That's not how it works.

Not saying that’s what he did just throwing it out as a possibility.. the one time I had 30k in chips I had them cut me a check and I did a Mobil deposit. If it was bigger I’d wire it to my bank. There’s literally no reason to leave that much money in a box w no proof. Help me make it make sense.

Just bc someone is a “well known pro” doesn’t mean they’re not capable of doing stuff like this.. if anything the bigger the stakes the more likely someone is doing something shady. Again not saying this guy did this just felt the need to point it out.

Ya I get why people have money in the box. I just don’t get why unless you’re some massive tax evading drug dealer why you would be evading taxes.

Maybe I’m old school but I want a record of transactions and more importantly some sort of insurance on my money. The idea of having money in a box and having no proof of it being there concerns me. I suppose the same could be said for having cash in your pocket or chips.

I prefer a bank or crypto for my money. Even on a poker site where I can see fake numbers makes me feel more at ease. That was my only point.

Then again it’s poker so I guess a lot of us are evading taxes. There’s guys at Foxwoods (where cash plays) who take money out of the pot when people put cash in they exchange chips they’ve won. Most likely to avoid cage interactions. I’m sure they pay their taxes!

Also if you need to have large sums just do it electronically… in a box only makes sense if you’re tax evading imho.

high stakes pro = high buyins = higher amounts in the box.

just cuz u had 30k once doesnt mean you understand highstakes players who play 10/20 - 25/50 uncapped games where 200k might just be just a couple buyins.

your 3 buyins you bring to play 1/2nl doesn't nessisate you having a box, but if you regularly have to bring 100k with you to have 3 buyins for the game your playing, it would make more sense to keep it in a box onsite.

then again, if you've never had to worry about it ig you'd never think about it and just assume they're dealing drugs or evading taxes.

The 1% strikes again.

lol @ having a box and never having over 30k in it... what's the point of the box??? Pretty scary situation. More alarming Bellagio hasn't resolved this or it seems even acknowledged their wrongdoing yet.

Ok you re explained what we already know.. so why not keep it electronically?

Make it make sense

Takes time and energy to turn electronic money to chips to play poker with = you lose your seat not able to play as much plus it's annoying. Not a difficult concept. Games also vary in size daily and how much you need varies on how you run so if you prepare to bring 100k and need 300-500k it's incredibly annoying.

No regular high stakes player does what you are suggesting for a place they play regularly at. As you deal with larger sums it becomes increasingly more annoying + time consuming + issue prone.

Caesar’s properties let you deposit money at cage into an electronic account for WSOP to then be used later for tournament buyins, not sure why poker rooms can’t/don’t operate same way. Maybe players prefer a lockbox?

yep irs lein or box got switched up are both much more likely than theft. in a large % of these cases the victim has some baggage that they are intentionally leaving out.

Yes it would be nice if the casinos also acted like a bank where you could put your winnings "on deposit" and then withdraw when you want to play again. But they arent banks, and I imagine they dont want to be banks.

They have safety deposit boxes just like banks have safety deposit boxes, but banks dont insure those either. Its market incentives that keep them secure.


So if you are a high stakes player trying to get 100k cash for a game, you have 2 options.

1) Go to the bank and go thru the hassle of withdrawing that much money, go from the bank to the casino with 100k cash, play in the game, go from the casino to the bank (if the bank is even open yet) to deposit it back, all while hoping you dont get robbed on the trips between the casino and the bank. And repeat this process everyday you play. You can't just wire money back and forth between the bank and casino everyday without paying a ton in wire transfer fees.

Or 2) You get a box in the casino that your game is at and keep 100k there so its always (I guess almost certainly always) available


Also your bank deposits are only insured for $250k by FDIC. So you if you have really large amounts in your box, it is roughly just as safe/protected as it would be in a bank. A casino with lockbox security issues would quickly lose its high stakes player base, for all games.

"safety" deposit box?

Well your 99% for of BS. No, putting something in the custody another party does not make it the other party’s property. Not for banks and not in this case either.

The chips might be property of the casino but not the value those chips represent. Casino owns the physical clay but not the value represented. There are very specific conditions where the casino can seize the chips wo proper remuneration. Simply choosing to store them in a locked box on the casino property is not ceding ownership to the casino.

By your theory the trillions of dollars invested in stocks held a brokerages belong to the brokerages. SBF needs to track you down and get you on his trial jury. Bernie Madoff would have beg for you be his prosecutor.

I don’t do it and have zero experience but I believe when you use the casino bank method we’re the casino to go bk (very unlikely but possible) you become an unsecured creditor and likely get nothing.

Biggest reason a high stake poker player uses a box is convenience. Once you get box setup you simply go in and grab what you need or leave what you want. You could even keep your Aria chips in your B box. Casino might not “allow” this but doubt they could easily enforce that. So one box for all your strip casino chips.

I agree I would like a record and some kind of insurance but I am not likely to face this need. My five figure poker roll sits safely in my home safe and I carry the bi I need in my pocket.

you caught me typo police... i submit peacefully, dont tase me bro

1. Banks don’t insure their boxes but you can get insurance on the contents of your bank box. If you can do this for a casino box I don’t know but I doubt it is easy to do even if you can. Much of what is stored in a bank box doesn’t need to be insured.

2. Some casinos (most?) have a system for you to leave funds with them on an electronic ledger, similar to a bank deposit. Not sure if these are available to poker winnings or not. Some now even allow putting money onto the players card to use in slots. But these likely not as convenient for some folks. Especially if storing chips from multiple casinos. So it might be available bot not what was chosen to use.

Wait is there not just a camera above the box for the poker room to review to see if hes telling the truth or full of **** and see what happened to the money? Its mind bogging to me that this is not the end of the thread. how could a billion dollar company not have cameras in an area where they keep millions of dollars

I'm sure more poker players have had crypto stolen than have had their box inside a casino robbed. This is the first time I can remember hearing about something like this.

Boxes are way faster than having money on deposit.

Obviously, I hope the mixup is something as simple as this.

In your situation, did your key also not work? That's an interesting part of Gordo's case. It makes me wonder if he tried going back with his previous key and attempting other adjacent boxes.

On a much, much, much smaller level, this happened to one of those USPS cluster mailboxes. My parents were on vacation and I was to collect my dad's office mail while they were out of town. Long story short, I found out that the box numbers had changed, and it took me a couple of days to realize why the key wasn't opening box #4 any longer.

Anyway, simple misunderstanding, simpler solution, and I hope Gordo's resolution is something this easy and benign.

Want insurance on your money but use crypto. ROTFLOL

I would be surprised if he didn't inquire about that immediately.

FWIW, them having cameras in that area doesn't necessarily mean they have cameras where people open their boxes. At my bank, you can take your box to a small "private" area without any monitoring.

these boxes are in full view of the cameras in the back of the cage.

I know but was always under the impression you can take them out?

My key worked fine. But when I opened the box it was empty.

Mason

Right what I meant Is they can at least tell if anyone else every went to his box if they actually went back far enough with the video.

I have boxes at multiple casinos in Vegas and at borgata and parx.

When covid hit and everything shut down I was actually a little worried about them being robbed.

not sure if i am qualified for all of that, but i do understand basic contract law. player very likely signed a contract stating YES the funds can be seized AT ANY TIME and FOR ANY REASON. stock brokerages have the same clauses in their ToS. Just because it does not happen frequently does not mean it does not happen at all. And victims are rarely believed because of this.