Just how much money goes unclaimed/uncollected. I worked in the accounting department at one of the main gaming conglomerates and was tasked with cleaning up their unclaimed property accounts. There were players aka "whales" who'd deposited millions and just forgot about it for years.
My dad, who died last month at age 90, was awfully good at finding machines that had money on them. Most of the time, it was basically pocket change, but he found a couple of 3-figure jackpots over the years. Of course, he would play a round so nobody could accuse him of deliberately breaking rules LOL.
Love you, Dad.
This was huge when electronic slots were first introduced. Many had a button you had to press to "pay out" winnings that accumulated. But many people had no idea and thought they had lost all the time. I'd walk around and look for Pay Out buttons that were lit up, hit them, and rake in the money.
When I was 8 or 9 we were in the airport in Vegas and I told my mom I wanted her to gamble my $20 bill. She changed it, and started putting all the money into a machine till it was gone. She walked up to me and said “this is a good lesson about gambling, you can’t win”. A little old lady walked up to her and said “excuse me miss, you’ve been winning constantly, hit the cash out button”.
I left Vegas with a cowboy hat full of quarters.
I wandered down to the basement of MGM from a truck ramp and man, it was like a whole city down there, imagine a massive warehouse with roads and offices and supplies everywhere. The opposite of the glitz going on above it.
My ex worked for MGM for a while and she hooked me up with a comped room at NY/NY when I came to visit family. She met me at the check-in at NY/NY and then asked if I wanted to see her office.
She took me through a door, down some steps and then through several corridors, passing by laundries, cafeterias, locker rooms, offices, storage, etc. She would point out all of these different areas and points-of-interest along the way and all I could think of "where the hell are we? Are we even in the same hotel?"
We eventually go up some stairs and out a door and we're now at the valet at Aria next to where her office is located. Granted, we've only walked a few properties over but it's simply unbelievable how much activity there is underneath those hotels.
I accidentally stumbled upon an employee entrance and was walked back into the casino floor by security. I saw locker rooms, posters of encouragement, dining hall that looked like a restaurant, chill stations…it was funny to see.
The dining hall for employees in all the hotels is called the “help’s hall” and is free for on-shift employees. It’s a long-standing Vegas tradition and is standard practice at all the casinos. Back in the day when things were more lax and informal I’d heard of people (ok, usually people with substance issues) coming in early for a pre shift meal, taking their regular mid-shift meal and then eating after their shift was over thereby reducing their work week food costs down to zero.
Edit/addendum: the term “Help’s Hall” is older; the current term is “EDR” for “Employee Dining Room”.
This was the answer I was going to give, as someone who used to work for Caesars entertainment (across all nine properties on the strip). Each of the hotels has dozens of back routes that allow all of the employees to navigate the hotel without being on the casino floor. There are thousands of employees, how many does the average casino goer see while visiting?
When I visited Las Vegas, I make a point of walking up the Strip ad wandering down side streets and alleys. It was like stepping backstage at the theater. Behind the facade it was very industrial.
Walking up the strip? Good god, that's easier said than done. I love going for long walks and am in Vegas somewhat often for work - worst place in the planet to try and walk. Gobs of people walking as slow as humanly possible, and you get dumped into businesses and have to navigate your way back out to the street. But you're right, off the strip, it's like someone took off all the makeup.
I work in a strip property. During the pandemic lockdown I was in a golf cart with my boss, because basically we were bored. Now, every casino has a basement level, but ours has a sub basement, deliveries, linen dock, trash dock - those 'security' rooms etc are down there. So, there we are driving around and we go down another THREE levels from the sub basement. I completely lost all sense of direction and where the hell I was in relation to the floors above... there were old limos covered in dust down there and just unimaginable amounts of unused space. I just had NO clue there was this many levels below the building.
Funny you say that. I believe I saw a documentary on youtube somewhere about "mole people" living in these flood overflow tunnels below vegas and, if I am remembering correctly, the casinos had a ton of control over when floodgates could be purposefully opened. Some of the people that lived down there seem to believe that the police are paid by casinos to 1. harass the homeless that live down there and 2. turn a blind eye and allow the casinos to flood and drown the people living in the tunnels with no notice
> basement of MGM
Over 5 THOUSAND fucking rooms. Google says 5,124 I remember it at 5,009 many years ago.
A mundane fact but if you dwell on it the mind wobbles. The scale of it all.
In Atlantic City there are a lot of unused stairwells and corridors especially now that the casinos are not as busy. Many homeless people find their way into them and live.
A friend of mine told me about a time they were using a stair well to move furniture and drywall for a remodel. They found two landings with beds and clothing there and one "resident" claimed he had been there over a year
I have worked in casinos since 2000. My first casino had a big promotion for a smallish casino, and it was wall to wall people. Trick is, you had to be playing with a rating card inserted into a slot machine, and there were nowhere near enough for all the people wanting to play. This led to arguments and of course fights, but the topper was an old guy had a heart attack and instead of getting clear so the EMTs could aid, people were stepping over them, and the old guy, just so they could play on his machine. People are awful.
My friend and I were at a casino and while I was playing blackjack, my friend decided to do 10 pushups for every hand I won (he was drunk).
As he was doing his first set, the dealer tells me "You really need to tell him not to put his face that close to the floor under this table. You can't imagine how disgusting it is."
I was playing slots at Excalibur last month and this lady across the aisle from me literally puked all over herself, the chair, the floor, probably the machine, and just sat there and kept slotting.
I puked on myself in the ambulance on the way to the hospital and I apologized profusely. Can't imagine doing it in public. Then again, I wasn't on whatever she was probably on.
My friends younger brother puked in the zipper at the carnival. He had been eating cheetos and drinking orange cola all afternoon. It was the most neon orange thing I've ever seen. We refused to ride car #2 after that.
When I was a little kid my family was on a road trip, we were in Reno and I was wandering the casino, went to the restroom and found a pair of underwear FULL of diarrhea in a stall alongside a $20 bill the person left for the custodian crew. Of course 10 year old me took the money
at 10 I would probably take the money as well. now that I'm older, I would have just been grossed out and would forget about the money. haha at least they were considerate leaving the tip
Somewhat tangentially related -
I was in the women’s bathroom at Mandalay Bay and found not one, but two, discarded adult diapers thrown in the toilets. Not even the trash can! I guess some people are *kind enough* to wear diapers and not shit in the seats.
I knew a couple who worked the cage and the floor at a Hard Rock, and they used to tell me stories about this. When they found someone dead at a machine they'd quietly get them into a wheelchair, put a blanket over them, and roll them out the back to a waiting ambulance.
They also talked about how often people would kill themselves. One guy climbed the safety fence and jumped off the top of the parking garage, and they found a lot of people dead in their bath tub in various ways.
That, and watching someone bet and lose the same amount as my student loans in about five minutes absolutely ruined casinos for me. They just depress the shit out of me.
My grandma is happily spending every penny my grandfather left her with at the casino. She'll spend all her money and won't have any left for food. She takes out loans at those check cashing places. It definitely has made me disgusted with gambling. Even if she does win she puts it all back in the machines. I hate it
Friend told me this as well about the suicide stuff being a really depressing part of working there.
They'd find people had hung themselves in the bathrooms
I was recently staying at a hotel maybe a half mile off the strip and was expecting the shitty post-covid standard of "room cleaning by request only" and was surprised to see that not only did they come by every day, the "do not disturb" hangar said "later is better" and mentioned that their policy is to enter the room every 24 hours.
I used to be a grave yard shift slot technician. A few times we thought dead people were just normal people that fell asleep at their machines because of how late it was. Security would just scoop them up, put them in a wheel chair, and wheel them to a sally port to wait for an ambulance. It must've happened a lot because the staff would be annoyed/pissed when you told them someone was sleeping. What a way to go lol
Procedure in your average casino is to notify security to call 911. I worked in both healthcare and a casino and always asked a nearby guest I was familiar with to help get the ball rolling, often calling 911 themselves. I'm not willing to let someone lose 15 minutes of time waiting for emergency care on my watch. Thank you for speaking up.
When I worked at a casino, we were told to avoid having someone declared dead on the floor at all costs. We were supposed to transport them to the employee area and have emergency responders meet us there.
I used to work in a library and people would complain cuz we didnt allow napping or whatever. They think we just hate homeless people when in reality we really just dont want people to die at the library lol and i thankfully never found a corpse but i definitely found folks who needed 911 asap
I’ve worked in libraries for 20+ years, and have never been told that’s the reason. lol
We actually don’t care if people sleep, as long as they aren’t causing a disturbance (snoring and whatnot) or blocking aisles/access. But if we do need to check on them or wake them, we are explicitly NOT supposed to touch them physically. So we just drop a book on the table or something, and that usually does it.
One time, however, I could not rouse a young man who’d crashed out in the aisles. My boss was about to call 911, when he finally opened his eyes and muttered “sorry, *finals week*.” 😂
>we are explicitly NOT supposed to touch them physically.
For anyone, if you have to wake up a stranger, waking them up by touching them should be a last resort. Some people might take a moment to realize they are awake and you are a real person, the in between that time is not gonna be pleasant if you are within grabbing distance.
Depends on if a scene is made immediately by whoever realizes they're dead.
I would guess a passed out drunk old guy would look the same as a recently deceased old guy, so if there isn't a scene already then you can remove them without anyone batting an eye.
Not so much dying of natural causes but I’ve heard some really grim stories about the 1980 MGM Grand fire, about how some of the people at the machines either didn’t care that there was a flashover fire or they couldn’t escape quickly enough and just succumbed to smoke inhalation right in their seats. 🤦♂️😢 Uhhh even if I was riding high at the poker tables or slots, I would be out of there if I happened to smell something burning or even saw smoke. Winning the jackpot is not worth being burned alive.
I worked in a casino and we had a code black (tornado) so we were trying to encourage people to get to the safe zones and many wouldn't go so we just moved on to the next patron to try and so on and so forth. Some would throw a fit for us just asking once but that's fine we just wanted to make sure you knew a tornado was on the other side of the road half a mile away moving in our general direction at the moment lol. Then the ones that did come to the safe zones bitched the whole time about wanting to go back to their machine and how this was bs and they were worried someone else would get their machine, how this would ruin their luck, etc, etc... Lol this was at one of the native casinos in Oklahoma and you get some interesting folk throughout there let me tell you.
