I was watching some poker videos on Youtube, and noticed one small “card room”, featuring a number of Hold’em players playing for high stakes. They came to the table with as much as $50k in chips.
At the end of the game, a camera (as a selfie) focuses on one of the player at the cash cage, who has just cashed out for $137k. He takes the piles of 100s, puts them in his backpack, and leaves.
My question is - how does a small card room like this handle security? It seems anyone (probably armed) could walk in (after getting past front-door security, which I assume would be there), and leave (illegally) with a large sum of money. It didn’t look like the cage had more security than (probably bulletproof) glass, and a couple of cashiers. Not nearly as secure as the much larger Vegas casinos.
Somebody armed not getting pass security, they all make you walk through a metal detector. Cameras provide the first level of security inside the gaming area and any suspected criminal behavior is dealt with swiftly and discreetly.
The winner is going to be escorted out to a waiting vehicle that is likley provided by the event. The event will most likley provide additional security that they don’t show on camera, because it would make no sense to show it.
Still it possible to get robbed at some point, but not in the casino area. Most likely to get robbed once he starts spending his winnings like a drunken sailor on leave.
Performance sounds about right, because why would you cash out your winnings of $137,000 in piles of hundred-dollar bills (which is awkward at best) and not, say, a check or direct deposit?
I’ve been in a lot of casinos in the US, ranging from small card rooms, tribal casinos, and large Vegas type facilities. I’ve also been in casinos in London, Venice, Germany, and Budapest. I’ve never seen one with a metal detector.
They might be hidden, but security in the big casinos is on the ball. I once walked into a Vegas casino that had a “no guns” policy with a large gun case (that was full of swords). I didn’t even make it halfway across the lobby before security converged on me from three different directions all at once.
So in Vegas, if you win bigly, do they cut you a check? What if you win, like, $4k or something else comparatively small (I know that there are guys upstairs betting ten times that much per hand). Can you ask for a check? Is there a solid number above which they pay with a check, and below which they pay in cash?
With full casinos at least, with larger amounts you have the option of cashing out with check, cash, or a combination. I’m sure they have a limit to how small they would be willing to cut a check for.
And people cashing out large amounts for straight cash is definitely a thing.
In a somewhat related situation about 10 years ago there was a rash of thefts from vendors at antique shows getting robbed on the way home. Apparently the ne’er-do-wells would locate dealers they felt had large sums of money and follow them home until they got to a good spot and robbed them. I haven’t read about any recent cases.
Yep. E-payments have really changed how much cash people carry. I volunteer at a martial arts seminar, running the registration table for many years. Back in the 90s-2000s, by the end of the weekend, I’d often be hauling around 10-15K in cash. But these days, most people use some kind of e-payment, so now I usually have less than a thousand on me.
Security will provide an escort, maybe only to your car, after that you should probably arrange a contingency. Casinos tend to be an unusually cash-heavy business, and one that is planning a high-stakes poker tournament may arrange to have more on hand for an event then they would normally. They’re not under any obligation to pay out in cash and could have a policy to cut a check over a certain amount, but could waive that for the tournament.
Even banks don’t have a lot of cash on hand. I worked at a Big Four bank in their largest category of retail bank, and even 20 years ago the walk-in safe did not have millions lying there. If you wanted large amounts of cash you have to order it.
I was just in Vegas/Henderson and did not see any metal detectors, and do not see them elsewhere. No doubt they have lots of facial and other biometric scanning, but not metal detectors.
I’ve been to Vegas a couple of times including this past December. I walked in and out of casinos all day with a small pistol in my pocket. No metal detectors and nobody ever approached me.
Every time I see a video or movie where some punter stacks up cash and leaves a casino I assume it is staged for P.R. My parents moved there in the early 70’s and the entire time they lived there, they and everyone they knew repeated the mantra:..“Someday I am going to hit the big one” . They died penniless in a decrepit mobile home and us kids had to chip in to bury them afterb 30 years of steady “gaming” . sigh
