BEHIND THE FLICKERING SCREENS
Since we last spoke I have been busy plying my wares, fighting crime and corruption at every corner and trying to get my head around how to survey the second largest building in the world, some 1200 gaming tables in what is still the most interesting gaming environment there is. Twelve months in the Casino business is not a particularly long time, myself some twenty-four years later it all seems to have passed in a blur or is that a haze! The past six years have just been a complete mystery to me; I am not sure where the time has gone, although when I look in the mirror I can certainly see a few extra years on my not so young face.
In my previous ramblings, last year, I left you with some passing thoughts that I would like to begin with to refresh your memories (and mine).
“Don’t forget the basics, use your head not your heart, put the calculator back in the top drawer and don’t take your eye off the game. If someone fires a question at you, answer – ‘True 2’ – “be true too yourself”.
Oh yes, ‘Why is it always dark in Surveillance rooms?’ a question for you younger members of the “Casino Surveillance Fraternity”, as this old troglodyte drags his knuckles back to the cave.
Not to be considered a philosopher or to even think of myself as one I do believe that there is much in these few short sentences that we (our industry) takes for granted.
There are many basics that seem to have passed by or been forgotten by society in general not just our industry.
The three R’s for one – ‘R’eading ‘R’ighting & ’R’ithmetic, OK, who ever coined this phrase struggled with spelling, but we get the point – “Basics”.
Simple manners, Common sense and, oh yes Honesty! Wow; stop me; I seem to have strayed from the path, or have I? Is the Casino Entertainment business so different that the simple basics don’t apply or in the case of my field within Casino Surveillance? The answer is of course, no! Basics are the foundation from which we grow! Grow our children, our profession and ourselves.
Basics…
Last time I spoke I raised more questions than I answered (had to leave room for a sequel); herein I will endeavor to put my ‘spin’, my view, on how I see the world of Casinos from behind; ‘The flickering screens’.
To help emphasis my point, let me tell you a story…
…It was 3am; Brad slouched in his chair trying to fight off fatigue, rubbing his eyes as the slight flicker of the screen in front of him displayed a busy baccarat table. Brad was six hours into his fifth straight night shift; he sipped his coffee hoping the caffeine would carry him through; just to be on the safe side he had previously taken a ‘no-doze’ tablet,
Joe the Surveillance Supervisor always had supplies that he would give to staff, (‘For a small fee of course’; just to cover his costs, he would say.)…
Part I
Brad, casually glancing back at his screen, froze and then sat upright; something caught his eye, an unusual movement.
Brad had been assigned to watch this game of Baccarat (Midi-Bacc#54) by his Supervisor; it was a new group of players brought in from Hong Kong; High Rollers who were ‘squeezing’ the cards. Normally this increases the risk as the players are touching the cards, however, Brad felt more at ease, the Casino he worked for had technological security measures in place that prevented cheating. His Supervisor, that new kid from Australia (new breed; you know the one with degrees) told him technological game protection was revolutionizing Surveillance; secretly Brad wondered how long it would be before he was out of a job; 17 years of loyalty would count for nothing as the “bean counters” abacus’s started to rattle!
[Brad was the ‘Old guy’ of the room, been in the business for 17 years, loved the job; been promoted and demoted a couple of times, didn’t care too much. “I just love the thrill of the Hunt” he always used to say to all the new ‘kids’ that joined the department. Back in ‘his day’ “we didn’t have all this fancy stuff”; ‘Bells & Whistles’ the consultants call it; object tracking, people tracking, facial recognition, IP’s, LAN’s, WAN’s, Tera Bytes, flat screens, data bases, interfaces; a whole new world, a different language, that he didn’t just quite understand at times. He did like the new DVR’s though, so much easier than all those video tapes, however, he did miss reading the newspaper while waiting for the tapes to rewind!]
Brad looked back at his screen again, the players were clustered around the table, they were sitting awfully close together and only a couple of people were betting. He frowned a little, zoomed his camera in on the dealing shoe the right light was flashing as the dealer pressed end of game, everything must be ok – the shoe gave him the ‘Green Light’!
Brad sat a little straighter in his chair now, he had a feeling; the hair on the back of his neck bristled slightly; (the last time he had that feeling was in 2003 when he saw a female dealer who was chipping up on Roulette, continually fixing and adjusting the bow at the back of her hair; 45 minutes later they arrested her with $3,000 in chips down the back of her shirt). Brad thought for a moment…
Interested, Brad decided to bring up another Pan Tilt Zoom (PTZ) camera onto the secondary monitor to his left, the primary table shot was right in front of him. Brad watched as the players crowded the table, the ‘big player’ sat at box 1, betting to the max on Bank, while the player ‘squeezing’ the cards sat a box 7, betting the table minimum on Player.
Next to this player was a pretty girl, Brad thought she was probably quite young, along for the trip and enjoying the fun watching her friends gambling. On closer inspection Brad noted she appeared quite tense with her arm tightly entwined with the guy on box 7, while a third associate stood closely behind them, a little rigid in his stance for Brad’s liking.
Brad felt uneasy. Calling Joe, the Supervisor over to his console, Brad began to explain what he saw,
Stating “something just didn’t feel right, but he couldn’t just put his finger on it”.
“Show me the shoe”, Joe replied.
Brad pressed a button and instantaneously the image on his primary monitor started to replay (he loved this part). Together they reviewed the footage of the previous coups (hands). Brad pointed out the players ‘body language’ and the fact the ‘big player’ wasn’t squeezing the cards; Joe watched the shoe.
“See!” exclaimed Joe, “look there”,
Tapping his pen on the screen (a pet hate of Brad’s – he would clean that up later),
“See the shoe”;
Every time Player wins – Player light, Banker wins – Banker light.
“Zoom in on his Baccarat score card for me!” Joe commanded. “Look; look at that”,
“He is following the ‘Trend’”.
Joe smiled confidently, that was why he was the Supervisor not this troglodyte operator, Brad. Inwardly Brad thought to him self
“I hate that word ‘trend’; there is no trend until after the fact”.
“You are tired Brad”, quipped Joe,
“Why don’t you take a break while I complete my paperwork,
it’s nearly time to go so lets tidy up”.
Joe walked away, already thinking about the game of golf he has planned for straight after work. He doesn’t have time to waste, as Tee off is just 20 minutes after end of shift. Joe has lined up a game with some Surveillance Managers from other properties, working hard at lifting his profile; no way was he missing this game!
Shrugging off Joe’s comment, Brad knew Joe was in a hurry to get out of here; Brad called up another PTZ camera on monitor 3, this time he watched the player with the cards; overview, back shot and close in on the cards/hands – he waited!
Checking the computer beside him, Brad noted the table was losing; these guys were having a good run of luck; (must be that trend)! Zooming in on the player’s hands, Brad watched carefully as the player squeezed the cards (slowly opened, a trait among Asian players). There! There it is! Brad almost couldn’t believe his eyes; instantaneously he reviewed the card delivery to the player.
Just for a second, a split second both the cards disappeared from sight; a split second was all that was needed to switch a card. Brad’s heart beat a little faster now; he watched again and again as both the cards slipped momentarily from view, while the player slowly squeezed them. Brad’s head was plagued with the thought of telling Joe only to be told; “they couldn’t be switching cards; the shoe, look at the intelligent shoe!” Brad panned/zoomed in on the shoe, it appeared to be operating correctly the dealer was pushing the buttons; the shoe indicated the correct result. Brad was puzzled, confused, he knew something was wrong, but what?