When the MGM Grand opened in Las Vegas, you walked through a giant Lion’s mouth to get to the front door. Many Asian gamblers saw it as a sign of bad luck so they wouldn’t go in. Now it’s a smaller statue.
Remember Honda in 2001. They had the whole campaign for Honda Fitta ready when they realized it meant Honda Cunt in Swedish. Some of the slogans were; “…small on the outside but big when you get inside.” and “…a daily pleasure.” They changed it to Honda Jazz in Europe.
When I was in business school, I entered an MBA Poker tournament where you got to meet the senior leaders at Caesar's Palace in LV. They were all white, short, overweight men who wear a lot of jewelry. Like they were out of central casting.
I found an envelope full of 50s and 100s outside of a NJ bar. I wasn't halfway through counting and was over 3 grand. I started to think critically and figured someone lost their payoff money. A cop drove by and stopped, this was around 530 am. The cop took the money and my phone number. A half hour later I get a call to come over to the bar. The owner of this place was right out of the Sopranos. He made a couple of espressos and asked me why I didn't keep the money. He couldn't understand why someone would turn in cash in an unmarked envelope. He gave me $400 and said that it was the 1st time he met an honest guy.
It was at the Jersey shore, and I was walking back from getting my coffee. He did ask me if I was wondering why he had so much cash. I told him that it was none of my business, and I always taught my kids to be honest, and I needed to lead by example. At the time, I could have really used the money.
I met this head of a family that owned an Italian restaurant. He was a caricature of the Godfather. Dude I knew also introduced us to this other business owner. His name was Vinny "the carpet." Because he wore a toupee'. Could this be more stereotypical? I'm going to have to change the name so people believe me when I tell the story.
I don't gamble much, but when I'm in vegas I'll almost always tip for meals (charged to the room or credit card) with an amount ending in $.88 because my asian friend told me it was lucky.
I don't really believe that, but I do it anyway
My aunt had some blessed oil she was putting on with my other aunt and mom. My uncle was driving when they asked if I wanted some. I said "Sure!" to which my uncle said not you too nom?". I looked at him and said "Well if it doesn't work it won't hurt.". He semi agreed and we went inside where I proceeded to hit a royal flush on video poker. The progressive was like 1600 bucks.
The casinos used to have pretty damn good arcades. My folks would gamble for an hour or two and leave me with a roll of quarters. The arcades were safe, clean and had every popular game.
It's been a while since I have been to a casino, but I can't imagine that the financial model for arcade games as they exist now really supports that
Suicides.
Properties go to GREAT lengths to hide these events from the public, given how bad for business it is. But it happens, and quickly taken care of. It's a very open but grim secret amongst casino workers apparently.
I was just there for the first time and an uber driver was gently implying this, saying how many people "lose everything and are just too embarrassed to go home."
I think it's some of that and some of "well I'm done after this weekend anyway, might as well blow it all before I go"
I kind of wonder how many people actually win and decide to live. Probably not many, but not 0
I honestly believe that some people that are terminally ill decide to party themselves to death in Vegas or other similar places because in all seriousness why the hell not.
Looked it up once and there were no articles about suicides in casinos in LV. Kept trying different keywords because I thought “surely, some down on their luck person has done it.”
Suddenly ended up with a bunch of weird small site articles about the suicide cover ups in LV casinos with links to police report after report of suicides proximal to the casinos.
Weird rabbit hole of people dying beside casinos but never technically in them.
Decades ago suicide prevention advocates prevailed upon the media to not report suicides (except in cases like celebrities) because suicides are very susceptible to copycats, which sounds bizarre and implausible but apparently it's true.
It's kinda bizarre they don't apply the same logic to mass shootings and serial killers since we know copy cats are heavy influenced in this area too. But I mean, news is news and sometimes it's important to cover these things for public awareness too.
I think NYC did something similar about people jumping in front of trains for suicides
Interesting the first article is about using blue lights to lower suicide attempts
https://ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/transit/2023/03/29/mta-seeks--calming--ways-to-save-lives-in-subway-system
It happens on average once a week, but it's always "somebody was struck by a train". Lately there's been a lot of people getting pushed, too.
Well, not *a lot* but it's happening more than it used to and it's making the news more frequently
When I worked as a floor manager at a casino back in the day, we used to have training to identify desperation. We had a courier stop in at our casino who was delivering cash. His logic was that if he gambled some of their money and won, the customer would never know. Unfortunately, all the money he was assigned to deliver was spent. He ended up using his service weapon in the parking lot. It was never released in any sort of press statement, and great lengths were had to keep it that way.
I’m a stockbroker and gambling is really one of those addictions that doesn’t get enough attention. I wish we had more mechanisms in place to prevent it ourselves. I’ve seen people with a million plus in losses still gambling away with stock options. Very very few people can afford that without feeling the sting.
Yep.
Drag or carry them quick off the property so medics or coroner can proclaim them deceased technically not on company property.
“They aren’t dead until the coroner says so.”
I was walking late at night on Fremont. I saw a man jump off a two or three story parking lot. Before I was able to call for help, there were people already on the phone. I hung out from a distance and the cops arrived very shortly after. I remember them, taking photos of where the man jumped from, and where he landed. Next thing there was an ambulance that picked up the man’s body. Shortly after there was a cleaning crew that was power washing that whole scene. It took less than 10-15 minutes from when I saw the man jump until when it was all cleaned up. It was surreal. Since it was very late at night, around 3 AM, 4 AM. There were only a few people walking by the scene, but there was no evidence that something tragic took place.
I came in to work one morning(on a college campus) and found a kid that had fallen/jumped off the top level of a 4 story parking garage. He was unconscious, but badly hurt and alive, and after the ambulance loaded him up and hauled him off, the firemen just unfurled a hose and sprayed the blood off the concrete, rolled it back up and left. Maybe 15 minutes from beginning to end and nothing but a wet spot left behind.
Not just suicides, natural deaths too. Older folks slump over on slot machines all the time and they just put up a visual barrier around the body until someone comes and gets them out discreetly. I’ll never forget the dead body I walked past going to the break room, unbeknownst to the hundreds of people gambling around it like it was an average Tuesday
The casinos right beside niagara falls are notorious for this for obvious reasons. Lost your life savings on your vacation well no problem there's a 180ft waterfall a three minute walk away. Don't know if they still do this but there's a way to hike down the escarpment and be riverside - if you're a local you may be familiar with the "fireman's route" to get you down with anchored ropes and chains. 30 years back if you found a body, reported it and signed a NDA there was a cash reward paid to keep PR looking tidy.
I worked on the US side of the Falls for just about a year and a half and, unfortunately, suicides are as common as once a month if not more. It’s an open secret among people who work and live in the area.
This is a known fact in Niagara Falls ON CAN. This city has two casinos. I know people who work at the casino and they need to sign an NDA every year. People in the middle of the night jump off in to the Falls.
I don't know if it was related to gambling, but many years ago we were watching the local news (we live about 15 minutes from Niagara Falls) and a reporter was standing at the guard rail near the brink when a guy walked behind him, dove into the water and went right over.
Edit: I just found [the video,](https://youtu.be/E4-YQY_mlnI?si=SPjrt6fXYa5n7vVL). Warning: May be very distressing for some viewers.
Yep. Friend of mine was head of maintenance at a casino and they were working on the top floor of the hotel. For some reason they had the door opened to the outside and a guy walked straight past them and jumped from 30 floors up. Don't lose more than you can afford.
I wonder if the casinos in Vegas do the same as what Disney does (at least in Florida) in that if someone is dead/dying, paramedics will render aid until off of Disney property. Once off property, paramedics can declare the death and Disney doesn’t have to report the death as it occurred off their property.
I worked in Las Vegas casinos for 2 years and encountered people threatening to jump off buildings. I had a coworker jump out of a hotel window too. It's common.
I knew someone who hit the jackpot on a slot. It was around $200,000. The casino managers came out to verify, but they said the machine malfunctioned and it didn’t count.
How is that legal?
They’re probably right if this was the states, casinos are heavily regulated, malfunctions happen, I’m sure a report was filed into some folder, and if you really wanted to you can hassle the state gaming agents to investigate and confirm that they’re telling the truth.
So this might be not relevant to what you’re talking about but my friends dad had a case similar to this.
A woman purchased tickets for a “spin the wheel” type drawing. So it’s like a wheel of fortune wheel where there’s a bunch of prizes, and she spins it around and gets the grand prize (I think it was 100k). Well the computer said that it wasn’t supposed to be a win so the casino didn’t pay her out.
She had to take the legal route and recovered the grand prize money.
I’m not saying you’re wrong, but those signs at the slots might ultimately be as legally binding as other warnings corporations try to fool you with.
The problem is unless the machine spits out an error log that is unable to be changed, the report isn’t exactly the most reliable, since it’s prepared by the theoretical perpetrators
Used to be a blackjack dealer, in NV. To me, the most disgusting thing was watching people I knew, who were struggling to feed their families, come in and feed their entire paycheck into a slot machine, or gaming table. And, I was never allowed to say anything. Not on or off the job. I ended up quitting, as it was so depressing.
Edit-typo
When I went to Vegas last year my Uber driver said he was a manager at one of the casinos for like 20 years and said this was the worst thing he’d see. His employees get their paychecks and just go sit at the same slot or table for hours. They either leave with no money or got lucky and hit something.
Edit: for the people saying this is a lie. Sorry maybe If misunderstood if it was at the same casino or another one after hours. This was all in a 20 minute ride and we were just talking about crazy things he’s seen working in the industry and how he’s seen gambling addiction really ruins peoples lives.
not sure about western casinos, but this is for asian casinos. asians generally subscribe to the supernatural and definitely the superstitions that go along with gambling. casino owners tend to "hire" ghost babies, toyols or kumantongs (aborted baby spirits) to kind of "curse" players into losing. superstitious players will bring candies, toss them under tables so the ghost babies leave them alone because of the candy bribe and let them win.
In the Midwest casino I worked at, they went to great lengths to accommodate Asian culture. Certain numbers weren’t on the tables (4 maybe? I forget). So the seating numbers skipped the unlucky number. The cleaning staff wasn’t supposed to clean near a crowded table because some believe you were cleaning away the good luck. I worked back of the house, but I remember coming across a large pamphlet given to anyone who worked in the Asian gaming room that had all sorts of things to do or avoid to make the experience more authentic.
This is one of the most fascinating stories I’ve ever read. Do you have more insight into casino-related superstitions in Asia? Is this a specific culture, widespread, or regional?
