Casino Workers Share the Weirdest Situations They’ve Walked Into
What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, right? Well, at least that’s how the saying goes. However, some particularly astonishing stories leaked right out of the soul of Vegas from its (weirded out) workers. And yes, they are some of the hardest working people in the country for the things they have to endure.
Ever wondered what crazy things have happened inside the walls of those casinos? Things can get a little crazy in the city of sin, as one could imagine. You are in luck, because you don’t have to imagine any longer. From a close encounter with Celine Dion to pieces of ceiling ending up in the buffet, these workers have to put up with a lot.
You are about to discover the juiciest, strangest, and above all weirdest situations that casino workers have walked into while on the job.
My Heart Sank
This is more of a funny story than crazy. I was working as a security guard at Louis Vuitton in the Forum Shops at Caesars Palace. One day, this nice old lady comes up, and she’s eating a cheeseburger, so I kindly tell her that there’s no food allowed in the store.
She smiles at me and says, “No worries.” The Louis Vuitton manager at that point runs over to me and whispers to me, “WHY DID YOU NOT LET HER IN??? That’s Celine Dion!” Reddit User: [redacted]
He Climbed Down the Fluorescent Lights
I worked at a club in Vegas where some guy, high out of his mind, climbed up the fire escape on the side of the building, over the barriers, and then onto the roof that covers the valet area: you know, where taxi cabs and limos pull up to drop people off.
He climbed down the fluorescent light bulbs on the side…which shattered under his weight, sending him down into the street. He did NOT die, thank goodness, but his wife screamed about suing the club and how we were gonna be in big trouble for this because her husband was NYPD. Reddit User: babyfoodbobert
Chased Her Down
Long-time Vegas hotel employee here with two favorites. There was an…”intimacy worker” going up to the room of a guest she propositioned in the casino. She apparently convinced this brainiac to take a shower before doing anything and proceeded to steal his wallet and watch and run out the door.
He hears the door and chases after. We now have a 5’4″ Asian man, naked, chasing a woman down our hallways. They both got in the elevator, and things were settled once security got involved. Reddit User: BexRux
Literally the Devil
Here’s a story from my boyfriend, who was a table dealer for 3 years. Not really crazy or anything, more just passive-aggressive. I had a regular sit at my blackjack table who would get all mad after he lost. He then called me “literally the devil,” threw chips at me, and went to a different table.
He came in every weekend, and from then on, he refused to sit at my table. Even if he was already at the table and I took over for the current dealer, he’d cash out and leave once I got there. Reddit User: emzify
Vomit on the Chips Trick
Before I got into aviation, I used to deal cards at a casino in northern California. A lot of people had ways of trying to cheat the casino. One night on a graveyard shift, a couple came in and the boyfriend kept feeding his girlfriend booze until she was sick.
She threw up on my table and aimed it at the chips. He grabbed about 6k in bloody mary/vomit-covered chips and made a dash toward the door only to be clotheslined and tazed before he passed the buffet. I got to go home after that. I heard nothing else happened that night anyway. Reddit User: yoozkay
Her Laughs Turned to Cries
I saw a girl coming from the pool being propped up by her friends. She was laughing real loud and looked like she was so drunk. She made it 50 feet through the casino, where suddenly her laughter turned to crying. Her crying then became loud sobbing. After about another 20 feet of walking and sobbing, she laid down on the floor in the middle of the casino.
Moments later, security arrived with a wheelchair and whisked her off somewhere. It’s always so fun until it’s not. Reddit User: danmalo82
Woke Up in the Wall
There was construction going on in one of the clubs in the casino, and somehow, this drunk guy found himself wandering in there. Well, he eventually passed out in the construction zone. Unfortunately, the workers did not notice him when they started throwing up drywall. They didn’t notice until there was pounding from inside the wall.
