Pit Requests for Help

By Jim Goding

The following letter is a sample that should be sent to all Pit Supervisory personnel. It makes the job easier for both Surveillance and the Pit people, and can in cases of possible theft or cheating, save the casino a lot of money and result in actually catching cheaters and thieves. It can also save the jobs of pit personnel, who tend to lose their jobs when a casino game is successfully cheated. A variation of this letter could be sent to Slots, Security and Cage Supervisors.

• Distribution:
  • General Manager
  • Casino Manager
  • Casino Shift Managers
  • Pit Supervisors
  • All Floorpersons

To All Pit Supervisory Personnel: The people in the Surveillance Department are there to back you up, provide coverage in case of questionable play and to help you correct errors that occur in normal activity, as well as locate cheating activity, theft, and serious procedural errors that could put the games at risk. In order to properly provide this valuable backup for you, we would appreciate that the following procedure be followed for calls to Surveillance.

• 1.      When the operator in Surveillance answers, give your Name and the Pit number.
• 2.      Give the Game Number.
• 3.      Give the name of the player (if you have it), and his position at the table.
• 4.      State the situation.

Example: “This is Mary calling from Pit 7. On BJ 46, we have a player, refused name, on spot 6, playing up to $600 a hand. He varies his bet from $50 to $600.” Example: “This is George, calling from Pit 5. On Crap 7, Jacob Twitcher, third from the stick on second base end, just took out a marker for $10,000, and he is making $500 place bets and $100 prop bets.” Example: “This is Carl, calling from Pit 1. I’m moving $5000 in checks from BJ 2 to BJ 1, on a marker buy-back for player Earl Franks.” Example: “This is Lorna, calling from Pit 4. On Wheel 3, the player third from the wheelhead is claiming that the dealer swept his $50 bet off the courtesy line on the last spin.”

• 5.     If you speak with a heavy accent (English is your second or third language), please try to speak slowly and clearly; telephones tend to distort voices, and we would like to save you the frustration of repeating yourself. Most of us are restricted to a single language; please bear with us.
• 6.      In the case of a possible past-post or other cheating or theft situation, follow the same procedure, except that you should, after identifying yourself and the table, state immediately what you suspect. This places your call as an immediate priority.
• 7.      In the case of possible cheating, do not allow the payoff to be sent until Surveillance has reviewed the game recording and gotten back to you, either directly or via your supervisor. While Surveillance is reviewing recordings, quickly notify a Pit Manager or the Casino Shift Manager.

Example: “This is Bill, in Pit 4. I have a possible past-post on Wheel 3: A $55 bet just hit on number 34 and the dealer doesn’t think it was there before she waved off.” Example: “This is Mary in Pit 5: On Crap 6, the player down the middle on third base thinks the player next to him took several $100 checks from his stack on the rail. This would have occurred about five minutes ago. The guy who may have done it is a white male, blond mustache and beard, wearing a Buffalo Bills jersey and a cap with a logo on it.”

• 8.      If you suspect something about a dealer, please report it to a Pit Supervisor or above, rather than calling Surveillance directly. The Pit Supervisor will get the applicable information and call us.
• 9.      In case of a dealer error, Surveillance will want the name of the dealer. Please note that no single error will get a dealer “in trouble,” but that a series of procedural errors, a consistent pattern of inattention, etc., may result in some extra training or counseling for the dealer.
• 10.    If you, as a floor supervisor, suspect card-counting or other “non-recreational”  (but not cheating) play, please notify a Pit Supervisor or above before calling Surveillance. Surveillance will want to know game number, player name (or refused name), player position, bet spread, when he or she arrived at the game, and any associates, either on or off the game.
• 11. After calling Surveillance (or as above notifying the Pit Manager or shift manager}, please back away from the game. Please do not hang over the game or watch it closely. Give the suspect dealer or player "air," and let Surveillance do its job. If you hang too closely over the game, they will rabbit--disappear rapidly--leaving no evidence of what they were doing.

Thank you, Director of Surveillance

Copyright © 1999, 2002, 2009 by Jim Goding. All rights reserved. Duplication in any form, electronic or otherwise, without the express written permission of the author is forbidden, is a violation of the proprietary rights of the author and is actionable under law.