Brad thought about calling Joe over, but could see he was busy; end of shift reports, and he knew that Joe had a golf game just after work, already indicating he was leaving early.
Joe knew leaving a few minutes before the relieving shift manager arrived wouldn’t hurt, and Ralph, his relief would cover for him; they have done it plenty of times before!
Brad was convinced that something was wrong; that “feeling” just wouldn’t go away. He decided to look for more ‘tells’. His old boss always told him;
“Look for the tells, there are always tells!”
Rich was his name; retired City Cop, twenty years in the Police force and ten years at a downtown sawdust joint, not more than five miles from where Brad now sat. That was where Brad learned the Surveillance basics, Rich taught him everything (although, sometimes the stories were a little long) a wealth of knowledge, none, the less. Rich had seen it all; the scams, tricksters, amateurs and of course the small corium of professional cheats that ply their wares.
Rich respected the guys that knew their stuff; juice, trims, shade and dice loads, then there were the guys who made ‘Roy and Siegfried’ look like amateurs; guys who knew the game, odds and how to make a buck; hell some of them are now ‘consultants’ paid by casinos to teaching Surveillance Departments how to catch cheats! Rich knew the score; takes a ‘crook to catch a crook’ and a ‘professional to know a professional’; then we hire them as a consultant – now that’s ‘irony’.
Brad reflected; “how would Rich deal with this”?
“Trust your gut” he heard him say.
“Look for the tells” (feel the Force Luke).
Momentarily he closed his eyes as he remembered what Rich told him;
“It’s the same, nothing changes; weather its 1975, 1985 or 2005 – it’s all the same.”
“Mark my words” Rich said,
“Mark my words, a good ‘mark’ is a good ‘mark’”;
“A good ‘scam’ is a good ‘scam’ the script remains the same, the actors just change to meet the times – the basics never change”!
“People are people; greed is good, the answer is in the picture – you just need to look”!
Brad knew something was wrong; then it all started to flood back to him as Rich’s words and mentoring opened his mind.
“Watch the hands” – it’s all here, just like reading a palm;
The player sat uncomfortably as the dealer passed the cards; (look at the positioning of people around the table), the player on box seven nervously brought the cards closer to himself and the girl to his left squeezed his arm tightly as the associate (third person) at their back closed the gap behind them. Brad zoomed the cards as they momentarily slipped from view under the player’s hands. The back view told him nothing as this was blocked, a tell in it’s self. As the cards vanished from view the player’s hand arched slightly in an unusual manner, while his thumb was rigidly clenched to the side of his hand. Brad’s eyes narrowed as he concentrated. Dissect, the picture there are several different events happening at once!
“Go back” – start at the beginning,
(“Journey of a 1000 miles begins with the first step”);
Rewinding the footage on his DVR Brad watched as the players first came to the table; all appeared normal; ‘natural’. The first player sat and played the first few hands in a carefree manner until the rest of his party arrived. As his associates bought-in for $1,000’s, the first player’s hand slowly slipped inside his jacket pocket; as he carefully withdrew his hand it was clamped tightly, stiff as he rested it in front of him on the table. Brad noted the players hand was ‘rigid’; un-natural in the way he rested it on the layout, as compared to the first time he sat at the table, where it appeared natural and open. The player waited for the dealer to deliver the first cards.
“Big Picture” – lose the blinkers, look beyond the felt.
Rich’s voice echoed in the back of his head;
“This is not a horse race, slow down, take the blinkers off and look at the whole scene, the big picture”!
Brad changed cameras to a fixed overview (every salon or private gaming room had one at their casino, giving a ‘birds eye’ overview of what happened around the table/s). Brad watched as the players mingled around the Baccarat table, he saw the first player on box seven squeeze the cards, while the girl and associate closed in on him, simultaneously the ‘Big Player’ on box one engaged the Inspector/Supervisor in conversation while other members of the group chatted, colored changed chips, conducted cash buy-ins – thoroughly normal events, to the untrained eye! Brad saw this for what it was; distractions! A Scam! The hairs on his arms bristled; goose bumps sent a chill through him!
“Verification” – get a fresh set of eyes,
Brad called Joe, again. Reluctantly, Joe walked over to Brad’s console, exclaiming
“Are you still watching this, I thought I said – let it go!”
Brad went on to explain all that he had seen and what it meant to him, a card mucking scam! For a brief moment Joe froze, paralyzed with fear – if Brad was right he would need to explain his actions and how was he going to get to his golf game?
Joe listened; distracted by unrelated matters (mainly his forthcoming golf game), checking his watch as it ticked closer to end of shift.
“Show me the shoe, show me the shoe”, Joe barked, in an agitated manner.
“See! See!”
“There it is again, the light, this couldn’t be a scam, how can a player muck cards on an intelligent shoe”?
“It’s Impossible! Forget it! Let it go, let it go!” Joe almost hysterical, yelled.
“What about everything else, the tells!” Brad exclaimed?
“Rewind quickly for me; FFW 2/4 x times”! Joe said, by now quite irritated at Brad.
Looking at the footage in fast forward (Joe was in a hurry) Brad just sat shaking his head. After a couple of minutes Joe stood, looked down at Brad.
“It’s obvious everyone knows each other; the girl is obviously the guys girlfriend and the guy with the cards; what! I can’t see him swapping cards”
“If I call the gaming manager he will have my balls for annoying him. I hear it now”;
“Don’t you know that these guys are big players; get me evidence!” Joe strutted away, leaving Brad staring at the flickering screens.
It was 06:45, the new shift started to drift in; the other night shifters were moving restlessly in their chairs. Brad received a tap on his shoulder for his relief; he turned to see Alice, a nice kid. Alice was 20, in her first job still trying to work her way though University. Brad tried to explain what he thought was happening; Alice’s confused expression and tired eyes stared blankly at him; seeing the futility of his task he turned to Joe! Chuck the new Supervisor was seated at the Supervisor desk;
“Where is Joe”? Brad asked.
“Gone”; replied Chuck!
“Why are you still here Brad? Go home”. Joe left ten minutes ago!
Brad checked out and made his way to the staff car park, his mind filled with events from the night. Tension was overwhelming him. Brad decided he needed to have a run; hopefully this would help him sleep.
Many years earlier Brad had read a book in High School called the ‘Loneliness of the long Distance Runner’, a book that had a profound effect on him, leading him to pounding the pavements (sidewalks) as means of problem solving.
Returning from his run Brad showered and headed for bed. Closing his eyes, he tossed and turned, finally drifting off into a restless sleep. Brad woke after a short time still six hours before the start of his shift. Dragging himself out of bed, he cleaned himself up and sat staring at the TV.
“Trust your Gut” – back yourself;
Finally Brad could stand it no longer; the events of the previous night were driving him crazy! But still he could not work it out; he just couldn’t see how the Scam was working, what was happening, how were they doing it?
Brad checked in early to the office, two and half hours early! Brad asked the on-duty supervisor if he could sit at a spare console to check out some footage from the previous evening.
“Sure”; Mack replied, “go your hardest”.
