When I Sign for a Marker, Can I Take the Money and Gamble Elsewhere?

I have credit with 3 casinos in Vegas. When I sign a marker, is there an expectation of me gambling that money in that specific casino, or can I just take the cash and play somewhere else? The way the casinos have changed odds on games, and paytables on video poker, I'd rather go where my nickel keno and video poker budget is welcomed and appreciated.

This is a practice known as "walking the marker."

It isn't illegal, but it's certainly not kosher by the casino's view of things. The last thing Caesars Palace wants to do is advance you money to walk across the street and gamble it at Bellagio. And if you're not careful, it can get ugly.

The benevolent casinos will give almost anyone with a good credit score and no derogatories on their Central Credit report (the casino-credit reporting agency) a certain amount of grace to clear their markers, meaning paying back the casino for the amount of chips they took on credit.

Say you take the money from Caesars and lose it all at Bellagio. Caesars wants its money. Presumably, you can pay it back, but maybe you took more than you could afford. Maybe you're chasing your losses and losing more than you could afford -- and plenty more on top of that. If you lose the money at Caesars, they can account for it and will, most likely, cut you a little slack. If they can't account for it, forget any consideration.

We've discussed this in other QoDs, but it bears repeating for this answer. When you take out a marker, you’re signing a bona fide bank instrument (a check, actually). If the casino determines that you're "NG," meaning "no good" for paying back what you owe, they'll hand the marker over to the friendly Clark County District Attorney, who'll issue a felony warrant for your arrest for passing bad paper. (The background to this is covered in fascinating detail in our book Joe's Dash.)

In general, good customers can usually get 30 days grace and they can often extend that to 60 or even 90 as long as they're making some "good-faith" payments.

If they try to skate on repaying, though, the fun starts. Anytime they're stopped for a ticket, or try to leave the country, or apply for a license, etc., they're busted and heading to the nearest slammer, where they'll sit until they pay off the marker, plus a 10% handling charge that goes to the DA's office. (Several of these modern-day debtor-prison stories are told in our book Whale Hunt in the Desert.)

If the marker's big enough, they won't even wait for you to slip up, they'll just come to your door at dawn, put you in shackles, and haul you off to the Gray-Bar Hotel, where you'll sit and stew and make some phone calls trying to get your hands on some fast money, or you'll be forced to eat a meal that's almost as bad as the Circus Circus buffet. And even if you can rustle up the money and walk away free again, you’ll have a felony bad-check arrest on your resumé.

So we recommend, for prudence's sake, to refrain from walking the marker.

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jay Sep-03-2024

They don't mess around..

As a Green Carded Canadian, we file both Canadian and US taxes against the same income. Then we file a foreign tax credit form and pay the greater of the two bills. You almost always you end up paying the Canadian amount due to our social healthcare. The tax accountant that I was using had a stroke, and then died. Subsequently he failed to file the foreign tax credit form. I was traveling to Vegas on vacation and got pulled aside at the border. Apparently there was a felony warrant for tax evasion out for my arrest. Not only was I wanted but because I lived in another country and the amount was > $20k this was now an interpol warrant. Thankfully I was traveling on a thursday morning, the banks were open - I was able to do a wire transfer of the $$ otherwise I would have spent the night or weekend in the grey bar hotel. I was able to get the money back out of the IRS less a couple hundred dollars in late fees, that only took about 8mths to get straightened around.

DeltaEagle Sep-03-2024

Walking the Marker

That phrase reminded me of an old experience pre celllphone. Back when they still paged you for phone calls. Took a marker. They put the marker chip out. Then gave me the chips. Then they went to get the marker prepared. I got a page and scooped my chips and went to take the call. Remembered I had not signed. Went back to the table. Figured I would be arrested or worse. Pit said no problem. They had heard the page and understood. Now the point. He called it Walking  on the Marker. If I had not come back he said they would have just signed my name and run the check

Kevin Lewis Sep-03-2024

The greatest crime in Nevada

...is screwing the casinos out of their money. You could kill a dozen people with an axe, and the punishment wouldn't be as swift or harsh as if you had owed a casino money and not paid it.*

*Unless all the people you killed were high rollers and patrons of that casino.

Llew Sep-05-2024

Marker

Years ago, I had credit accounts in about four casinos in Atlantic City. I did it mostly for safety, so I wouldn’t have to carry a lot of cash around the city. 
The account I used most was at the Taj.  Most often, when I got my cash at the VIP window, the cashier would say, “Now remember, this is for use in the casino, not for poker, right?”  I would smile and say, “Of course.” Then I would head right for the poker room. 😁
Because I always paid off my markers in time, they never made an issue of it. 😉

Question of the Day - 03 September 2024

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