In breaking news from Las Vegas, the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino, the home of the annual World Series of Poker (WSOP), was robbed at gunpoint for $35,000 early Thursday morning.
According to 8 News Now Las Vegas, “Police say the suspect walked into the Rio and began taking chips off of a gaming table. When the dealer at the table tried to stop him, he pulled out a gun. The man did not fire the weapon and no one was injured.” The incident occurred around 4:30am local time on Thursday morning. The casino is just three months away from hosting the 2011 WSOP, which consists of 58 tournaments, and is located off the Strip on Flamingo.
The news comes just a few weeks following the arrest of the man purported to be behind the robbery of the Bellagio on the Las Vegas Strip. In that burglary, a man walked up to a craps table donning a motorcycle helmet and made away with over a million bucks. Anthony Carleo, the man who could be behind the Bellagio robbery, reportedly tried to sell the high-dollar $25,000 chips to posters on TwoPlusTwo, who informed authorities.
Following the early morning robbery at the Rio, the suspect hopped into a taxi and was taken to the nearby Terrible’s Casino, where, according to the same Las Vegas news outlet, he “paid his fare and disappeared.” No one has been taken into custody at the time of writing.
Police say that the suspect in the Rio robbery, who is currently at large, is a white male in his 40s with a mustache. One poster on the TwoPlusTwo forums questioned why no bounty had been placed on the suspect’s head: “How come these casinos don’t put up a reward? Employee safety is really not much of a concern, I don’t think. Billionaire casino owners need to put up $10-$20k reward. Have every degen in Vegas trying to crack the case.”
On the recent rash of robberies in poker-friendly casinos in Las Vegas, another member of the community joked, “I need to start robbing casinos; it seems way more profitable than poker.” While the highest denominations of stolen chips seemed to be in question, posters on TwoPlusTwo speculated that they would be worth $1,000.
In the case of the Bellagio, casino authorities announced they would be discontinuing the $25,000 chips, effectively bringing the burglar to justice if he tried to redeem his chips. The Bellagio robbery occurred in December.
According to CBS News, the perpetrator of the Rio crime appeared to be dressed in a disguise. Reuters added, “the mustache may be fake and he was wearing a fedora and sunglasses.”
On the final day of May, the Rio will play host to the first two events of the 2011 WSOP, a $500 Casino Employees No Limit Hold’em tournament and a brand new $25,000 No Limit Hold’em Heads-Up Shootout.