Brad settled on a console at the back of the room and proceeded to recall footage from the previous evening.
Remembering Rich’s voice (“check everything”),
Brad reviewed the surveillance shift logs (transcripts) of the shifts from the beginning of the week. He wanted to see if there was anything he might have overlooked, something, anything that could add the missing pieces of the puzzle that was ‘driving him mad’! Looking for all incidents or reports relating to the, Pit, Table or area where the players were playing! Searching, sifting through Incident Reports, Information Calls, Disputes, Errors, Scrap notes, anything, anything at all…
Feeling a little weary Brad started to think he was chasing shadow, then like a bolt of lightning from heaven, there it was. Brad suddenly felt very awake; his eyes popped open, followed by deep breaths! An operator made an, Information Log: –
“Changing shoe on MidiBacc#54” – advised by PM #1427.
‘Changing the shoe’; “that infallible shoe”, Brad thought;
Joe believed in it so much, but here was an anomaly. Brad read on; ‘New Cards’,
“Changing cards on MB#54” nothing new here. Brad read on. ‘New Cards’,
“Changing cards on MB#54”, again nothing new!
Then Brad thought to himself; Cards! Brad did a search on all ‘New Cards’ entries and of course a string of entries appeared before him. Brad narrowed his search to ‘New Cards – MB#54’ (certainly the electronic logging system made this easier).
Naturally there was a lot less entries, however, one very interesting entry caught his attention; – ‘PM #1427 advised Players requested Red Cards only’. Another anomaly, another ‘tell’! Asking for the same a colour card is of course a suppositious request, lucky cards, lucky colour, Chinese love Red or that’s the color of the card the mucker has cupped under his rigid hand!
Brad decided to have a look at the overview camera for the shoe change first. Looking at the footage Brad didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. Pit Manager Neil #1427 called and then completed the change himself, nothing unusual.
Brad thought to himself, “I’ll just ‘back-track’”
Deciding to backtrack the Pit Manager for a while to see where he came from. Brad tracked PM #1427 back as far as he could all the way through the front of house and to the back of house areas where he expected to see the PM come from the Gaming equipment store, but no; not the case! The PM came from a different, unsecured storeroom, which was adjacent, the equipment store, holding an electronic dealing shoe. This room had no CCTV so Brad decided to see when the PM arrived earlier at the storeroom. Reviewing back for more than an hour, Brad began to question himself;
“Maybe I missed him”, “he’s been in there a long time”.
Then the PM came out (or in this case, came in) holding a large plastic shopping bag, Brad rewound/back tracked further to where the PM entered the building, noting that he didn’t enter per procedure via staff entry, but from an exit door that Brad knew lead to the customer car park.
“OK. That’s interesting!”
Looks like the PM introduced a shoe to the game, but this was no ‘Cooler’ (cards that have been predetermined, set-up to cheat) the cards came separately pre-shuffled in sealed containers. Brad proceeded to take notes as he digitally ‘bookmarked’ all the relevant pieces of footage that he knew no-doubt would be needed later!
Secondly Brad looked at all the losing shoe reports/analysis relating to the players. The Surveillance teams diligently complete these for every ‘Major Losing Shoe’ a common practice that everyone knows (even the bad guys).
On these reports every detail is recorded, Players#, Dealers#, Supervisors#, Pit Manager#, Pit#, Tables#, Cards (type/colour/416), Bets, First Card advantage, win/loss ratio, statistical advantage, everything! Brad gathered several reports, one for each losing shoe (of which there were many).
Looking at the reports he looked for connections anything that may link back to his theory (a theory he hadn’t quite figured out yet)? There it was again; Red cards, all the Major Losing shoes were to ‘Red Cards’.
“All the losing shoes were to the same colour cards”! Brad’s goose bumps had goose bumps…
“Let’s reflect” – Review footage, Review documentation & Review processes!
Brad is confident that there is cheating occurring at the table, all the signs and tells are there for ‘card mucking’; the players hand movements (or lack thereof), the rigid hand, clenched thumb, the cover/blockers (girl on his arm and man standing behind), the same Pit Manager, introduction of a questionable dealing shoe, small player (bettor) squeezing the cards (not the big player as is normal), both playing cards slip from sight momentarily: – Everything!
Same colour Cards, same Pit Manager, distractions (Constant color & cash changes & talking to Supervisor; distractions)!
Even to the more educated of Management the ‘math’ alone was a ‘tell’. The wins were outside of mathematical probability – the losing shoe review sheets/programs told Brad this. What more did he need? But, still; still Brad knew.
Brad knew that he needed to find the answer to the shoe, the electronic shoe. How did they, how were they beating the shoe? The shoe is unbeatable! But, ‘the tells’; ‘the tells’ are unmistakable!
Part II
There was one other thing Brad needed to work out, he needed to watch the shoe, around the shoe, and concentrate on this area to see what the hell was going on! The challenge was there, this group had thrown down the gauntlet and he dam well was going to pick it up!
Time ticked by, before Brad knew it the night shifters were shuffling and drifting into the room. The new team (his team) was giving Brad some strange looks as they saw him seated at the rear console. Odd, Brad was early;
“Probably couldn’t sleep they thought!”
Joe, their supervisor arrived as the clock ticked 11pm, just in time his relief thought, nothing unusual though he thought. Joe seemed rushed; must have been a big day.
Joe arrived at work just in time to make his shift. The days Golf went well, Joe made some new contacts and they ‘kicked’ on afterwards for a ‘couple of cleansing Ale’s’. Joe was tired, but he knew there would be time for a power nap latter! Joe and his team took briefings from the previous shift and settled down to the night ahead; quiet they hoped!! But Brad had a different feeling;
“This was going to be an interesting night,” he said to himself.
Brad approached Joe as he was trying to organize himself. Brad could see he was tired and a little flustered as he sorted out his paperwork, started on the Operator break schedule (putting in a nice chunk for himself). Brad wasn’t going to bother Joe with his findings to date, already he could see that Joe wouldn’t be interested, instead he told Joe that he was going to watch the high-end play for the night;
“Great”, Joe thought, “that’s one less assignment I need to worry about”.
Brad settled himself down at his console; called up the camera for the room where he knew the group would be playing. The room was empty except for a couple of young dealers fighting off boredom. Brad would wait; he had all night! In the mean time he brought up a couple of other high-end games and decided to have a look at the dealing shoes; how they were used, their location on the tables, anything and everything that might help shed some light on this ‘puzzle’. If this group was manipulating the shoe, he wanted to know how? How could it be beaten? What was he missing?
The Surveillance room buzzed with the normal phone calls from Pit Managers, looking for guidance and radio traffic of the security teams on the floor as they moved chips, cash and the occasional individual who had one too many of those cheap margaritas in tall glasses that looked like yesterdays; LV implosions. Brad tried to block this all out as he focused on his high-end rooms and play from the big players or ‘whales’ as some call them. On his secondary monitor he had some ‘Aussie’; a guy betting $USD25, 000 hand on Blackjack across five boxes.
