Recently state casino regulators in Massachusetts underwent training at a “casino academy” to learn how to spot unusual activities in casinos that might actually be criminally related.
For instance, when a customer puts money into a slot machine and then immediately cashes out, or someone drops money on the floor and doesn’t pick it up.
Bruce Band, a veteran gaming regulator told the Boston Globe “I’m always worried when we are not catching someone because it doesn’t mean the bad guys have gone away,” adding, “It only means we’re missing something.”
The training was provide by BMM Testlabs, one of the world’s leading gaming testing laboratory and technical consultancy.
BMM’s directors of technical compliance, Peter Nikiper and Jason Elison, said the most popular session of the course was on cheats and scams.
Ellison commented “This is always an interesting subject as we discuss ways that people may try to cheat a casino, a slot machine or a table game, and the signs that you should look out for.”
Nikiper added “With developments in technology, the ways people would historically try to cheat a casino have changed with the times, so the methods for identifying the would-be cheats have to do the same.”
Band is the state’s chief gaming regulatory agent. He is training about a dozen agents so that at least two agents will be on the floor of the casino at any one time.
He is in charge of training agents who will be overseeing the Bay State’s first casino, the Plainridge Park Casino due to open June 24 in Plainville. It will have 1,500 slot machines.
Dozens more agents will join the force as the state’s three casino resorts come online in the next few years.
Attendees to the training sessions were given a first-hand look at the gaming industry and had the opportunity to learn about the operations of gaming machines, assess outcomes and check meters. They also learned about what services an independent test lab provides and why testing and certification services are so crucial to our regulated gaming industry.
Casinos are magnets to money launderers, who can feed machines with money, print a ticket without playing at all, and then retrieve untainted cash from the cage.
Crooks dressed in coats when it’s inappropriate might be hiding purses or pocketbooks underneath them.
The agents don’t just protect patrons from crooks, they also protect them from the casino by ensuring that its machines are operating correctly and maintaining the “return to player” rate that is established by the state. Massachusetts mandates that the “house” keep no more than 20 percent of the money wagered.
The agents are trained to open the machine and check its program setting and the records of play.
Travis Foley, BMM EVP operations, concluded “BMM is grateful for the opportunity to provide this training to the MGC prior to the opening of the Plainridge Park Casino in Plainville on June 24. We would like to thank John Glennon and Bruce Band of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission.”