So yes, the head of safety gets a call in the morning saying a guest was drywalled into a wall. I just can’t imagine waking up with a pounding headache and realizing you are inside a wall. Reddit User: ProfWiggles
He Studied His Antics
I’m not a worker but an advanced gambler. One time at the Palms vegas, I was at a craps table at about 3 am. I was there really often, and I knew all the other regulars. There was this crazy-looking white dude throwing his hands up like praising Jesus or something every time somebody rolled! At the same time he would throw his hands up, he would kind of rub his nose.
After a while of studying this man’s insane antics, I realized that every time he raised his hands, he was doing a bump of drugs. Reddit User: 2dab
The Buffet
Luxor casino has its balconies on the inside of the pyramid, open to the casino. Let’s just say “a friend of a friend” was working “in house” and had a guy who jumped off land in the just-vacated buffet line a floor above him, where he was working. “It sounded like a bowling ball hit the ceiling” as the tiles shook, and it knocked a 5’x5′ silhouetted chunk of mono coat fireproofing right off the under-decking.
They comped the buffet patrons, closed the second floor, and the buffet opened the next day for brunch. Reddit User: Jose_xixpac
I’m Running for President
Probably late for this, but I worked in a retail store inside Caesars and had this guy who called himself Cornelius go berserk. He walks in about 15 minutes before we close and starts rinsing through all the clothes we just got done fixing. He proceeds to make a phone call to security and complain that he was assaulted in the parking lot.
He starts arguing with the guy on the other line and shouts out, “I AM RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT OF THESE UNITED STATES, AND I DEMAND TO SPEAK TO YOUR MANAGER!” Reddit User: Miguelad91
My Wife Is Going to Divorce Me
I was recently in Vegas and asked a question to a cabby that was giving me a ride to the airport. He said that one guy got into his cab and was sobbing uncontrollably while saying, “My wife is going to divorce me, my life is over, I don’t know what to do.”
The cabby replied, “What’s wrong?” The guy then proceeded to tell him how he gambled away his life savings, $500,000, in one night. The cabby told me that he couldn’t even figure out what to say after that. Reddit User: sacpike
She Pooped Her Pants
My father told me this story one day after work in the mid-’90s. He was working as a prop player in the poker room at Rio or Riviera. So my dad was working one night playing poker as usual. Then at one point, there was a smell of fecal matter in the air.
There was poo running down this lady’s legs through her shorts down to the floor and all over the chair. She said she was on a winning streak and didn’t want to leave the table. Of course, they forced her to leave the casino. Reddit User: hk_phooey
There Was a Disheveled Man on the Curb
It’s maybe 6 am, and I’ve been awake for about a half hour now. I’m from the east coast, so to me it’s really 9 am. My wife is still sleeping, so I decide to head out and see if I can find something greasy and quick to eat somewhere down Fremont.
There’s a man sitting out front on a curb, wearing a suit, all disheveled. As I’m about to pass him, he shouts and throws a glass across the street that shatters when it hits the sidewalk. Reddit User: Vertekal
They Broke Even Except for the Ring
In Vegas at a craps table rolling hard 8s all night, pounding on the table and drinking, my wife and I are super happy to realize we broke even at the end of the night. That is, until we realize she had slapped all the diamonds out of her eternity ring, including the big top one.
I always wonder what the dealer guy thought when he found like 9 diamonds on the table. I wonder if that happens often. I bet he saw them as we were playing and just palmed them. Reddit User: [redacted]
Jousting and Library Books
My brother worked in the show at Excalibur where you watch knights joust and stuff while everyone eats their meal with their hands. The craziest thing was the time he knocked out one of the main actors in the middle of a performance because he accidentally hit him in the head with his sword.
There was also the time a bum flushed his library book down the drain because he didn’t care for my brother’s attitude and the library didn’t believe him and made him pay for a replacement, but that doesn’t really have anything to do with his job, I guess. Reddit User: frenchmeister
Won It to Lose It
This is a second-hand story from a lovely lady who was a dealer in Vegas in one of the crappy casinos on Fremont Street. She was dealing at a blackjack table where you can do one of those crazy side bet things on certain rare hand combinations to get a bonus jackpot.