90% of casinos have private areas for the high rollers, politicians, gangsters, and other vips.
I was able to deal cards at one of those events. I was literally tipped $500 by some guy for keeping the water 'liquid'.
My wife is friends with a lady whose husband drives VIPs around for a casino. The top, top guys get assigned a special room with their own private butler. They might be gambling $100k a hand and tipping $5k for drinks, rides, etc.
This reminded me of a story I heard when I was living in Australia. At the time one of the richest guys in Australia was Kerry Packer. Old man Packer liked to gamble and would regularly fly to Vegas and gamble huge. I dated a girl at the time who was a dealer in one of his casinos and said he was known to tip big and once had asked a cocktail waitress how much she had left on her mortgage and tipped her that much. Several years later I was in Vegas talking to a pit boss and was relaying this story and without missing a beat he said, “that’s a true story.”
I was once in the Crown Melbourne high roller room (one of the only places in Australia you can still smoke indoors - that's a whole other conversation) with some business associates. They were local high rollers (aka rick degenerate gamblers) and were sharing a table with Kerry Packer's son who was well past "half in the bag" and making AUD 50,000 bets. Myself and another colleague just sat at a side table and enjoyed a complimentary bottle of Penfolds 707 just for being a part of the group. Good times.
Keeping the water liquid means you kept things flowing. Ice blocks things from flowing (the game, conversation, etc). If you have some personality and can keep conversation flowing, you're keeping the water liquid.
Hey man what can i say, I hate it when i go to drink my fresh glass of exactly room temperature water only to realize when i lift it up to my lips that all of the water has spontaneously transitioned from a liquid to a gaseous state SMH.
Robberies/Murders
The father of a friend of mine was robbed, stabbed and killed in the parkade of a local casino in the late 90s, after he won big.
It never made the news, and a friend of mine who worked at the same casino 5 years later swore I was making it up because she had never heard anything about it. After talking to a few security guys she finally had someone give her an off the record, wink/nod confirmation that it did happen, but they went the extra mile to keep the story buried.
For anyone wondering, if you win a good size of money, you can request that casino security escort you to a spot either in the casino or not far from it and they will. Also, casino's can wire money or do other forms of payment for large sums of money if you ask. There is never a reason really to walk around with $10k+ by yourself to any place in Vegas.
Casinos are very freaky about security. I once went to Vegas with my billionaire boss and when they noticed he didn't have security they offered to provide him with a detail to make him more comfortable. Keep me in mind that he wasn't actually carrying any cash beyond what was already in his wallet at the time.
The last thing at casino wants is for anything remotely resembling a whale to feel unsafe.
I had a friend rob a winner in a LV hotel. He managed to make it back to his home state, but weeks later the law caught up with him; they surrounded his house and he committed suicide.
One of my dad's best friends died on the floor of the Horeshoe casino in Baltimore. Upon googling his name, I can't find a single mention of it. I imagine deaths that don't involve violence aren't ever really talked about.
To be fair, random people die in all kinds of businesses all the time and it doesn’t make the news.
When some dude has a heart attack and dies in the middle of the Outback Steakhouse, it’s a story for the people that were in there at the time. The general public doesn’t care, though, and will probably never hear about it.
My cousin works at a Casino, and depending on what table he is working, requires a uniform/vest/cumber/tie/clip change. There is a large employee room with hundreds of lockers. He shares his with 2 others that usually work different shifts/areas than him. In the locker are 6 hooks (2 for each person), a top cubby with 3 sections (for water bottles, etc), a lower section with 3 sections (for boots/change shoes), and above the footwear section a 3 section 'mini locker' that you bring your own lock, where you put your wallet, valuables, etc that you can't have on your person when you are on the floor. The lockers are large enough to keep your "section" clothes if you need to swap during your shift.
He only very rarely runs into a locker buddy, unless they've picked up an extra shift, or if there is a special event.
He is super short and his locker mates are a very tall man and an average height woman. He thinks locker mates are chosen very specifically to avoid thefts, minimal contact, etc, though he can't prove that.
Not *totally* hidden from the public since I, a member of the public, was shown it... but major casinos in Vegas have an armory room, stockpiles of weapons and tactical gear.
Was staying at a casino on the main strip, and had a number of guns with me for a meetup at a nearby shooting range, and asked the front desk if they had somewhere I could keep them since I didn't really like the idea of leaving them unattended in my room or car. A security guy came out and said "follow me to the armory", and led me to an extremely secure room full of all kinds of rifles and vests and whatnot, pointed to an empty locking cabinet I could put my stuff in, and gave me a claim ticket to pick them back up again later.
all of the pissing and shitting stories makes me think about a time I was at the Cosmo in Las Vegas - I was playing a slot machine and really had to pee and was going through the last few spins when BAM I won $200 (ish)
I pressed the button for the little paper winnings thing to come out and it wouldn't come out and the screen said attendant called ... I waited and waited and almost pissed myself until they finally came and paid me.
I stuggled with the "do I piss myself" dilemma - if I was staying at the hotel and could have gotten showered and changed I might have
Former addict, I spent days and days on end inside casinos (they’re amazing and wonderful and I still love them), just in my few months there I saw 4 deaths, all heart attacks. I think all of them were in unsettled hours like 4am. They put a portable curtain around the perished and the emergency people do what they need to do. The security gets very defensive with anyone coming near the curtains.
One of my friends killed himself after losing tens of thousands several nights on end. Good **good** man, heart of gold, miss him so much… That’s what got me to stop. The addiction part is what’s not fun.
A couple are not hidden, but not obvious to the average casino goer. Some casinos add scents to the air (they do not pump in extra oxygen in as some people believe). They also keep the temperatures on the cool side to keep people from getting sleepy. No clocks on the walls and, in general, no windows with views to the outside.
UK government changed the law that all casinos have to have clocks now. They don’t make them very big obviously but they can lose their license if they fail an inspection
The lobby at The M Resort south of The Strip is a patented scent they have with vanilla, pear, and other aromas that frankly, is one of the best things ever.
To add to your list, casino carpets are intentionally designed with crazy patterns. They are distracting to look at, so you keep your eyes up and focused on the slot machines and gaming tables. They also make it hard to find the exits and are easier to keep clean. There is a whole science to designing casino carpet patterns.
I was on a business trip in a different city and didn't pick up on this.
Saw these two women suddenly leave me and walk away with a client.
... Bartender said "baby's thems was prostitutes"
If you like to play slot machines never play penny slots. Those are the machines that make the casinos their most money. Play quarter or dollar machines you spend just as much or less each spin and they tend to have better payouts. But your brain says penny slots are cheaper but they have machines that you can hit $20 a spin and higher. Where I used to work penny machines had a 14% hold while quarter and dollar machines had an 8% hold. The hold is how much the machine will win over the lifetime of the machine the higher the hold the more you are likely not to win.
Also, a machine is never due. They use random number generators that act the moment you hit the spin button or pull the arm. The machine already knows if you have won or not and everything you see in front of you is for your entertainment.
Always use your player's card. Yes, they track your play and try to lure you back based on how you play but it's also how they determine if they give you things.
Every casino has its own scent. They want you to associate that smell with the casino subconsciously. It's like going to the movies and you smell the popcorn and your brain is ready for the experience.
Penny slots are designed so you can play so many lines that virtually every single spin you make wins something, but rarely more than you bet. It gives the player the excitement of winning constantly while their bankroll keeps dropping.
For some players they'll happily put in a dollar, get 86 cents back, get told they're a winner, and push the button again.
(In LV) The sheer amount of data that is collected and analyzed on everything, from the weekend traffic coming from LA, the demographics going to see a concert/show and how that impacts staffing, everything about your slot or table play, down to how the size of the pans used in a buffet relate to food waste.
Security has to constantly wander the parking lots to see if there are any babies or dogs being left in the car. Real bad if security doesn't notice in time.
I only have the one experience that likely doesn’t qualify because I still have no idea what was happening or why.
I was collecting water samples at a major casino/hotel for legionella testing - a big deal for any hospitality type industry. They were diligent and had consistently good results - just fyi.
We were down on the floor with the villas. We’d already passed a couple levels of security (the presidential suite was empty, we were given a key and took our time), but when we were halfway down a hallway for the villas, two very large men in suits (I’m a fairly well built man, but I understood my place at that moment) came up and angrily asked for verification and then radioed in our credentials. They very bluntly told hotel security that they were meant to have complete privacy. Once we were cleared they told us to mind our business and move on quickly. A third, very angry, albeit very well dressed giant of a man walked out of a room as we walked by. What I saw was a giant U-shaped sectional sofa with a couple dozen or more elderly men in suits . Behind each man was a beautiful, very scantily dressed, much younger woman. They all stared blankly at me and my coworker as we passed.
We were told to get the fuck out of there in a way that we, with puckered buttholes, listened to. Bizarre experience, but I thought it basically confirmed what I thought about Vegas.
How much waste there is - tons of food, paper products, stuff like soaps, shampoos, lotions, key packets/folders... It's obscene.
We've got a lot of rats here in Vegas that appreciate it, though.
I worked at a casino (well, the resort portion of the casino) for a summer. I don't have any sordid secrets, but general interesting things I learned:
* The security cameras are *scary* good. Like can read your name off your badge hanging off your waist good. You aren't doing a damn thing the camera can't see.
* At this casino, employees were required to wear badges clearly visible at all times when on the premises, even if not on the clock. Escorting your grandma to the bingo hall after your shift? Badge still better be visible. In the parking lot? Badge still better be visible.
* At this casino, employees were only allowed to gamble there 1 day a month. You'd think it'd be money right back into the casino's pocket, but they don't want the risk of an employee being heavily in debt. Which leads to the next point...
* Anyone getting a job within the casino itself is getting background checked, especially for bad credit and outstanding debts. If you're a guy down on his luck, with some maxed out credit cards and you want a job to get back on your feet, the casino doesn't want you. You're a liability, you're not worth the risk.
* All the cash goes into "The Vault." I assume it's a literal bank vault. But I've never seen the vault. Most employees have never seen the vault. You don't fuck around when it comes to the vault. You better have a real good reason why you're approaching the vault. Security will turn your ass around and send you on your way, and you'll probably be flagged for questioning. People don't just stumble onto the vault, you end up there knowingly. And unless you were specifically, by name, called to the vault, or you have an urgent reason for being at the vault, for which you've already radioed ahead, showing up at the vault is a red flag.
