Casino specific crime leads complaints at local gaming site
When state police Sgt. James Martsolf thinks about the crimes investigated by the state police installation at the Meadows Racetrack and Casino in Washington County, one crime — which is exclusive to casinos — stands out as the most prevalent.
“The major thing that we do here is what is called voucher theft,” Martsolf said.
“It is very frequent in all of the casinos, here included.”
Martsolf, who heads the state police division dedicated to the casino, said that the unauthorized retrieval of vouchers from slot machines and from the gaming floor is a daily occurrence and is a theft, under state police.
“Players forget the ticket or drop it on the floor and then another patron sees it sticking it out of the machine and take it thinking finders keepers. But it is actually a theft,” Martsolf said.
That same type of theft is what Martsolf said will likely be prevalent at the new Lady Luck Casino at Nemacolin Woodlands Resort in Farmington when the casino opens July 1, but also noted that such crimes might be lesser at the resort casino because the patrons will be less transient in nature.
Lady Luck, which will be operated by Isle of Capri Casinos Inc., will be secured by four separate security entities work together including casino security and surveillance, state Gaming Control Board, resort security and the Pennsylvania State Police.
The Lady Luck surveillance and security team consists of 36 observing officers and six supervisors who will be monitoring all the activity on the gaming floor where dozens of table games will be offered as well as 600 slot machines. Also, a state police installation or gaming enforcement office is located within each casino site in accordance with state law enacted in 2004 under the Race Horse Development and Gaming Act and will be manned by one sergeant, two corporals and eight troopers.
A similar security structure is in place at the Meadows Casino, including the state police installation.
Martsolf said that in most cases of voucher theft, the suspect is simply ignorant of the state law prohibiting voucher theft.
He said that in some states, a “finders keepers” rule is applied.
“When we confront them, they will say they didn’t know or realize, and often the cases are resolved without charges being filed,” Martsolf said. “But, obviously if we have a repeat offender, they are being charged and even in the cases where charges aren’t filed, they could be because it is still theft.”
He said that troopers also handle some drunk and disorderly cases that rise to a criminal level and said that if such a case is too much for casino security to handle, the suspect will be arrested.
“If we have to get involved in that stuff, we are filing charges,” Martsolf said.
Martsolf said that other crimes at the Meadows occur just as they would at any large business or community.
“We have the occasional theft of a purse or wallet, but the voucher theft is our most common case and it is more of a public awareness issue than anything else. People need to know that it is theft. There is a specific law written just for voucher theft.”