Anyways, one guy hit it and won 35 grand. This was a big deal, and he grabbed his cards off the table to show his friends, and the casino invalidated the play because apparently that was against the rules. Anyway, he did not get his winnings and was escorted out crying. Reddit User: [redacted]
Fire This Woman
Packer was renowned for spending big at the tables and for his generosity. One time, a dealer told him she was struggling. Packer offered money. Dealer declined. Packer stopped her and said, “Get your manager over here.” The manager turned up and Packer said, “Fire this woman immediately.” The dealer was fired on the spot.
Packer then turned to the dealer and said, “Now you don’t have to share this with the other dealers” and gave her the full tip. She accepted (obviously). Packer turned to the manager and then said, “Hire this woman immediately.” She was hired right away and got to keep the entire tip. Reddit User: upforgrabs21
The Things I’ve Seen
I’ve seen a man inject himself in the leg with insulin and then leave the syringe sticking out of his leg for an hour because he won a jackpot when he injected himself so therefore it must be a lucky charm. I’ve seen people pass out after having sat chain-smoking at a slot machine for 36 hours straight, and I’ve seen other customers get mad because the paramedics interrupted their winning streak.
I’ve seen a man pass out at a poker table and then watched as the rest of the players tried to steal his winnings before security could get there. Reddit User: devatoo
Should Have Played 3 Lines
There was a couple playing the progressive slot machine where you can play 3 lines at once by paying triple. Well, the husband goes to the bathroom, and the wife takes over the machine and hits the button for “Play 1 Line” instead of “Play 3 Lines.” The jackpot combo comes up on the top line, meaning they didn’t win the $200k progression because she only played one line. The husband comes back, and she shows him.
The husband proceeds to beat the crap out of someone right on the casino floor. He ended up being arrested. Reddit User: JohnnyTT314
He Kept Pulling Out Wads of Cash
An old gentleman came over in a wheelchair with another younger man pushing him. The old man continuously laid out thousands of dollars and placed it around the table. He’d lose it all and just throw another wad of cash out. The young man just stood behind him silently the whole time. Not crazy, just a little weird.
I’m not sure if the young guy was a caretaker or a relative or what, but that old man must have lost $10,000 in 15 minutes. It was almost like he was laundering money. Reddit User: Well_thatwas_Random
He Stole a Golf Cart
I’m not a casino worker, but I played blackjack with some dude for about 6 hours, and we both proceeded to get absolutely drunk. He finally got up from the table and went out the front door. About 10 minutes later, he came back in driving a golf cart he had stolen from one of the groundskeepers.
Drove it right in the front door. Security had him ripped out of that thing in seconds. It was hilarious. I’m still not exactly sure how he got the golf cart, but surprisingly, he was allowed to come back. Reddit User: bluebecauseiwantto
They Gamble Their Lives Away
Honestly, the worst stuff you see working in a casino isn’t the big one-offs, though they do happen. It’s the people you see come in every single day until you realize they’ve gone from gambling £10k+ a visit to basically nothing but will stay in the casino for upwards of twelve hours anyway.
We had one customer who would come in at 12 pm when we opened and leave at 9 am when we closed every day. He never bet more than 20p, but his life spend over the last couple of years was over £100k. The guy had gambled away his life. Reddit User: [redacted]
He Wanted to Buy an Elephant
Not in Vegas, but I had a customer lose about $10k. He’s walking to the ATM to get more money, and the dealers let him know that there’s a $500 max withdraw on the ATM but he can do a credit card advance at the cage for a lot more. He comes back with $20k and loses that in 5 hands.
Turns out he was wanting to gamble to get enough money to buy an elephant. Yep. An elephant. Not sure what his plans were for it. Reddit User: [redacted]
He Was Banned
I work as a fountain worker at a casino at the south end of the strip, and a guy and his significant other had an argument and smashed a beer bottle on the ground while waiting in line. He stormed out as our hostess called security. We found shards of glass in our food and display, and alcohol was splashed on everybody. I hated him.
