Bellagio Hotel-Casino Nixing $25,000 Chip After Bandit Left with $1.5 Mil in Heist
LAS VEGAS (CBS/AP) The clock is ticking for the lone gunman to cash in the 1.5 million in chips that he stole from the iconic Bellagio hotel-casino earlier this month, after MGM Resorts International announced that it will discontinue its standard chip valued at $25,000, which were included in the brazen thief's haul.
Police and casino officials have been working since the Dec. 14 heist to try and locate the bandit who robbed a craps table in the Bellagio while wearing a motorcycle helmet.
Authorities have been keeping a keen eye on anyone trying to cash in the chips, which ranged in denomination from $100 to $25,000.
All gamblers holding the soon-to-be-discontinued chips must redeem them by April 22, after that gambler regulators say each red chip with a gray inlay won't be worth more than the plastic it's cast from.
No one was hurt in the robbery. Security cameras captured the robber as he fled the casino floor. Police Lt. Clinton Nichols says the crook jumped on his motorcycle and sped away with the gambling chips while security watched in disbelief, reports CBS affiliate KLAS.
It's not immediately clear how many of the chips that were stolen were $25,000 chips, though it could be as many as 60. A police spokeswoman said Wednesday there have been no significant developments in the case since then.
MGM Resorts spokesman Alan Feldman told The Associated Press the casino switched out the chips at the tables within an hour of the robbery, and the Bellagio immediately filed to discontinue the chips.
State laws require casino operators to serve notice, file a plan with regulators and give gamblers a reasonable amount of time to cash in any chips they're holding--in this case four months.
"Obviously, anyone walking with one of the old series is going to be subject to a certain amount of questioning as to how they obtained them--assuming it isn't someone we know," Feldman told the AP. "It's pretty unusual for someone we don't know to come strolling up with a handful of $25,000 chips."
MORE ON CRIMESIDER
December 14, 2010 - Bellagio Heist: Motorcycle Bandit Displays Gun, Flees Vegas Casino with Up To $2M in Chips, Say Cops