Casino Workers Share The Saddest Moments They Have Ever Witnessed

Humanity Go Bye Bye

"Former poker dealer at a casino."

"An older gentleman started to have a heart attack at the table. I called the floor person for assistance with the call button. Paramedics are rushed in etc. all within minutes. I'm this instance I am instructed to keep the game rolling by the floor person as he whispered in my ear."

"Two hands are dealt and played and a player at the table requested the heart attack guy get moved somewhere else as it is disrupting the game. Another player asked to have his chips picked up and call for the "open seat" because "we have a wait list.""

"I was disgusted."

– Colddeck64

Capitalism

"There were these two middle aged Greek or Cypriot ladies who were ALWAYS on the slot machines, every day when I started my shift they were they and they were there when I finished 10 hours later. And still there in the same clothes the next day oftentimes. They were SUPER nice and always polite to the staff. One day they hit the jackpot and win big, I think it was either £15k or £45k, it was a good few years ago now."

"Everyone was overjoyed for them - except the managers obviously. Well the managers then gave them free meals at the restaurant and an open bar tab until every single penny of that money was clawed back into the casino."

– H0vit0

Life Ruined

"We used to have a woman who would be on the blackjack tables for five days/nights straight. Her husband would call and tell her that her kids wanted her home. Her boss actually came to the casino to try and get her to leave, she was missing work. I don't know what happened to her but she's probably ruined her life."

"We also had a few regulars commit suicide and a few go to jail."

– jackie0h_

Lack Of Basic Self Care

"Former valet at a casino. The amount of daily regulars who drove barely functioning vehicles full of trash, roaches, and rats who would actually valet their car and go gamble away any money they had to their name was honestly depressing."

"The saddest I remember was a 90+ year old lady who drove a 91 corolla and when we got in her car we realized she had no power steering fluid at all and her steering wheel would barely turn. I have no earthly idea how her frail arms could turn it. We went and bought her some before she left that evening."

– thatryanguy1

Gone Too Far

"It's been about 15 years, but I worked in one for about 4 years.The one that stands out was a woman who came from the country to the "big" city to get X-Mas gifts for the whole family (including young kids who still believed in Santa and all of that), but spent all of the Christmas money at the casino before going to the mall."

"Also, a few years later I went back to visit, and when talking to one of the pit bosses about who was still there and what not, she told me one of my old regulars, who was actually nice and likable (a rare trait in that business), had recently committed suicide as a result of gambling too much."

– perpetualmotionmachi

New Career

"In general, people who come for the first time and are super nice and friendly, they don't care about winning or losing much just came to have fun. They come back a few more times, then after a few years they're regulars that don't smile anymore, they don't laugh, they don't count their wins, just their losses, and sweat every comp point they earn and act like gambling is their job now and the focus of their life. I've seen more than one person have this happen to them. The other saddest thing is when a regular stops coming in and their spouse comes out and tells us they passed, we're almost family with some of our regulars and it hurts to get that news."

– inflammablepenguin

Priorities Out The Window

"Grandmother, mother, and daughter heading to the casino by car from 2 hours away. Mother had a postcard to get a free cast iron pan for showing up. Daughter is more than 8 months pregnant. One hour away from the casino daughter starts to have labor pains. Mother won't stop and take her to the hospital, she's gotta have that ($10) pan. They arrive at the casino an hour before the promotion was going to start. Mother raises all hell trying to get her pan but the workers for the promo haven't arrived yet. Daughter ends up having to be transported by ambulance to the hospital. All over a $10 pan."

– Mustang321321

Hard Loss

"Worked in a casino for about 7 years and the one that has always stuck with me was when a kid (18/19) came with his friends and lost $100 playing blackjack. Then he was sitting there, looking dejected and watching his friends win. He left and came back with another $100. I could tell from the way he was acting he probably didn't have the original $100 to lose so he definitely couldn't afford to lose another $100, so I asked if he was sure he wanted to play. He nodded his head and solemnly said yes. Unfortunately he lost that money too."

– Steffany_w0525

When Death Takes A Holiday

"I did casino security for 3 years before I became a police officer. Had a Code M (medical) early early one morning, around 4 or 5am. Old guy in his 80's passed out and fell out of his chair, wife sitting next to him. I was the first to get to him, did a quick assessment and found he didn't have a pulse, immediately started CPR. The old lady looked over and said "oh he does this all the time, don't worry about him." Between chest compressions, I told her he wasn't breathing and she just kept playing her slot machine. She didn't miss a spin even when the paramedics took him away. I saw her again the next night and asked how he was doing. With the straightest face ever, she said, "oh he never woke up. I'm sure he's in a freezer by now"... and went right back to the same machine she was playing the night before."

– JaCrispy1990

Heart Is Where The Home Is

"I worked as a blackjack dealer in Kansas City. I got in the elevator with a middle-aged couple and noticed she was becoming hysterical because he just gambled away their house payment. They were going to lose their house. Pretty sad."

