Double betting and money laundering...

[Peter Wayner <pcw@access.digex.net>]

This is a corollary to the debate on using financial markets
for laundering by placing bets on both directions.

Apparently, casinos are now on the lookout for people who 
are teaming up to play both halves of a bet. One casino 
kicked out two guys who apparently were betting on pass
and don't pass on the craps table. Why were they bothering?
Was it laundering? Nope. It turns out that casinos hand
out free "comps" based on the amount of betting that you
do. This is called being "rated." They notice that you're
betting $10 chips and figure that the math shows that you'll
probably lose x dollars per hour. Then they give you free
room and food to show their appreciation. 

The casinos have elaborate computer tracking systems that 
would scare privacy activists. They watch you're trading
and try to give you free amenities worth up to some fixed
percentage of what the odds say you'll lose. The article
that I dug this out of said the percentage was often 30%.
(I think it was in this morning's NYT.)

So these guys were betting like crazy to make it seem like
they were high rollers who were entitled to big comps. 

-Peter