Ohio trains agents to catch casino cheaters

Associated Press

CLEVELAND

Ohio is ready to do battle with the con artists expected to arrive with the opening of the state’s first casinos next month.

The Ohio Casino Control Commission has assigned 13 state investigators full time to the Horseshoe Casino Cleveland, scheduled to open May 14, and similar contingents at casinos opening later in Toledo, Columbus and Cincinnati.

Agents have completed a 40-hour course that covers the rules for games such as poker or craps as well as ruses that cheats are likely to try.

“Every organized team that hits every jurisdiction will be coming to Ohio in some fashion,” George Joseph, a veteran Las Vegas-based casino security consultant, told the Plain Dealer for a story Sunday. “Your money’s green in Ohio. They’ll be coming that way.”

The agents have sole jurisdiction on the gaming floor, though casino-hired security will handle routine matters, said Matt Schuler, the commission’s executive director.

Three or four armed agents, plus a supervisor, will be on duty at all times, but they may be hard to single out.. Agents will keep guns concealed and usually dress in plain clothes, and display badges only to quell problems.

The Horseshoe will average 13,000 visitors and more than $800,000 in revenue a day, according to estimates from Rock Ohio Caesars, the joint venture that developed the Horseshoe.

The first criminals to surface will likely include drug dealers and others seeking to launder money at busy slot machines and gaming tables, Joseph said. He also anticipates professional gambling scam artists.

Scams vary from plucking cash vouchers left protruding from slot machines to surreptitiously marking cards to sliding, rather than rolling, dice, Joseph said.

Tech-savvy cheaters sometimes use hidden cameras capable of detecting clear substances they smear on playing cards. Others attach an electronic device to slot machines that fools a bill reader into thinking currency has been inserted, Joseph said.doesn’t mean we should ignore it or not make it a priority.”