I was at a table where a drunk was loud and nasty, but flashing a large bankroll and losing it quickly. He was bothering me, and everyone else at the table, but the pit treated him with kid gloves and unwarranted courtesy. When I decided to move to another table to get away from this obnoxious fellow, the pit indicated I was doing the smart thing... but I could tell that he could care less about me and the others at the table, focusing only on keeping this drunken fool happy and blowing his cash. Sometimes you get to glimpse behind the casino facade, but we all know the truth anyway even if they do a great job of covering it up.
I wonder how much casinos actually make. We know the mob-controlled casinos used to skim like crazy and still the casinos made profits. How do they hide obscene profits today? Is it by building these several billion dollar edifices filled with expensive art work and elaborate amenities so that the profits never show up on the bottom line, instead it all goes to pay off their indebtedness. I wonder how these construction and furnishing contracts are designed? Are some of them secret conduits for draining off revenues from the casinos through "legitimate" business arrangements with secretly insider companies? I don't know. As a former auditor, I am always suspicious, especially when the history and culture of an industry is rife with fraud and double dealing. Personally, I wouldn't want to do an audit of Vegas or AC casinos; I'm afraid I might end up in a hole in the desert or washing up on the Jersey shore. Or do you think I am being overly suspicious?