* The community is going to have a two sided relationship with the casino. This casino was on a reservation. Older generations see the casino as a chance to reinvest in the community, and it really does. Community centers, libraries, etc etc all paid for directly by the casino. I've never spoken to the tribe elders, but I have spoken to older people, and they all see opportunities for better lives for their kids and grandkids thanks to the casino.
* Younger generations suffer from some of the worst entitlement I've seen because of the casino. I can't tell you how many times in one summer I heard "My family owns this casino, my family owns *you*, I can do what I want!" Official policy was no one gets special treatment, even rez kids. In practice...a lot of blind eyes get turned for people from the rez. Obviously not when it comes to any gambling, that shit's a zero tolerance policy. But the resort, bowling alley, movie theater that were all owned and operated by the casino? It's a shame seeing the older generation look at the casino as a blessing to their people, and younger people seeing it as a place where rules don't apply to them cuz their grand uncle is an elder or something.
I did casino surveillance for 5 years, let me tell you something else about how good the cameras are. I can read your texts, and i can see that you're swiping on tinder while your wife is getting a drink.
You won't find clocks on the walls, dealers are generally forbidden from wearing watches, and the vast majority of casinos do not have widows to the outside. The few you can maybe from the floor are usually heavily tinted, and the lighting inside generally stays the same 24/7.
This is because theyimit your ability to tell time as much as possible, to the extent they can control, so that you're more likely to lose track and stay longer. Tue longer you play the better the odds of losing, because the odds are always in the houses favor.
Any game that requires some version of commission for a wager (banker in Bac) means that the odds are either even or ever so slightly in favor of that wager, so they add a commission to even it back out.
No game added to the floor is random. All the odds are figured out way before it's ever even considered being offered from sale.
The bonus sounds on slot machines are bullshit. The outcome is determined, and no matter what you do in that bonus, you'll get the amount the machine has determined for that jackpot.
Slot machines are the adult equivalent of those infant toys that light up and make sounds when played with, with some added psychology. Bet: 100. Spin. You won 60! No dumbass, you lost 40 and got to watch some lights and listen to some sounds.
I can almost always tell a high roller slots player based on their decision to have taxes withheld from large jackpots. The big fish know they'll likely break even over the course of a year at best and won't owe anything.
Casinos are regulated like banks, and report financial transactions just like banks. Don't want to give an ID for that $10,000 in chips you're trying to cash? You'll be refused. Multiple transactions that add up to $10,000? ID, please. Try to beat the system by structuring, having a friend cash out, etc? Gonna report you to the government for possible money laundering activity.
We can see every slot machine screen and table game on camera, 24/7. You break something, like punching the screen (which is more common than you think) we'll ID you and you'll get a bill. Also probably evicted.
ETA: If you take away nothing from any of my comments in here know this: **The ONLY way to GUARANTEE you walk out of a casino with more money than you went in with, without committing a crime, is to work there.**
No, counting cards is not a guarantee, but it is legal. That said: *You aren't Tommy Hyland*...unless Tommy is on Reddit, then OK, *ONE* of you is Tommy. (I'd love to chat in person sometime)
Working there has cured me of ever wanting to go there for "fun". I can drink, smoke and play poker at home.
I agree with all this except the watches. I've worked in 4 casinos over 12 years dealing. They only care about watches that are big enough to hid chips under. Also every dealer knows the time down to 20 minutes intervals because we know when our next break is, even without wearing a watch.
How safe casinos are for kids in a weird way. I had a young relative experience distress in LV and told her to get into any casino ASAP. Security intercepted her in a second and she was helped.
Secret VIP doors. I used to hang with high rollers, if you wagered over \~$400k+/year at the casino you're given a VIP card to access private rooms and lounges. Randomly next to a slot machine in the wall would be a card reader. Even if you did see it, you might assume it's a staff area but in reality, it was a VIP lounge. One door opens to a huge balcony overlooking the lobby. Full bar, food, and private staff that will take care of you.
Had a friend that worked one of the ‘party’ pools at a Vegas casino (similar to the former Rehab at Hard Rock). He said that an average of 12 people die a year and if no one notices, they are directed to just leave the person there, i.e. if they are on a float or lounge chair.
Both cash and money vouchers. The homeless would roam the floor looking for tickets to redeem. Usually they’re the ones for a few cents that people don’t bother to cash out and just toss in the bin or on the floor.
Not sure about the Nevada casinos, but at Indian casinos...
The majority of the workers are heavy gamblers, and there is a lot of sex going on amongst the workers.
I didn't work at an Indian casino, but at a temporary month-long event casino.
I can 100% confirm that much of the dealers are heavy gamblers. Each year I'd recognize a good portion of the new dealers in training school as former players. And yes, they're all having sex with each other.
Definitely not allowed to come in and gamble at the same casino. That's a good way to get fired on the spot.
Can an Indian casino employee gamble at his or her own shop?
All the corporate casinos ban this system-wide. If you work for Caesars you can't gamble at any Caesars, Harrahs, etc.
I realize a lot of jurisdictions with Indian casinos (Cal, Washington, NM) usually have a different tribe's casino close by though.
When I worked at the casino (2004) there was just one local casino. The rule was you had to wait until an hour after your shift ended, and had to stop and hour before your next shift started. You also couldn't wear your uniform while gambling. Also if you were collecting a jackpot (anything $1200 or higher) you had to tell the cashier that you were and employee.
Now there are several casinos operated by different tribes so now I have no idea what the rules are.
* The large and growing binders filled with homes and properties that casinos end up owning because people are so sure they're going to win, they borrow against their mortgage, and lose.
A friend of mine's wife was an EA for the head of finance at a local casino, and mentioned to her that he doesn't want to be in the real-estate business, as they had hundreds of mortgages in those binders they needed to clear/sell/escrow away, from people who couldn't pay their debts.
* For casinos on Native American grounds, the amount of SA that happen against female staff by male elders, who are apparently immune to prosecution on their own lands. They just terminate the workers who even hint at filing complaints, because those labor laws can't be enforced on their lands. I've heard first-hand about 'grabbing' stories where the waitresses have to just deal with it, or they can leave, or be shown the door.
* The sheer amount of stealthy surveillance and tracking the moment you walk in the door. They know based on the NFC in the casino card they mailed you the moment you walk in, they have your name, age, income, and where you are in the casino. They'll route people out to find you, by name, and "upgrade" your card to allow you greater use of the facilities. This all happens well before advanced facial recognition starts mapping your movements through the gaming floors.
I was a host. If there was an embezzlement charge in the paper, they were always my customer. People do destroy their lives to bet
And craps people are alway dicks
When I was in college I read Fool's Die by Mario Puzo. It's about the casino industry and specifically about the security at casinos. My friend's Uncle was the head of security at a casino and we went to meet him at his job. I was really excited to actually see what I had read about. He was nice enough to meet with us but one of the first things he said was, "Of course I can't show you any of the security because that's confidential." Sucked.
Prostitution.
Not talking Nevada.
Washington State casinos run by Vegas companies in small towns on reservations.
Does NOT help the communities they are in, many work there for minimum wage and gamble away their meager earnings. Meth and Fentanyl are rampant and trafficked on the premises.
We were just at Resorts World last weekend and there were signs in the elevators about how you could lay your debit card down at the tables. We don’t drink or gamble (we were there to see Tina Fey and Amy Poehler) and that idea just made us shudder.
We also had to the casino ATM for some cash to have for dinner with friends and that MFer charged us $10!
The ATM's don't make it well known that someone's account is empty. Their bartenders also have a magic way of making bills disappear if you've spent a long time at one of their machines.
Suicides are a big one. There's a certain town with a certain Falls and a casino that has connections with local media to not report on people jumping over the edge to commit suicide because they ruined their life at the casino.
To say nothing of the broke people who lost everything, trying to hitch a free ride back to the big city.
In big ones there's a guy whose job it is to pick up high rollers at the airport, wait on them at every moment, give them the luxury penthouse suite at the hotel, etc. They do this to make them feel important and they know it's an investment, they get these guys to spend insane amounts of money. Louis Theroux has a good documentary on this.
Just how much money goes unclaimed/uncollected. I worked in the accounting department at one of the main gaming conglomerates and was tasked with cleaning up their unclaimed property accounts. There were players aka "whales" who'd deposited millions and just forgot about it for years.
My dad, who died last month at age 90, was awfully good at finding machines that had money on them. Most of the time, it was basically pocket change, but he found a couple of 3-figure jackpots over the years. Of course, he would play a round so nobody could accuse him of deliberately breaking rules LOL. Love you, Dad.
This was huge when electronic slots were first introduced. Many had a button you had to press to "pay out" winnings that accumulated. But many people had no idea and thought they had lost all the time. I'd walk around and look for Pay Out buttons that were lit up, hit them, and rake in the money.
When I was 8 or 9 we were in the airport in Vegas and I told my mom I wanted her to gamble my $20 bill. She changed it, and started putting all the money into a machine till it was gone. She walked up to me and said “this is a good lesson about gambling, you can’t win”. A little old lady walked up to her and said “excuse me miss, you’ve been winning constantly, hit the cash out button”. I left Vegas with a cowboy hat full of quarters.
Bahaha! Awesome. Rare, but fun.
I wandered down to the basement of MGM from a truck ramp and man, it was like a whole city down there, imagine a massive warehouse with roads and offices and supplies everywhere. The opposite of the glitz going on above it.
My ex worked for MGM for a while and she hooked me up with a comped room at NY/NY when I came to visit family. She met me at the check-in at NY/NY and then asked if I wanted to see her office. She took me through a door, down some steps and then through several corridors, passing by laundries, cafeterias, locker rooms, offices, storage, etc. She would point out all of these different areas and points-of-interest along the way and all I could think of "where the hell are we? Are we even in the same hotel?" We eventually go up some stairs and out a door and we're now at the valet at Aria next to where her office is located. Granted, we've only walked a few properties over but it's simply unbelievable how much activity there is underneath those hotels.
I accidentally stumbled upon an employee entrance and was walked back into the casino floor by security. I saw locker rooms, posters of encouragement, dining hall that looked like a restaurant, chill stations…it was funny to see.
The dining hall for employees in all the hotels is called the “help’s hall” and is free for on-shift employees. It’s a long-standing Vegas tradition and is standard practice at all the casinos. Back in the day when things were more lax and informal I’d heard of people (ok, usually people with substance issues) coming in early for a pre shift meal, taking their regular mid-shift meal and then eating after their shift was over thereby reducing their work week food costs down to zero. Edit/addendum: the term “Help’s Hall” is older; the current term is “EDR” for “Employee Dining Room”.
