Las Vegas is a destination for those wanting a glitzy escape for a taste of opulence and a chance at striking it rich.
But beneath the fancy exterior of exciting live entertainment, over-the-top architecture, Michelin-star restaurants, and world-class shopping located in a superficial oasis in the middle of the desert, it's hard not to overlook the underlying seediness of it all.
After all, what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas, right?
Curious to hear from those who interact with visitors to Sin City or various destinations known for having casinos, Redditor brew2brew asked:
"Casino workers what is the saddest thing you’ve seen?"
The Veteran Dealer
"Way too many in 10 years of dealing table games. I’ve seen people lose a lot of money until they cried at my table, people sitting at machines and being there the next day I came to work smelling like actual sh*t, a regular always brought her disabled kid in a wheelchair and put them next to her while she gambled for almost a day each time."
"I had a guy who clearly had dementia at my table and even with complaints they still allowed him to play. He could barely make hand signals and kept forgetting we were in the middle of hands."
"It didn’t help that he was tipping the beverage server well so he got massively over-served alcohol."
"Reports on these people should have made it so they couldn’t continue doing this stuff but it never actually changed anything."
– wickedstorm1989
They Never Leave
"Coming into work and seeing the same people still playing that were there when I left the night before."
– Total-Ad5179
Not Family-Friendly
"Taking turns so one parent could play the slots while the other sat in the noisy, bright lobby while the kids tried to sleep."
"The casino I worked at was very loudly against kids in casinos. No vending machines in the hotel, no kid friendly TV channels in rooms, no video game room, very bright lights in every public area, etc. And every Friday and Saturday night we would see kids sleeping on bumpy metal benches and on the floor while the adults gambled."
"Editing to say there was an adult with the kids. The kids were still sleeping on benches, but they weren't left unsupervised."
"Still horribly irresponsible and overwhelmingly selfish, and probably emotionally abusive. But not abandoned. So marginally better, maybe worst depending on how you look at it."
– pedantic_dullard
Desperation In The Air
"Tuesday mornings. Barely reopened from the 4 hour weekly cleaning and the folks on social security are already in playing penny slots with the $10 left over in their budget."
– reyrey1492
The Banker
"I worked a bank near an Indian casino. The casino bus would park near the retirement home and shuttle the people to the casino whenever social security checks cleared."
"Those who had accounts with us would come the next day trying to halt any payments because of "fraud" from the casinos. Every month."
– captainundesirable
Gambling addiction remains a huge epidemic.
Making The List
"I worked at a casino over a decade ago, but here's mine: Somebody won a small jackpot, something like $2000. When checking her ID for tax paperwork it was discovered that she had put herself on the state's problem gambler self-exclusion list, which meant the casino was obligated to remove her from the building without paying (she wouldn't have been allowed in the building if she had been recognized)."
"While double checking the manager downloaded an updated list (we auto-checked against a local copy that was sometimes a few days out of date) and it showed that she had removed herself from the list with sufficient notice, so the jackpot was paid out."
"She proceeded to put every penny of the jackpot back into the slot machine... And also made a couple visits to the ATM... And at the end of her stay she asked the cashiers if she could be put back on the self-exclusion list."
– Captainpatch
Merry Christmas
"My first December working in the casino I'm still at I was on a blackjack table and a guy sits down and drops $1565 on the table and tells the dealer 'dealer, my family's about to have a great Christmas or no Christmas.' "
"20 minutes later it's gone and he asks the dealer if she's happy with herself and how well the casino has to be paying her."
"Never saw the guy again(our casino is 95% repeat customers) so I wouldn't be surprised if that actually was his Christmas money."
– Travice0
"This happened to a friend of mine who was a dealer. Player had a couple thousand dollars, came in late on Christmas eve and said it was the money for his kid's Christmas presents, talking about he was gonna get him a bike or something."
"He lost it all pretty quickly, and his response was, "Welp, no point going home now," he went to the ATM and kept playing through Christmas day."
– Crazyzofo
Angry Gambler
"I was driving cross country for work and stopped in West Memphis for the night. Went to the casino to burn a few hours. Fron my machine I saw a lady playing slots with tears running down her face."
"I heard her scream and looked up to realize the machine hit zero and she started bawling uncontrollably. She was screaming that she had nothing left and to please have her money back."
"Got removed by security. I hit for $150 and cashed out, but the walk to my car was terrifying. I'm not a target demographic for mugging, but the desperation on people's faces was noticeable. Never going there again."
– surfsnower
Former Employee
"Ex-casino worker here. I saw way too many people spend ridiculous amounts of money on gambling. I've seen little kids asleep in chairs outside the casino floor cause their parents were busy gambling."
"A gentleman had a heart attack at a poker table and other gamblers were pissed cause we had to stop the games so EMS could come."
"Saddest one though was a lady who wanted to cash a check made out to the electric company. She wanted to know if she could scratch out the company name and write in the casino name. I told her we could not do that."
– Dark_Eyed_Girl
It doesn't get better.
Medical Emergency
"I had a guy get thoroughly pissed because we wouldn't cash a check made it from a trust fund bank account. 'This is my nephew, legally I'm completely in charge of the money.' F'k you dude. Your nephew has a huge a**hole for an uncle."
"Another guy brought in his federal tax return check. He had completely scratched out his name from the Pay To like and hand wrote in the casino name. All of a sudden it was the casinos fault that now he couldn't cash his check at the bank because his name was no longer in the check."
"And yeah, the heart attack thing happened on my shift, too. Paramedics were shocking the guy on the floor and this douche tried pushing thru us because it was the shortest path to the machine he wanted."
– pedantic_dullard
Smell Of Death
"Worked Valet at a casino. One night we got the car and they dropped it off, left the keys in (normal here). I hopped in to move it and it smelled like death. I moved the car and informed my super. He called the cops as it was the smell of a decaying body."
"Cops came and we opened the truck.... full of groceries.... from 4 months ago.... in the missouri summer heat. It was chicken. They came to claim their car and were told to not park here in valet again."
"They said the person who normally carries their groceries up to their second floor apartment left and they don't have anyone to help them anymore. So now they go to casinos and eat out every night...."
"They didn't have money to do this, no idea where it came from. I will never gamble or go to a casino after working valet those years. Many many more stories."
– Apuuli21
The Downside Of Winning
"Casino worker here - winning big can ruin your life. It’s like a drug and I have seen so many people try to chase that high again."
"They start at higher denomination machines and slowly over time you see them move to $1, .50, .25 and eventually down to the lowest level."
– laughternlife1
Sure, casinos can be thrilling if you can manage your expectations.
But because the odds of winning big are slim to none, it doesn't really prevent patrons from trying their luck over and over until they hit a lucky streak that never comes.
Stick with the buffets. You're almost guaranteed to indulge in excess if it's food aplenty.
You can bet your bottom dollar that your bellies will be bursting at the seams than your wallet.
@JamesTate121/X