– PeterPipersPecker

Addicted

"I used to work in a buffet at a casino. The casino had two areas, the higher end progressive slots like spynx machines on the left wing of the casino and the cheaper older slots like wolf run or others on the opposing wing towards the food court. People who would often frequent the cheaper slots were people who would turn up at one particular part of the month when they got their Social security or welfare checks. These people pretty much threw their monthly allotment into these machines. Many of them had little rituals that I can only describe as religious or spiritual. they would do hand waving over the screen or rubbing the machine as if it was a deity that was to be pleased in order to release a blessing."

"Gambling addictions are bad. please get help people."

– Deleted User

Drug Habit

"I watched someone OD right in front of me. Went from coherent to a gibbering mess on the floor to needing CPR and an ambulance, all in the span of about 10 minutes."

– DieselTheGreat

Where Are Your Parents?

"So late, and I don't work in a casino but I'm currently staying at a resort in Vegas. Night before last I saw the saddest thing I've seen. There was a little boy, no more than FIVE sitting on the steps leading into the casino, holding a stuffed animal, just staring into the casino. It was 1230 am. Only thing I can figure is that his parents left him there while they gambled. We pointed him out to a worker."

– NoHoney_Medved

Nothing's Gonna Stop Him

"Working as software developer in gambling industry. So basically there is video (security footage) of a armed robbery on one of my bosses previously owned casinos."

"Guy was gambling at the automatic roulette machine when the intruders stormed in. He crouched and was keeping close eyes on them and continued placing bets from crouched position for the duration of the robbery."

"It was funniest and saddest thing I ever saw."

– mihiic

On And On And On

"Not a worker but I once watched a man lose $15k in under an hour at the roulette table. He kept getting dropping about $2k-3k at a time. He would lose all of it on a couple of spins and get up and get more."

"My wife having never played just looked at the people around us during one of his trips to get more money and says "Someone should stop him." The Croupier just looks in her direction and says "He's been losing like that for the last 6 hours""

"That was 5 years ago and my wife still talks about it when people bring up gambling."

– Deleted User

Turn Back Around

"About 3 days before christmas this guy went up to one of the slot machines and slammed the jackpot of about 6000 in like 5 minutes. I went up and was kinda blown away, saying how fucking awesome it was, how lucky he is, etc. the dude never turned around. I thought he might’ve been deaf or something so I tapped him to give a thumbs up or something. He turned around and he seriously looks like he’s dead. Like there is no expression, no light in his eyes nothing. I stutter but give him the thumbs up and he just nods and looks back to the slots and just fucking begins feeding the money back. Not as over the top as most posts on here but that fucking lack of ANYTHING in his face when he looked at me still unsettles me."

– flargbiter

I Had An Accident!

"A friend of mine worked security at a casino for a few years after college and he told me that they had a big problem with senior citizens who did not want to relinquish a machine to go to the bathroom. Their fear was that they would play for 3 hours and someone would come sit down behind them and get the jackpot. This led to several incidents of old folks pissing/shitting themselves at the machines because they didn't want to get up."

– RunsWithPremise

Couldn't Take Any More

"Former Blackjack dealer."

"Dealing the overnight shift was like a party every night. When I started to deal during the day, it was a different story. This A-hole in a suit was bragging to the other players at the table how he was there playing with his clients money. Not sure what line of work he was in, but I was just like WTF. Trained for roulette after that"

– advicest

Still Around

"Worked as a dealer for about six years, so a lot of what I've been reading I've seen happen myself. You become numb to it because it happens so often. People staying for the entire 8 hour shift, people who get a huge score ($10k+) and continue to play until they lose it all back. My favorite was having regulars come in during the summer and tell me about how gorgeous the weather is... but they're choosing to be in a smokey casino at 2pm on a Wednesday."

"The one moment that sticks with me though is when there was a kitchen fire in one of restaurants in the casino and the building was literally starting to fill with smoke. So much so that they closed all the table games and had the dealers evacuate the building. As we left, and the smoke alarm was sounding, there were still DOZENS of people sitting at slot machines, continuing to play."

"It really made me sad and ultimately was the moment I realized I had to quit. Being around that much depression on a daily basis takes a toll on your mental health, and I just couldn't do it anymore."

– HowWasItDetroit

Please Care About Your Family

"I worked at a casino as a dealer through college. A lot of incidents were pretty sad, especially with regulars that you liked. One regular would tell me about his middle school age kids, and then I would realize the next week or so later that he was missing their school plays/recitals etc because he was at the tables. I remember working an overnight one Christmas Eve and begging him to go home when 6/7am rolled around because his kids would be up and opening presents."

"Other times just people screaming at you for "stealing" their mortgage payments from them that month. Then seeing them back again the next day."

– 1ppikiokami

The house always wins. So make sure you're not caught off guard when the chips are down.

Do you have similar stories? Share them in the comment section below!