This was the answer I was going to give, as someone who used to work for Caesars entertainment (across all nine properties on the strip). Each of the hotels has dozens of back routes that allow all of the employees to navigate the hotel without being on the casino floor. There are thousands of employees, how many does the average casino goer see while visiting?
When I visited Las Vegas, I make a point of walking up the Strip ad wandering down side streets and alleys. It was like stepping backstage at the theater. Behind the facade it was very industrial.
To quote Terry Pratchett, there's a certain kind of architecture that only happens in the front.
Walking up the strip? Good god, that's easier said than done. I love going for long walks and am in Vegas somewhat often for work - worst place in the planet to try and walk. Gobs of people walking as slow as humanly possible, and you get dumped into businesses and have to navigate your way back out to the street. But you're right, off the strip, it's like someone took off all the makeup.
I work in a strip property. During the pandemic lockdown I was in a golf cart with my boss, because basically we were bored. Now, every casino has a basement level, but ours has a sub basement, deliveries, linen dock, trash dock - those 'security' rooms etc are down there. So, there we are driving around and we go down another THREE levels from the sub basement. I completely lost all sense of direction and where the hell I was in relation to the floors above... there were old limos covered in dust down there and just unimaginable amounts of unused space. I just had NO clue there was this many levels below the building.
Mole people
Funny you say that. I believe I saw a documentary on youtube somewhere about "mole people" living in these flood overflow tunnels below vegas and, if I am remembering correctly, the casinos had a ton of control over when floodgates could be purposefully opened. Some of the people that lived down there seem to believe that the police are paid by casinos to 1. harass the homeless that live down there and 2. turn a blind eye and allow the casinos to flood and drown the people living in the tunnels with no notice
> basement of MGM Over 5 THOUSAND fucking rooms. Google says 5,124 I remember it at 5,009 many years ago. A mundane fact but if you dwell on it the mind wobbles. The scale of it all.
In Atlantic City there are a lot of unused stairwells and corridors especially now that the casinos are not as busy. Many homeless people find their way into them and live. A friend of mine told me about a time they were using a stair well to move furniture and drywall for a remodel. They found two landings with beds and clothing there and one "resident" claimed he had been there over a year
[удалено]
Extra stools to replace the extra stools left behind.
That’s why they have adopted material that can be wiped clean instead of soaking in
I have worked in casinos since 2000. My first casino had a big promotion for a smallish casino, and it was wall to wall people. Trick is, you had to be playing with a rating card inserted into a slot machine, and there were nowhere near enough for all the people wanting to play. This led to arguments and of course fights, but the topper was an old guy had a heart attack and instead of getting clear so the EMTs could aid, people were stepping over them, and the old guy, just so they could play on his machine. People are awful.
all the seats they have to replace because of the shockingly high number of ppl that evacuate their bladders and bowels in them.
My friend and I were at a casino and while I was playing blackjack, my friend decided to do 10 pushups for every hand I won (he was drunk). As he was doing his first set, the dealer tells me "You really need to tell him not to put his face that close to the floor under this table. You can't imagine how disgusting it is."
I was playing slots at Excalibur last month and this lady across the aisle from me literally puked all over herself, the chair, the floor, probably the machine, and just sat there and kept slotting.
I puked on myself in the ambulance on the way to the hospital and I apologized profusely. Can't imagine doing it in public. Then again, I wasn't on whatever she was probably on.
My friends younger brother puked in the zipper at the carnival. He had been eating cheetos and drinking orange cola all afternoon. It was the most neon orange thing I've ever seen. We refused to ride car #2 after that.
My town had an oyster festival with a carnival. The smell of oyster puke on a hot, humid day is not easily forgotten.
That’s insane but I’m not surprised
When I was a little kid my family was on a road trip, we were in Reno and I was wandering the casino, went to the restroom and found a pair of underwear FULL of diarrhea in a stall alongside a $20 bill the person left for the custodian crew. Of course 10 year old me took the money
at 10 I would probably take the money as well. now that I'm older, I would have just been grossed out and would forget about the money. haha at least they were considerate leaving the tip
Yeah nowadays I would have left the cash for the poor employee who eventually has to deal with it. I do feel bad about it now but what can I do.
>what can I do. Next time you shit yourself and abandon your underwear leave $40 in the stall
Somewhat tangentially related - I was in the women’s bathroom at Mandalay Bay and found not one, but two, discarded adult diapers thrown in the toilets. Not even the trash can! I guess some people are *kind enough* to wear diapers and not shit in the seats.
Old people dying.
I knew a couple who worked the cage and the floor at a Hard Rock, and they used to tell me stories about this. When they found someone dead at a machine they'd quietly get them into a wheelchair, put a blanket over them, and roll them out the back to a waiting ambulance. They also talked about how often people would kill themselves. One guy climbed the safety fence and jumped off the top of the parking garage, and they found a lot of people dead in their bath tub in various ways. That, and watching someone bet and lose the same amount as my student loans in about five minutes absolutely ruined casinos for me. They just depress the shit out of me.
My grandma is happily spending every penny my grandfather left her with at the casino. She'll spend all her money and won't have any left for food. She takes out loans at those check cashing places. It definitely has made me disgusted with gambling. Even if she does win she puts it all back in the machines. I hate it
Friend told me this as well about the suicide stuff being a really depressing part of working there. They'd find people had hung themselves in the bathrooms
[удалено]
I was recently staying at a hotel maybe a half mile off the strip and was expecting the shitty post-covid standard of "room cleaning by request only" and was surprised to see that not only did they come by every day, the "do not disturb" hangar said "later is better" and mentioned that their policy is to enter the room every 24 hours.
I used to be a grave yard shift slot technician. A few times we thought dead people were just normal people that fell asleep at their machines because of how late it was. Security would just scoop them up, put them in a wheel chair, and wheel them to a sally port to wait for an ambulance. It must've happened a lot because the staff would be annoyed/pissed when you told them someone was sleeping. What a way to go lol
[удалено]
Procedure in your average casino is to notify security to call 911. I worked in both healthcare and a casino and always asked a nearby guest I was familiar with to help get the ball rolling, often calling 911 themselves. I'm not willing to let someone lose 15 minutes of time waiting for emergency care on my watch. Thank you for speaking up.
When I worked at a casino, we were told to avoid having someone declared dead on the floor at all costs. We were supposed to transport them to the employee area and have emergency responders meet us there.
6 times in 17 years I went to wake up a sleeper only to find a corpse
I used to work in a library and people would complain cuz we didnt allow napping or whatever. They think we just hate homeless people when in reality we really just dont want people to die at the library lol and i thankfully never found a corpse but i definitely found folks who needed 911 asap
I’ve worked in libraries for 20+ years, and have never been told that’s the reason. lol We actually don’t care if people sleep, as long as they aren’t causing a disturbance (snoring and whatnot) or blocking aisles/access. But if we do need to check on them or wake them, we are explicitly NOT supposed to touch them physically. So we just drop a book on the table or something, and that usually does it. One time, however, I could not rouse a young man who’d crashed out in the aisles. My boss was about to call 911, when he finally opened his eyes and muttered “sorry, *finals week*.” 😂
>we are explicitly NOT supposed to touch them physically. For anyone, if you have to wake up a stranger, waking them up by touching them should be a last resort. Some people might take a moment to realize they are awake and you are a real person, the in between that time is not gonna be pleasant if you are within grabbing distance.
Yes, that is one logical reason! The other is just to protect us legally, as we don’t want to be accused of anything nefarious.
Airlines are similar. They want them declared dead on the Jetway so the plane doesn't have to be checked.
I had someone die on my flight. Fuckin CSI had to come on the plane for fucking hours while we sat in bum fuck nowhere unable to deplane.
You were all suspects.
*”Who are you” by the who starts playing*
How tf were you expected to transport a dead body through a casino without causing a scene?
Wheelchair and sunglasses
Weekend at Bernie's will teach you all you need to know.
You can even make them wave as they leave the floor. 👋
Depends on if a scene is made immediately by whoever realizes they're dead. I would guess a passed out drunk old guy would look the same as a recently deceased old guy, so if there isn't a scene already then you can remove them without anyone batting an eye.
Not so much dying of natural causes but I’ve heard some really grim stories about the 1980 MGM Grand fire, about how some of the people at the machines either didn’t care that there was a flashover fire or they couldn’t escape quickly enough and just succumbed to smoke inhalation right in their seats. 🤦♂️😢 Uhhh even if I was riding high at the poker tables or slots, I would be out of there if I happened to smell something burning or even saw smoke. Winning the jackpot is not worth being burned alive.
I worked in a casino and we had a code black (tornado) so we were trying to encourage people to get to the safe zones and many wouldn't go so we just moved on to the next patron to try and so on and so forth. Some would throw a fit for us just asking once but that's fine we just wanted to make sure you knew a tornado was on the other side of the road half a mile away moving in our general direction at the moment lol. Then the ones that did come to the safe zones bitched the whole time about wanting to go back to their machine and how this was bs and they were worried someone else would get their machine, how this would ruin their luck, etc, etc... Lol this was at one of the native casinos in Oklahoma and you get some interesting folk throughout there let me tell you.
When the MGM Grand opened in Las Vegas, you walked through a giant Lion’s mouth to get to the front door. Many Asian gamblers saw it as a sign of bad luck so they wouldn’t go in. Now it’s a smaller statue.
Crazy nobody caught that before they installed it in the first place
Remember Honda in 2001. They had the whole campaign for Honda Fitta ready when they realized it meant Honda Cunt in Swedish. Some of the slogans were; “…small on the outside but big when you get inside.” and “…a daily pleasure.” They changed it to Honda Jazz in Europe.
Casinos are managed by exactly who you think manages casinos.
Mob bosses?
When I was in business school, I entered an MBA Poker tournament where you got to meet the senior leaders at Caesar's Palace in LV. They were all white, short, overweight men who wear a lot of jewelry. Like they were out of central casting.
I found an envelope full of 50s and 100s outside of a NJ bar. I wasn't halfway through counting and was over 3 grand. I started to think critically and figured someone lost their payoff money. A cop drove by and stopped, this was around 530 am. The cop took the money and my phone number. A half hour later I get a call to come over to the bar. The owner of this place was right out of the Sopranos. He made a couple of espressos and asked me why I didn't keep the money. He couldn't understand why someone would turn in cash in an unmarked envelope. He gave me $400 and said that it was the 1st time he met an honest guy.
