{"id":121128,"date":"2020-07-28T09:36:19","date_gmt":"2020-07-28T16:36:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/?p=121128"},"modified":"2020-07-28T09:36:22","modified_gmt":"2020-07-28T16:36:22","slug":"gamblers-bonus-reminiscences-part-ii-of-ii","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/gamblers-bonus-reminiscences-part-ii-of-ii\/","title":{"rendered":"Gambler\u2019s Bonus Reminiscences \u2013 Part II of II"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Last week I wrote about a juicy game that lasted for several years in 15-machine pubs in greater Las Vegas. If you read that article first, this one will make more sense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Near the end of the time when this game was available, the manager of one of these pubs asked if I could meet him for lunch away from the pub. Sure. No problem. He had been to some of my classes and we were friendly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It turned out that some unnamed party wanted him to manage a bar where there were 15 of these games at the $10 level (i.e. $100 per pull because these were 10-coin machines) and wanted to know if he could arrange for the machines to be played essentially full time. I was asked if I knew enough players who might be interested in participating. I would be paid a nice finder\u2019s fee for bringing in newbies to the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat kind of bonuses did you have in mind?\u201d I asked. The bonuses could add up to a quarter percent. If you\u2019re playing $80,000 an hour, a quarter percent adds $200 in EV to the hourly return. As they say, it\u2019s not chopped liver.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBetter than what exists now,\u201d was the reply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, he was proposing that I be paid to bring in players who were willing to play long hours at a game that returned more than $500 per hour. Did I know players like that?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Duh!\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had been playing in high limit rooms for more than 15 years at that point and knew a lot of competent players to whom $100-per-hand plays would not be a showstopper. Many were from out of town, but for a $500-an-hour opportunity, I speculated several would be willing to make regular extended trips.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But I was suspicious. Why would someone pay me to find players who would cause them to lose more than $100,000 per day out of one small bar? Does that sound like a good business plan to you?\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Me neither.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My first thought was that this was going to be some sort of money laundering operation. A drug cartel, perhaps, needed to find a way to convert lots of dirty money into clean cash and a daily price of $100,000 might not be such a bad deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I never got to a second thought. The first one scared the hell out of me. People who run drug cartels aren\u2019t known for being nice guys. If I entered into a financial relationship and something went wrong, I might be expendable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I didn\u2019t think playing this game would be illegal. But I didn\u2019t want to think about being interrogated by some government official asking me, \u201cHow could you not have known that this was cockeyed? You\u2019re not a gambling novice. You could have figured out this was not on the up and up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Almost 60 years ago, Attorney General Robert Kennedy got special laws enacted to fight organized crime. It was no big stretch to think that additional laws might be created to fight whatever was happening and that could make my life unpleasant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, I passed on the offer. Yes, I like to make money, but this was too good to be true and there was too much potential for things to turn out badly for me. Perhaps I\u2019d play one day a week or so if this ever came to pass, but I didn\u2019t want to be an every-day player or have any official involvement at finding other players. No hard feelings. Let\u2019s stay friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few years later I ran into the same manager who was then working somewhere else. This grand idea never got off the ground — although it came close. He found two other players (I knew them both) who were willing to accept commissions for bringing in other big players, but at the last minute, the plug was pulled on the idea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I asked a few more gentle questions and it was clear he wasn\u2019t going to be forthcoming. I let it drop. Being too nosy isn\u2019t always healthy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, this turned into nothing. No harm. No foul. Even if I had said yes, nothing would have come of it. But I\u2019ve never regretted saying no. I don\u2019t know if this had anything to do with organized crime or not, but I\u2019ve heard that when you get in you often can\u2019t get out. And I want no part of that.<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"youtube\"<\/a>\"instagram\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week I wrote about a juicy game that lasted for several years in 15-machine pubs in greater Las Vegas. If you read that article first, this one will make more sense. Near the end of the time when this game was available, the manager of one of these pubs asked if I could meet […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6498,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Gambler\u2019s Bonus Reminiscences \u2013 Part II of II by Bob Dancer","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[29,2],"tags":[428,1544,196],"yoast_head":"\nGambler\u2019s Bonus Reminiscences \u2013 Part II of II<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/gambling-with-an-edge\/gamblers-bonus-reminiscences-part-ii-of-ii\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Gambler\u2019s Bonus Reminiscences \u2013 Part II of II\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Last week I wrote about a juicy game that lasted for several years in 15-machine pubs in greater Las Vegas. 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