Gran Melia Golf Resort
Gran Melia Resort

A resort casino on the north coast of Puerto Rico was robbed on Tuesday. Four masked men burst into the casino brandishing weapons, holding both tourists and staff at gunpoint. The raid lasted under 10 minutes, and the crooks made away with $250,000 in cash.

The robbery happened around 11pm at the Gran Melia Golf Resort in the town of Rio Grande. Two men kept watch while a third jumped up on a blackjack table and demanded cash. The fourth stuffed the money into big bags. They were gone just minutes later.

Fortunately the casino wasn’t very full, with just a few slot players mingling about, and a few more playing blackjack games. Luckily, nobody was injured.

“A lot of people were nervous,” said Hendrick Santos, managing director of the casino. “This is not common. It is not something that we experience with any frequency.”

Casino robberies like this one are indeed uncommon, owing to the heavy security that most casinos use to keep their money and their customers safe. Despite these strong security measures, however, some players prefer to enjoy online blackjack games, where their chances of being robbed at gunpoint drop to zero. Online casinos offer very strong security, and since all funds are “digital” rather than paper cash, stealing from an internet blackjack site is nearly impossible.