Casino Crimes

“What Is The Most Common Crime In A Casino?”

Several questions in this book recount many of the cheating methods attempted in casino at the gaming tables. By far the most common crime reported in a casino does not occur at the table games, but rather at the slot machines. The crime is “Coin Bucket” thefts and/or purse snatching. The criminals usually target the elderly or anyone they think cannot chase them. The cheaters vary in age, gender and race, but the method is basically the same. A “Mark” is picked by the team. The cheaters are looking for a slot player who has a bucket filled with coins and is keeping the bucket rested between or next to the slot machine they are playing. (Let’s suppose you are playing a slot machine and have your coin bucket next to your machine on your left side). A member of the cheater’s team will walk by you and drop coins on your right side.. .(this is known as “Salting”). He/she will point to the coins and inform you that you must have dropped coins while playing. This person continues on past you to your right. A second member approaches from your left side as you reach down (to your right) to pick up the coins you think you dropped. When you bend down your sight is blocked and the second cheater simply reaches in and takes the bucket. Some teams employ a third person to whom the stolen bucket is passed. Some cheaters have been seen by surveillance dumping the bucket of coins into a “Fanny Pack” and continuing to simply walk away.

Another version of this same theft goes like this. A pretty girl will sit next to a male slot player. She may engage him in friendly conversation, but at some point while they are talking she will drop coins on the floor between them. As the male player gallantly reaches down to help the lady in distress the second cheater approaches from the opposite side and snatches the coin bucket. The cheater who actually snatches the coin bucket may be seated at a slot machine in the next row over. Most slot machines are placed in rows back to back. As the “Mark” reaches down to retrieve coins on the floor, the cheater simply reaches in between the machines from the next row over. Most casino slot departments have installed plastic or wooden panels between the machines to prevent this type of theft. Thieves have become wise to the panels and from time to time find a casino where the panels can be lifted or slid up out of the way and allow them to reach from one row to the next. Most casinos have now bolted or glued the slot panels in place.

Purse snatchers will work in about the same way with one major difference. (Being caught with another person’s purse is pretty damming evidence. A thief with a casino coin bucket can always try and claim it is his, the coins have no I.D. on the them. It’s tough to explain having a purse with another person’s identification.) The purse snatcher will almost always have a person to pass off the stolen purse to.

The money and credit cards are quickly lifted and the purse is discarded as soon as possible. Some inexperienced purse snatchers will have a female not carrying a purse steal a customers purse, or will pass to a female with no purse. That female will then simply walk out of the casino as if the stolen purse were her’s. (Very dangerous because of the identification in the purse.) Most seasoned purse snatchers will dump the purse as quickly as they can.

The best protection against being victimized by coin bucket thieves or purse snatchers is to keep your bucket or purse in front of you or on your lap. If you are approached by anyone trying to distract your attention, remember to pick up your bucket or purse first before picking up the coins on the floor.

Pickpockets also fall into the same category as purse snatchers or bucket thieves. However pickpockets are the elite of the group. A pickpocket needs far more talent and guts to “Dip” into another person’s pocket and remove their valuables. The bravest of all pickpockets is the one working alone....called “Single-O”. The tip off to surveillance and/or security is a person carrying his coat draped over his forearm. The second tip off is the same person.. “Eye Balling”...customers. This person is more interested in watching other peoples pockets than in the activity around him. The “single-o” pickpocket, (also known as “The Dip”, “Mechanic”, “Wire” or “Whiz”), uses the coat as a blocker or feeler. When standing next to a “mark” the coat brushes up against the intended casino victim. The victim feels the coat, which is not threatening. (A “mark” would be offended or uneasy if feeling another person’s arm....but not a coat.) The pickpocket reaches, (“Dips”), into the “marks” pocket with the index and middle fingers of the hand draped by the coat. Watching a good pickpocket at work is really a thing of beauty. (More for the person watching then the person being picked.) We recently apprehended a pickpocket who had “Dipped” into the pockets of five customers...