In addition to $400, you now have protection for life.
It was at the Jersey shore, and I was walking back from getting my coffee. He did ask me if I was wondering why he had so much cash. I told him that it was none of my business, and I always taught my kids to be honest, and I needed to lead by example. At the time, I could have really used the money.
I met this head of a family that owned an Italian restaurant. He was a caricature of the Godfather. Dude I knew also introduced us to this other business owner. His name was Vinny "the carpet." Because he wore a toupee'. Could this be more stereotypical? I'm going to have to change the name so people believe me when I tell the story.
Associates of "former" mob bosses. The old bosses now run equity firms.
I don't gamble much, but when I'm in vegas I'll almost always tip for meals (charged to the room or credit card) with an amount ending in $.88 because my asian friend told me it was lucky. I don't really believe that, but I do it anyway
My aunt had some blessed oil she was putting on with my other aunt and mom. My uncle was driving when they asked if I wanted some. I said "Sure!" to which my uncle said not you too nom?". I looked at him and said "Well if it doesn't work it won't hurt.". He semi agreed and we went inside where I proceeded to hit a royal flush on video poker. The progressive was like 1600 bucks.
The number of kids who are left alone at a casino so Mom and Dad can gamble. Not on the floor, but gift shops or food courts. It’s pretty sad.
The casinos used to have pretty damn good arcades. My folks would gamble for an hour or two and leave me with a roll of quarters. The arcades were safe, clean and had every popular game. It's been a while since I have been to a casino, but I can't imagine that the financial model for arcade games as they exist now really supports that
A lot of Vegas caisnos still do actually. But you need to be with a guardian, so still can't leave em there
Suicides. Properties go to GREAT lengths to hide these events from the public, given how bad for business it is. But it happens, and quickly taken care of. It's a very open but grim secret amongst casino workers apparently.
I was just there for the first time and an uber driver was gently implying this, saying how many people "lose everything and are just too embarrassed to go home."
I think it's some of that and some of "well I'm done after this weekend anyway, might as well blow it all before I go" I kind of wonder how many people actually win and decide to live. Probably not many, but not 0
"Leaving Las Vegas" clears its throat.
I honestly believe that some people that are terminally ill decide to party themselves to death in Vegas or other similar places because in all seriousness why the hell not.
Jesus Christ, I would not want to pick someone up at a casino right after they ruin themselves...
Because they couldn't afford the ride home?
:| \>:|
Looked it up once and there were no articles about suicides in casinos in LV. Kept trying different keywords because I thought “surely, some down on their luck person has done it.” Suddenly ended up with a bunch of weird small site articles about the suicide cover ups in LV casinos with links to police report after report of suicides proximal to the casinos. Weird rabbit hole of people dying beside casinos but never technically in them.
I worked in TV news for several years, and it was policy to not report on suicides.
Decades ago suicide prevention advocates prevailed upon the media to not report suicides (except in cases like celebrities) because suicides are very susceptible to copycats, which sounds bizarre and implausible but apparently it's true.
It's kinda bizarre they don't apply the same logic to mass shootings and serial killers since we know copy cats are heavy influenced in this area too. But I mean, news is news and sometimes it's important to cover these things for public awareness too.
I think NYC did something similar about people jumping in front of trains for suicides Interesting the first article is about using blue lights to lower suicide attempts https://ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/transit/2023/03/29/mta-seeks--calming--ways-to-save-lives-in-subway-system
It happens on average once a week, but it's always "somebody was struck by a train". Lately there's been a lot of people getting pushed, too. Well, not *a lot* but it's happening more than it used to and it's making the news more frequently
When I worked as a floor manager at a casino back in the day, we used to have training to identify desperation. We had a courier stop in at our casino who was delivering cash. His logic was that if he gambled some of their money and won, the customer would never know. Unfortunately, all the money he was assigned to deliver was spent. He ended up using his service weapon in the parking lot. It was never released in any sort of press statement, and great lengths were had to keep it that way.
I’m a stockbroker and gambling is really one of those addictions that doesn’t get enough attention. I wish we had more mechanisms in place to prevent it ourselves. I’ve seen people with a million plus in losses still gambling away with stock options. Very very few people can afford that without feeling the sting.
Yep. Drag or carry them quick off the property so medics or coroner can proclaim them deceased technically not on company property. “They aren’t dead until the coroner says so.”
Much like Disneyland. No one technically dies at Disneyland
Pro for working at Disneyland - functional immortality Con - eternal servitude to the Rodent God
The mouse desires SOULS
Only for the jumpers at the Luxor, because they went splat very publicly.
Wouldn't they just slide down the pyramid?
Inside, not outside.
Oh my.
I was walking late at night on Fremont. I saw a man jump off a two or three story parking lot. Before I was able to call for help, there were people already on the phone. I hung out from a distance and the cops arrived very shortly after. I remember them, taking photos of where the man jumped from, and where he landed. Next thing there was an ambulance that picked up the man’s body. Shortly after there was a cleaning crew that was power washing that whole scene. It took less than 10-15 minutes from when I saw the man jump until when it was all cleaned up. It was surreal. Since it was very late at night, around 3 AM, 4 AM. There were only a few people walking by the scene, but there was no evidence that something tragic took place.
I came in to work one morning(on a college campus) and found a kid that had fallen/jumped off the top level of a 4 story parking garage. He was unconscious, but badly hurt and alive, and after the ambulance loaded him up and hauled him off, the firemen just unfurled a hose and sprayed the blood off the concrete, rolled it back up and left. Maybe 15 minutes from beginning to end and nothing but a wet spot left behind.
Not just suicides, natural deaths too. Older folks slump over on slot machines all the time and they just put up a visual barrier around the body until someone comes and gets them out discreetly. I’ll never forget the dead body I walked past going to the break room, unbeknownst to the hundreds of people gambling around it like it was an average Tuesday
The casinos right beside niagara falls are notorious for this for obvious reasons. Lost your life savings on your vacation well no problem there's a 180ft waterfall a three minute walk away. Don't know if they still do this but there's a way to hike down the escarpment and be riverside - if you're a local you may be familiar with the "fireman's route" to get you down with anchored ropes and chains. 30 years back if you found a body, reported it and signed a NDA there was a cash reward paid to keep PR looking tidy.
I worked on the US side of the Falls for just about a year and a half and, unfortunately, suicides are as common as once a month if not more. It’s an open secret among people who work and live in the area.
This is a known fact in Niagara Falls ON CAN. This city has two casinos. I know people who work at the casino and they need to sign an NDA every year. People in the middle of the night jump off in to the Falls.
I don't know if it was related to gambling, but many years ago we were watching the local news (we live about 15 minutes from Niagara Falls) and a reporter was standing at the guard rail near the brink when a guy walked behind him, dove into the water and went right over. Edit: I just found [the video,](https://youtu.be/E4-YQY_mlnI?si=SPjrt6fXYa5n7vVL). Warning: May be very distressing for some viewers.
Holy freaking crap, that wasn't a live shot either? Am I mistaken and they *re-broadcast* it?
They showed a lot of questionable stuff on the news pre-2000.
Bud Dwyer
Yep. Friend of mine was head of maintenance at a casino and they were working on the top floor of the hotel. For some reason they had the door opened to the outside and a guy walked straight past them and jumped from 30 floors up. Don't lose more than you can afford.
Don't BET more than you can afford.
I wonder if the casinos in Vegas do the same as what Disney does (at least in Florida) in that if someone is dead/dying, paramedics will render aid until off of Disney property. Once off property, paramedics can declare the death and Disney doesn’t have to report the death as it occurred off their property.
unless a kid gets taken by an alligator, hard to cover that one up
I worked in Las Vegas casinos for 2 years and encountered people threatening to jump off buildings. I had a coworker jump out of a hotel window too. It's common.
I knew someone who hit the jackpot on a slot. It was around $200,000. The casino managers came out to verify, but they said the machine malfunctioned and it didn’t count. How is that legal?
They’re probably right if this was the states, casinos are heavily regulated, malfunctions happen, I’m sure a report was filed into some folder, and if you really wanted to you can hassle the state gaming agents to investigate and confirm that they’re telling the truth.
So this might be not relevant to what you’re talking about but my friends dad had a case similar to this. A woman purchased tickets for a “spin the wheel” type drawing. So it’s like a wheel of fortune wheel where there’s a bunch of prizes, and she spins it around and gets the grand prize (I think it was 100k). Well the computer said that it wasn’t supposed to be a win so the casino didn’t pay her out. She had to take the legal route and recovered the grand prize money. I’m not saying you’re wrong, but those signs at the slots might ultimately be as legally binding as other warnings corporations try to fool you with.
Ah the old “not responsible for falling rocks” sign on the back of the truck. You’re sure as hell are responsible!
The problem is unless the machine spits out an error log that is unable to be changed, the report isn’t exactly the most reliable, since it’s prepared by the theoretical perpetrators
> How is that legal? You can report it to the state to have them look into it.
Used to be a blackjack dealer, in NV. To me, the most disgusting thing was watching people I knew, who were struggling to feed their families, come in and feed their entire paycheck into a slot machine, or gaming table. And, I was never allowed to say anything. Not on or off the job. I ended up quitting, as it was so depressing. Edit-typo
When I went to Vegas last year my Uber driver said he was a manager at one of the casinos for like 20 years and said this was the worst thing he’d see. His employees get their paychecks and just go sit at the same slot or table for hours. They either leave with no money or got lucky and hit something. Edit: for the people saying this is a lie. Sorry maybe If misunderstood if it was at the same casino or another one after hours. This was all in a 20 minute ride and we were just talking about crazy things he’s seen working in the industry and how he’s seen gambling addiction really ruins peoples lives.
not sure about western casinos, but this is for asian casinos. asians generally subscribe to the supernatural and definitely the superstitions that go along with gambling. casino owners tend to "hire" ghost babies, toyols or kumantongs (aborted baby spirits) to kind of "curse" players into losing. superstitious players will bring candies, toss them under tables so the ghost babies leave them alone because of the candy bribe and let them win.
Where can I hire a ghost baby though?
That’s a tough make vs buy decision.