The word was this was a real ‘Whale’ an Australian Whale (or was that a Great White Shark) who was loaded and bet like he didn’t care or needed it. Brad was getting into this game, the guy was ruthless, aggressive and he enjoyed watching him, for a short time Brad enjoyed the Aussie whale as he played blackjack, the dealers were nervous, but the Pit Managers were down right scared as the man hit the tables. Brad realized that he wasn’t the only guy watching the ‘Big Aussie Whale’, other operators and Joe were all over this guy and he was doing some damage. Good! Brad knew he could concentrate on his Baccarat players while everyone else watched the BJ Whale, he glanced in Joe’s direction; tension was etched on his face a telling story in itself!
Sitting at his console Brad received the call from PM#1427 of a shuffle in the Junket room, table MB#54, he suddenly changed his focus as his adrenalin kicked in; the players were back! Brad allowed himself a rye, tense smile. Brad watched as the group filtered into the room, walking around organizing themselves with drinks, cups of tea, others were chatting with staff and a couple of them were on their mobile phones. Cell phones; the new fashion accessory of the decade, everybody had one in-fact many people had two, these little electronic devices were so much more than a phone; PDA’s, Organizers, Cameras, Videos and Email, a home office in one neat little package.
Brad scanned the players and noted that most of the guys appeared to have more than one phone and god knows what the girls have in those designer bags! Brad recalled a Game Protection Seminar he attended some months back where electronic devices were widely discussed; how the Cell Phone was used to conceal a Roulette tracking computer, Blackjack card counting device and Hidden cameras, they were even hidden in peoples shoes, he even saw where one cell phone was actually a .22 caliber gun!
Brad hadn’t really paid much attention to the cell phones before; they were such a common occurrence on tables that everyone ignored them. It was then that Brad recalled something; at the time it was nothing, but now!
Earlier in the day when Brad had been looking at previous footage of the groups shoe/play and how it operated, how the dealers used the electronic shoe, he recalled that one of the player’s cell phone was sitting just behind the shoe; nothing unusual in that, players always left their phones on the tables. Brad quickly scanned over his notes to the point and time where he was reviewing the previous shoe, finding the time, Brad quickly entered ‘time and date’ into his keyboard and the footage automatically appeared.
Brad watched, reviewed, everything looked normal. Brad turned to the live footage to note that all the players were now seated at the table, in their usual positions; same male and female at box 7, big player at box 1, various players seated in between and a couple of the team casually standing behind the seated players. The gaming staff were just getting themselves organized; sorting out paperwork, checking the float, delivering cards to the table and generally chatting to the players, all in all a very normal scene.
Brad decided to review back further on the previous day’s footage to when the players first arrived at the table; initially looking at the overview he observed a fairly similar scene to what he just witnessed as the players entered and settled themselves down, in-fact remarkably similar. The ‘big player’ made his way over to box 1 sat himself down and positioned one of his cell phones behind the shoe, a black Motorola. Brad switched to his live monitor where he zoomed in on the shoe; there it was, a black Motorola sitting in the same position directly behind the shoe, coincidence?
“Another pattern was starting to emerge” Brad thought to himself, but twice was not enough!
Checking the logs Brad called up all the loosing table reports and times; Brad keyed in the times for each shoe and there it was the little black Motorola sitting, ‘positioned’ just behind the shoe. Was this the missing piece of the puzzle he was looking for? But still questions remained,
“This was a clue, maybe the clue but not the answer,” he muttered to himself!
Meanwhile; around him the CCTV room was buzzing; Brad had been oblivious to the goings on. The ‘Great White Shark’ that Aussie Whale was making a killing and Joe was getting very nervous, he knew he would have to answer or have answers when the Director called him! He heard the doorbell ring; it was the Casino Manager at the door, he wanted to watch from the comfort, safety of the CCTV room, he had been in the Pit but the ‘Great White’ had told him,
“Bugger off, cloth ears”
Not quite knowing what that meant, but Casino Manager knew he should make himself scarce.
Brad returned to his flickering screens and surveyed the gaming room in front of him; everyone was seated as he has previously noted. Brad decided to pan the camera out and get more of an over all look. He knew what the general score was, player on box 7 ‘squeezing’ the cards, the girl to his right with her arm around his, that Gucci handbag on her lap and the blocker behind. Brad was in no doubt this guy was ‘mucking or palming’; other players were playing, distracting while the ‘big player’ on box 1 bet the maximum. The scene before him was like a well-rehearsed theater play, and everyone had his or her role.
After three hours of play the group took a break for dinner. Brad took note as they all left their positions; the ‘Big Player’ was first to leave, picking up his black Motorola situated behind the shoe. He was soon followed by most of the group; only the guy at box 7 and the girl remained. It was here Brad observed a slight change in their mannerism and play; both players were now betting table minimum on both Player & Banker wagering areas; boxes 6 & 7.
He watched, intrigued as the two players took turns at squeezing the cards, even ‘peeking’ at each other’s cards, ‘for fun’ as they played. It appeared they were just having a little fun as the shoe ran down to the last twenty of so cards, suddenly the male grabbed the females hand as she ‘squeezed’ the Player cards and sneaked a second look.
The male player then took the cards from her and ‘squeezed’ them himself, in that now all to familiar way, the cards momentarily slip from view as his hand arches slightly and he slides the cards out again, one at a time. It was after this that they stopped playing;
“Strange” Brad thought.
The male player then slowly withdraws his clenched hand from the table as his female accomplice reaches across him, across his body for a cup of tea that was positioned for her. After a few seconds the male returned his hands to the table, all appearing normal; no tightly clenched hand, in fact he moved his hand freely even drinking and smoking; another ‘tell’.
“You wouldn’t read about it; all the tells, they are all here”!
Brad closed his eyes for a moment; the answer was right in front of him, he was so close! All Brad needed was the script that would give him the answers he so desperately sought. Brad decided to take this opportunity for his meal break, looking around the room he saw Joe and the Casino Manager, both appeared decidedly worried; he wandered over to where Joe was seated. Joe was listening as the Casino Manager was explaining how this ‘Aussie Whale’ was apparently the biggest ‘Aussie’ player ever to have hit town and he had very deep pockets.
Brad looked over their shoulders as they sat at the Supervisor console; all three monitors had different angels of the player. Brad noted that the ‘Aussie’ had a large pile of chips in front of him and was now betting the max across seven boxes; $USD175, 000.00 a round, Brad also noted that there was a new female dealer, who was particularly good looking with formidable assets of her own.
The Casino Managers phone rang and he stepped away from the console, returning a couple of minutes later Brad thought he actually detected sweat beading on his forehead, addressing Joe the Casino Manager indicated that the player wants to up the box maximum to $50,000 and the boss has approved. Again; addressing Joe the Casino Manager dictated that he wanted this guy monitored with a microscope;
“Put your best guy on it; in-fact I want you to take personal responsibility for him”.
Joe hesitated momentarily, thought better of what he was about to say and nodded slightly. Brad; sensing the time was right and seeing that Joe had other things on his mind indicated he was going on a break!
Sitting in the Surveillance break room Brad again closed his eyes; the self-imposed stress he was feeling was starting to annoy him. Thinking what to do next he looked up at the break room message board, a whiteboard that people left notes for others or what was more often the case, messages like;
“Who ate my #@%&* lunch”?
Cleaning the board Brad grabbed himself a couple of markers; ‘Mind Mapping’ was a method he often used to help transfer all his confused thoughts to paper so he could visually take in all that was in his head, often this looked more confusing to others; but it worked for him. (There are of course many software analysis tools that can perform such deeds – nothing beats a good whiteboard session though).
