Gamblers Mysteriously Pass Out at Upstate New York Casino

Posted on: November 27, 2017, 01:00h. 

Last updated on: November 27, 2017, 03:03h.

Casino.org Staff Writer Read More
Expertise: Commercial Gaming.

Two gamblers at the Seneca Niagara Casino in Niagara Falls, New York, say they have no recollection of passing out while playing the slot machines. When they awoke, they claimed they were missing about $260 in cash and redemption tickets.

gamblers pass out slot machine
While rare, gamblers do sometimes fall asleep while playing the slots. For one Upstate New York couple, passing out didn’t pay off as well as it did for this gentleman. (Image: Pinterest)

The couple, reported to be in their 60s, were taken to the Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center where they remained unconscious for about an hour. The Buffalo News said the man asserted to have been in possession of $200 in cash, and had won two $30 slot payouts prior to falling ill.

The incident occurred sometime between 9 and 10 am on Saturday morning. The couple didn’t say whether they had been served drinks or food.

The Seneca Nation has been in the news recently for the tribe’s decision to stop sharing revenue with the state and local governments. Upset over the expansion of commercial gaming in Upstate New York, the Native American group said its gaming compact was renewed automatically this year, but the sharing terms do not extend to the new arrangement.

Niagara Falls officials said in September that the local government would be out of money by the end of the year. The town received $12.3 million from the casino last year.

Thanksgiving Robberies

Police in Upstate New York might not have the most difficult case before them. Casinos are of course heavily surveilled by cameras, which should provide them with an easy path to identify a perpetrator should the couple have been purposely given some sort of sleeping potion.

Despite the known fact that casinos are heavily guarded, that hasn’t stopped criminals from targeting the gaming floors for their illicit acts. The mysterious passing out of gamblers at the Seneca Niagara Casino wasn’t the only alleged casino crime to take place over the Thanksgiving week.

Police in Billings, Montana, say a male unsuccessfully tried to rob a casino, before trying again at another casino where he made off with an unknown amount of cash.  While it’s unconfirmed if the robberies are connected, police have obtained surveillance video of one suspect at the Grand Casino, who furnished a firearm and demanded money from a floor attendant.

Casino Busts

The most recent newsworthy casino robbery came from the unlikeliest of offenders. Las Vegas-based evangelical pastor Gregory Bolusan and his wife Lea allegedly orchestrated a series of thefts at the M Resort in Henderson.

It’s unclear if Lea, who worked at the casino as a cashier, helped her husband rob the resort, which he successfully did three times before being caught earlier this month.

Bolusan reportedly made off with $63,000 in cash during his three robberies. On the third time, however, he didn’t make it out of the casino before being detained.

Because he used a fake gun in the heists, Bolusan is facing a lengthy prison sentence if found guilty that could put the pastor behind the not-so-pearly gates of prison for up to 20 years.