By ROBERT A. NERSESIAN SPECIAL TO THE REVIEW-JOURNAL
Nevada's casino industry continues to act as if it is above the law. Time and again, patrons legally playing with an advantage suffer imprisonment and even beatings at the hands of casino security personnel. It's well past time that something be done to stop these incidents.
I write as an attorney mired in this disgusting practice. I represent legal advantage gamblers and others abused by casinos and the state.
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There are many legal advantage gamblers practicing their trade in Nevada. These individuals generally incorporate techniques or strategies under which they have an edge against the casino. They play by the rules and do not cheat. Examples of how this legal advantage is gained include card counting, tracking the dealer's shuffle and following cards, playing an improperly trained dealer who fails to protect the value of the cards dealt face down, and playing for progressive slot jackpots that have reached a level where the advantage is with the player. Some of these, such as card counting and capitalizing upon the improperly trained dealer, have been found legal by the Nevada Supreme Court.
Despite the legality of the patron's practices, a common scenario across the industry repeats itself. The legally playing patron is first taken off of the game. While arguably tawdry, there is nothing wrong with the practice.
What follows is disgusting. First, casino security will demand the patron's identification. When the patron asserts his rights and refuses to produce identification, he is handcuffed (this can occur even if the patron complies with the request).
After handcuffing, casino security takes the patron to a closed security office. If there is any resistance, and often when there is no resistance, the casino uses force against the patron. On three occasions for which I have received surveillance video footage during discovery, casino security actually beats the patron into submission. In another event, two patrons can be heard screaming for help on a 911 tape as the are forcibly dragged to the security office.
Once in the security office, the patron is invasively searched. All their belongings are taken, and their wallet is rifled. Then the casino steals the patron's information and photo.
After all of this, generally, but not always, the casino releases the player. Obviously, if the patron is released, there was no original basis for the handcuffing or the imprisonment in the security office of the casino.
In those instances where the patron is not released, they enter a netherworld out of some Third-World, tin-pot dictatorship. Either the police or gaming enforcement agents are called, and the authorities rubber-stamp criminal charges against the patron. The patron is then hauled off to jail on amorphous charges such as battery on the security officer or disturbing the peace.
This is not just a difference of opinion as to who is the aggressor. I can speak of this because I have personally addressed four, and only four, criminal charges of this nature. These resulted in two dismissals and two not guilty verdicts. I am also familiar with two other patrons charged with felonies that, despite arrest, concluded with no charges being filed due to "insufficient evidence."
Six out of six indisputably presents a pattern. That pattern is that advantage gamblers will be arrested and prosecuted as cover for the illegal imprisonment and other actions undertaken by the casino, and for the purpose of teaching a lesson to a patron that has the audacity to actually beat a casino at its own game.
Additionally, in my small practice I have now received five judgments/verdicts for false imprisonment (some including battery and defamation) against casinos undertaking these abusive practices. This is in addition to numerous settlements. The illegal persecution of legal advantage gamblers, simply, permeates the casino industry.
It is well past time that something be done about this. More than two years ago, a member of the Nevada Gaming Control Board called upon Nevada's attorney general for a report on the subject. Nothing has been heard since.
Curiously, the courts and juries in Nevada regularly see abuse and bad faith by the casinos. In most cases, the Enforcement Division of the Nevada Gaming Control Board has received notice of these practices from my office. Still, as confirmed by the attorney general's office, they haven't seen fit to institute disciplinary action.
Nevada Gaming Regulations 5.0011.1 and 5.011.10 require that casinos not act in a way that calls into question the reputation of Nevada's gaming industry. Further, they are to conduct their operations with standards of decorum, decency and custom that will reflect favorably on the industry. Failure to follow these regulations is an unsuitable practice subject to investigation and sanctions by the Gaming Control Board.
Where is the investigation of these actions? Where is he report sought by the Gaming Control Board on the practice? It's apparently all been swept under the rug. As matters now stand, the regulations appear to flow in one direction only: against the patron.
Until something is done to restrain casino security departments, we all will remain at risk of their abuse of power. Just winning can raise the suspicions, real or imagined, that result in handcuffing, beating and even arrest and jail. Therefore, until something changes, look over your shoulder the next time you hit a bingo jackpot. After all, it's not paranoia if they're really after you.
