Secrets of casinos revealed at meeting

I am not much of a gambler, except for March Madness. When I think about my next trip to Las Vegas, I try to set a magic amount that I will leave at the casino.

The Jewel City Kiwanis Club was treated to very interesting stories about the casinos not always winning. These stories were provided by Bruce Hinckley, a very experienced certified public accountant. Hinckley, who is the president of the Glendale Noon Kiwanis Club, shared stories from his 15 years of experience as the vice president and corporate controller of Caesars World Inc., parent company of Caesars Palace. He is now retired.

When I walk into a casino, I always think the cameras in the ceiling are watching me give my money away. Hinckley shared stories about how those cameras are watching not just us, but also how casino employees are handling our money.

For instance, those fancy uniforms the casino employees wear do not have any pockets. There’s a reason for that. The eye is watching to see that the money we lose gets from the dealers and slot machine collectors to the cashier. The eye one night watched a dealer drop $100-bills on the floor, and then reach down and stuff those bills into her very fancy shoes for her walk home.

Hinckley told about the time the casino had a marketing plan to send players and visitors special coupons for playing and dining. The casino kept getting complaints that people never received the coupons promised. You guessed it, the cameras in the mail room recorded an employee changing the addresses to his sister’s home address.

He also told stories about the casino’s gifts of free meals and free clothing to people who visited the casino and would just eat and leave, never staying to play. He shared many other stories about casino losses.

The Jewel City Club maintained its tradition of saying thank you to Hinckley for his presentation by donating a book in his name to the Children’s Room in the Glendale Public Library.

Jewel City Kiwanis Club meets at 6 p.m. every Tuesday at Clancy’s Seafood Broiler, 219 N. Central Ave. Glendale. For more information, call Rich Jessup at (818) 370-6930.

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