one of the devices. A customer would have to show a driver’s license, passport or other identification before a unit would be issued. The casino would have to make sure the person was 21 or older.“I certainly think you will see people in various areas of the resort, whether it’s out by the swimming pool, convention center or shopping area or whatever areas the system will be able to be used, maybe playing a few hands of blackjack,” Asher said. “It’s about making the gaming experience more convenient.”
The regulation would prohibit operation in parking lots, garages and hotel rooms. They could be used only in casinos with nonrestricted licenses with at least 100 slot machines and a table game.
Las Vegas SUN: Handheld gaming devices might find way into casinos
I’m a bit ambivalent about this story. On one hand, this fits right in with my thesis that gambling continually evolves along with society. Since a growing number of Americans can’t take cell phones out of their hands, the Nevada gaming industry is rationally moving to offer gaming on handheld wireless devices.On the other hand, I can’t help but feel that R&D is a finite resource. Would we, as a society, be better served by allocating resource dollars to a higher purpose than making gambling more convenient?
Conversely, research into convenient wireless gambling might have some sort of spinoff that does help society: maybe the instantaneous sharing of medical data among hospitals, or something like that.
The Internet, after all, is a fantastic communications medium that can break down borders, but it is mostly used for spam, gambling, and porn. Then again, who’s to say that giving otherwise-frustrated guys an avenue for free “material” isn’t a higher social purpose than ivory tower academics like me emailing powerpoint lecture slides to each other?
As may frustrate some readers, I have many questions, but few easy answers.
I’ve been having a busy week, mostly because I’ve been getting the UNLV Global Gaming Abstract ready to go online. If you clicked the link and are disappointed, I don’t have it all online yet.
This, and the lack of compelling gaming-related news, means that in lieu of a news story and sardonic analysis, I’ll leave you with a bit of trivia today. Nevada trivia, to be precise.
DID YOU KNOW that, as children, Governor (1951-1958) Charles Russell, Congressman (1953-1956) Cliff Young, and Senator (1954-1974) Alan Bible all lived on the same block in Lovelock, Nevada?
A few weeks ago, I posted a story about how a Hong Kong election was settled by picking ping-pong balls. Well, the tradition of settling tied elections by lot-casting is alive and well much closer to home, in White Pine County, Nevada. From the LVRJ:
Ray Urrizaga turned over the queen of clubs. Bob Swetich said “whoa,” and flipped up the seven of diamonds. The two men shook hands.And with that, a choice that split White Pine County voters right down the middle was settled Thursday by two men in blue jeans and a $1.99 deck of Streamline playing cards, bought the day before at Ely’s V & S Variety store.
Urrizaga and Swetich have lived in the county for most of their lives, and each man received exactly 1,847 votes on Election Day. By drawing the high card, Urrizaga broke the tie and won a four-year term on the County Commission.
“I don’t believe in gambling,” Urrizaga said afterward. “That’s why, this here, I thought I’d lose because I’m not a gambling man.”
“Hey,” said Swetich, a self-described casual gambler. “This is the only way to do it in this state.”
In fact, it’s the law.
Nevada Revised Statute dictates that in the event of a tie, elections for certain seats must be determined by drawing lots.
White Pine County Clerk Donna Bath said it doesn’t happen often, but when it does, a deck of cards seems to be the preferred method in Nevada.
Queen rules in county race
As I said when I talked about state regulators demanding casinos pursue high rollers with greater diligence, I love this state.
Subscribe to this site's RSS feed.
My Latest on Two Way Hard Three