Who Regulates Onboard Casinos?

I recently cruised for about 5.5 hours on the casino ship Majesty I (Majesty One). It operates out of Madeira Beach, Florida. It is an attractive little ship. I had a good time on her.

I do have a question: Who regulates onboard casinos? I would guess that the profits from most cruise ships actually come from the casinos on board. (Hawaiian ships, and the 2 Disney Cruise Line ships are the exceptions.) The Majesty I is actually an U.S. flag ship. So are the Suncruz Casinos ships. However, does the United States Department of Transportation worry about casinos? And what about non-United States flag ships? Who regulates them?

Let me be clear. I am NOT accusing any company of cheating casino customers. I am only asking about what regulations exist, if any.

Respectfully,

Andrewx

No one regulates cruise ship casinos. They operate in international waters so they are able to do as they please. ICCL members are asked to follow the guidelines of the ICCL. You can see the guidelines here: http://www.iccl.org/policies/gambling.cfm

These guidelines are fairly generic and really more recomendation than anything else.

Thank you, JJS2K3, for that information. I sure hope that cruise ship casinos are honestly run. "Self-regulation" scares me a bit.

NCL, Royal Carribean, and enormous Carnival are the big three cruise lines operating out of United States ports. They would have a massive amount of their reputations lost if cheating against casino customers was uncovered. Smaller companies a person can reasonably wonder about. (Again, I am not accusing any cruise line of cheating casino customers.)

Respectfully,

Andrewx

[This message was edited by andrewx on 04-20-04 at 02:47 PM.]

[This message was edited by andrewx on 04-20-04 at 02:48 PM.]

I would like to say one thing about the old Rotterdam V. Due to how things were set up, the only way to the Lido restaurant was thru the casino. Never, in seven cruises, did I ever see a casino employee as much as make eye contact with me on my way through. Never, not once.

I never felt as if there was even the slightest hint that I should pause for a game of anything. If I wanted to stop and play, fine; but if I were just passing thru, just as fine. No pressure at all.

On the newer ships, there are passageways around the casino. On Rotterdam V, such was not possible.

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Put "Cruise Critic" in e-mail subject line: tomcarten@hotmail.com

Andrew:

I remember watching something on History channel about Casinos and one of the points that was made was about the honesty of the casinos. In order for casinos to be successful they have to be above board otherwide they would lose their customers. I am probably not saying this as well as on the show but it made sense. Also, if you check a little about technology of casinos and particularly slot machines, it is very difficult for them not to be honest. They have to worry more about the dishonest player.

Don

Greed plays more of a part than honesty. The problem is that the cruise line sets the machines for the payoff percentage that they want. Vegas might use 95% and the cruise lines 75% as an example.

Peter

I almost always lose when I go to Vegas so losing $$$ on a cruise ship will just add a feeling of familiarity

Elation!