CasinosMuch more than just a poker blog...
Las Vegas casinos are facing quite bad days, it seems many robbers are into chip stealing nowadays, which is quite understandable, since nobody stops them in doing so. Piece of cake. Last time it was the Bellagio in December, and now Rio Casino took the hit by a 40-year old white man wearing a moustache, who took $35,000 worth of chips waving a gun off the tables.
The Rio Casino
As I posted it last year [3], an armed robber wearing biker gear took $1,5 in chips from the Bellagio's Craps tables in Las Vegas. Police arrested him [4] in February and identified him as Anthony Assad, son of George Assad, Municipal Court Judge of Las Vegas. Casino robberies are becoming more and more popular these days...
8 News Now Las Vegas wrote about the incident yesterday:
“Police say the suspect walked into the Rio and began taking chips off of a gaming table. When the dealer at the table tried to stop him, he pulled out a gun. The man did not fire the weapon and no one was injured.”
The robbery happened at 4:30 a.m. ET time yesterday morning. According to witnesses the gunman then took a taxi to the Terrible's Casino (which is quite near to the Rio on the Strip) and disappeared into the crowd.
The growing number of casino heists is drawing ever more attention to the leaks of the security systems (if there is such) of the largest casinos in the United States. Employee security seems to be no issue for the casinos, security personnel won't stop an robbery and there's no obvious security measures that would prevent for example these 2 robberies.
What is more, this little incident is troubling for the Rio Casino, where in only 3 months, the 42th WSOP is about to kick start. Will the players be unsure about security? I guess. Will there be a lot of chips at the tables? Sure. Anyone wanting to grab some and walk away unharmed? I bet.