The Different Ways Bartenders and Beverage Servers Steal Cash in Casinos — and The Means to Catch Them:
For the past 30 or so years, I have conducted investigations involving casino food and beverage staff and I have seen lots of different fraud schemes used to steal cash while working in casino bars. In some ways, the casino bars represent one of the most challenging operational environments for fraud investigators. High transaction volume, alcohol-impaired customers, mixed cash, credit card, and player comp payments, along with a busy environment, create ideal conditions for employee theft. While most casino operators focus heavily on table games and slot protection, bar operations frequently receive less scrutiny—despite producing consistent and often hidden losses. I learned long ago that even small thefts can add up fast and, if left unchecked, the small problems often become larger losses if the opportunity presents itself. When I was in the military, we had a saying that I always think about when talking to investigators about finding and preventing the small thefts. The saying “if you keep the corners clean, the middle will take care of itself” relates to the philosophy of taking care of little problems before they become bigger issues. When it comes to dealing with employee theft, I encourage management to adopt a zero-tolerance attitude and to set examples by finding and dealing with even small thefts early. By handling these problems when they are small you will prevent them from turning into large losses.
Understanding the most common bartender and server theft schemes is critical for investigators tasked with identifying, proving, and preventing internal theft. Although methods evolve, the underlying behaviors remain remarkably consistent. The following schemes account for the majority of cash-related thefts I have seen in casino bar and beverage service investigations.
No-Sale Cash Theft (Open Drawer Theft)
In this scheme, the employee opens the cash drawer using a “No Sale” key, cancel function, or manager override and appears to properly enter the transaction by placing the customer payment in the cash drawer and removing any change. Theft amounts are usually small, repeated dozens of times per shift to avoid obvious shortages. Over time, losses accumulate significantly. Investigators should examine POS exception reports showing excessive no-sale activity and compare drawer openings against transaction counts. Surveillance synchronized with POS timestamps often provides direct visual confirmation if reviewed. While working in the casino, I often would randomly pull the video footage and cash register reports for employees and conduct what I referred to as a video audit to watch each transaction to ensure it was handled correctly. With today’s surveillance technology this process can be much easier and quicker than it was years ago when I first started. Over the years I have identified lots of bartenders that no one suspected yet because their thefts were still small and they were just getting started.
Under-Ringing Drinks
Under-ringing occurs when an employee serves a premium product but rings a lower-priced item. The difference is retained as cash and often placed in the tip jar along with legitimate tips. Because a legitimate transaction exists, shortages appear as inventory shrink or hinger than normal liquor costs rather than missing cash. Investigators should compare premium-to-well liquor sales ratios by employees, analyze pour cost percentages, and conduct covert test purchases using investigative shoppers to order premium brands and observe what is entered into the register.
Another variation of under-ringing is when an employee short rings an order by entering multiple transactions at the same time but only enters a portion of what was actually served. If someone is watching, they see the employee serving drinks and then putting cash into the register and unless they are paying close attention this type of theft is easy to miss when casually watching or stopping by a bar.
“Forgot to Ring It Up” Scam
In this theft, the employee accepts payment but never rings up the sale. This is one of the simplest and oldest theft techniques. It thrives in crowded environments where customers do not expect receipts. I often see employees who use what I refer to as a “stall tactic” to delay placing the cash in the register. During a recent investigative shop at a client’s casino bar, I observed a relief bartender who was working hard to serve and keep up with the crowd at the bar while the regular bartender was on break. I noticed that the relief bartender would sell a cash drink and place the cash on top of the register instead of inside the register about every 2-3 drinks he served. This money remained there and I am sure that if a supervisor had entered the bar he would have claimed it was drinks he still needed to ring up but was too busy to stop to handle properly. After about 30 minutes of serving drinks, the regular bartender returned and I even heard her ask the relief bartender if she needed to do anything with the money laying on top of the register. The relief bartender responded by saying he would take care of it and once the regular bartender was busy waiting on customers again, the relief bartender walked over with his tips in one hand and picked up the cash and departed to relieve some other employee.
