ShareMike Gorodinsky has reached a dead end when trying to find out what happened to all the missing money from his security box at the Bellagio.
Two months ago, the American went to open his box after not touching it for a year. The key would work and after staff drilled the lock out the money he expected to find inside was gone—all of it.
“Went to Bellagio today to access my box and my key was stuck/not opening it. They wind up having to drill it and when they lift the box out, it’s empty. Extremely fucked up situation. If anyone has any insight on best steps/who to contact from here, please reach out.”
Gorodinsky recently spoke to PokerNews to relay the full details of what happened. He explained that he had been “foolishly optimistic” about getting his money back.
“I wanted to have the convenience of being able to keep chips at Bellagio rather than having to travel to/from the poker room specifically/Vegas generally, and thus constantly risking my safety with large amounts of money on hand. I used the box fairly frequently for the span of a few years, but in the recent couple of years, I haven’t played much of the Bobby’s Room mix, and have thus had less and less need for the box, using it very sparingly, mostly just once or twice during the WSOP.”
He hadn’t touched the box since June 28, 2022 but wanted to use the cash stored to fund his account with the WSOP for upcoming events. Upon seeing the box minus its expected contents,
Gorodinksy racked his brain to think if he could have simply moved the money at an earlier date and failed to make a note, but he was 100% sure this was not the case. The chance of that and the key not working is just too unlikely.
“Since we are in the gambling space and I know that people are curious about these sorts of things, I would venture to say that the likelihood of me having emptied out my box on my last visit, failed to make a written record of it, completely blocked the event out of my memory, and then hit the parlay of my key getting jammed is approximately 0.0025%. It's not impossible, but boy, it sure is unlikely.”
After a week or so, the Bellagio security team said they had concluded a review and were firm in saying that Gorodinsky was the only person who accessed the box in the previous year and refusing to engage in the possibility that the wrong box could have been given out.
“... was called a week or so later by someone in charge of Risk Management for MGM, and told that despite their doing a background check on me, confirming a spotless 15+ year gambling reputation and great general relationship with MGM and their properties, that the reality is that I signed a liability release when opening the box, and that to compensate somebody in my position would set a precedent that would be harmful to the casino’s operation going forward…”
Lawsuit Unrealistic
So what happened?Gorodinsky thinks there are only two realistic possibilities: the box was drilled because it had been so long since anyone touched it and the money was either stolen or misplaced, or it was handed to another player and they emptied it.
He added that he personally knows players who have good reputations who have been given the wrong box in the past at the Bellagio.
As for what happens next, Gorodinsky feels there is no point in filing a police report or taking action in the courts. He estimates the amount in the box lies between $45,000 and $100,000 which, while huge money for most of us, is a drop in the ocean for a high stakes player with a successful track record.
“The amount in question and the way that lawyer fees are structured for cases like this that would likely drag out, the stress on my life, amount of time that it would take to conclude the case, and total recovered assets after paying fees did not seem remotely worth it.”
It wasn’t all bad this summer, though, because Mike Gorodinsky took down the 2023 WSOP Event #54: $10,000 H.O.R.S.E. for $422,747 to win his third bracelet.
