Fathers Day Morning 2013 2AM. The first two chips were cashed in by another guest around 2AM, the poker cage cashier was busy but she thought they were strange, she called a supervisor and I was called immediately. I had them call surveillance, they identified the guest that turned them in and he was still playing poker, he stated that the chips were given to him by "The General" (his nickname). I immediately made sure that both properties (Harrah's is a sister property) had supervisors examining $500 or higher chips that came in from both properties - since we did not know the extent of the counterfeiting. At 3AM the third chip came in from another guest and he fingered "The General". According to the poker manager Giardina was an a*#hole; guests and employees did not like him.

Surveillance traced back the guests and confirmed that "The General". However he had left the property for the night. IRGC (Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission) and DCI (Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation) were contacted and a case was started. Giardina came in the next day and he was detained for questioning and denied he had counterfeits - However surveillance had video. He left the property after being detained (he was not banned). However he kept coming in, so they finally decided to ban him.

A couple of weeks later we were contacted by Naval Intelligence and they requested 2 $1 chips and 2 $500 chips so they could test against the 3 chips they had. The counterfeits were horribly painted, thick latex paint, crappy blurry scan of the inlay, printed out on an inkjet printer. I do not know whey the cashier did not stop the original transaction immediately : )

Come to think of it... I don't think we ever received the 4 chips we sent for testing back. I am going to have to check that out when I get back to work.