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.
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