A $450 error in a high limit room at Caesars Palace

Take a look at this photo below (click on the thumbnail to enlarge) because the photo tells a story.



What you see in the photo is a straight flush on a video poker machine, and then on the screen it says $450 was cashed out.

Usually you don't see a straight flush or any kind of a jackpot left on a machine. After a handpay for a jackpot (in this case it was $1,250) the game at many casinos is usually played again to wipe the jackpot hand off the screen. But in this case, the jackpot hand remains on the screen, and the remaining money (credits) on the machine, has been cashed out. What happened?

Well, what happened is that when the lucky player received his hand-pay for the straight flush (the machine was unlocked when the hand-pay was made), he put the hand-pay money into his pocket and went to the rest room.... and he forgot to ask anyone to either watch his machine or to lock-up the machine while he was gone.

Less than thirty seconds after he left the high limit room at Caesars Palace to go to the restroom he realized that he had left the credits on his "unlocked machine" and he quickly ran back.

But it was too late. The credits had been cashed out and witnesses said the credits were cashed out by one of two young men who were in the high limit room watching the high limit players. This was Saturday evening when the casino was very crowded, both with players and "sightseers."

This past weekend was a very crowded weekend at Caesars with NASCAR in town plus some other conventions and events.

When I started playing late Friday afternoon I noticed that there were a lot of "sightseers" in the high limit room, and usually the casino staff would question anyone who was just "hanging out."

On Friday afternoon the "sightseers" were overstepping their bounds. For example, when anyone hit a jackpot or received a hand-pay the "sightseers" were there to watch the transaction and often asked the gamblers how much they were winning and how much money they had. Totally inappropriate. A couple young women actually sat down next to young men to start asking them about their play on high limit machines and what their jobs were and how much they earned. Again, totally inappropriate and even dangerous.

On Friday afternoon there was one "high roller" playing a $10 video poker game on two machines, side by side, who hit a $40,000 royal on one of them and before and after he attracted a large crowd of people watching his speed in playing two machines. Several young ladies came by to make small talk -- and that slowed down his play. One young woman said "do you have a girlfriend?" And he answered "yes I do" and the crowd of onlookers chuckled and said "he shot you down, honey."

And that's when I pushed my "service button" and when a slot attendant came over to my machine, I asked that they call over a manager and I asked them to clear the room of the sightseers... it was dangerous and inappropriate to have them there.

The manager said that some of the sightseers might be friends of the players. I responded, "so ask them if they are." And he did. And none of them knew any of the players so they were asked to leave.

But later others came back. It was "sightseers" who took advantage of the player who left his machine unattended.

You can't do much about sightseers on the general casino floor... but in the high limit rooms where there are big hand-pays and sometimes piles of cash and tickets on machine tops, there is no reason for them to be allowed to hang out.

I think since Harrah's hijacked Caesars that the security in general may have fallen off, especially as it pertains to big players. The club scene on weekends also exacerbates the problem. Predators can meet people in the social environs of the clubs and then "hang out" when the folks decide to play high stakes.

I had only one occasion in all my years of gambling where I was "targeted" like that. I was playing craps at around 2:00 A.M. and had been having a long very profitable night. There was only 1 other player at the table. An inebriated but decent looking young blond started talking to me and then started rubbing up against me etc. (she must have been drunker than I thought-lol). At first I was being nice but as it was becoming obvious she was looking at the $$ in my rack (tho I will admit I was looking at her rack as well), I gave the "nod" to the pit boss and he understood and he had her escorted out.

But everyone should be reminded something I was tought early on---always put the black and pink chips in the middle of your rack and the 5's and 1's on the ends so that only those smaller chips can be taken.

Alan, while I've never had the "sightseer" issue (probably because I usually played in overnight sessions) I understand how it can be very annoying and even potentially dangerous. But this guy who hit the $1250 SF and had $450 in cash still on his machine: It's really not unusual for the casino not to ask you to "play off" the jackpot hand. Bellagio, Venetian, Mandalay Bay, Mirage, Stratosphere, Luxor & Wynn/Encore come to mind as high limit rooms where they don't bother the player with that annoyance because they can't make you play another hand and, since more people play some more than get up to leave anyway, it's a very courteous customer service policy not to badger the player to do something he doesn't have to do.

Of course, I've seen quite a few places (more do than don't) that do ask and even illegally require you to play the jackpot off, but I've never lost a challenge when I refused.

Caesars sent me a "VIP trip survey" asking about my visit. I wrote in detail about what happened in the high limit room. I reported about my early complaints about the sightseers and the staff being hesitant to clear them out, and what happened to the unfortunate player who accidentally left $450 credits in a live machine. The survey asked me if I wanted response, and if so, to enter my phone. I did. I will let you know if I get a response from them.

Several times when playing in a high limit area at casinos I've been approached for money. Usually the story is "I need $20 to get home."

OK. The only time I've ever been "bothered" while playing overnight in a high limit room was at the Hard Rock, where two young girls sat next to me to watch my play on the $25 machine. They said nothing to me until I hit four Aces on ddbp. While waiting for the $20k cash, they told me they were in town to film a porn flick--and they looked it. But being the caring professionals that they were, they never asked me for a dime. It also didn't help them that I had hit my session win goal and immediately left for the valet after pocketing all the cash.

Saturday morning... Caesars called me about the VIP survey I filled out and wanted to know more about the security problem with the "lurkers" in the high limit room. It was a lengthy conversation-- almost 45 minutes -- and I was asked for more details. The rep who called me was very concerned and understood the problem immediately. What took even more time is that the rep was typing up all of my responses.