I remember the first time I met Rodney Dangerfield. He was walking out of the craps pit without a shirt on. I looked at him, he looked at me, and then he raised his hands and said, "What? I lost my shirt at the craps table."

The Bellagio recently lost more than "their shirt" after a helmet-wearing bandit walked in, and then out, with the bosses register (i.e., all the cheques) from a high-limit craps table. I remember getting a pop-up email message from a friend when the story broke. All I could think is, "Why." What would possess anyone to steal something that they cannot possibly do anything with? Here's why.

RFID is not just a good idea, it really works, and here's how. The casino cheques are fitted with RFID tags, which in essence, are passive, two-part tags, with no power source of their own thus requiring an external electromagnetic field to make a connection between cheque and scanner (or computer). One part of the tag is an integrated circuit used for storing serial numbers, inventory codes, the item's value, and processing information such as its whereabouts thus modulating (sending) and demodulating (receiving) a radio frequency (RF) signal. The other part of the RFID tag is used for an antenna. Therefore, stealing something that is RFID protected would be like parking in Steve Wynn's personal parking space. Yea, it feels good for a second but you know an armored tank or an F 18 is going to be coming to crush or bomb your car to bits in just a few seconds. With this in mind, let's pretend we are the ridiculous fool that just pulled the boner of the year. Here is what's went down before he even got off the Bellagio property...

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