By: Lakshmi PS

Several videos have been posted on You Tube that show Las Vegas union that is culinary berating tourists (Image source: FOX News)
UPDATE: October 25, 2013 Following the release of these videos where Culinary Union Local 226 users were seen regularly tossing epithets and verbal abuse at tourists entering the Cosmopolitan the union’s protests have been wear hold until Nov. 1. The group encompasses some 55,000 bartenders, maids and food servers in Las Vegas, and was at odds about issues such as medical care, job security, compensation and even successorship, ie., what happens if Cosmopolitan gets offered to another company by Deutsche Bank at some point.
The protests are costing taxpayers an average of $2,600 in extra police patrols, in line with the Alliance to Protect Nevada Jobs, a group that is dedicated to putting an end to the union’s assaults on tourists.
Union organizers say they shall resume those things on Nov. 1, however.
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If you should be a tourist that is typical into Las Vegas, you’re most likely prepared for some financial losses, perhaps some fat gain from all the fabulous eateries, potentially a taxi driver whom might drive you (illegally) out of your method. But what you’re probably not prepared for is being yelled at and called derogatory names simply for entering a really upscale casino, like, state, The Cosmopolitan next to Aria on the Las Vegas Strip.
But that is the tactic that Culinary Union Local 226 has been using and many say, abusing for awhile now as they continue steadily to negotiate with Cosmopolitan’s management, Deutsche Bank, in what has now dragged on into a two-year ongoing mess until a deal could be finalized between the two parties.
Meanwhile, an organization called The Alliance to Protect Nevada Jobs is making You Tube videos associated with the slurs that are insulting publishing them, saying the union workers are endangering Las Vegas’s main asset making use of their jabs: tourism.
Using a bullhorn to intimidate guests as they wandered into The Cosmopolitan, one union protester stated: ‘You and your gf are a bunch of losers … especially your girlfriend.’
And in addition, this plan presumably used to hurry up the negotiation process with a hotel that certainly does not want to lose valuable visitors is not going over very well with either the Alliance or the tourists by themselves.
‘ You don’t [settle negotiations] by calling tourists those true names and berating them when they come here to invest their cash in our city,’ said Ron Futrell, spokesman for Alliance to Protect Nevada Jobs.
‘They shouldn’t disrespect the individuals being going into the places,’ stated a tourist from Indiana who was simply shown a video clip of the union protestors with a local television station.
‘we think that’s terrible. I think that’s definitely terrible,’ said another tourist, this one visiting from Canada. ‘You understand we do not want difficulty … you’re right here to have an excellent time.’
To your Culinary Union employees, apparently berating people who have nothing regarding your contract that is actual falls the heading of ‘civil disobedience,’ nevertheless. The group’s Secretary Treasurer in a statement, their official position was this, per Geoconda Arguello-Kline
‘Workers at the Cosmopolitan have been in contract negotiations with Deutsche Bank for over two years. The recent civil disobediences, rallies, and pickets are exercises of workers’ First Amendment rights and element of the struggle for the Las Vegas Dream. Cosmopolitan workers are fighting for the chance to give their families, something all Las Vegas workers deserve.’
Of program, in a city that is tourism-dependent struggling to regain its footing after almost six years of recession, one could argue that 226’s First Amendment rights aren’t nearly as pressing as making sure word gets out that Las Vegas remains a great place to visit.
‘They continue to give vegas an eye that is black said Dave McGowan, state manager for the Alliance to Protect Nevada work. ‘We have received hundreds of emails, phone calls, and messages from concerned citizens asking what they can do to stop this harassment…and simply cannot permit the actions of these big labor bosses to wreak havoc on our already fragile economy.’
Take that, you selfish, greedy union losers. We’re just exercising our First Amendment liberties when we say that, of program.
A team of alleged hustlers from NY and NJ happen charged with cheating at roulette at different Ohio casinos. (Image supply: The Blade)
Friends of gamblers from the newest York City area has allegedly been roulette that is running at four Ohio casinos throughout the last year, but it seems that their run is at a finish. At the least 13 individuals are arrested as part of the scheme, and many more arrests could be to arrive the future that is near.
‘This is a very organized number of about 70 people,’ stated Karen Huey, director of enforcement for the Ohio Casino Control Commission. ‘They travel the united states. They have been identified in 18 states running this scam.’
Four men were awaiting sentencing in a Cincinnati court, while there are also a quantity of outstanding arrest warrants for those who did maybe not appear for their scheduled court hearings. The individuals who happen arrested have all originate from the brand New York area many from the Bronx, and some from nj with most originally hailing from Puerto Rico or the Dominican Republic.
The scam began at the Hollywood Casino in Toledo, where six individuals were arrested, but five later did not appear in court. Other gambling enterprises that have been struck as being a right part of the scheme were the Horseshoe Casino in Cleveland, the Hollywood Casino in Columbus, and the Horseshoe Casino in Cincinnati.
The plot is exactly what’s known as a ‘color-up’ scam. In real time roulette games, players never normally use standard casino chips to play; with many players at a dining table and so many possible wagers, it would become impossible to keep track of which wagers participate in which players. Instead, each player is given chips of an unique color, with all the denomination of those chips being determined if the player purchases them.
The color-up scheme attempts to simply take benefit of this with a player purchase chips at the $1 level. They will play for a short while, and then cash out. However, they’ll discretely hang on for some of the roulette chips that are supposed to never leave the roulette dining table and simply take them to some other certain area of the casino, such due to the fact restroom.
Since there are no surveillance digital cameras in bathroom areas in a casino, the initial player can then pass the roulette chips off to a partner, who can then take them right back to the roulette table. Here, they’ll buy chips at a higher denomination perhaps $25 and then arrange getting the same color formerly utilized by the partner. After playing for a few momemts, they’ll cash the chips out gained from their partner, enabling potato chips purchased for $1 become redeemed for $25 each. Using large teams, the scam can be performed even more easily, as the players included can be certain that one group buys cheap chips of several colors, and then a group that is second make sure to get those colors when they later look at the table.
While the scheme might seem inelegant, it will have the potential to be quite lucrative. In a typical operation, the team might net $1,000 to $2,000 in under an hour. In a single instance, two scammers at the Hollywood Casino Columbus were ran and confronted out, leaving behind what might have been $2,700 in illegal gains.
Based on Ohio Casino Control Commission main legal counsel John Barron, the state of Ohio wants to aggressively prosecute these cases in order to make an example of the scammers.
‘These are professional cheaters who threaten the integrity of gaming in Ohio,’ Barron stated.
Huey says there has been 101 documented instances of cheating via numerous systems that are different Ohio casinos since land gambling was legalized for the reason that state. The majority of these have emanated from the Cleveland Horseshoe, simply due to its having the most foot traffic of any within the state.