PIT BOSSES

In each pit, there is one pit boss for every shift. He works under the supervision of the shift boss, and each pit boss is responsible for the action, cash flow, and bankroll in that pit alone. The legendary Vegas pit boss is a hardened man with underworld connections, for the name "pit boss" invariably conjures up that image, but the pit bosses We've met are often high school graduates who've moved up the long hard way.

Many, now that the corporations are in full control, are college educated. Their main qualifications, though we may be getting a little rough here, is to look suspicious and jaded.

Pit bosses perform an important function in the casino be-cause they are the highest of the executives with a specific area to control, and if that area is losing money or something is wrong in the pit, the trouble can be pinpointed and the blame laid on a specific individual's shoulders.

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RECEIVE PREFERENTIAL TREATMENT

However, with the rise of monumental, thematically designed gambling palaces in recent years, such as the MGM Grand, Mirage and Treasure Island in Las Vegas and the Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, to name just a few, the overhead or "nut" is tremendous. Entertainment alone costs these hotels millions of dollars per year, and the free drinks, cheap food, and other services offered the players to get their "warm bodies" into the casino runs into more millions.

To feed this constant nut, the big and opulent casinos need action from gamblers, and their definition of action isn't players who are going to try their luck at the tables with a series of $2 and $5 bets for a couple of hours. The casinos do make money from these players, but what they really want are the big bettors, the high rollers, who will think nothing of losing $50,000 or more at the tables in the course of a couple of days.

If they can't get the $50,000 players, the $30,000 gamblers will do as well, and if they can't get them, a $10,000 limit player is still preferable to a grind that loses $40 at blackjack after getting three free drinks, eating the special buffet lunch, and cashing in a free coupon for a lucky buck or a roll of nickels.

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