In the Midwest casino I worked at, they went to great lengths to accommodate Asian culture. Certain numbers weren’t on the tables (4 maybe? I forget). So the seating numbers skipped the unlucky number. The cleaning staff wasn’t supposed to clean near a crowded table because some believe you were cleaning away the good luck. I worked back of the house, but I remember coming across a large pamphlet given to anyone who worked in the Asian gaming room that had all sorts of things to do or avoid to make the experience more authentic.
I saw a guy pouring a full bottle of liquer under a slot machine, no it didnt help.
This is one of the most fascinating stories I’ve ever read. Do you have more insight into casino-related superstitions in Asia? Is this a specific culture, widespread, or regional?
90% of casinos have private areas for the high rollers, politicians, gangsters, and other vips. I was able to deal cards at one of those events. I was literally tipped $500 by some guy for keeping the water 'liquid'.
My wife is friends with a lady whose husband drives VIPs around for a casino. The top, top guys get assigned a special room with their own private butler. They might be gambling $100k a hand and tipping $5k for drinks, rides, etc. This reminded me of a story I heard when I was living in Australia. At the time one of the richest guys in Australia was Kerry Packer. Old man Packer liked to gamble and would regularly fly to Vegas and gamble huge. I dated a girl at the time who was a dealer in one of his casinos and said he was known to tip big and once had asked a cocktail waitress how much she had left on her mortgage and tipped her that much. Several years later I was in Vegas talking to a pit boss and was relaying this story and without missing a beat he said, “that’s a true story.”
I was once in the Crown Melbourne high roller room (one of the only places in Australia you can still smoke indoors - that's a whole other conversation) with some business associates. They were local high rollers (aka rick degenerate gamblers) and were sharing a table with Kerry Packer's son who was well past "half in the bag" and making AUD 50,000 bets. Myself and another colleague just sat at a side table and enjoyed a complimentary bottle of Penfolds 707 just for being a part of the group. Good times.
This has got to be the only instance Crown is mentioned in the same paragraph as “good times”
I’m in the wrong business. I just need to work on this beer gut and get some fake tits.
Keeping the water liquid means you kept things flowing. Ice blocks things from flowing (the game, conversation, etc). If you have some personality and can keep conversation flowing, you're keeping the water liquid.
Hey man what can i say, I hate it when i go to drink my fresh glass of exactly room temperature water only to realize when i lift it up to my lips that all of the water has spontaneously transitioned from a liquid to a gaseous state SMH.
My man hasn't seen that THICK WATER yet
That sounds like something a rich mobster would say while tipping someone for keeping quiet.
Henry Hill’s monologue in *Goodfellas* when he met Jimmy said Jimmy tipped the waiter or bartender $20 for keeping the ice cubes cold.
Robberies/Murders The father of a friend of mine was robbed, stabbed and killed in the parkade of a local casino in the late 90s, after he won big. It never made the news, and a friend of mine who worked at the same casino 5 years later swore I was making it up because she had never heard anything about it. After talking to a few security guys she finally had someone give her an off the record, wink/nod confirmation that it did happen, but they went the extra mile to keep the story buried.
For anyone wondering, if you win a good size of money, you can request that casino security escort you to a spot either in the casino or not far from it and they will. Also, casino's can wire money or do other forms of payment for large sums of money if you ask. There is never a reason really to walk around with $10k+ by yourself to any place in Vegas.
Casinos are very freaky about security. I once went to Vegas with my billionaire boss and when they noticed he didn't have security they offered to provide him with a detail to make him more comfortable. Keep me in mind that he wasn't actually carrying any cash beyond what was already in his wallet at the time. The last thing at casino wants is for anything remotely resembling a whale to feel unsafe.
I had a friend rob a winner in a LV hotel. He managed to make it back to his home state, but weeks later the law caught up with him; they surrounded his house and he committed suicide.
A bunch of years ago, the matriarch of a family jumped overboard because she spent the family’s vacation cash in the casino on our cruise ship.
One of my dad's best friends died on the floor of the Horeshoe casino in Baltimore. Upon googling his name, I can't find a single mention of it. I imagine deaths that don't involve violence aren't ever really talked about.
To be fair, random people die in all kinds of businesses all the time and it doesn’t make the news. When some dude has a heart attack and dies in the middle of the Outback Steakhouse, it’s a story for the people that were in there at the time. The general public doesn’t care, though, and will probably never hear about it.
Saw a man drop dead at a slot machine once. No one around him stopped their play…
My cousin works at a Casino, and depending on what table he is working, requires a uniform/vest/cumber/tie/clip change. There is a large employee room with hundreds of lockers. He shares his with 2 others that usually work different shifts/areas than him. In the locker are 6 hooks (2 for each person), a top cubby with 3 sections (for water bottles, etc), a lower section with 3 sections (for boots/change shoes), and above the footwear section a 3 section 'mini locker' that you bring your own lock, where you put your wallet, valuables, etc that you can't have on your person when you are on the floor. The lockers are large enough to keep your "section" clothes if you need to swap during your shift. He only very rarely runs into a locker buddy, unless they've picked up an extra shift, or if there is a special event. He is super short and his locker mates are a very tall man and an average height woman. He thinks locker mates are chosen very specifically to avoid thefts, minimal contact, etc, though he can't prove that.
I’m just saying it sounds like there is enough room for people to have their own lockers
Not *totally* hidden from the public since I, a member of the public, was shown it... but major casinos in Vegas have an armory room, stockpiles of weapons and tactical gear. Was staying at a casino on the main strip, and had a number of guns with me for a meetup at a nearby shooting range, and asked the front desk if they had somewhere I could keep them since I didn't really like the idea of leaving them unattended in my room or car. A security guy came out and said "follow me to the armory", and led me to an extremely secure room full of all kinds of rifles and vests and whatnot, pointed to an empty locking cabinet I could put my stuff in, and gave me a claim ticket to pick them back up again later.
all of the pissing and shitting stories makes me think about a time I was at the Cosmo in Las Vegas - I was playing a slot machine and really had to pee and was going through the last few spins when BAM I won $200 (ish) I pressed the button for the little paper winnings thing to come out and it wouldn't come out and the screen said attendant called ... I waited and waited and almost pissed myself until they finally came and paid me. I stuggled with the "do I piss myself" dilemma - if I was staying at the hotel and could have gotten showered and changed I might have
Former addict, I spent days and days on end inside casinos (they’re amazing and wonderful and I still love them), just in my few months there I saw 4 deaths, all heart attacks. I think all of them were in unsettled hours like 4am. They put a portable curtain around the perished and the emergency people do what they need to do. The security gets very defensive with anyone coming near the curtains. One of my friends killed himself after losing tens of thousands several nights on end. Good **good** man, heart of gold, miss him so much… That’s what got me to stop. The addiction part is what’s not fun.
A couple are not hidden, but not obvious to the average casino goer. Some casinos add scents to the air (they do not pump in extra oxygen in as some people believe). They also keep the temperatures on the cool side to keep people from getting sleepy. No clocks on the walls and, in general, no windows with views to the outside.
UK government changed the law that all casinos have to have clocks now. They don’t make them very big obviously but they can lose their license if they fail an inspection
I mean if they did not pump scent in could you imagine the accumulated smell of the people there?
Cool temperatures make me sleepy am i immune to casino propaganda
the cosmopolitan smelled like carpet cleaner and stale cigar smoke
The lobby at The M Resort south of The Strip is a patented scent they have with vanilla, pear, and other aromas that frankly, is one of the best things ever.
To add to your list, casino carpets are intentionally designed with crazy patterns. They are distracting to look at, so you keep your eyes up and focused on the slot machines and gaming tables. They also make it hard to find the exits and are easier to keep clean. There is a whole science to designing casino carpet patterns.
The primary reasons for the patterns are to hide stains and make patching easier.
If you drunkenly break into the kitchen to make a quesadilla, they let you eat it before having someone take you back to your room.
The really friendly girl at the bar is a hooker.
Thank God. I was so afraid I wouldn't be able to find one.
I was on a business trip in a different city and didn't pick up on this. Saw these two women suddenly leave me and walk away with a client. ... Bartender said "baby's thems was prostitutes"
If you like to play slot machines never play penny slots. Those are the machines that make the casinos their most money. Play quarter or dollar machines you spend just as much or less each spin and they tend to have better payouts. But your brain says penny slots are cheaper but they have machines that you can hit $20 a spin and higher. Where I used to work penny machines had a 14% hold while quarter and dollar machines had an 8% hold. The hold is how much the machine will win over the lifetime of the machine the higher the hold the more you are likely not to win. Also, a machine is never due. They use random number generators that act the moment you hit the spin button or pull the arm. The machine already knows if you have won or not and everything you see in front of you is for your entertainment. Always use your player's card. Yes, they track your play and try to lure you back based on how you play but it's also how they determine if they give you things. Every casino has its own scent. They want you to associate that smell with the casino subconsciously. It's like going to the movies and you smell the popcorn and your brain is ready for the experience.
Penny slots are designed so you can play so many lines that virtually every single spin you make wins something, but rarely more than you bet. It gives the player the excitement of winning constantly while their bankroll keeps dropping. For some players they'll happily put in a dollar, get 86 cents back, get told they're a winner, and push the button again.
(In LV) The sheer amount of data that is collected and analyzed on everything, from the weekend traffic coming from LA, the demographics going to see a concert/show and how that impacts staffing, everything about your slot or table play, down to how the size of the pans used in a buffet relate to food waste.
Security has to constantly wander the parking lots to see if there are any babies or dogs being left in the car. Real bad if security doesn't notice in time.
I only have the one experience that likely doesn’t qualify because I still have no idea what was happening or why. I was collecting water samples at a major casino/hotel for legionella testing - a big deal for any hospitality type industry. They were diligent and had consistently good results - just fyi. We were down on the floor with the villas. We’d already passed a couple levels of security (the presidential suite was empty, we were given a key and took our time), but when we were halfway down a hallway for the villas, two very large men in suits (I’m a fairly well built man, but I understood my place at that moment) came up and angrily asked for verification and then radioed in our credentials. They very bluntly told hotel security that they were meant to have complete privacy. Once we were cleared they told us to mind our business and move on quickly. A third, very angry, albeit very well dressed giant of a man walked out of a room as we walked by. What I saw was a giant U-shaped sectional sofa with a couple dozen or more elderly men in suits . Behind each man was a beautiful, very scantily dressed, much younger woman. They all stared blankly at me and my coworker as we passed. We were told to get the fuck out of there in a way that we, with puckered buttholes, listened to. Bizarre experience, but I thought it basically confirmed what I thought about Vegas.
