The guest this week is Bob Nersesian. Bob is a frequent guest to the show, and always entertaining. Bob is the lawyer who advocates for the players against the casinos, and has successfully sued many Vegas casinos on the behalf of players. His new book is called The Law for Gamblers: A Player’s Guide to Legal Survival in the Casino Environment. Today we discuss questions submitted by our listeners.
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Show Notes
[00:27] The Donovan case in Indiana and various conditions of trespassing.
[11:36] Can a sportsbook in Nevada refuse to pay a player due to posting an off number?
[15:19] Is it a malfunction when a player hits a jackpot wagered with the slot credit higher than the amount offered by the casino host?
[17:46] What happens if you don’t pay a marker from Indian casino
[20:14] Bob’s view on lowering the Nevada bar exam’s passing score and omitting essay on commercial paper.
[26:40] A player who was self excluded from Caesars in Atlantic City about 15 yrs ago, hit a jackpot at a Caesar’s property in Arizona. What are the implications?
[30:03] What happens to a 7-card straight flush in Fortune Pai-Gow Poker when other players muck their hands?
[41:12] 500% fewer people support attacking Syria than supported attacking Iraq. What does “500% less” mean?
[42:57] Would it be better to carry chips rather than cash in consideration of civil forfeiture?
[46:58] Recent uptick of Suspicious Action Reports. What can you do?
[51:38] Do you have to show I.D. for betting on a baseball game? 7 bets, and all less than $1,000 each.
[54:20] At Silverton, jackpots over $12,000 just spits out a ticket. When cashing that ticket of over $12,000 the casino insists on showing I.D. to cash that ticket.
[58:27] The legality of carrying a passport from a country that no longer exists
[1:02:58] Is it true that TSA can’t legally open a sealed envelope if it made it through the x-ray?
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Based on the this episode, here is how to transport money in or out of the United States:
1) Place Money in an envelope.
2) Mail envelope to yourself
3) Bring unopened envelope through customs
If you take more than $10,000 in or out of the country you need to declare it. Not declaring it is a really bad idea.
Yes. So is opening someone else’s unopened mail. I believe this is a federal crime.
They just x-ray it, right? Once they see it’s money they confiscate it and charge you with failure to disclose. If you wrap it in aluminum foil to block the x-rays, then they open the envelope because it’s suspicious.
Also, on the show there was some discusion about percents. 500% just means 5x and a negative percent means you lost rather than gained. If you get 500% on an investment, you done well, on the other hand if you get -10%, well that’s unfortunate. Percent just means /100. 10% is easier to work with than 0.1 . You might also hear the expression “basis point”. A basis point is 0.01%. Before that there was “pieces of eight” and stocks traded in fractions, like 3 and 1/8.
It is east to understand 500% in a positive direction, but the question was about negative 500%. How does something lose %500? Once it has lost 100% isn’t it at zero? Maybe I’m just having a brain fart.
If you lose more than 100%, you went underwater. You have to pay up to close out your account. Say you bought a house for $10,000 down, but now you have to sell and take a net $50,000 loss after settling the mortgage and paying the brokers and the taxes and all that stuff, you went -500%.
You could lose 500% of your investment if you short sold a stock and its price skyrocketed before you could cover. In general, you can lose over 100% if a transaction or investment carries an attendant obligation over and above paying for the investment itself. Also, you could say that you lost more than 100% if there were related expenses, such as if you had bought Enron stock and had paid brokerage commissions on top of that. Or had given money to Trump for one of his real estate projects and then paid a lawyer (futilely) to recoup your losses.
I suppose it’s one of the appeals of gambling that your potential losses can be quantified and limited–usually, you can’t lose more than 100%. Bet $100 on the hard eight and all you can lose is $100. (Of course, you have probably lost your mind if you do so, but that precedes the bet.)
Blackjack would be an example of a gamble that can involve betting more than your original wager. Splits, resplits, doubles, and so on. So at that game you could have a -500% result, in terms of your original wager.
Another example is the selling of uncovered call options – your bottom is infinite.
Great show as always. Bob N is definitely my favorite guest.
Can you ask Bob N what gaming regulation he shows to the Gaming Agents when clients refuse to show ID for collecting winnings? Thanks.