Visitreno

lvbear584 · Joined: 07 Jun 2006 Posts: 140

Griffin Investigations, Inc., is a private business whose integrity was brought into question in court, where it was exposed as fabricating false information about casino patrons in order to sell that false information to casinos. Griffin subsequently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in order to delay payment to two of its victims who obtained a jury verdict against Griffin for its despicable wrongdoing.

More on Griffin: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Griffin_Investigations

Unfortunately, this business still exists, and incredible as it seems, some casinos still subscribe to its dubious “services.”

On its website, Griffin brags that it has access to and disseminates personal information, including Social Security numbers, of “legitimate” slot machine jackpot winners. From the Griffin website: The data stored includes … data on the thousands of players who are legitimate winners. The data includes names, addresses, physical descriptions, and social security numbers.

http://www.griffininvestigations.com/winner_data.html

How is this possible? It is likely that Griffin obtains this information from the casinos themselves. How else could it be obtained? This is a stunning breach of patrons’ personal security by the casino industry. How can the Nevada Gaming Control Board permit this to go on? With the constant threat of identity theft, the public at large should be outraged by this.

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My casino-related website: www.TheBearGrowls.com

stan_allen · Joined: 19 Dec 2005 Posts: 1129

Just another example of why you shouldn't give out your SS# unless absolutely required - but in order to claim winnings over a certain amount in a casino, you're forced to!

Is there any need to ponder further why Steve Wynn opened a new mega-casino in Macao??? Sure, it's a long plane ride from the states, but those who want to do some serious gambling with minimal intrusion are likely to start looking at places outside Nevada, and the U.S.A., for that matter.

remano · Joined: 20 Dec 2005 Posts: 717

stan_allen · Joined: 19 Dec 2005 Posts: 1129

Well, what I meant by that, and probably didn't explain well, is that Mr. Wynn probably sees that the future is outside Vegas, and he's making his long-term construction plans accordingly.

Vegas will be the cash cow of the gambling universe for a while to come, but other parts of the world are starting to wonder why they can't have a piece of that action, and having U.S. casinos hound players for their SS numbers will only turn them off further.

spinner · Joined: 19 Dec 2005 Posts: 62

Stan_Allen is absolutely correct. Vegas will become a place for the lower rollers. There will be government intervention on jackpot payouts, chip to cash transactions, cash transactions above a limit, IRS trying to bill people for taxes based on their perceived win you had, etc. It will just keep getting more and more. Heck, I would not be surprised if some guy at Homeland Security decides that anyone that prefers to play blackjack, using his left hand, while sitting in the third base position, it more likely to perform terrorist acts and so they must be closely monitored.

I was in Macau last month, and I will once again state that it is a "anything goes" money talks type of place. At Wynn's, you just get busy and play, you cash out (I won about $11,000 US) and that is it. You move on. They don't ask for passport, visas, SSN or anything. You can be completely anonymous, which, I think is a desire of all real gamblers. We don't want the spotlight, we would rather not draw attention to our affair with "Lady Luck". We like to be discrete when we draw her affection not have to have it broadcast on forms for the casino, for the IRS etc.

Real Casinos will go elsewhere. Las Vegas will retain a tarnished "Disney" quality, with our slutty celebrities trying to show who is best (Like Britney Spears on her great talent showcased at the Palms recently) and Nevada saying it is the place to be. But in reality, they are spreading to places where people don't want all that, they just want to gamble.

You won't find any Ferrari dealerships in the Wynn's in Macau. What you will find is big gambling floors, lots of serious gamblers, and a management style that is not afraid to gamble also.

By the Way, Wynn's in Macau is only a Franchise to Wynn's and not owned by Wynn's in Las Vegas. You can't use your comps interchangably and such. I am sure this is to allow more protection from the US government intervention if it were a 100% US owned business over there.

lvbear584 · Joined: 07 Jun 2006 Posts: 140

spinner · Joined: 19 Dec 2005 Posts: 62

Sorry for the delay in answering, in Asia we had a "Chusok" holiday for a week, which is like a Thanksgiving in America, but no football games.

Macau gambling overview
Roulette is basically all single zero. They have two versions, one with an American wheel layout of numbers and the other with a European layout of numbers. The only thing is that there is only 1 zero which is a big improvement over the double zero game. Limits go from about $6 chips minimum to bets of $20,000 HK which is about $2600 US straight up on numbers which is higher than Las Vegas (this is at Lisboa casino). I think that with management approval, you can bet what you want.

Blackjack is played out of a "shoe" with 6 or 8 decks. These deck are shuffled by machine, but not a continuous shuffler. They have two sets of decks, and while one is in play, the other set is being shuffled. They seem to allow thoughtful reflection by players. Game Rules are not posted at the table and would need to be asked and vary from casino to casino. All casinos seem to have the following 3 to 2 for BJ, Double on any first 2 cards, Double on splits, Surrender, deep penetration of "Shoe".
Some clubs offer wins and bonuses for 3 7's, 21 with 6 cards. Limits are usually about minimum $30US to about max $5000US. They have higher limit salons around that go much higher than that.

I have not seen a craps table as of yet
Plenty of Baccarrat, and a few Chinese domino games too.

They usually have 1 "wheel of forture" which never gets played anywhere, A few slot machines around the perimeters (Wynn's seem to have more). No Keno parlors.

US funds are readily exchangeable at the casino cashier, HK dollars are the basis of all the clubs (even though it is in Macau).

As for any procedural weaknesses, I found the dealers to be very efficient and precise. I did notice that the pit bosses were not too interested in verifying large payouts, and on Roulette, I got a few hundred US in my favor by them miscalculating my payout on complicated payouts. There were only a few mistakes and they mostly favored me so the ones that favored me were not really mistakes, since I sure did not want to point it out to them.

It is obvious that table games are the focus here, and it is not unlikely to not find any open tables in the evenings. Even the afternoons are busy usually. They are drawing from Asia mostly with very rarely a "Westerner" around. Most of the "Westerners" are tourists just coming in to look around, lose $100US and leave. English is spoken by most of the club management.

lvbear584 · Joined: 07 Jun 2006 Posts: 140

I have never been to Macau. I might have to plan a visit. Thanks.

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My casino-related website: www.TheBearGrowls.com

spinner · Joined: 19 Dec 2005 Posts: 62

Best way to go is a flight to Hong Kong and then a ferry (about an hour) over to Macau from Hong Kong. It is fun to do and a change from what you might be used to. Don't forget to spend some time around "Old Macau" which was a Portuguese colony for about 400 years and only reverted back to China in 1999.

Now this would be an interesting trip report.....