HARRAH'S VINDICTIVE AGGRESSION AGAINST PATRONS

[AngusThermopyle]

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More than two dozen people played the machine before one gambler alerted Caesars employees.

Caesars lost $487,000 on the machine during that time, state police said.


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Or an average of about $20,000 each. Clearly some got more. A lot more. Those may be the targets of the charges, not Granny who got $200 for the lone $20 she put in.

I wonder how many reported the windfall to the IRS? (not sure how it would be classified)

[StevieG]

Apply the shoe on the other foot test.

If these folks had put in a $20 bill and the machine registered it as $2, would they not raise the issue with the nearest Caesars employee?

[*TT*]

There was a story yesterday in the local Vegas news about a woman whose 1 million dollar jackpot had been invalidated because the machine was improperly set. The decision was made by the Gaming Commission, not the Casino (Sam's Town) which had nothing to do with the judgment. She is going to take the GC to court over this ruling, the casino will be an additional named party because they are accountable for the payout but the suit is against the GC. Its logical that the reverse would be true as well in Vegas, but I'd have to do some additional research to find out for sure.

[steamboatin]

The slot machine was set for a location in another country is what I was told so when you put in a dollar, it gave you credit for $10.

People would put money in, and just cash out. I heard it was like a stampede. I wasn't there so I don't know for certain but I understand several people lost their jobs due to signing off the machine was ready to go on the floor.

[Legislurker]

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I imagine Harrah's has a lot to do with this, but I also don't mind that they're thinking about prosecuting these folks. They aren't going to successfully prosecute grandma who just happened to wander by and pick a machine to play and who didn't even notice anything was wrong...she put her $100 in, played 10 minutes, cashed out, and disappeared. But the folks who sat there and fed in megabucks and used the thing like an ATM? Yeah...those folks deserve a KITN from the legal system.

One deserted Christmas break at college about 4am I went to put a dollar in a change machine and I noticed the front panel of the thing was not locked. I opened it just a tiny crack and yeah, there's a stack of bills inside. I didn't empty it--I called the cops who came over and looked and decided nobody had stolen anything so they just called the vendo folks and stood guard while waiting.

Taking the money from inside an unlocked change machine would have been stealing. It was 4am Dec 27th, or some such and I could trivially have done it and never been caught--but I don't do that. And I don't mind the idea of prosecuting someone who does such things. Taking money from a mis-set slot machine is also stealing and I don't mind prosecuting people who do that.

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Youre flat out dead wrong about not prosecuting or persecuting grandma who didn't know what she was doing or just a lil greedy. I've seen some petty vindictive behavior towards small slot manipulation by granny when she finds out cashing out $20 from a nickel machine got her $25, and doing it a second time. I've seen slot superviosrs go way overboard on very innocent or ignorant people on small matters. They mostly want the indictment and to scare people, or find a dumass willing to confess or sign a piece of paper(in case you don't know never sign anything). I think they view the publicity on this as setting a precent to maybe stop someone from doing it again. Funny.

[RydenStoompala]

How did that machine get on the floor?

First of all, the people who fed it and ran scammed the casino, so whatever pissy moves the management makes to protest the fraud should be expected.

More importantly, how the heck would a machine that is logging 10:1 deposits get past the checks? It would be impossible just about everywhere. I would be shocked if one or two technicians weren't doing the perp walk on this.

[steamboatin]

[ QUOTE ]
More importantly, how the heck would a machine that is logging 10:1 deposits get past the checks? It would be impossible just about everywhere. I would be shocked if one or two technicians weren't doing the perp walk on this.

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I know there were several unemployed people shortly afterwards but that is as far as my information goes.

[AquaSwing]

Reminds me of those stories you hear about how the guy who filled the ATM machine reversed the 5's and the 20's. So for a weekend people would withdrawal 15 and get 60. Over and over. Obviously when the error was discovered it was easy to fix. Caused a lot of negative balances. DOH!!

[bav]

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If they prosecuted me for this I'd tell em fine, let's see what a jury has to say.

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I'll set the line at 3:1 you get convicted. See, the odd thing about juries is that they'll still convict you of doing something that fully a third of them would have done in your shoes. Just because they agree it was a little white lie or it was only cheating a big bad corporation or the victim deserved to die, doesn't mean they won't still convict you.

[bav]

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Youre flat out dead wrong about not prosecuting or persecuting grandma who didn't know what she was doing or just a lil greedy.

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If granny just stumbled on a machine and had no knowledge or understanding of what happened, played this slot just like any other, and then cashed out and wandered on down to the next slot to play some more, no she's not being prosecuted. They gots no case and they know it.

But if granny stood in line for an hour while 20 folks in front of her took turns converting $1000 into $10000, then pumped in her $100's and hit cashout without playing, she's going down with the rest of 'em.