Craps Railing Scam

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Railing is one casino scam that takes lots of balls. On craps tables running hot with a lot of action, there are usually several players gathered around them with chips swelling in their table racks on the rail. These players are always bending down to place their bets and pick up their chips from the layout. Their movements are in unison. When a shooter rolls a winner, the players bend down harmoniously to collect their winnings. On a loser they do the same, replacing the swept-away chips on the layout. During these movements many of the players leave their racks exposed. Their chips could be picked away at by an agile chip-thief with quick hands willing to stick his hand into neighboring chip racks along the rail of the table. These thieves became known as “railbirds,” long before the same term was given to bust-out poker players gone broke watching poker games from the rails outside poker rooms.

Players drinking heavily as they gambled made the best targets. One aspect of stealing other players' chips that delights many railbirds is that railing other players’ chips is not ripping off the casinos; you couldn't take casino steam. Your principal danger was getting caught by the victim himself. True, there was the chance of being seen by a surveillance camera above, but that risk was minimal because surveillance operators are rarely watching out for craps players’ chips in the table racks.

The first known successful professional railing team was an offshoot of the Classon Pastposting Team, consisting of the notorious brothers Henry and Joe Classon. Cruising the old Las Vegas Sands casino in search of a potential victim one night in the late 1950s, Joe came across a tall wobbling craps player underneath a Stetson hat who seemed to never put his whiskey in the glass-holder built into the rail. He constantly held it in his left hand, handling his chips with his right. His chip rack on the rail was filled with black $100 chips.

Joe had wanted to be the first “railbird” and pass whatever chips he could pick off to his brother standing behind him, but Henry vetoed that idea and told Joe to stand behind him.

He squeezed in between the mark and another player while Joe stood behind. He already had a fistful of green $25 chips when he approached the table, avoiding the contact with the dealer and boxman that would have been necessary had he bought chips at the table. Henry knew that early chip preparation was essential, just like it was for all casino cheating scams.


The Art:

The first nuance of railing was to make your mark feel comfortable with your presence. If he became nervous or fidgety, his natural move was to excessively protect his chips. More important than talking to your mark was ingratiating yourself by your movements. The key was to follow him, keep the same rhythm. When he bent over to make his bet, you made yours. When he bent over to pick up his chips, you did likewise. A little chit-chat didn't hurt but wasn't mandatory. Not all gambling drunkards were open to conversation. You had to feel your mark's vibes.

Henry bet two green chips next to the mark's black chips. He had to be careful about the placement of his chips because if the mark wasn't comfortable with them, the occasion could be blown. In the same manner that you didn't want to crowd the mark with your presence, you didn't want to crowd him with your chips either. If you bet your chips too close to his, he might feel the encroachment. If you bet too far away, he might also be disturbed for one reason or another, though too close was definitely worse than too far.

A final precondition the railbird needed to victimize his mark was a table that stayed hot. When a table went cold, it was the casino getting all his chips. Soon there was nothing left in his rack for you to peck away at. A table could go from hot to cold extremely fast.

Henry got into the guy's rhythm after just a couple of rolls. They exchanged a little small talk about how the table was running good. The guy laughed, even patted Henry on the back. He was going to be plump for the pickings.

When the mark reached down to pick up the black chips the dealer had just paid him, Henry reached down with him to pick up his greens. While they were both bent over the rail, Henry's left hand picked up his own chips off the layout while his right hand slid underneath his left outstretched arm into his neighbor's chip rack. Then with a pinching movement of his thumb, index and middle finger, he plucked three black chips from the end of the lined-up chips closest to him, and in the same motion passed them subtly behind his back to Joe, who put them in his jacket pocket. This chip pass-off was necessary to protect Henry in the event the mark caught him in the act, or accused him afterward. If that happened, Joe would instantly leave the table. Since Henry had been betting only green chips, he could defend against any accusations by asserting that he didn't have a single black chip on him. How could he be guilty of stealing this man's black chips? If casino security searched him, they'd find no black chips at all, not in his pockets, not on his person. The pass-off to Joe was their cover and had to be done in the "dark."

Henry picked away at the mark for the hour that the table ran good. It was important not to be greedy. You chose your moments for picking. If you took too much at once, the mark was bound to notice. If the table was choppy you held back. The old saying about getting your fingers caught in the cookie jar was every bit as applicable to railing craps tables. When the table finally went cold and busted out the mark, Henry and Joe met outside the casino to count up their profits. Joe emptied out his jacket pocket. There were fourteen black chips inside, $1,400.


Over the years, the Classons railed craps tables whenever their pastposting operations were taking heat and had to be put on hold. At opportune times, they were able to rail $500 chips from high-rolling craps players, making scores above $20,000. One laughable incident occurred in the late 1970s when Joe Classon snuggled up to a gorgeous and even wealthier Texas Oil Baroness at a craps table who was playing purple $500 chips. He charmed her, cajoled her and railed her—to the tune of $22,500. But the grand prix came a week later when she invited him down to her Dallas ranch and showed him some Southern hospitality he never forgot!

Today, railing is still quite prevalent in the world’s casinos, if it is little known or talked about. The modern railbird always passes off the chips he picks to his or her cohort standing behind. Notice that “his or her” is used to portray railbirds. This is because more than half of today’s craps chip thieves are women! And usually pretty women, who use their seductive charm to divert men high rollers’ attention from the chips in their table racks to the tits in their neighbors’ racks!

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