I think the casino is taking the easy way out here, yeah they are only "facilitating" the game, just like they "facilitate" all the pit games like Blackjack, Craps, etc.

What would happen if someone ran by and stole *player* chips off the Blackjack or Craps table? It would probably be a huge local news story if the casino did not make the player whole. Or imagine that someone lost a hand of Blackjack and suddenly pulled their bet back and ran off. Security would probably be all over them.

Casinos need to take some minor precautions to prevent this. In big pots get the chips to the middle / close to the dealer before the next player acts, to prevent someone from taking the chips back. Make players whole when it does happen. We pay rake, this should be a cost of doing business, it seems to only happen once in a blue moon, so it should only be a small expense relative to the rake they're bringing in.

They are “allowed” to stop poker pot stealers if the casino chooses. The casino just also would accept the potential liability of doing so. The differences between poker and pit games is that for pit games there is generally significantly more $ at stake and more important it is casino $. For their own $ it might simply be they perceive more risk by not doing it than the liability risk incurred.

Iow, the casino has little to gain stopping the poker thief but still expose themselves to full liability. Classic risk reward business decisions imo.

But I could also be completely wrong.

Maybe so. Maybe Gaming could easily fix this. But not doing so is then not on the casino but on Gaming. I never said the situation was right or unsolvable, only that the casino was opening itself up to liability they may not wish to incur.

Also note, I did not say picking up and leaving with those chips wasn’t theft or a crime. That may or may not be true. IANAL and definitely not a gaming one. I only said Casino might incur liability if the got more involved.

Keep in mind, walking out on your bill in a restaurant might be a crime but I doubt a restaurant mgr or even more so a patron is going to tackle you as you are walking out. I even doubt most police would actively pursue you if they were called, even if they knew where you lived.

Again, def not saying this is right only that it is reality.

Casino does not just facilitate pit games. They actively participate and have the casino money at risk. Grabbing back your losing bj bet is stealing from the casino. So the casino actively tries to protect its chips.

As a player, if you believe there is a risk a villain is going to rack up their already bet chips and leave, you can ask the dealer to pull in the bets or make the pot right to help protect yourself.

Btw, stealing a bj patron’s chips is interesting. I honestly don’t know what the casino would do.

No, I imagine you're correct, as this is exactly what I have been saying all along. The casino could just as easily stop someone leaving the poker table with stolen chips as they could stop someone leaving the blackjack table with stolen chips. They just choose not to do so because they don't really care about protecting the players.

This is one of the few ways (or maybe the only way) that a player is safer in an underground room than in a regular casino. An underground room would never cash out a player who had grabbed chips off a table, or refused to honor a wager made at the table.