Fed's Raid Bicycle Hotel and Casino (1 Viewer)

[Hobbyphilic]

The whole time reading this I just kept thinking, "I wonder if we'll see some more casino chips come to the market?"

Go 888!

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-federal-raid-bicycle-casino-20170404-story.html

 

[upNdown]

Let's hope so! Lot's of cool looking chips there: http://www.themogh.org/cg_chip2.php?id=CABGBC

 

[SixSpeedFury]

Probably an immigration thing if ICE was involved as well

 

[joker80]

I don't know about the chips. Most of the "Live at the Bike" and VLOGs I watch have those Bud Jones ones

 

[BiGGyT]

Kenneth Taylor, 53, of Los Angeles, said his sister was on the casino floor around 7:30 a.m. when federal agents entered the game room floor and instructed players to leave their chips on the table and exit the area.

Taylor, a regular Paigow player who said he comes to the Bicycle almost daily and loses “every day," said he always suspected the casino might become the target of an investigation one day.


"Let's put it like this. Gambling is a game of luck. I consider myself a lucky person," he said. "But you can never win at the Bicycle."


/facepalm

 

[Mr Tree]

"Let's put it like this. Gambling is a game of luck. I consider myself a lucky person,"

Let's hope so because obviously he does not posess a towering intellect.

 

[jbutler]

I got my first summer job at 14 years old working at a cemetery owned by a family friend. I cold called people and pitched them discounts on cemetery plots. Using an old reverse phone book I would call all the people down a street until I had covered specific neighborhoods they targeted. I was instructed to check the obituaries every day (this being before the web was widely available) and not to call within 2 blocks of place of residence of the recently deceased.

My point is, @TheChipRoom, give it a week or so.

 

[TheBigTater]

cliff notes.... man on the street says, pai gow is rigged.... can't win like I know I should be able to.... casinos are full of degen addicts.... everyone is happy that those dirty cheatin' casino people are getting their comeuppance.

 

[Mental Nomad]

This is almost 99.9% certain to be all about money laundering.

It's ridiculously funny that inveterate gamblers were lined up calling the house staff "cheaters," as if they'd just been busted for something.

There's probably a couple of senior staff, esp. people at the cage, getting busted for agreeing to cycle cash for some people without proper reporting.

 

[Richard Cranium]

Hmmm... what does this mean for my LATB subscription???

 

[BGinGA]

federal agents entered the game room floor and instructed players to leave their chips on the table and exit the area.

Bullshit. If I can't redeem them for cash, I'm taking them home for play purposes.... but I'm sure not leaving them on the goddamn table.. I'd be stuffing my pockets as quickly as possible.....

 

[jbutler]

Hmmm... what does this mean for my LATB subscription???

"Mr. Cranium,

We here at the Bicycle would like to thank you for converting your Live at the Bike subscription into an ongoing automatic contribution to the Bicycle's legal defense fund. We are happy you wish to do your part to combat the totalitarian rule of the tyrannical California government. We will be sure to keep you abreast of all developments in this matter.

Best regards,
Ho Chi Mihn
Public Relations Manager and Director of Anti-Money Laundering Operations"

 

[Mental Nomad]

Ken said his sister was there, and Ken said his sister said an agent said...

Or, maybe not quite.

"Agents entered the casino around 7 a.m. and proceeded to tell guests to stop playing and keep their hands away from the tables, said a casino restaurant employee to KTLA."
https://www.pokernews.com/news/2017/04/feds-shut-down-bicycle-casino-for-criminal-fraud-27555.htm


"Blackjack and gambling tables were shut down and early-morning gamblers were told to cash out."
http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2017/04/04/feds-raid-bicycle-casino-in-criminal-fraud-investigation/


My guess is the reason there were so many agencies invovled -HSI, IRS, Cali DoJ, US Attorney's office - was just to have enough manpower to shut down and secure the whole place at once. Tables, cage, back rooms - there's a lot to cover.

If the laundering involved what was going on specifically at the tables at the time of the hit, they'd want to freeze the games with the chips in front of the players (as on camera), with the cash in those drop boxes (possibly marked/tracked), etc. If the laundering activity were going on at 7am on Tuesday, it's probably being done then specifically to isolate it from other gambling, so that the money launderer's take can be easily tracked for the illicit business books.

On the other hand, maybe they just wanted the records and back-room stuff, and so they hit the joint at 7am on Tuesday to minimize player impact, and it had nothing to do with the current action on the tables.

Either way, all the reports seem to indicate the casino will be back in business tomorrow - so staff may not be invovled, or if some are, then it's just a subset. It's possible that Mgmt. was cooperating with the authorities - that helps explain why they knew to pick Tuesday at 7am, pretty much the slowest point in a casino's week.

 

[bergs]

Bullshit. If I can't redeem them for cash, I'm taking them home for play purposes.... but I'm sure not leaving them on the goddamn table.. I'd be stuffing my pockets as quickly as possible.....

Enjoy your ensuing incarceration.

 

[Mr Tree]

Enjoy your ensuing incarceration.

In all fairness he might as long as he got the chips.

 

[12thMan]

Enjoy your ensuing incarceration.

Word to that, at the very least you're getting your nose broke as two dudes shove your face into the table and twist your arms out of their sockets pulling your hands away from your side. Don't do it @BGinGA , we need a tourney director for stars games!!!!

I was in a raid once and the last thing that was going through my mind was stuffing things in my pockets in front of gorillas in combat gear holding AR15s and MP5s across their chest while yelling not to move. That was a small city police raid conducted with a county SWAT unit in a well to do area around here, they came heavy and fast, I definitely wouldn't want to do anything to get on the bad side of all those agencies at the Bike. Something tells me they wouldnt be in the mood to discuss an objection to their "polite demands".