Casino Rights with their Patrons

I'm just curious if there are a set of real or unwritten rules that casinos have to abide by when dealing with "bad" patrons. Such as:

1. They want to kick someone out (not doing anything illegal).
2. They want to kick someone out (after calling the police).
3. Are they allowed to detain someone for any amount of time that has not done anything illegal (but against the casino's "rules" such as, but not limited to, counting)?
4. For one reason or another they find a person that has a warrant out for their arrest (do casinos have access to this type of information?) or has committed a serious (and obvious) crime on their property.

Bonus: Are they given more leeway than any given restaurant or entertainment venue?

I believe that they can ask you to leave and arrest you for trespassing if you refuse. Some casinos have been sued and had tp pay for "rights" violations. Try to Google casino customer rights and see what you get!

Keep in mind I'm not a gaming lawyer, but have some experience in this area...

1) Yes, they can kick you out. Being boisterous is not illegal, nor is being 21 without ID on you illegal, but I've seen the boot given for both. Filing a lawsuit for either incident seems a stretch.

2) 'After calling the police' I assume is for an illegal act? If so, then absolutely. If your smoking weed at the slots (seen it) or having sex in the elevator (seen it) or having a 'hand party' at craps (seen it), then yes, you get das boot. Legal repercussions depend on weather the police either witness it, or feel strongly enough about the incident to want to view the coverage. Some just want to get you out, some want to make you pay.

3) Technically, no. Of course I have seen people be 'detained' in the process of issuing them an involuntary exclusion (basically an order of trespass), for anything from taking TITO's that weren't theirs to being too drunk too many times, but technically if they've done nothing illegal (i.e. counting) and wish to leave upon being approached, forcing them to stay and/or detaining them in the Security Office is false imprisonment. $100,000's lawsuits can and have resulted from Security being too aggressive and forcing people to 'hear them out' or not letting them go until they've signed their exclusion. If it aint illegal, they can't hold you. Pray they do, though. It pays better than a $5 royal flush

4a) Casino's themselves wouldn't know if a patron had a warrant (unless patron was serious offender with Wanted posters hanging all over) but most casino's have on-site law enforcement, be it County Sheriffs, local PD or State Police. If the patron did something to necessitate police involvement, then yes, they very well could be caught. But if the patron was just a regular guy minding his business and keeping his nose clean, then I'd doubt they'd know if he was a fugitive.

4b) If a patron committed a serious crime, hell, if they commit petit larceny and nab $100 or even something less serious like someone's coat or something, then yes, Security will approach them, sometimes hold them in their office, but more likely will keep the patron in the area until the on-site PD arrives. And the PD will most definately take you and charge you with whatever you did, which involves detaining you in their or Security's office. I don't know if the technicalities of whether Security holding you vs PD holding you is different, but if you stole something and Security gets you, I doubt you'd have a leg to stand on in court.

So yes, there are a set of written rules the casino has to abide by called State and Federal Law ;). And I don't think, at least in this respect, that they are given any sort of leeway on the matter. I'm just thinking of a sports arena, as an example. They can kick you out if you're being an ass (too drunk). They can have you arrested if you're a really big ass (punch/pour beer on somebody). They can kick you out for a non-illegal act (smoking in non-designated area, cutting a line). As far as I can tell, they're pretty much the same, except arena beers cost eight bucks, the casino's are free.

Thebeargrowls.com has a good section on what to do when you are being 86'd. How a casino treats you will vary depending on where you are. In LV Metro almost always goes with the casinos story. Can't blame them the casino's pay the taxes that pay them. Chances are now the casino will politely tell you that you can no longer play X game if they think you are an AP or sometimes if they get freaked by you being lucky. Obviously if you are being an Ahole or starting trouble you will be handled quickly (unless you are running thru the casino in a motorcycle helmet).

Conversely lawyers in CT have been able to get people off on minor crimes up to simple assault so long as they don't go back on the Indian nation.

.....

This is the key point - it's a private business. You don't have the "right" to do anything there. Now, it would be a different story if they blatantly excluded someone based on sex, race, religion, etc, but the fact is, if you are an AP, if you loiter, if you are causing a commotion, even if you are wearing offending clothing, they can and will ask you to leave. Don't forget though - they don't want to exclude you, they just want you to behave and gamble. A vast majority of the time they ask people to leave for the night and that's it. As far as alchohol, in Arizona, if they deem you to be "drunk", then they have to ask you to leave. They can't officially cut you off so that you can stay, because they have to escort you off property.

Thank you everyone for taking the time to post. Face, you gave me exactly what I wanted. Aside from various questions that could follow from what you listed in #2 I a follow-up.

