Despite 14 arrests for cheating at a couple dozen Las Vegas casinos, the Nevada Gaming Control Board never saw fit to nominate hall-of-fame cardshap Jubreal Chahine for inclusion in the Black Book, not even after it publicly characterized him as “a frequent cheater.” Chahine must have thought he had some guardian angel looking out for him. His favored forms of trickery involve jiggery-pokery with chips, like past-posting, where you slip a bet onto the felt after the cards have been dealt or the dice have stopped rolling. (Doesn’t that douchey look just scream “suspicious”?)
“It doesn’t take a whole lot of sleight-of-hand ability. But it does take guts,” Worldwide Gaming Consulting President George Joseph told the New York Times. Whether because he bet small or for other reasons, the NGCB never saw fit to 86 Chahine from Nevada casinos. Pennsylvania authorities were not so complaisant when Chahine decided to try his luck there. He evaded capture at Parx Casino and SugarHouse. Then he decided to head north and take his chances at Sands Bethlehem. He drew a pair — a pair of state police officers, that is, who threw Chahine in the pokey, where it looks like he will reside until the Keystone State can sort out his fate.
How did he get caught? In a bid for the Darwin Awards, Chahine gave his actual name a date of birth when applying for a players’ card. I guess he couldn’t resist the point awards. Now Nevada regulators want to extradite Chahine and prosecute, but Pennsylvania’s men got the collar, so I figure they deserve the first round in court. “Guys like Chahine are what I call low-level, repeat offenders, versus the ones who go in for the big haul,” said NGCB enforcement chief Karl Bennison, by way of rationalizing the Silver State’s lack of action. Neither the 14 arrests nor six convictions were enough to get him in the Black Book, however.
But that’s changing. Queried on a Black Book invitation for Chahine, Bennison said, “No doubt. He’s definitely in the realm of being a candidate. Too bad it took such a public embarrassment to make that happen. As for the casinos, they’re so busy changing the odds to care much that a Chahine is strictly small fry.
For those of you who can’t be here to see it happen, Vital Vegas has compiled an excellent gallery of Harmon demolition pictures. Since no tourist has ever set foot inside the hotel, it’s as good as being there.
