Cruise Ships and Regulations

tribute

Well-Known Member
#1
Anyone know what entity regulates games on Royal Caribbean or Carnival? There have been posts about possible cheating by the casino. What recourse does a player have, if any?
 
#4
21forme said:
There is no recourse and there is no overseeing authority. On the high seas, the Captain IS the law, period.
21 is correct, who say's there are no pirate ships in the carribean anymore...Your larger cruiselines such as carnival, royal, norweigian are usually on the level, its the 3 mile cruises to nowhere that you have to watch out for...

EXGM
 

johndoe

Well-Known Member
#5
21forme said:
There is no recourse and there is no overseeing authority. On the high seas, the Captain IS the law, period.
That's not quite true; the federal US government has authority over ships carrying US passengers, and using US ports. The FBI can and will investigate complaints.

But in practice it's definitely much more difficult to bring a case, especially for a nonviolent crime.
 

21forme

Well-Known Member
#6
exgriffinman said:
21 is correct, who say's there are no pirate ships in the carribean anymore...Your larger cruiselines such as carnival, royal, norweigian are usually on the level, its the 3 mile cruises to nowhere that you have to watch out for...

EXGM
EXGM - Not quite correct re the larger cruise lines. See my earlier post here: http://www.blackjackinfo.com/bb/showthread.php?t=20965 Reason I counted down the shoes before playing is an AP friend of mine had a similar experience on another cruise line.
 
#7
johndoe said:
That's not quite true; the federal US government has authority over ships carrying US passengers, and using US ports. The FBI can and will investigate complaints.

But in practice it's definitely much more difficult to bring a case, especially for a nonviolent crime.
The Government may investigate injustices that happen on a cruise ship, But trust me they will not investigate a cheating dealer in a ships casino, international waters is international waters. I was a director of Surveillance for a cruiseline based out of Miami and Ft. Lauderdale and never did I deal with the FBI. Nor did I have a pit that cheated, The most I ever saw was the slot department tightening up machines (but they do this on land-based casinos as well)I believe my experience trumps what a friend said or assumptions.
 

Machinist

Well-Known Member
#8
exgriffinman said:
The Government may investigate injustices that happen on a cruise ship, But trust me they will not investigate a cheating dealer in a ships casino, international waters is international waters. I was a director of Surveillance for a cruiseline based out of Miami and Ft. Lauderdale and never did I deal with the FBI. Nor did I have a pit that cheated, The most I ever saw was the slot department tightening up machines (but they do this on land-based casinos as well)I believe my experience trumps what a friend said or assumptions.
Tightening up machines?

Machinist
 
#9
Machinist said:
Tightening up machines?

Machinist
Yes, Iv'e witnessed it on two major cruise lines...On the trip out the machines will have average to abouve average payouts but before the trip back, slot techs will change out the boards making the machines tighter and less likely to pay off...I was surprised myself but then again just when you thought youve seen everything...

EXGM
 
#10
21forme said:
EXGM - Not quite correct re the larger cruise lines. See my earlier post here: http://www.blackjackinfo.com/bb/showthread.php?t=20965 Reason I counted down the shoes before playing is an AP friend of mine had a similar experience on another cruise line.
I'm not doubting you 21, I have read your previous post and will say that anything is possible...I just never witnessed it while working for either Royal or Norweigian. I will say this, on your previous post you stated they came up to the table and the cards were already in the shoe. Some cruise lines are cheap when it comes to cards and dice, they will shut the casino down at the end of the day and instead of boxing the cards up, they will just store the shoe till the next day and the same shoe goes back into play. Cheesy but they do it.

EXGM
 

johndoe

Well-Known Member
#11
exgriffinman said:
The Government may investigate injustices that happen on a cruise ship, But trust me they will not investigate a cheating dealer in a ships casino, international waters is international waters. I was a director of Surveillance for a cruiseline based out of Miami and Ft. Lauderdale and never did I deal with the FBI. Nor did I have a pit that cheated, The most I ever saw was the slot department tightening up machines (but they do this on land-based casinos as well)I believe my experience trumps what a friend said or assumptions.
I'm just citing what the law says; being in international waters doesn't clear the ship from US law or the FBI. They're still under federal jurisdiction.

