When he took over the Golden Nugget and its Laughlin sibling, Landry’s Restaurants CEO Tilman Fertitta quickly developed a reputation among employees as a skinflint and micromanager. Whether or not the micromanagement has gone by the boards as Fertitta’s Nugget-branded empire expands, the alleged pettiness seems intact. Fertitta bought packs of cards from Kansas City-based Gemaco on the promise that they were pre-shuffled. Fertitta’s people assumed Gemaco’s vow was as good as gold … and we all know what happens when we assume, don’t we?
Sure enough, Golden Nugget Atlantic City pit bosses had the (unshuffled) card decks loaded into the shoe in ‘as received’ sequence. Consequently, mini-baccarat players were dealt a $1.5 million winning streak. Now Tilman, this is why your casinos have automatic shufflers. Going forward, you might want to think about actually using them for something other than decoration. As is wont to occur when players are winning, pit bosses leapt to the conclusion that “a sophisticated swindling and cheating scheme” was afoot.
Nor is this cheapskate blunder confined to the Nugget D’Or … on-its-uppers Trump Entertainment Resorts got clocked late last year as a consequence of making the same bonehead mistake as Fertitta’s execs. Consequently, Trump Taj Mahal is out $91,000 in fines, nine sacked employees and the cost of a new, $2.2 million surveillance setup. However, Tilman isn’t famous for accepting blame. Ergo, he’s welshing on nearly $978,000 in winnings and is prepared to spend God knows what in court to hang onto the dough. He’s also suing Gemaco, with whom he at least has a legitimate beef.
Mind you, Atlantic City casinos are mandated to require equitable odds, which is going to be Tilman’s primary line of defense against the 14 plaintiffs he’s stiffing. However, it would be an entirely reasonable conclusion that aforesaid New Jersey law presumes at least a pretense of due diligence on the casino’s part, not just making it up on the fly. The court system should kick Tilman’s patootie all the way to Camden. His security force also stands accused of having taken a page from one of the worst Vegas traditions, having allegedly put a beat-down on several of the winning players.
Loath as I am to praise anything associated with the bacterium known as Donald Trump, TER CEO Robert Griffin seems to have handled the Taj’s screwup with a measure of grace while Fertitta is just plain being a dickwad. The fault for the debacle is ultimately his and no amount of scapegoating winning players will change that fact.
If you’re not on Facebook then you’re missing the chance to “friend” one of the most fascinating FB personae, nay, the most fascinating … Mr. Charles S. Weinberg. True, Charles bears a suspicious resemblance to our favorite casino owner, Steve Wynn, but I’m sure it’s just a big coinky-dink and that Chuck’s close confederation with notorious Internet wags Hunter Hillegas, Jeff Leatherock and Michael Chilson is strictly above-board. If you are on Facebook, please befriend Charles S., as he’s only got a dozen online pals so far. I recommended a whole bunch of folks to him recently, particularly Mame Dennis. The latter’s philosophy that life is a banquet and most poor S.O.B.s are starving would seem right in line with Charles Weinberg’s way of thinking.
I hope Mr Fertitta’s gets his ass handed to him. These guys would have no problem taking the customer money if it were the other way around. Give the people the money they won. It was his mismanagement team that was clueless.
I think Tilman’s going to find out the hard way that N.J. is not Nevada. CCC or DGE is going to whack them pretty good as well.
I for one, am getting tired of watching casinos blame players for their fuckups. The most egregious one happened a couple of years ago in Louisiana where a casino ran a double jackpot promo which made virtually every $5 machine and up a winner. Surveillance had the state’s regulatory and enforcement body run the SSNs of certain players looking for team play, but under the pretense of money laundering. This is a very large no-no; it is a felony and a clear violation of the Revenue Act. These players’ sin? Playing the $100 reels in this casino, some of which pay in the 97-98% range. Their edge was in the 50% range.
They may or may not have found team play, but they ended up trespassing a bunch of players who’d I’d probably be thrilled to deal to. See when you engage in bullshit operations like this, not only do you not lose your job for not communicating with slots or promotions or whomever, you end up getting promoted.
Fortunately for the casino, no one complained to the officals in Louisiana. This particular company has been whacked for money laundering in another jurisdiction, with Louisiana being broke and whatnot, I can only imagine what kind of fine they’d hit them with for such foolishness. Easily seven digits.
Trust goes both ways. No way I would ever trust any game where they don’t shuffle or at least check the cards. Sometimes mistakes are made in brand new decks, I have seen a few in my decades of playing cards. Players in a casino are just that, players. We have to play the hands we are dealt, and therefore we have to trust that it’s all above board. Going after the players is absurd, and terrible P.R. If the players make a mistake, do they also have the right to sue … ?