In the Oscar-nominated 2003 movie The Cooler, William H. Macy portrays a downtown Las Vegas casino employee whose job is to reverse winning streaks. Bernie Lootz — get it, lose? — has such extraordinary bad luck, all he needs to do is sit next to a guest experiencing good luck and it stops.
No Job Like This in Modern Las Vegas
- Regulations and Procedures:
Anthony F. Lucas, a professor of casino management at UNLV and former gaming industry operations analyst, told Casino.org that no job like this exists today in Las Vegas. Many in-house procedures and external regulations are in place to ensure randomness is present in the production of the outcomes on all games. - Cheating Risk:
Employing someone to alter the random process of statistics would qualify as cheating. Players would not patronize a casino that is known, or even rumored, to cheat. If caught, consequences such as heavy fines, possible loss of the gaming license, and catastrophic PR fallout would all be likely. - Need for Big Winners:
In addition, Lucas said, casinos need big winners because they provide valuable marketing.
The Myth of Good and Bad Luck
- Understanding Randomness:
Lucas explains that there is no such thing as good luck or bad luck. Randomness includes both hot and cold streaks, so there is no need to bring in someone to affect the game — even if someone could — since it will recover on its own.
Were Coolers Ever a Real Thing?
- Superstitions in Early Casinos:
Before casinos completely understood and placed their faith in the mathematics of the house advantage, some of their operators were as superstitious as their customers. For example, it wasn’t unheard of for pit bosses to carry rabbit’s feet, cross their fingers during tense craps rolls, or wear their lucky shirts to work to ensure a profitable house run. - Casino Coolers:
There was a concept called a “casino cooler,” but it referred to a rigged deck of cards (a cold deck) that cheaters would attempt to introduce into play to turn a table game’s odds in their favor. - No Evidence of Real Coolers:
An extensive search of newspaper articles and books about Las Vegas from the ’50s through the ’80s turned up not a single reference to anyone employed by a casino to impose bad luck on a live gaming floor.
Cooler Heads Prevail
- Superstitions and Random Events:
The premise of The Cooler was borrowed by screenwriters Wayne Kramer and Frank Hannah from one of many false beliefs held by some of the heaviest casino gamblers of yesteryear. - Interpreting Random Events:
While it certainly is possible for a casino employee with an unsettling look or habit to have been seated next to a winner to distract their thought process and throw their game off, all such stories are highly suspect, at best.
Superstition Among Gamblers:
“Heavy gamblers are often very superstitious,” Lucas explained. “So if they’re winning when someone else happens to join the table or a dealer switches out, they are tempted to interpret these random events as the casino trying to mess with their luck.”
