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"I assume the answer is ultimately that legitimate high-rollers sometimes have crazy requests, and you make more money from accommodating them than you lose fro

"I assume the answer is ultimately that legitimate high-rollers sometimes have crazy requests, and you make more money from accommodating them than you lose from cheaters. But the response from the casinos (getting this guy thrown in jail, suing the poker player I mentioned above) seems to say that they aren't really comfortable with that tradeoff." They may be making the tradeoff but that does not imply that when the negative consequence happens (cheating) that they are going to let them get away with it. Suppose a store placed products outside in front of the store. There is tradeoff of increased sales of that product, but increased theft rate of that product. If they caught someone stealing they would still make them return the stolen item and possibly prosecute. Just because a negative risk is calculated, that does not mean that a detected negative event is accepted

mikeash 12y ago
That's a good point, but taking advantage of a casino after a player asks the casino to help them cheat, and the casino obliges, is a much grayer area of morality than simply stealing stuff. To make another retail analogy, it's like a guy walking into a store, picking something up, and asking the clerk, "Hey, is it OK if I just take this home now?" And the clerk says "yes" with the assumption that the person intends to pay for the purchase later.
- bobbyhotpockets 12y ago
  "That's a good point, but taking advantage of a casino after a player asks the casino to help them cheat, and the casino obliges, is a much grayer area of morality than simply stealing stuff." FWIW, the commenter wasn't referring to the morality of the practice. He mentioned what casinos would do, not whether it was right or wrong.
  - mikeash 12y ago
    It's obvious enough what casinos actually do, I'm just commenting on the psychology behind it. And given that the casinos are willingly taking this tradeoff, and that the losses aren't what I see as immoral actions, it then becomes rather nasty that the casinos are dragging people to court and putting them in jail for it. In short: you and I generally work within the framework of the law and make tradeoffs accordingly. The casinos appear to be bypassing that and are bending or modifying the law so they don't have to make tradeoffs.

mikeash 12y ago

That's a good point, but taking advantage of a casino after a player asks the casino to help them cheat, and the casino obliges, is a much grayer area of morality than simply stealing stuff. To make another retail analogy, it's like a guy walking into a store, picking something up, and asking the clerk, "Hey, is it OK if I just take this home now?" And the clerk says "yes" with the assumption that the person intends to pay for the purchase later.

bobbyhotpockets 12y ago
"That's a good point, but taking advantage of a casino after a player asks the casino to help them cheat, and the casino obliges, is a much grayer area of morality than simply stealing stuff." FWIW, the commenter wasn't referring to the morality of the practice. He mentioned what casinos would do, not whether it was right or wrong.
- mikeash 12y ago
  It's obvious enough what casinos actually do, I'm just commenting on the psychology behind it. And given that the casinos are willingly taking this tradeoff, and that the losses aren't what I see as immoral actions, it then becomes rather nasty that the casinos are dragging people to court and putting them in jail for it. In short: you and I generally work within the framework of the law and make tradeoffs accordingly. The casinos appear to be bypassing that and are bending or modifying the law so they don't have to make tradeoffs.