Police are hunting for an armed robber who escaped on a motorcycle after stealing at least $1.5 million (€1.1 million) in casino chips from the Bellagio resort in Las Vegas.
Police believe the culprit may have pulled a similar heist across town less than a week ago, police said.
Yesterday's early morning robbery at a craps table happened “about as quick as you can do it”, when a man wearing a motorcycle helmet pulled a gun on patrons, police Lieutenant Clinton Nichols said.
Police later released an 11-second video showing a man in a jumpsuit running through a casino entry lobby with a gun in his right hand. At one point, he turned and pointed the weapon behind him.
Police suspect the same man wore a helmet, flashed a gun and sped away on a black sport motorcycle after robbing the Las Vegas Suncoast Hotel & Casino poker room on December 9th. That heist netted less than $20,000 in chips.
The culprit, however, might find it hard to cash his chips at any other casino except the high-end, Italian-themed hotel-casino with a wall of famous fountains along the Las Vegas Strip.
The chips taken at Bellagio ranged in value from $100 to $25,000.
Gordon Absher, spokesman for Bellagio owner MGM Resorts International, declined to discuss the investigation. But he noted that casino chips aren’t the same as cash. “At some point they have to be redeemed,” Mr Absher said.
Chips are unique to casino properties and are generally not interchangeable, although state regulations allow casino companies to redeem chips from sister properties with some restrictions.
Mr Absher wouldn’t say if MGM Resorts properties are among Las Vegas casinos that embed radio frequency devices in chips. “We have safeguards in place,” Ms Morgan said.
AP