Arkansas Officials Aware Of Video Showing Casino Customer Payment Dispute

Arkansas officials have been made aware of a video purporting to show a customer at a casino being denied payment for gaming chips.

"The Racing Commission has not been contacted by the individual in the video," Scott Hardin, Arkansas Racing Commission spokesman, told Gambling.com on Friday. "If we are contacted and a complaint is filed, it will be investigated. We were made aware of the video yesterday (May 8) via this inquiry. We would need additional information on the situation before addressing the claims."  

The video appeared on the Instagram account Casinocompwallet, operated by Paul Contino, known on social media sites as "Vegas Pauly C." By midmorning Friday, the video on Instagram had more than 115,000 views and 4,145 comments. According to the Vegas Pauly C Instagram post, the incident occurred May 8 in Arkansas and involved an accusation of card counting.

In the brief video, an apparent security guard stops an employee at a cashier cage from paying the unidentified patron. "Now they're not going to be paying me my money," the patron says. "This is insane." The employee at the cashier cage notes he already paid the patron $10,000 before being told to stop.

The casino is not identified in video. However, some people commenting on the Instagram post identify the resort as Oaklawn in Hot Springs. Officials at Oaklawn did not respond Friday to a phone call seeking comment.

Later, Casinocompwallet posted a video of a man identifying himself as Brutal Chameleon, a "professional card counter" traveling across the country "beating casinos for a lot of money" at blackjack. The man said he was the person in the initial video being denied payment at the casino. He said the incident occurred at Oaklawn, adding that he was finally paid after contacting "gaming" and his attorney. 

Brutal Chameleon said he is an Air Force veteran once station near Hot Springs and witnessed people losing money at Oaklawn. Part of his motive is to "get a little bit of revenge," he said. 

"I really want to start a movement exposing casinos and their unethical practices," he said.