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 The Bellagio has announced that they will be discontinuing their large denomination chips because of the $1.5 million in casino chips that were recently stolen from the casino. High stakes players have until April 22nd to redeem their $25,000 denomination chips. After that time, the chips will lose their value and will no longer be of use at the casino.
MGM Resorts posted the notice last week in the classifieds of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. The ad came just one week after a man wearing a black jumpsuit and full-faced motorcycle helmet walked into the casino with a gun and escaped with around $1.5 million in casino chips. Las Vegas police and casino officials have been working diligently to capture the criminal but so far there have been no major leads. The casino is hoping that the criminal will be caught while attempting to redeem the chips and they feel that the deadline will be of great help in this respect.
"Obviously, anyone walking with one of the old series (chips) is going to be subject to a certain amount of questioning as to how they obtained them - assuming it isn't someone we know," MGM Resorts spokesman Alan Feldman told the Associated Press. "It's pretty unusual for someone we don't know to come strolling up with a handful of $25,000 chips."
Feldman told reporters that the old $25,000 chips were switched out with new chips within an hour of the robbery and that the Bellagio immediately filed to discontinue their use. They are required by law to give public notice when they discontinue specific chips so players have enough time to redeem them. The decision to discontinue the chips will likely have a major effect on high stakes players who leave large denomination chips at the Bellagio to use as a bankroll and use them to pay off debts around Vegas.
While it is unknown how many $25,000 denomination chips were stolen on December 14th the redemption notice tactic should be effective in catching the perpetrator of these crimes and any partners in crime they might have.
"If they have people that they know are players redeem the ones that they know they have, pretty much it's process of elimination. You're left with people who aren't supposed to have the chips," said David Schwartz, a former casino security guard and Director of the Center for Gaming Research at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
With any luck the criminal will be caught by the end of April. If he does not make a move soon he will definitely be left empty handed.
As always, stay tuned to Casinofan for more news and updates.
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