A poker dealer at the Rivers Casino in Pennsylvania was recently charged with stealing poker chips from pots. Police said 25 year-old Michael Eisenberg was caught on the Casino’s surveillance cameras stealing $501 from pots during one of his shifts.

Casino security was originally tipped off that something was amiss when Eisenberg’s tips suddenly increased dramatically, from less than $200 per day to over $500. Eisenberg was scooping up a single chip from each pot (either a $1 or $5 chip) as he pulled in all of the mucked cards, he would then palm the chip as he shuffled the cards and deposit it into his tip cup, which is kept below the table.

Had Eisenberg been less greedy he likely would have been able to pilfer a far larger amount before being caught, as it was the massive jump in his tips that caused casino officials to grow suspicious of his actions.

This is one reason many casinos pool dealers tips together, something I’m sure the Rivers Casino will look hard at after this incident. It will also be important for Rivers Casino patrons to keep a better eye on the goings on around them.

Eisenberg was escorted off the premises, fired, and will have to appear in court on theft charges. Rivers Casino has been quiet about the incident, and released a statement that simply stated, “Rivers Casino is cooperating fully with authorities as they conduct their investigation.”

Tags: Michael Eisenberg, Pennsylvania poker, Rivers Casino, Rivers Casino in Pennsylvania

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 23rd, 2010 at 9:10 am and is filed under Poker News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.