Sands Hotel and Casino Hw


Sands Casino consists of:
 1077 coin-operated devices
 59 blackjack tables
 20 crap tables
 10 roulette wheels
 2 baccarat tables
 2 big six wheels
 Two shifts of workers (930 employees)
 10am-4am weekdays
 10am-6am weekends
The controls described in Sands are?
 Blackjack:
 Blackjack dealer – most experience is key
 20min. break every hour, who are then replaced by relief dealers
who work at two different tables for 40min.
 Floorperson – monitor two blackjack tables
 Blackjack pit boss – monitor eight blackjack tables
 Vice President of casino operations
 Cash
 Individual accountability for cash and cash equivalent stocks
 Required to turn in exact amount of money for which they were
given responsibly, any shortages were grounds for dismissal
 Formal procedures for transfers
 Required the creation of formal transactions signifying the transfer
of accountability for the money involved
o Inventory of chips & signing of opener slip
 Copy to incoming dealer’s drop box
 Copy to finance department for input to computer
 Credit approved – counter check
o Prepared/signed by customer
o Signed by dealer & pit boss
o Deposited into drop box
 Request for fill
o Input into computer at the pit
o Computer prints out fill slip
 Sign
 Security guard transports chips and fill slip to dealer
 Should take x minutes to complete process
o Dealer and floorperson both count chips and sign fill slip
o Send code to computer indicating transaction is complete
o Security makes copy of slip
 Placed in drop box
 Original returned to fill bank cashier


End of shift
o Dealer and floorperson count inventory
o Prepare and signed a closer slip
 Deposited in dealer’s drop box
 Tight control in the count rooms
 Wear jumpsuits without pockets required
 Personal belongings carried only in clear plastic bags
 Supervised and filled by cameras
 Control of Games
 Licensing of casino personnel
 Licensed by the NJCCC
 Standardization of actions of personnel running the games
 Most of the dealers physical motions were standardized in order to
make supervision and surveillance easier
 Careful supervision and surveillance of the action taking place at the table
 Front line gaming personnel where subjected to multiple forms of
supervision and surveillance
o Floorpeople, pit bosses, eye in the sky
 Monitoring of results
 Drop – total amount of money the customers were willing to bet
against the casino
o Best measure of the volume of betting activity
 Win – gross profit number
 Hold percentage (ratio) – Win/Drop
o Blackjack – 14-16%
 Bonuses
 Annual bonus based on bottom-line performance at the hotel-casino
 Management by objectives with factors that are usually more
difficult to quantify
 Future
 Record every transaction is ideal
 Always look to find ways to improve the controls that are in place
 New training program
 Blackjack area improving shuffling
 Information system improvement
How would you classify them using the Cobit and Coso frameworks?
 The internal controls implemented at the Sands Hotel and Casino run smoothly.
One of the reasons why their internal controls runs as well as it does is because
they utilize both COLBIT and COSO internal controls framework. COLBIT can
best be seen with the attitudes that management gives off throughout the
organization. The high executives goal is to create a ideal paradise of internal
controls for a casino. They have appropriately planned and organized a structure
of the organization with accountability as its main purpose from the board of
directors down to the 26 count room clerks. They have acquired and implemented
numerous innovative controls procedures on top of the ones required by the
NJCCC. They are constantly updating and searching for ways to update controls
in place.
Notes:
 Colbit (Control Objectives for Business and Information Technology)
 Plan and Organize
 Acquire and Implement
 Deliver and Support
 Monitor and Evaluate
 Coso
 Three primary objectives
 Ensure efficient and effective operations
 Reliable financial reporting
 Compliance with laws and regulations
 Five essential components
 The control environment
 Integrity, ethical values and competence of the enterprise’s people
 Management philosophy and operating style
 The way in which management assigns authority and responsibility
and in which it organizes and develops its people
 The attention and direction provided by the board of directors
 Risk assessment
 Forms the basis for determining what risks need to be controlled
and the controls required to manage them
 Control activities
 Policies and procedures enterprises use to ensure necessary actions
are taken to minimize risks associated with achieving objectives
o Preventative controls
o Detective
o Corrective
 Error vs. Irregularity
 Information and communications
 Information system should do each of the following to provide
accurate and complete information in the accounting system and
correctly report the results of operations
o Identify and record all business events on a timely basis
o Describe each event in sufficient detail
o Measure the proper monetary value of each event
o Determine the time period in which events occurred
o Present properly the events and related discloses in the
financial statements
 Monitoring
 Assessing the quality of internal control performance over time
 Performance reviews