Thoughtfully Brad started to transfer his thinking to the whiteboard in their break room; linking one event, occurrence to the other;
Stepping back Brad could see that he has just created a mess of circles and arrows; but it all meant something, the link was here somewhere among this labyrinth. Brad decided to focus on the key concepts/points that he was trying to link. Taking his colored white board markers he connected what he thought were the main subjects or connections.
Stepping back again, Brad could see the connections, but something was still missing, the link wasn’t complete he needed to tie it all together in a neat package, something even Joe couldn’t argue with!
As Brad pondered his diagram, Mitch; one of the operators entered the room, looked at the whiteboard, back at Brad and then the board again, he shrugged his shoulders uttering,
“I need a coffee”!
Brad’s watch started to beep telling him that his break was over.
Walking from the break room to the monitor room Brad was thrown back into reality; the reality of Casino Surveillance. Phones were ringing and two-way radio’s crackling to the sounds of a busy casino floor, Brad scanned the room to note that both the gaming manager and Joe were missing, telling him that the Aussie Whale had finished his play and either he or gaming were licking their wounds; something told Brad that the Aussie was probably happily sitting back, sipping a Fosters, with not a care in the world.
Heading back towards his console Brad saw that Joe was sitting in the manager’s office, his head resting in his hands; he knew that this was not a good time to bring his theory to him about a Scam. Brad knew that he still had one or two pieces of the puzzle to put together. Reflecting back to his ‘mind map’ from the white board, which he had now transposed to a piece of paper, unceremoniously stuffed in his pocket; removing it now and looking at the paper he could see that there were still a couple of events that he just couldn’t see where the connections were. Connections that he needed to make in order to see the whole picture.
Settling in at his console Brad returned to the junket’s gaming room; seeing that they still hadn’t returned from their break; he remembered and reflected on their last coup/hand, maybe they weren’t coming back! Brad pulled up an over view camera checking who was the Pit Manager in the room, his luck was in, the swing manager was breaking. Brad decided to take a risk; he called the pit, PM Clare answered the phone. Making some small talk Brad asked about the Junket and when they were coming back as he was asked to get some details on the last losing shoe. Clare was quick to answer that they had finished for the night and then started to complain, that Neil the previous Pit Manager (#1427) has taken an ‘early out’ and split leaving her with a dead pit for the night!
The coincidence was over powering Brad decided to take another risk, a calculated risk. Seeing that there was only a couple of hours to go on the shift Brad quickly went back to the Shift Managers office where Joe was sitting still deep in thought.
“Hey Joe”, Brad called.
“Joe the shift has gone dead and I have an appointment in the morning, what are my chances of an ‘early out’”?
“Sure; why not”, Joe said,
“Don’t forget to sign the time sheet”.
Brad quickly signed out and made his way to the staff car park. On the way he thought that maybe this wasn’t such a good idea; he didn’t really know where he was going and what he hoped to achieve! Thinking to himself he stopped. Why the employee car park? He was hoping to see if the Pit Manager might meet up with someone, so why would the PM go to the employee area, a more likely choice might me the public car park or even the Casino its self?
Visiting the Casino where you worked, out of hours was against policy so that would be too risky even for the PM and the car park well that was just too ‘cloak and dagger’. Brad stood outside the front of his Casino thinking that he had ‘blown it’.
Looking up he saw ‘Luck be a Lady’; the Casino just across the road, this was probably the closest place to meet up with someone where you could be relatively inconspicuous. Nothing to lose he thought, and he could do with a cold beer and some time to think over the shift.
Walking through the revolving doors of ‘Luck be a Lady’, immediately a beautiful young woman, wishing him luck, greeted him! Brad, smiling to himself made his way to the lounge bar; ground floor, tucked in the far back corner of the Casino.
Looking around, Brad quickly found a seat that afforded him a good view of the bar and surrounding Casino areas, within minutes he was served nibbles and a cold beer by another rather lovely lady, who seemed to hesitate after serving him; after receiving the customary tip she quickly departed.
Brad sipped his beer, pulled the paper from his pocket once more and reviewed the mind map he had drawn earlier. There were definitely a couple of missing links; links that he knew were vital to tying this all together.
Just as Brad ordered his second beer and the cheque, he couldn’t believe his eyes, his luck. In walked Neil, the Pit Manager! Neil looked around nervously, as if he was looking for someone, ordered a drink and sat by the bar. Less than ten minutes latter in walked an Asian lady the girl from the gaming table the cover girl, Brad made a mental note, this was one of his missing links on his mind map, piece of paper in hand, Brad then drew a line from the girl to the Pit Manager.
Just as Brad turned to put the paper back in his pocket he noted that Neil and the girl were leaving; quickly finishing his beer he thought to himself,
“What the heck”, stood and followed them.
Standing behind the PM, Neil and the girl at the taxi queue he noted the girl’s hand bag, he had seen it before, she always had it while at the table, in-fact she guarded it closely, always clasping it and as he now recalled always with her hand resting just inside.
At the Cab rank Brad stood close by as Neil and the Asian girl waited arm-in-arm. Their turn came and the cab pulled up, as Neil the PM and the girl entered the cab, Brad leaned forward straining to hear where they were going;
“Golden Dragon Karaoke; downtown East Street” the girl told the cabbie,
As she entered the cab; for the first time Brad noticed a second handbag; the girl had two handbags? Strange, yes but girls had many bags, hey his ex-wife had dozens; but two bags at once was a little unusual. Clearing his head Brad remembered the location the girl asked for; Brad had heard of this place before, he knew a few of the casino hosts used this place for the Asian punters who were looking for a ‘taste of home’!
As the next cab rolled up, Brad hopped in; what the hell;
“Golden Dragon Karaoke; downtown East Street” he told the driver.
As the driver pulled out he could see the cab that Neil the PM and the girl were in, just in front of him. Brad started to wonder if he was doing the right thing, this was way outside of his duties, way outside of rational thinking, but he was on a roll and there were questions that he needed answers to.
As Brad’s cab pulled up a the Golden Dragon, he was just in time to see the girl reach for her purse to pay the cab, he made particular note that she was using the second bag, the new one he hadn’t seen before, while her other bag remained closely by her side.
Paying his driver Brad decided to follow them into the Night Club, come Karaoke bar, standing in the queue three or four people behind the PM and the girl; Brad was feeling decidedly nervous. He could see that this was a more ‘Up Market’ joint than he had expected and there was a cover charge not to mention that he seemed to be the only person on his own. Brad was determined to hold on as long as he could.
As the PM and his companion reached the reception desk the girl was greeted by the Host,
“Welcome back Ms. Chen” the Hostess smiled
To Brad’s surprise it appeared that Neil, the Pit Manager was also known by the Host who admitted both of them for free.
As Ms. Chen and Neil made their way down the darkened passage ahead of him, a passage adorned with red dragons and golden arches, Brad could see that a couple of men came out to greet them.
Immediately he recognized one of them as the Mucker and the second almost certainly was the blocker. Brad reached the Host desk just as the two groups came together.