In cases where multiple bartenders are working a bar and sharing tips, I often see one bartender who will make a cash sale and then place the money on the register or somewhere behind the bar. Then another bartender who is working in the same bar will pick up the cash and “assume” it must be a tip since it was just left there, and they place the cash in the tip jar instead of the employee who actually conducted the cash transaction with the customer. In this type of situation, it can be difficult to prove that the employee who picked up the cash didn’t just make a mistake by assuming it was a tip. In these cases, the key to proving a theft occurred is often based on the frequency it occurs and the skills of the investigator at interviewing and obtaining confessions.
Comp Fraud and Thefts
In casinos, one type of theft that we see often is the abuse of free or complimentary drinks that are intended to be given to guests who are gaming. I have one client who requires non-gaming guests to purchase drinks at the casino bar and also allows lower-level players to purchase upgrades to obtain premium liquor in their drinks instead of well liquor. This creates its own challenges and offers lots of opportunities for any employee who is looking to make a few extra bucks by stealing. If guests can order a free well liquor drink while gaming and higher rated players can obtain complimentary premium liquor drinks, it makes it very easy for a beverage server to claim a non-gaming player is a gaming player to avoid having to pay for the drink they then sell to the guests. Some might say it is better not to allow drinks to be purchased or drink upgrades in the casino and not provide complimentary and cash sales in the same location. I think it is better to simply maintain tight controls and conduct regular spot checks so that customers can order what they want and the establishment can benefit from the extra income created by the cash purchases. It takes proper supervision and strong checks and balances, but both complimentary service and cash transactions can coexist in the same bar. In a recent investigative shop conducted over a 3-day visit to a casino, we conducted 46 cash transactions by either purchasing an upgrade to obtain premium liquor or by posing as a non-gaming guest looking to purchase a drink at the bar. The results of our investigation identified seven employees who were stealing by selling upgrades and drinks that were not properly entered into the POS system. Additionally, there were nine other occasions when our investigators should have been charged but the server did not require the investigator to pay. In some cases, the employee would tell the investigator that they were supposed to charge for the drink since the investigator only had a basic low level player’s card or they were not gaming at the time, but the employee would offer to “take care of it” and not charge if the investigator “took care of them” indicating that if the investigator tipped well they would not be charged. One employee made the comment and then reminded the investigator what the drink would cost if she charged him after seeing the investigator only tipped $3.00 and was not satisfied until the investigator placed another $3.00 on the server’s tray.
Over-Pouring for Enhanced Tips
Some employees intentionally over-pour alcohol to create loyal customers who tip heavily. While the bartender may not directly pocket cash from the register, the scheme results in product loss and indirect compensation. In some cases, we find that employees simply don’t want to take the time to enter the sale into the register and would prefer to just give the drinks away even if they should have charged for it. When conducting investigative shops at casinos, we often find that employees don’t charge us for drinks even when we are not actively gaming or don’t meet the player status requirements for a complimentary drink upgrade. Often, employees will do this in hopes of obtaining better tips, but occasionally they simply don’t want to take the time to enter the transaction or don’t want to worry with keeping accurate counts of the cash sales. Red flags for this type of loss include abnormal bottle yields, high liquor costs, and frequent “favorite” customers. Inventory yield analysis and video review of pour techniques are effective detection methods along with investigative shopping.
Conclusion
Most bar thefts are not sophisticated. The employee succeeds because of speed, distraction, poor controls, and inconsistent oversight. Employees who steal rarely invent new methods—they reuse proven techniques that exploit weak controls and monitoring. There are many other ways and variations to each of the thefts outlined above, but these cover the most common.
Successful casino bar investigations rely on blending data analytics, a strong surveillance monitoring and auditing program, and regular investigative shopping visits. Using this combined approach, you will greatly increase the odds of identifying small thefts quickly, allowing you to eliminate the problem before it becomes a larger issue. No single tool is sufficient, and a comprehensive combined approach to identifying and preventing fraud is the best practice to reduce losses.
DeFatta & Associates LLC specializes in casino and hospitality related investigations, and we offer many services designed to help identify and prevent internal theft. Contact us today to discuss how we can help you improve your customer experience and prevent losses.