1. So major casinos have on-site PD? As crazy as that sounds it should have been obvious. If security thinks something is "fishy" (whatever you might think that means) - do they have the means/rights to find out criminal records? I am sorry if the question is vague, but I'm wondering what a casino does if they think something isn't right and they can't call the police yet. This is connected to 41.

I'm trying to work out all of the "Hollywood" that the show "Las Vegas" has and this one was really bothering me. I mean it's obvious that they can't push people around but your average person doesn't have access to criminal records right?

Edit: I don't want this to spiral into a "should casinos have the right to kick people out" - there's already a thread for that. The correct answer is yes they should.

.....

All depends on the laws of the country.
Some business owners think they can serve who they want.
But this is in some countries against the law. They call it 'discrimination.'
OP check your countries laws.

Honestly, I dont know the ratio of those that have on-site PD vs those that don't, I just know that some do. In other words, I couldn't tell you if it was few, many or most, just that I know that some do.

I would think that any casino personnel, regardless of rank or function, would NOT have access to criminal records. I don't know if any privacy laws are involved with this, but I'd think that a person's criminal record would have nothing to do with their scope of responsibilities. The only exemption I can think of is if it actually WAS in the scope of their responsibilities. Say Cage Personnel recognizes someone who may be a fraud. They could report it to their Supervisor who would then report it to the PD, but even still, if her suspicions are correct then probably the police would handle it. They wouldn't run the patrons record and report the findings to the Cage for them to handle.

However, if I am taking 'criminal record' too literal, as in a report of all legal actions taken against a person throughout their life, then my answer may change. There are a number of casino databases that were created and are updated regularly by casino's around the world. They include both legal things like counters and other AP's, and also illegal activity such as capping / collusion / other cheating methods as well as fraudulent activity such as passing bad checks, counterfeits and credit fraud's. In these instances casino's and their personnel absolutely have access to them. It's not a 'criminal record' in an every day, real life sense, but I suppose if you were to call it something, then 'criminal record' wouldn't be too far from what it is. Obviously, though, it only includes things that concern gaming. Credit fraud, money laundering, counterfeiting, cheating, etc. If you got busted smoking pot in college, or killed a man in a bar fight, or bootlegged beer from Texarkana to wherever the hell Snowman and the Bandit were headed to, then no, they wouldn't have the access to know about it.

Patrons getting 'pushed around' is kind of vague, but in most cases is unacceptable. With all of the ways to get sued nowadays, all casino personnel are trained to 'use their words', with the most severe form of force being to simply place their hand on a persons shoulder and state 'please remain here'. I've seen some crazy incidents where Security thinks they're not only the supreme law, but that they're above it. People getting thrown around for exiting 'this' door instead of the door they were told to, a patron being tackled because they flipped a Security Supervisor the bird, AP's being detained and berated in the Security Office, and every one of them ended with a hefty lawsuit which they won. If a patron is directly threatening themselves or other patrons with physical harm (has a gun, knife, or has already punched someone) then I would assume it would be alright to tackle them (although I wouldn't encourage it). In any other instance, be it theft, fraud or harassment, call the police and let them deal with it. They also have to follow the law, but being that they've had years of training and make more than minimum wage, they're more apt to act appropriately. And hell, if they mess up, it's on the PD, not the casino.

Keep in mind that as State Laws are a part of what regulates casino's that they are subject to change depending on where you are. But as far as the 'criminal record' aspect goes, I think it's pretty uniform throughout the country. If I again missed a part of your question, feel free to continue asking.

Quote: ahiromu

but your average person doesn't have access to criminal records right?

A person's criminal or arrest record and mugshots are a matter of public record. If you are willing to invest about $20 you can run a criminal background check on anyone, provided you have enough identifying information, but full name, birthday, and state of residence should be enough. I know some law firms subscribe to services that perform background checks, I would assume casino security would too.

Thank you Face, answered pretty much everything I could think of (with a grain of salt of course). I guess that makes sense about arrest records and mugshots, I've had a blast on those websites for hours.

Here's a funny story that happened 6 months ago at the Palms. I'm a local, and I was meeting a friend at the Palms buffet for dinner. I had just parked when he called my cell to say he wouldn't meet me at the buffet entrance because he was being detained at the security desk, so I should go there instead because we may not be eating here after all. I walked up and there he was, amused, with hands in pockets waiting patiently for the guards to decide what to do with him. The problem? My friend was wearing on of those orange "Girls Direct To YOU" T-shirts available at all the novelty shops, like the big Bonanza one at Sahara and LVB. The guards stopped him coming onto the property thinking it was a whore advertisement, but finally let it go when they realized the printed phone number was bogus. Made him button up his coat I think though. Odd because my friend isn't some frat boy tourist or actual latino porn-slapper, he's in his 50's and looks like Leonard Nimoy, he just likes to push the envelope. (sorry RB, if you're reading this)

Quote: zippyboy

Here's a funny story that happened 6 months ago at the Palms.