Feigning attention from the young Asian host at the desk, Brad was straining to see what was happening as the group met; to his astonishment he saw the guy he recognized as the ‘mucker’ reach for the girls handbag; the one she always carried when playing, not the other one that he first witnessed tonight; grabbing the bag the ‘mucker’ quickly offloaded it to his companion who retreated back to their room.
Brad was perplexed, blank in-fact; however, vaguely in the back of his mind Brad was hearing voices:
“Sir”
“Sir!”
Brad was drawn back to the Host who was all but inches from his face trying to get his attention.
“Sir, do you want a room?”
“A room!”
Brad thought to himself. Then realizing that he was holding up the line and people behind were starting to get restless, while those in front had turned to see what the commotion was!
“Sorry, sorry, I think I am in the wrong place”
The host was staring at him and he noted so were many other people, this is exactly what he didn’t want to happen or need, he had drawn attention to himself. Blinking rapidly and with slightly slurred speech, Brad turned to the girl and casually asked;
“Do you do take away?”
By this time the Host’s patients was certainly running out;
“No Sir. We certainly do not!”
“This is not some cheap Chinese take away!”
With out saying a word, Brad turned and walked right back out the front door, turned right, down East Street and didn’t stop until he had put a good hundred meters between himself and the Golden Dragon.
Standing at the corner of East and Bally’s streets Brad knew that what he had just done was not only stupid, but some how exhilarating, his heart was pounding he felt great, like he had just beat his personal best for 10 kilometers! But hell, he needed a beer!
Deciding to keep on going up Bally Street, Brad could see various lights ahead, a good place possibly he thought where he might be able to hail a cab and then head back to a local bar near were he lived. Only some five minutes later Brad could make out what he thought was a Bar sign, getting closer he could see it was one of those Irish places, the franchise bars that were so popular some five/six years ago. The sign out the front read; O’Malley’s Irish Pub.
“Good enough for me” Brad said to himself.
Entering the bar, instantly Brad was reminded of a little place he visited once in Boston, fond memories; he couldn’t remember the name of the bar but there was that red headed Irish girl called Kathleen, that was a name he couldn’t forget – now there’s a story!
The bar was fairly typical of the type; dimly lit, Smokey with a few guys standing at the bar, two couples playing pool, a fairly rough chap throwing some darts at a well worn board and another young couple looking very cozy in a far corner snug.
The walls were adorned with the usual ‘Irish’ come Celtic memorabilia and a rather shabby Stags head just above the bar; unusually the Stag was adorned with an Egyptian ‘Fez’, no doubt some relic of a past vacation to Valley of the Kings, or the Fox Hat Inn located in Brunswick, Victoria.
Walking up to the bar Brad ordered himself a pint of Guinness,
“When in Rome”, he thought “or is that Ireland”.
Finding a quiet corner snug, Brad settled himself down, feeling much calmer now he sipped the velvety brew,
“Nectar of the Gods” he whispered licking his lips.
Reflecting on the past few hours. Brad retrieved the piece of paper from his pocket with the mind map on it; placing this on the table in front of him he pondered the diagram.
All the connections were becoming very evident; the Pit Manager was obviously with the Girl, more than just friends. Neil the PM was also the one who brought in a suspect dealing shoe. Strong links. Now he had the girl’s handbag or to be more accurate the second bag she carried, why two Bags?
It is apparent upon reflection that while the girl carried the handbag at the table he cant recall ever seeing her use it, goodness knows girls are always in and out of their bags It all linked, but where did the girls bag link back to? Yes sure it was her bag, but Brad knew that there had to be another link too, that final piece that brought everything together – the corner stone, the Holy Grail!
Closing his eyes, breathing slowing; Brad rewound his mind tape (being somewhat old he still had tape), replaying the events of the past few days in his head, he reflected on the time he had watched the team at the gaming tables.
Rewinding the tape, that old VCR he still had, the one his ex-wife continually told him to get rid of; a dinosaur, just like him. It all came back to him; with his eyes closed, Brad could see the group as they came to the table; each had their position and role to play. The scene played out before him as he had seen so many times before in the past week.
Letting his mind play the footage, just as if he was watching it live, he focused on the girl as she sat at the table; as he had seen her here many times before. There she sat, ‘arm in arm’ with the mucker; their mysterious shadow behind them and of course the ‘Big Player’ at the other end of the table.
Blinking his eyes, shaking his head, Brad concentrated; adjusted the tracking, to see what he was seeing (his recording was a little fuzzy); straining he could see as the girl sat at the table, arm in arm with the bag on her lap, her hand in her bag. Her hand in her bag!
Eyes wide open; Brad’s eyes opened involuntary; like a revelation. Sitting at the table the girl not only acted just as a possible decoy for the mucker, she constantly had her hand in her bag, that bag he now knew to be one of two and a bag that she didn’t appear to use as any other woman would; Brad knew she had a bigger role to play! The impact of this hit Brad like a kilo of stale sausages, only harder; it hurt! Leaving his unfinished Guinness, Brad left O’Malley’s and quickly flagged down a cab.
Home within twenty minutes; looking at the clock it was a little after six a.m. Brad made himself some breakfast and a cup of Hot Chocolate; hoping in vain that this would help him sleep; hell he even counted sheep. Lying in bed Brad tried everything he knew to clear his mind, remove the thoughts of the past two days.
Eventually he found himself drifting off, sinking into an uneasy, restless sleep. Minutes; hours passed, Brad was reaching out; trying to grab the man who was opposite him, a man sitting closely to a young attractive Asian female, Brad could see that he was cheating, swapping cards; Brad stretched forward; further, losing his balance, falling, only to wake with a jolt, jolted from his dreams.
Sitting upright in bed Brad casting an eye to the clock,
“Only 10:30a.m.” he sighed.
Brad had slept for a couple of hours; he knew he was tired, but hell he couldn’t sleep. Sitting there he knew that he had all the sleep he was going to get; taking a deep breath, Brad walked into the bathroom and turned on the shower.
Cold! Brad stood and looked as the water flowed from the shower head, he knew that it was less than pleasant, and he had no intention of getting under this baby; well not his whole body anyway; closing his eyes, breathing deeply.
Brad drove his head under the streaming cold jets! Shock! Converging glacier shelves, like brain freeze, from one of those Boost Juice slurp-ees, hit him all at once. But yes, shock; shocked back into conscious, time for a run.
Brad sat on the step of his front door; his hair was still wet from the cold shower, his head ached; more from the strain than the cold water, he told himself. Sitting alone he laced his running shoes; he had special type of tie, one he had read about in one of those running magazines.
There was much to think about as Brad set out on his run.
Starting at the beginning Brad worked through every aspect of what he had learnt in the past couple of days; the miles passed like sands of grain in an hourglass. Before he knew it, Brad was home; the miles and hours had slipped by like a long time comfortable relationship.
Running was his elixir of life, it inspired him, it challenged him, it cleared his mind; yes, it cleared his mind! Brad was confronted with a big clean white board and a pen full of words, clasped firmly in his hand!
Part III
Sitting at his kitchen table Brad started writing; writing everything he had seen, thought, surmised and even felt. Brad covered every aspect of the past two shifts and the events of ‘Luck be a Lady’ and of course the Golden Dragon. By the time Brad was finished he had completed several pages of notes and of course his mind map with all the connections as he saw them.
