This is a sensitive subject but I am going to ask the question anyway, and hope that those of you who use an anonymous "handle" or "identity" will respond.
Have you ever been "backed off" or asked not to play at a casino? Or have they told you not to come back to their property or you will be threatened with arrest for trespassing? (I told you this would be sensitive.)
Well, it's happened to me three times -- to certain degrees. I've never been threatened with arrest for trespass, and I've never been escorted off a property, but I was "uninvited" when it came to either shooting dice at craps or playing craps.
Here are the three times:
1. First time at NYNY: I'm having a great roll as the shooter and hitting numbers and hitting passes. I was setting the dice. The boxman says "we don't appreciate you setting the dice." I said, "you don't believe in that stuff working, do you?" "Yes we do," said the stickman."
I threw the dice again and hit my point. The table gets paid. I get the dice again for another comeout. I throw the dice again -- and it's a winner 7. The boxman says, "you're through." I colored up my chips and left.
2. Second time at MGM: This time it's partially my fault. Not only am I setting (which was OK with the managers) but sometimes one of the die would fall short of hitting the back wall. I was using a very soft throw. I was warned, and I said I would try for both dice to hit, but sometimes (not often, sometimes) one die would fall short. Well, it was a crowded table and if they "took" the dice away from me there would have been a lot of angry players. So I continued.
At one point, two "suits" from MGM stood behind the boxman commenting on how I set the dice. When my same set (I used the cross sixes) that I used to hit numbers resulted in three come out sevens in a row, one of the "suits" said to the other -- "but he used the same set." That's when I said to him "but it's an accident. It shouldn't happen." That's when I got under their skin.
About twelve hours later I returned to the craps pit, this time with a nice bankroll from earlier (it was one of the few times I ever won more than $5,000 shooting dice), and a floorman went over to the boxman at my table and said "Mr. M is welcome to play, but if he misses the back wall even once, take the dice away from him."
About a year later I returned to the MGM to play craps there on a Sunday morning when the minimum was $5. I never touched the dice. But as soon as I walked over to the table, a security guard and a "suit" came over to the table to watch me. I bought in for a hundred dollars and my sister was the shooter. She "held" the dice for more than a half hour -- and I colored up more than a thousand dollars on her roll. I never returned to the MGM.
3. This goes back more than 8 years ago, when Shelley's family like to stay at the Bellagio. We were staying there and during the night -- it was about 2-AM -- I was at a $25 table with one other player. The $10 table next to us was jammed and I couldn't get a spot.
At the $25 table I lost a couple of thousand dollars with the first crew while I was playing at that table. But I got into a dispute with the new crew that came on because when the new crew came on I started to get lucky and I was hitting and winning. I did have a net loss-- but that didn't stop the crew from demanding that my "set dice" hit the back wall and bounce back eighteen inches.
The dispute was over the "bounce back." I stood my ground that there was no such rule (there isn't) and my dice were hitting the back wall. After our argument got loud a floor person came over and told the crew to pay my bets and said my throws were "legal." That's when the crew got into a fight with the floor person. Wow. Right there in front of the players.
The argument ended, I took down my bets, leaving only the passline with the point of 5. I threw the dice as hard as I could -- the dice bounced all around the table -- landing on 5, winner. I left.
A couple of days later I got a phone call from Bellagio management saying the crew was wrong, I was correct, and they were being "retrained."
The story is not over.
Several months later, Shelley and I met her sister and husband at Bellagio for brunch. As we walked back towards Caesars we passed the craps pit where there were several wide open tables with $10 minimums. I said to Shelley, "look ten dollars. Let me try a hundred."
So, I bought in for a hundred dollars and within a few minutes I had a couple of hundred dollars of wins in my rail and another $150 or so on the layout. That's when the floorman asked me for my player's card.
"Oh, I don't have one," I said. I didn't want to give him my card because of the previous incident.
"But you're having a great roll. Give me your driver license. Let me get you rated!"
That's when I said, "oh, okay," and I reached into my wallet and gave him my MGM card.
The floorman started to enter my information into the computer at the table. I was throwing more numbers and then, as I was getting ready to throw the dice again -- the card comes back to me. It wasn't placed on my rail, it wasn't handed to me -- it was thrown directly at my hand gripping the dice and hit my hand hard.
I looked at Shelley and said "I think they want me to leave."
"That would be a good idea," the floorman said.
I colored up and left, leaving the passline bet on the layout. A few months ago I stopped by Bellagio and bought in at a $10 table with $40 just to see if I would be approached or if anyone would care. They didn't. But then, it was only a $40 buy in.
I've known for a long time that Bellagio has facial recognition software. And they can literally recognize gamblers driving up in their cars to the casino.
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