That is funny. I have seen those for sale at the Venetian, of all places.

Quote: miles

A person's criminal or arrest record and mugshots are a matter of public record. If you are willing to invest about $20 you can run a criminal background check on anyone, provided you have enough identifying information, but full name, birthday, and state of residence should be enough. I know some law firms subscribe to services that perform background checks, I would assume casino security would too.

Yeah, now that I think about it perhaps criminal record isn't protected in any way as I may have mentioned earlier. And also, there are people affiliated with my casino (Investigators) who as part of the hiring process do run a criminal background check. I didn't think of them because although they technically work for the casino, they're not a part of it, if that makes sense. Seperate office in a seperate building many miles away. No one but HR or those dealing with HR issues ever have contact with them, and they in no way participate in any customer related incidents. I was thinking the question more pertained to those who have regular dealings with customers, like Cage, Table Games, Security, etc, in which case my answer remains the same. No.

I owned a bar decades ago and I 86'd people for just having a bad attitude. I had the right to kick out anyone I didn't want to serve, as long as it wasn't based on race, sex, blah blah. So if they insulted me, or spit on the floor, or argued with me about anything, and a hundred other reasons, they were gone. Its for the benefit of the other paying customers, they appreciate not having to drink alongside of riff raff. It was easy. Somebody would break one of the rules, I'd say 'OOPS!' out loud, snatch his drink off the bar, give him a refund, and tell him to get lost. He'd swear, call me names, threaten me (which is what I was waiting for), I'd say 'OOPS!' again and call the cops. What fun days those were. People think neighborhood bars are like the show Cheer's. They're actually full of serious alcoholics who just want to be left alone while they drink.

Quote: zippyboy

..... detained at the security desk, ...... he's in his 50's and looks like Leonard Nimoy.............

You sure it wasn't his pointy ears?

Why would casino security care if a patron had a criminal record? They would only care if the patron was in the Gryphon book or whatever they call it these days. That would tell the casino that the player has a history of cheating.

The police would want to know if there was a warrant for their arrest once a player was detained. But I think that it would be absolutely illegal for casino security to actively do a criminal background check on any of its patrons. That said, I am not sure whether a casino would allow the police to use surveillance's Facial recognition technologoy and its database to match a criminal with someone who the police were looking for. I would think that the fuzz would need a warrant for that...?

Quote: boymimbo

Why would casino security care if a patron had a criminal record? They would only care if the patron was in the Gryphon book or whatever they call it these days. That would tell the casino that the player has a history of cheating.

The police would want to know if there was a warrant for their arrest once a player was detained. But I think that it would be absolutely illegal for casino security to actively do a criminal background check on any of its patrons. That said, I am not sure whether a casino would allow the police to use surveillance's Facial recognition technologoy and its database to match a criminal with someone who the police were looking for. I would think that the fuzz would need a warrant for that...?

Griffin Advantage Player Database. You are correct, sir.

And yes, the police do check for warrants in the event the patron was detained in an unrelated incident. As for Security performing a background check? I have no idea of the legal aspect, but just know that it isn't done. If for no other reason than there simply is no reason to. Security is there to perform escorts, check ID's and give directions, not to be featured on CrimeStoppers.

We (the casino) were put on alert for an Asian team who used counterfeit cards to withdraw hundreds of thousands of dollars from Seneca Niagara. Perhaps you and / or SOOPOO were aware due to your Niagara region / WNY locations. The alert came from Seneca Niagara, the NYSP, and the Secret Service. We ended up catching them in the act, and an FBI raid of their hotel room revealed all the equipment to make fake ID's, bank cards, etc. The team were tried and convicted to 1-3 years and restitution of ~$150,000 each as reported by the Niagara Gazette. This is kind of an example of the police requesting help from the casino to nab a crook, although the casino's interest in the matter may disqualify it in your eyes.

If that doesn't fit for you because of the interest, then we were also put on alert due to a female reporting to the police that her partner was distraught and contemplating suicide. Since she reported (somehow or another) that he was occasionally a patron of our casino, the police enlisted our help in actively searching our area of town in an attempt to locate him. We don't have facial recognition, but a number of our databases were searched to give us an idea of who we were looking for. To me, that sounds like the police asking for Surveillance help in a totally non-gaming capacity. But then again, killing yourself isn't illegal as far as I know, so chalk up yet another weak example for the Face =P. Could the police utilize casino tech / info in solving a totally-unrealted-to-gaming crime, say, a murder in another town? Don't truely know.