Staring at the pages, Brad knew what he had to do; he didn’t like it but what else could he do? Picking up the phone Brad called the Casino and asked to be put through to Surveillance. It was about 5:30pm and he got the administrator; Susan, a lovely girl, been with the department for several years and the bosses right hand man (woman). No one got to the boss without going through her!
“Hey Susan, its Brad”
“Aren’t you on Nights”, she quizzed?
“Yeh, but I need to speak to the boss; it’s urgent!” Brad shot back.
“Hold on, I will see if he is available”
Larry was the Director of Surveillance and a veteran of the business, over twenty five years in Casinos and some twenty in Surveillance, worked in various places across the world and a little like Rich; had seen most things. Brad had a lot of time and respect for Larry; but knew that before he went to him he had better have his facts straight, all his ‘ducks in a row’!
Brad spoke briefly to Larry indicating that he had an urgent matter that he needed to discuss directly with him and only he could deal with it. Larry consented to seeing Brad, as a trusted employee he wanted to hear what he had to say. Within the hour Brad was sitting in the Directors office!
Larry’s office was pretty standard, no frills here Brad thought to himself; a measure of the man sitting across from him now; straight and to the point, functional just like the office.
Larry listened intently as Brad briefly outlined what he had seen and what he thought was going on, indicating that he has prepared a written detailed report for him. Larry reached out gesturing for Brad to hand over his document. Several uncomfortable minutes passed as the Director intently read the report pausing now and then to jot down some notes. Brad sat nervously watching Larry’s face as he read; certainly there were several facial changes; narrowing of his eyes and a very deep furrow across his forehead and then of course the occasional glance in his direction.
Sitting at the desk, Brad’s palms were sweating and he was trying very hard not to ‘fidget’, his feeling of unease was growing; the circumstance took Brad back over 30 years ago when he sat in the School Headmasters office, that was truly an experience he didn’t want to repeat.
Larry stopped reading, put down the report and just sat there at his desk, his hands clasped in-front of him, eyes closed as if praying; after several seconds that seemed like hours to Brad, the director opened his eyes and stared at Brad sitting before him.
“This is very serious stuff”; Larry said.
“Let’s look at the footage and I want you to walk me through it, every step of the way!”
Larry rose from his desk and headed for the private review room; a room normally reserved for non Surveillance personnel to review footage of incidents away from the privacy of the Surveillance Monitor room, a good choice though as it was normally fairly quiet.
Brad settled himself at the console ‘queuing’ up several pieces of footage on multiple monitors, however, he was aware to start at the very beginning, from the point where he first suspected something and then taking the Director through each piece as he saw it, explaining as he went, while at times referring back to his mind map drawing, as to how he thought each piece of the puzzle was related to the other.
As Brad took Larry through the footage, Larry nodded thoughtfully as he saw the Scam unfold before him and as Brad outlined the various roles each person played.
Larry could see exactly what Brad was showing him and he noted that Brad was careful not to tell him what was happening but to show and present his findings allowing Larry to come to his own determination; of course having read the report and knowing about the clandestine rendezvous of the Pit Manager and members of the team added weight to the video.
However, Larry was careful not to be overly influenced or jump to hasty conclusions, a trap for many less experienced; eager to get a ‘kill’!
After some 90 minutes Larry had been through everything and he was convinced that they were being scammed, the tells were all there; the card mucker and his actions, the Big Player and offset betting, the distracters of Gaming staff, the blockers and the apparent collusion of the Pit Manager with the shoe and the girl, however, the unexplained use of a ‘second’ bag by the girl and the use and placement of mobile phones puzzled him and like Brad he thought that this was still the missing piece.
Never the less, the scam was going down and he was determined to not let them get away with it, not in his Casino…
At another property some years earlier Larry had been instrumental in detecting a rather large Baccarat Scam where a female player had hidden a camera in her handbag to video the dealers shuffle.
Larry had detected an inconsistency, the clue he was looking for when he noticed that during the shuffle process the girl would sit at the table with her handbag resting on the layout (pointing at the cards), shortly after the shuffle was over, the female would leave the table only to return some 30 minutes later with a second and different handbag.
Thinking this unusual Larry had reviewed several other incidents and shuffles only to note the same actions and the final clue, piece of evidence he was looking for.
Larry asked Brad what he thought the missing piece of this puzzle was? They discussed this for 20-30 minutes tooing and froing on their theories. Brad was amazed at how easy the boss was to talk with and how readily he listened to his theory.
Finally Larry asked Brad to replay only the footage of the team as they first came into the room and then of the girl and the mucker as they sat at the table.
Brad and Larry went over and over and over again the various angles of these particular incidents, discussing as they viewed; together they surmised that; the Girl, the Bag and the Shoe were the last pieces they of the puzzle they were looking for. Brad drew a faint line from the Bag to the Shoe on his mind map.
“That’s the link” Larry said,
“But how do we prove it?” Brad quipped
“That’s the million dollar question?” the boss said
Larry rose from his chair issuing instructions to Brad to summarize what they have just been through in the last couple of hours; while he had some calls to make!
Larry returned after another 30 minutes or so, just as Brad was completing his report, Larry stuck his head in the review room.
“Come on Brad we have a meeting in the Executive offices with the CEO!”
“Me!” Brad exclaimed;
“Yes you; this is your case, so you are going to take the boss through this just as you took me!” Larry ordered.
Sitting nervously in the reception area of Executive Administration offices, Brad was again reminded of his misadventurous school days. Larry had already entered the CEO’s office some 10 minutes earlier. In the middle of taking deep breaths Brad was trying to wipe the sweat from the palms of his hands.
Brad stood as Larry emerged from the office and ushered him inside. Brad was immediately impressed by the size and space of the office, its panoramic views and lush furniture. Larry introduced Brad to the CEO; a scholarly looking person; slightly built, probably in his early forties with what looked like several degrees framed on the mahogany walls.
The CEO introduced himself and went on to explain that Larry, the Director had given him a brief overview of what you believe to be a Scam and collusion of one of our Gaming managers. The CEO went on to say that I want you Brad to explain in your own words exactly what it is you believe to be occurring and show me a couple of incidents that help substantiate your belief. Brad hesitated and looked at Larry who just nodded his head for him to commence.
Brad explained everything he had told Larry and showed the CEO a couple of incidents that he thought hit home his findings; namely the player squeezing the cards, his blocker and girl, the staff being distracted and of course the clincher being the Pit Boss entering from an unauthorized area with a bag and leaving a general store (where no gaming equipment is stored) with a dealing shoe and placing this on the table.
The CEO sat passively only asking Brad to rewind/review a couple of times, then after several minutes he thanked Brad for his good work asking him to give the Director and him a few minutes alone. Brad left the office to again wait in the reception area.
After several minutes the Larry emerged, passed Brad sitting on the lounge chair only indicating for him to follow. Brad noted that Larry was in-fact now walking briskly back towards the Surveillance Department. On the way back Larry made several phone calls to his Managers asking those on days off to be in his office in no more than 45 minutes and of course to Joe; Brad’s supervisor.
Brad hadn’t really thought about Joe, but now he found it strange that the Director hadn’t mentioned Joe earlier or questioned his actions.
Within 30 minutes most of the supervisors and managers were standing in the Surveillance break room all questioning what was going on and speculating as to why the boss had called them all in; one thing was for sure they knew it was big. A couple of the managers asked Brad why he was here on a day off and Joe was giving him a very serious ‘side look’.