But you're right, as a practical matter, it's unlikely that the FBI will devote any serious resources to investigating a cheating casino. But it's because of what the FBI considers a priority, not because they happen to be in international waters.

I would have to think that a player holding a hefty stack of bills could convince the pit to fan out the cards at least once, no?
 
#12
johndoe said:
I'm just citing what the law says; being in international waters doesn't clear the ship from US law or the FBI. They're still under federal jurisdiction.

But you're right, as a practical matter, it's unlikely that the FBI will devote any serious resources to investigating a cheating casino. But it's because of what the FBI considers a priority, not because they happen to be in international waters.

I would have to think that a player holding a hefty stack of bills could convince the pit to fan out the cards at least once, no?
I agree, but my advise to all on this thread...If you don't trust the place your playing in, don't play!!:laugh:
 

sagefr0g

Well-Known Member
#13
exgriffinman said:
..., The most I ever saw was the slot department tightening up machines (but they do this on land-based casinos as well)......
can you expand on this a bit? errhhh particularly in regards to land-based casinos........
do most states have laws with respect to the overall hold and payback for the slots in mass?
 
#14
sagefr0g said:
can you expand on this a bit? errhhh particularly in regards to land-based casinos........
do most states have laws with respect to the overall hold and payback for the slots in mass?
Yes, all states with leagalized land-based gaming are regulated when it comes to slot hold and payout (ie: Nevada minimum payout on slots is 75% and in New Jersey it's 83 %). Regulations vary from state to state.

EXGM
 

sagefr0g

Well-Known Member
#15
exgriffinman said:
Yes, all states with leagalized land-based gaming are regulated when it comes to slot hold and payout (ie: Nevada minimum payout on slots is 75% and in New Jersey it's 83 %). Regulations vary from state to state.

EXGM
thank you for confirming that exgriff.....
so with respect to that minimum payout regulation, is it true that, that means an overall average of the slot machines in a given casino? so say a given machine in Nevada, may legally payout less than 75% as long as the overall average of all the slots pays out 75%?
 
#16
sagefr0g said:
thank you for confirming that exgriff.....
so with respect to that minimum payout regulation, is it true that, that means an overall average of the slot machines in a given casino? so say a given machine in Nevada, may legally payout less than 75% as long as the overall average of all the slots pays out 75%?
Yes, As long as the total hold is 75% per the state, this ensures their revenue...

EXGM
 
#17
tribute said:
Anyone know what entity regulates games on Royal Caribbean or Carnival? There have been posts about possible cheating by the casino. What recourse does a player have, if any?
Dealers MOSTLY cheat IN FAVOR of players, for tips. zg
 

Machinist

Well-Known Member
#18
exgriffinman said:
Yes, As long as the total hold is 75% per the state, this ensures their revenue...

EXGM
Hold it now........I don't believe this to be correct. I think that is by the machine,,,,the 75%. Not as a whole. I know that the manufacturers make 3 or 4 different chips for each type of machine. So there will be let's say a 75% chip which would be Nevada's minimum, and then an 80%, 85, and so on....
Why they do that is because each gaming market is unique. Some casinos have a lot of high dollar action and some not so much.
What ever their market can bear is where they set them. Same with denominations, some can handle 4$ spins on machines some only 3$.
I could be wrong about the total hold deal, but anything I've read over the years leads me to my belief.
Machinist
 
#19
I think I am in need of a visit back to a certain cruise line once I am a bit more proficient at being an AP player. I ended up dropping more in 30 min at the BJ table then I spent on the ENTIRE(flights, cruise, shopping, booze, etc..) vacation for two. At this point, I didn't even have bs down, but I thought I did. I can't remember the specifics of the game, but it was SD dealt face up, but I was the only player, H17. Not sure about das or pen. Didn't even know what pen was at the time.
 
#20
noharmnofoul said:
I think I am in need of a visit back to a certain cruise line once I am a bit more proficient at being an AP player. I ended up dropping more in 30 min at the BJ table then I spent on the ENTIRE(flights, cruise, shopping, booze, etc..) vacation for two. At this point, I didn't even have bs down, but I thought I did. I can't remember the specifics of the game, but it was SD dealt face up, but I was the only player, H17. Not sure about das or pen. Didn't even know what pen was at the time.
What cruise ship deals SD face up?
 
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