Posted on: August 26, 2024, 03:41h.
Last updated on: August 26, 2024, 03:41h.
Four passengers on the MSC Magnifica out of Miami went a different kind of bust in the cruise ship’s casino.
Michael F. Emmanuel, 35; Tyrisha Delgato, 38; Devin Jones, 28; and Quentin Marcellus Tuck, 32, were each charged with an organized scheme to defraud, grand theft, and fraudulent use of a credit card, according to arrest reports obtained by South Florida’s WTVJ-TV. Emmanuel, Delgado and Jones were also charged with fraudulent use of ID.
During the four-day cruise, which departed Aug. 19, the suspects attempted to take cash advances of “large amounts of money” from fraudulent credit cards to play slot machines and other casino games, according to the arrest reports.
Security with MSC (the Mediterranean Shipping Company) contacted US Customs and Border Protection, which contacted the Bahamian authorities, instructing them not to allow the suspects to disembark at any of the multiple stops the ship made in the Bahamas.
When the ship returned to port, the suspects were taken into custody and booked into Miami-Dade County Jail.
Upon further investigation, the suspects were also found to have booked their cruise tickets using fraudulent credit cards.
Cruise Ship Casinos 101
Casinos are among the most popular options on cruises, mostly because there’s no way to get away from them. The vast majority of larger ships include gaming spaces in one form or another, with some, like Royal Caribbean, focusing heavily on at-sea gambling.
The MSC Magnifica’s Atlantic City Casino features slot machines as well as roulette and blackjack tables for 222 people in 6,780 square feet.
Cruise ships typically follow the gambling laws of the location where they dock. Since commercial gambling is outlawed in Florida, the MSC Magnifica remains closed until the vessel sails at least 12 nautical miles off the US coastline.
The Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA), a Washington, DC-based trade association, regulates cruise ship casinos.
Cruising for a Losing
Cruise ship casinos are known to have lower payback percentages on slot machines and higher house edges on table games compared to their land-based counterparts. This is because cruise lines enjoy a captive audience with no available competition.
“Cruise ship casinos offer some of the poorest payouts of any casino you’ll find,” wrote Cruzely’s Tanner Callais in 2017, noting that most cruise ship casinos offer only 6-to-5 blackjack, which pays $12 on a $10 bet instead of $15 for the typical land-based 3-to-2 game.
“As the only game in town, you can’t just head off to another casino with better payouts,” Callais wrote.
