Report: TI Poker Room Manager Christopher Coffin arrested for stealing jackpot money from a football pool

[Dan Druff]

Here is the gossip, given to me by an employee there:

TI poker room manager Christopher Coffin was arrested for stealing jackpot money via a football pool.

He created fictitious players and collected the $'s after they "won".

This part is unsubstantiated, but it is also believed that he stole money from the tournament toke pool that was intended for the dealers.

I'd like to see him nailed on this. I pray he never gets another casino job again.

At the very least, Christopher Coffin HAS been arrested for "Theft $650-$3500", and there is an active criminal case against him. You can see the information from the Clark County website here: https://lvjcpa.clarkcountynv.gov/Ano...aseID=11596059



In 2009, a disgruntled former Mirage employee went to 2+2 to accuse Coffin of "ruining" the room, though the post did not accuse him of any criminal activity. The post accused Coffin of firing all of the shift supervisors, and of general mismanagement. Most in the thread, including Mason Malmuth, didn't take the accuser seriously: http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/27...ecline-599673/

Apparently Coffin has worked at both Mirage and TI, but was currently at TI.

FYI, I don't know Christopher Coffin, nor have I played poker at TI/Mirage in over 10 years.

Developing...

[Dan Druff]

BTW, I originally reported this as "Mirage Poker Room Manager" because I knew Coffin was manager of the Mirage room for awhile, and I didn't know he had moved to TI. I glossed over that when I read the report from the source.

But I just fixed it. Anyway, he's managed both rooms, but the alleged thefts (he was charged with) occurred at TI.

[Dan Druff]

Source also said he was fired from the Mirage in June 2013.

I think he took the TI job in June 2014: http://www.anteupmagazine.com/news/c...poker-room.htm

[Dan Druff]

More info from the source:

Druff: "Can you explain how he stole? Like once he created the fakes, did he modify their picks to win?"

Source: "It was a promo where you make picks. You get more picks by playing more hours. He created a fake players card and logged hours. Then he made the correct picks and collected the money."

Druff: "Was it a single fake player, or multiple ones?"

Source: "I think it was a single player. The winner was not a known player to any of the regulars. That's how he got caught."

[Dan Druff]

Druff: "Was he lucky to have made the correct picks, or did he manipulate them in some way? Or did he just have so many that he was likely to win?"

Source: "He probably didn't pick his winners until after the games were played. Just a guess. Otherwise, he would have had to have gotten lucky."

[Daredevil]

I thought it was odd when he left Mirage and no one would say why. Obviously I can't confirm any prior mis-deeds. But it's unlikely he just decided to start scamming for the firs time at his age...

[simpdog]

How much does a poker room manager make in 2015?

As per usual in cases similar to these, it just seems like such a stupid thing to do. Although there likely is an underlying problem (gambling, drugs, etc)

[Jayjami]

People actually play poker at TI? LOL.

[Sanlmar]

How much does a poker room manager make in 2015?

This is a great question.

I remember on the East coast, Mohegan Sun closed down their poker room during much of the poker boom following a scandal.

I always heard the protitutes soliciting were more numerous than cocktail waitresses. Maybe that was just good marketing.

Played with the old poker room manager at Foxwoods a few times. We all knew but nobody said a word. He was a pretty funny guy as I recall.

[Thetibandit]

http://jail.com/arrest-records/chris...coffin-5284327

[Dan Druff]

Here is a report from jail.com regarding Chris Coffin's arrest in June, 2013:

http://jail.com/arrest-records/chris...coffin-5284327

This was the same month he left Mirage.

An insider told me that he applied to the Palms after losing that job, and explained the Mirage firing as having to do with an incident where he was dating a dealer, and then his ex-wife (or current wife?) got into a fistfight with him about it!

Just gets weirder and weirder.

Reportedly poker room managers make about 60-85k.

[ManInBlack]

$60-85k a year.... damn I would be happy with that kind of pay. But this is Vegas after all and people have problems with "Drugs/Gambling/Ect" at times.

[Sanlmar]

$60-85k a year.... damn I would be happy with that kind of pay. But this is Vegas after all and people have problems with "Drugs/Gambling/Ect" at times.

I dunno.

Maybe he is making $35/hr in light of actual hrs worked.

* primarily responsible for a profit center's P/L.

* maybe 100 employees total head count.

* "store" is open 18-24 hour a day

* responsible to work some weekends & late nights.

* guaranteed not working a straight 40hr week. On call responsibility


That sounds to me like a recipe for disaster when surrounded by cash. I'll bet a manager of TGI Fridays franchise makes 3x that

[Dan Druff]

Now it's covered on Pokernews, which drew from this thread. They did give this site credit.

http://www.pokernews.com/news/2015/0...sted-20318.htm

[chinamaniac]

[Shizzmoney]

People actually play poker at TI? LOL.

First thing I thought; its a depressing room

[Dan Druff]

And to be honest, $60k is an okay salary in 2015, but it's VERY easy to run through it all without living a very expensive lifestyle.

In the late 90s I had a girlfriend who made $50k per year (probably more than $60k in 2015 dollars), and she was always broke. This was a girl who wasn't high-maintenance, didn't shop much, didn't have expensive tastes, etc. She also didn't have any kids to support. She just wasn't the best at managing money and stretching her $, so she seriously had zero money to put into savings every month. I actually helped fix some of that for her, where basically she had the exact same lifestyle and saved a few hundred a month, but my point is that you can't really say, "Wow, $60k? Why would he find the need to steal?"

So my guess is that this guy was perpetually broke (despite his salary), and didn't have the moral compass that prevented him from stealing when he thought he could get away with it.

[John Mehaffey]

He pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor on Monday. He got a suspended sentence, probation, community service and has to repay $1900 to TI.