Gambler: Casino 'welched on bet,' then arrested him
Man says he was banned by Horseshoe, lured back under false pretenses
Written by
Kimball Perry
Jackie Harrison admits he’s addicted to gambling but knew he had a sure thing when he returned Aug. 9 to Horseshoe Casino Cincinnati after previously being banned.
Despite the ban – for a loud protest after Harrison said the casino cheated him – the casino invited him back and, when he returned, had him arrested and charged with trespassing.
“It wasn’t like I snuck in there. They invited me in,” said Harrison, a member of the casino’s Diamond Club that gets him extra benefits including vouchers for free gambling mailed to his home.
Jackie Harrison shows the come-ons he says Horseshoe Casino Cincinnati used to lure him back to the casino after he was banned. When he went to the casino to use the vouchers, he was arrested for criminal trespass. / The Enquirer/Kimball Perry
A spokeswoman for the casino didn’t respond to Harrison’s allegations.
Harrison, a disabled U.S. Air Force veteran with COPD, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, is a regular casino patron. “I spend about $1,800 a month there,” Harrison, 59, said.
When he went to the casino’s craps tables July 3, he was on a roll. He was playing a game called “High Low” in which bettors win only if the dice come up snake eyes (two) or boxcars (12).
Harrison, who has been treated in the past for his gambling addiction, wasn’t throwing the dice.
Instead, he was placing bets on the throws of others.
He lost a few rounds but then won $450. He took $400 and instructed the casino table worker to let the remaining $50 ride on the next bet. A few rolls later, he won $750. He said he took $650 of that win and told the casino worker to place the remaining $100 on the next throw.
He won on that throw, too, and would have won $1,500, he said, but the casino worker who had just handed him $650 said Harrison hadn’t bet on that throw. Harrison, noting that he was given just $650 of the $750 he won, insisted he had – loudly.
“I was irate,” Harrison said. “I said, ‘You are gonna give me my money.’ They welched on a bet.”
He was escorted out of the casino to the public sidewalk where, he said, he ranted for about 30 minutes about how the casino cheated him.
That’s when, he said, the casino banned him.
“I stayed away because I knew they were serious,” Harrison said. He stayed away for four weeks.
That ended, though, after the casino mailed to Harrison’s home $150 in casino vouchers that allowed him to gamble there.
“That’s like sending crack to a crack addict and telling him not to smoke it,” Harrison said.
Confused, he went to the casino Aug. 9 and asked employees at the players’ reward counter about the offer, telling them he was unsure why he was getting them if he was banned from the casino.
“About five minutes later, she came out and said there was no ban, there were no red flags on me,” Harrison said. “They gave me a new (Players Club) card and put the money on my card.”
He gambled for about two hours, he said, before casino security had him arrested for criminal trespass. He told them he’d been invited in by the casino, was cleared by other workers and even given $100 with which to gamble.
He lost that argument when casino security called police, who arrested Harrison again for criminal trespass.
“They welched on that $1,500 bet and I think that’s what this is about,” Harrison said.
Harrison will be before Hamilton County Municipal Court Judge Ted Berry on the two criminal trespass charges Monday. Each criminal trespass case carries a maximum jail term of 30 days. ⬛
http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20130916/NEWS0107/309160033
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment