DCI bets on casino training

April 11, 2008 10:43 am

— DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The card tables had fresh felt, the poker chips looked newly minted with unique insignia and the players leaned over the craps table, watching a pair of flying dice.
All that was missing at the so-called Royal Diaz Casino were cocktail waitresses and a waft of smoke in the air.
But this isn’t a typical gaming floor. It’s the state’s newest tool in fighting casino crime.
Built in the new Department of Public Safety building in Des Moines, the faux-casino is a life-like training floor.
“It allows our agents to stay at the top of their game, if you will,” Eugene Meyer, the agency’s commissioner, said Thursday at an event held to unveil the game room.
The room will help in the training of officers in the Department of Criminal Investigation who are assigned to the 17 state-regulated casinos.
Officials dubbed it the Royal Diaz in honor of a retired agent, Joe Diaz, who has played a key role in establishing the gambling unit.
Officials went out of their way to mimic real-life gaming floors. Among other items, there are new or restored blackjack tables, slot machines and a roulette wheel.
Agents are trained to spot everything from simple cheating, such as slipping a card into a deck, to more complex schemes. Agents have broken up card stacking rings that involved dealers and visitors who teamed together, as well as other setups with rigged craps or roulette games.
DCI officials said they were loath to talk about the tactics used — or how the rings were broken up — because they don’t want to give cheaters any ideas.
“We will watch people at the facilities and build a case just like any other agent,” said Teresa Miller, a special agent assigned to the Isle of Capri Casino in Bettendorf. “We do a lot of work behind the scenes.”
For ambiance at the training facility, officials have added a sign with the casino’s name and an assortment of pictures detailing Iowa law enforcement’s history with gambling. They include photos of seizures from era before state-backed casinos.
The tables, re-covered in blue felt with the DCI’s insignia, were donated by casinos and refurbished.
“I’ll admit I did a doubletake when I saw a poker chip with a DCI logo,” said Steve Bogle, the DCI director.
Since Iowa’s first casinos were approved in 1989, the DCI’s casino unit has gradually expanded from a small band of 12 to more than 100 agents who work at all of the state’s casinos.
Before the new facility was created, officials typically trained at casinos or would train one or two at a time in Des Moines. The gambling training room, allows many more people to study at once and allows for more frequent training.
It also offers a more realistic simulation of what agents will see.
“The difference is immeasurable,” Miller said. “There’s a lot to know about with this (unit) and it can be overload. This helps make sure you pick up on things quickly.”
A dozen or so agents milled around tables Thursday, watching and participating in craps and blackjack games. They took turns dealing, tossing the dice or being dealt in.
One of them was Brad Cunningham, a special agent assigned to the Diamond Jo Casino in Dubuque. Cunningham went through several hands of blackjack — going bust on a couple — but said his card skills had improved immensely since he joined the gaming unit.
“I’d certainly like to think so, anyway,” he said with a laugh. “We learn a lot about the strategies that people use, the techniques. The training we get here is very important.”
Miller said the training and new facility would provide long term dividends.
“We want people to know that casinos are a place they can have fun, but that it’s a place of integrity,” she said.