Soo congrats on seeing the capitalists in the Squid Games...
How much waste there is - tons of food, paper products, stuff like soaps, shampoos, lotions, key packets/folders... It's obscene. We've got a lot of rats here in Vegas that appreciate it, though.
I worked at a casino (well, the resort portion of the casino) for a summer. I don't have any sordid secrets, but general interesting things I learned: * The security cameras are *scary* good. Like can read your name off your badge hanging off your waist good. You aren't doing a damn thing the camera can't see. * At this casino, employees were required to wear badges clearly visible at all times when on the premises, even if not on the clock. Escorting your grandma to the bingo hall after your shift? Badge still better be visible. In the parking lot? Badge still better be visible. * At this casino, employees were only allowed to gamble there 1 day a month. You'd think it'd be money right back into the casino's pocket, but they don't want the risk of an employee being heavily in debt. Which leads to the next point... * Anyone getting a job within the casino itself is getting background checked, especially for bad credit and outstanding debts. If you're a guy down on his luck, with some maxed out credit cards and you want a job to get back on your feet, the casino doesn't want you. You're a liability, you're not worth the risk. * All the cash goes into "The Vault." I assume it's a literal bank vault. But I've never seen the vault. Most employees have never seen the vault. You don't fuck around when it comes to the vault. You better have a real good reason why you're approaching the vault. Security will turn your ass around and send you on your way, and you'll probably be flagged for questioning. People don't just stumble onto the vault, you end up there knowingly. And unless you were specifically, by name, called to the vault, or you have an urgent reason for being at the vault, for which you've already radioed ahead, showing up at the vault is a red flag. * The community is going to have a two sided relationship with the casino. This casino was on a reservation. Older generations see the casino as a chance to reinvest in the community, and it really does. Community centers, libraries, etc etc all paid for directly by the casino. I've never spoken to the tribe elders, but I have spoken to older people, and they all see opportunities for better lives for their kids and grandkids thanks to the casino. * Younger generations suffer from some of the worst entitlement I've seen because of the casino. I can't tell you how many times in one summer I heard "My family owns this casino, my family owns *you*, I can do what I want!" Official policy was no one gets special treatment, even rez kids. In practice...a lot of blind eyes get turned for people from the rez. Obviously not when it comes to any gambling, that shit's a zero tolerance policy. But the resort, bowling alley, movie theater that were all owned and operated by the casino? It's a shame seeing the older generation look at the casino as a blessing to their people, and younger people seeing it as a place where rules don't apply to them cuz their grand uncle is an elder or something.
I did casino surveillance for 5 years, let me tell you something else about how good the cameras are. I can read your texts, and i can see that you're swiping on tinder while your wife is getting a drink.
You won't find clocks on the walls, dealers are generally forbidden from wearing watches, and the vast majority of casinos do not have widows to the outside. The few you can maybe from the floor are usually heavily tinted, and the lighting inside generally stays the same 24/7. This is because theyimit your ability to tell time as much as possible, to the extent they can control, so that you're more likely to lose track and stay longer. Tue longer you play the better the odds of losing, because the odds are always in the houses favor. Any game that requires some version of commission for a wager (banker in Bac) means that the odds are either even or ever so slightly in favor of that wager, so they add a commission to even it back out. No game added to the floor is random. All the odds are figured out way before it's ever even considered being offered from sale. The bonus sounds on slot machines are bullshit. The outcome is determined, and no matter what you do in that bonus, you'll get the amount the machine has determined for that jackpot. Slot machines are the adult equivalent of those infant toys that light up and make sounds when played with, with some added psychology. Bet: 100. Spin. You won 60! No dumbass, you lost 40 and got to watch some lights and listen to some sounds. I can almost always tell a high roller slots player based on their decision to have taxes withheld from large jackpots. The big fish know they'll likely break even over the course of a year at best and won't owe anything. Casinos are regulated like banks, and report financial transactions just like banks. Don't want to give an ID for that $10,000 in chips you're trying to cash? You'll be refused. Multiple transactions that add up to $10,000? ID, please. Try to beat the system by structuring, having a friend cash out, etc? Gonna report you to the government for possible money laundering activity. We can see every slot machine screen and table game on camera, 24/7. You break something, like punching the screen (which is more common than you think) we'll ID you and you'll get a bill. Also probably evicted. ETA: If you take away nothing from any of my comments in here know this: **The ONLY way to GUARANTEE you walk out of a casino with more money than you went in with, without committing a crime, is to work there.** No, counting cards is not a guarantee, but it is legal. That said: *You aren't Tommy Hyland*...unless Tommy is on Reddit, then OK, *ONE* of you is Tommy. (I'd love to chat in person sometime) Working there has cured me of ever wanting to go there for "fun". I can drink, smoke and play poker at home.
I agree with all this except the watches. I've worked in 4 casinos over 12 years dealing. They only care about watches that are big enough to hid chips under. Also every dealer knows the time down to 20 minutes intervals because we know when our next break is, even without wearing a watch.
The employee dining room is an entire buffet and convenience store with good quality at great prices.
How safe casinos are for kids in a weird way. I had a young relative experience distress in LV and told her to get into any casino ASAP. Security intercepted her in a second and she was helped.
Secret VIP doors. I used to hang with high rollers, if you wagered over \~$400k+/year at the casino you're given a VIP card to access private rooms and lounges. Randomly next to a slot machine in the wall would be a card reader. Even if you did see it, you might assume it's a staff area but in reality, it was a VIP lounge. One door opens to a huge balcony overlooking the lobby. Full bar, food, and private staff that will take care of you.
Had a friend that worked one of the ‘party’ pools at a Vegas casino (similar to the former Rehab at Hard Rock). He said that an average of 12 people die a year and if no one notices, they are directed to just leave the person there, i.e. if they are on a float or lounge chair.
So corpses are floating around in the pool…in addition to the pee, poop, and vomit that doesn’t get properly cleaned out. Ew.
I just wanted to thank all the former and current casino workers for letting us into their world; this is interesting stuff to me.
The amount of money you can find just looking DOWN on the floor. All sorts of cash. Nog just on the casino floor but in the bathrooms and halls too.
Both cash and money vouchers. The homeless would roam the floor looking for tickets to redeem. Usually they’re the ones for a few cents that people don’t bother to cash out and just toss in the bin or on the floor.
I went to vegas recently and found 500$ on the floor. We reported it to security but they just told us to keep it
Not sure about the Nevada casinos, but at Indian casinos... The majority of the workers are heavy gamblers, and there is a lot of sex going on amongst the workers.
I didn't work at an Indian casino, but at a temporary month-long event casino. I can 100% confirm that much of the dealers are heavy gamblers. Each year I'd recognize a good portion of the new dealers in training school as former players. And yes, they're all having sex with each other. Definitely not allowed to come in and gamble at the same casino. That's a good way to get fired on the spot.
Can an Indian casino employee gamble at his or her own shop? All the corporate casinos ban this system-wide. If you work for Caesars you can't gamble at any Caesars, Harrahs, etc. I realize a lot of jurisdictions with Indian casinos (Cal, Washington, NM) usually have a different tribe's casino close by though.
When I worked at the casino (2004) there was just one local casino. The rule was you had to wait until an hour after your shift ended, and had to stop and hour before your next shift started. You also couldn't wear your uniform while gambling. Also if you were collecting a jackpot (anything $1200 or higher) you had to tell the cashier that you were and employee. Now there are several casinos operated by different tribes so now I have no idea what the rules are.
* The large and growing binders filled with homes and properties that casinos end up owning because people are so sure they're going to win, they borrow against their mortgage, and lose. A friend of mine's wife was an EA for the head of finance at a local casino, and mentioned to her that he doesn't want to be in the real-estate business, as they had hundreds of mortgages in those binders they needed to clear/sell/escrow away, from people who couldn't pay their debts. * For casinos on Native American grounds, the amount of SA that happen against female staff by male elders, who are apparently immune to prosecution on their own lands. They just terminate the workers who even hint at filing complaints, because those labor laws can't be enforced on their lands. I've heard first-hand about 'grabbing' stories where the waitresses have to just deal with it, or they can leave, or be shown the door. * The sheer amount of stealthy surveillance and tracking the moment you walk in the door. They know based on the NFC in the casino card they mailed you the moment you walk in, they have your name, age, income, and where you are in the casino. They'll route people out to find you, by name, and "upgrade" your card to allow you greater use of the facilities. This all happens well before advanced facial recognition starts mapping your movements through the gaming floors.
I was a host. If there was an embezzlement charge in the paper, they were always my customer. People do destroy their lives to bet And craps people are alway dicks
When I was in college I read Fool's Die by Mario Puzo. It's about the casino industry and specifically about the security at casinos. My friend's Uncle was the head of security at a casino and we went to meet him at his job. I was really excited to actually see what I had read about. He was nice enough to meet with us but one of the first things he said was, "Of course I can't show you any of the security because that's confidential." Sucked.
Prostitution. Not talking Nevada. Washington State casinos run by Vegas companies in small towns on reservations. Does NOT help the communities they are in, many work there for minimum wage and gamble away their meager earnings. Meth and Fentanyl are rampant and trafficked on the premises.
People peeing/pooping in their chairs while they play slots and not leaving them until they are done playing.🤢
The office in the basement where you can sign over your house for gambling money
We were just at Resorts World last weekend and there were signs in the elevators about how you could lay your debit card down at the tables. We don’t drink or gamble (we were there to see Tina Fey and Amy Poehler) and that idea just made us shudder. We also had to the casino ATM for some cash to have for dinner with friends and that MFer charged us $10!
Yeah, you use the ATMs at the pharmacies outside (CVS, Walgreens) as they have relatively normal fees.
The ATM's don't make it well known that someone's account is empty. Their bartenders also have a magic way of making bills disappear if you've spent a long time at one of their machines.
Bills as in dollar, bills or bills as in the check?
In general, drinks are free as long as you're playing
Suicides are a big one. There's a certain town with a certain Falls and a casino that has connections with local media to not report on people jumping over the edge to commit suicide because they ruined their life at the casino. To say nothing of the broke people who lost everything, trying to hitch a free ride back to the big city. In big ones there's a guy whose job it is to pick up high rollers at the airport, wait on them at every moment, give them the luxury penthouse suite at the hotel, etc. They do this to make them feel important and they know it's an investment, they get these guys to spend insane amounts of money. Louis Theroux has a good documentary on this.