Joe was called first into the Directors office, causing more questions to be asked. However, after only 3 or 4 minutes Joe emerged looking decidedly pale, picked up his bag and as he was about to walk out the door, paused, looked back his face grey;
“See you guys, I just got fired” and out he walked.
Larry called the rest of the team into his office, briefing them on what has transpired, what Brad has uncovered. Larry indicated that he has briefed the Police and Government Agents and tonight they will be monitoring the Scam and acting once all the players are in place.
Everyone has been called in for extra duty and since Joe has been terminated for gross misconduct, Brad, as replacement supervisor will be leading the team.
The scene was set, the surveillance room had an exciting feel to it, like static electricity throughout. A double console had been assigned for the surveillance personnel to monitor the ‘scammers’, Brad supervised this team. Gaming Agents and Police sat in the background after having already been briefed by Brad – they waited.
After a couple of hours a call was received from the Pit Manager #1427 shuffling on the table as pit had been told to expect the players, everyone straightened in their chairs.
After some fifteen minutes the group started to wander into the Pit. Brad watched and directed the operators on the cameras; he observed what was now an all to familiar scene. Another ten minutes passed; players were seated, cards were shuffled and in the shoe, big players at box 1, Motorola phone behind the shoe, card palmer (mucker) on box 7, girl to his right, blocker behind and the girl’s handbag firmly planted on her lap.
Everything they did was well scripted,
“Pretty to watch” Brad muttered.
The dealer had just burnt the first cards and the game was ready to go and so was Brad. At this point Larry walked in the room.
Standing beside Brad; “Is everything OK?”
“Good to go” Brad replied.
Larry indicated he wanted to let it (the play) run for a few hands before they acted.
So the game played out as the audience looked on; at this point the Pit Manager, Neil took a break, as the PM walked from the room and entered the ‘Back of House’ area Larry made a call to the Security Director; within five minutes Neil was sitting in the Security interview room feeling very sorry for himself, but not saying a word, with a surly guard looking on.
After thirty minutes Larry decided he had seen enough;
“Lets go he said”!
With that the Police, Regulators, Larry and team headed off to the Junket room. As they walked Larry barked instructions; there were four main target areas on top of sealing the area; secure the dealing shoe, grab the Motorola phone at the shoe, grab the mucker not giving him time to ditch (or eat) his card and secure the girl’s handbag all while security and police seal off the room, nobody in – nobody out.
The team entered the room as Brad and his Surveillance team looked on; Brad was excited beyond his imaginations, but still in the pit of his stomach there was that nagging feeling –
“What if I am wrong?”
Brad quickly shrugged this off and focused on the job at hand – busting the Scam…
For about five seconds everything/everyone stopped as Larry and the team entered the room, it seemed like an eternity to Brad. Then suddenly it all happened, as players rose to escape, seeing what was happening the team swooped securing and grabbing their targeted areas, as this occurred Brad had his team watching every detail, focused on the main target areas and people ensuring no piece of potential evidence slipped for view; the Junket room was now a crime scene.
The unblinking eye watched as the final scene of the play came to an end. As each member of the team was apprehended Brad’s team videotaped; the mucker’s hidden card was exposed, caught red handed, the dealing shoe was moved to the middle of the table as was the Motorola phone, while the girls handbag was taken from her and likewise placed in plain view on the table, all under CCTV’s relentless gaze.
Nobody left that room until the Police and G Agents processed each person and nothing was touched. The Supervisor’s duty phone rang, for a while Brad didn’t answer, then suddenly realizing that he was the supervisor. Answering, Brad could hear Larry’s voice on the other end,
“Come down to the Pit” Larry said.
Brad quickly made his way to the Pit arriving after a couple of minutes, as he walked in to the gaming pit Larry gestured for him to come to the table. Sitting at third base, the mucker’s seat Brad gazed at the table and the items lay out before him. Larry turned to Brad and said,
“This is your gig, so let’s see what is going on here”.
Before moving Brad used his duty phone to call the CCTV room, Mitch answered; Brad requested that all actions that he or anyone else does must be monitored very closely and documented.
Brad looked at the red playing card in front of him, the card had been found on the female companion of the mucker, he had tried to dump it on her, but Mitch in the monitor room saw as she tried to stuff it in her bra, thinking no one would check – they did. Using a pencil to avoid fingerprints Brad turned the card over; a Nine of spades.
Brad knew that when they checked the cards there would be 417 of them and two of the same suit, not necessarily two nine of spades though. Reason being as Brad thought back to when the male and female played on after the rest of the group left, pretending to have fun and playing both Player & Banker; they were waiting to get there initial card (or at least the same value & suit) out of the game so when surveillance checked the cards, everything matched up.
Thinking for a second, Brad then turned his attention to the Motorola phone; now using a pair of gloves Brad looked at the phone, all seemed normal, taking the back off and turning it on, taking the battery out and putting it back together all seemed normal; Brad even called the phone – it worked. Mmm, it was a phone.
Deciding what to do next he discussed with Larry who suggested the handbag; this was the real unknown. Reaching for the bag, Brad instantly noted that it seemed heavy, sitting it in front he again checked with CCTV to ensure that they were getting everything.
Opening the bag, Brad instantly saw flashing lights; red, green & orange, the same as the dealing shoe each with a corresponding button. Brad attempted to remove the device from the bag, but could instantly see that it was built in; probably had a transmitter/receiver built into the lining. Opening the bag as best he could, Brad pressed the green button; the shoe flashed green. Pressing the remaining red and orange buttons had the same affect, red and orange lights flashed…
Brad rose and walked round the table to the dealing shoe that was still connected to the table and cabled to the floor. Brad picked it up; it likewise felt heavy, even with cards. Taking the cards out, careful to keep the order in place.
Brad picked the shoe up again, moving to another table Brad grabbed another shoe; the suspect shoe defiantly felt heaver. Turning the shoe over Brad could see that the bottom of the shoe was different; taking a penknife from his pocket he pried the base of the shoe off revealing some neat electronics and what looked like a receiver.
Brad took a moment to gather his thoughts; he could see it all now.
The Motorola was a decoy, the girl remotely changed the dealing shoe lights as her partner mucked/palmed the cards; working in tandem they fooled everyone. The Pit Manager was a fool, a pawn in the girl’s hands, classic team play by a well co-ordinated team of professional cheats.
“Technology fooled technology that we the technologically challenged relied upon…”
Three miles into his run Brad had gone through the events of the past week over and over in his mind, how quickly things change. Joe was gone, back to Sydney with his tail between his legs, Brad was Supervisor. A sophisticated cheat team was behind bars and he still couldn’t quite believe it!
Police had interviewed the whole cheat team, as suspected the Pit Manager was a pawn to the team with the girl befriending him with favors; imagine the PM’s surprise when he found out the girl was married to the mucker. The group had plied their wares from Macau to Canada; interestingly they were only one group of many. Brad was feeling relaxed and maybe even a little pleased with himself (not too much though) hearing Rich’s voice in his mind,
“Good job, if I do say so myself; basics, process, instinct, tells, trust yourself, start at the beginning, big picture/ overview, review, check & double check!”
“Good Job…”