The casino I work at has our own police, so they found him quickly. I’m almost certain he was banned. We had to refund everyone. Reddit User: Mackbehavior
He Robbed a Bank
Worked for Turning Stone ages ago. We were allowed to play poker and bingo, as they were not games against the house. I went after work to play poker, and out of nowhere, 30 security guys and police jump and tackle a dude who was like 6′ 3, 300 lbs, who “allegedly” just robbed a bank.
We were in shock, and everyone felt the same way: that if you just robbed a bank, why on earth would you go to the one place that had more cameras and security than anywhere on Earth? Reddit User: tommygunz007
Weird Requests and Law Suits
A friend of my father’s is one of those casino hosts; they’ve known each other for years. He’s the guy that handles all the high rollers. Many of them would demand really strange things. One guy used to demand that he have a whole case of canned tuna fish in water and a whole case of bottled water in his suite when he arrived.
Also, some rich people like to get really drunk, lose a bunch of money, then turn around and attempt to sue the casino because the casino kept serving them alcohol, and that’s why they lost so much money. Reddit User: Phosphoreign
It Was Doyle Brunson
I didn’t work at a casino, but my ex was a supervisor at Bellagio, so I used to hang out there all the time. One time I saw a dude just peeing on a wall out in the open. He looked up at everyone and said in a drunken mumble, “I’m sorry everyone.”
One time, I was walking toward my ex to tell him something, and a famous poker player thought I was approaching him. Found out later it was Doyle Brunson. I had no idea who it was. Reddit User: iluvstephenhawking
No More Savings
Not a casino worker, but I watched a man and woman drunkenly define “we’ve hit bottom” for me in the center of Caesar’s Palace at 6 am a few years ago. I had driven in from California with the family the night before and got up early to play some blackjack when the man yelled at the woman, “I need some money!”
To which she replied, “There’s no more money!” He asked, “What about our savings account?!” She sternly said, “You don’t understand! It’s gone! It’s all gone!” Reddit User: crimsongull
He’s Dead
One night I’m dealing blackjack to this lady. She pulls out a picture frame of her son, puts it on the table, and says it’s for good luck. We’re playing and she’s losing horribly; it doesn’t seem like the picture is working. We’re talking back and forth, and I ask her if her son is in college or if he’s working.
She replies that her son is dead. Before I can even say I’m sorry, she says, “Yeah, my son is dead; that’s why I’m here trying to win money for his funeral.” Reddit User: B-Average
He Peed on the Dealer
A gentleman at a poker table in the five-seat unzipped his pants and urinated on the dealer. I never caught the signal the dealer used, but it was effective, as all the guys who normally collect boxes from the tables showed up out of nowhere and removed him from the table like they were taking out the trash.
The table broke up so they could clean, the dealer showered and put on a new uniform, and I saw her on the floor again a few hours later. Reddit User: mc8675309
Shoves His Fingers Down His Throat
Dealer for 10 years. I am dealing Pai Gow Tiles on a $25 minimum game. Guy bets $25-$75 for a good 2 hours. He then slides his whole stack on one hand for 3k. For those who know the game, he gets Teen-Dai Bo. I pull Ji-Jun. The odds are ASTRONOMICAL.
It’s the ONLY hand that beats him. He slams his fist on the table, chips fly everywhere, and he begins to shove his finger down his throat. He vomits all over my game. I close the table and pit down for clean-up. It was my third day dealing. Reddit User: TheMonroeFiles
She Would Flash Dealers for Good Luck
I had a woman a few months ago betting 300k a hand. She lost 12 million at my table in less than an hour. The casino then paid for her private charter jet to Melbourne and back ($70,000) so she could get more money. She came back to my table after her trip and dropped another 15 million.
She would also flash herself at dealers ‘for luck’ and requested only young white dealers. Almost all baccarat dealers at my casino are Asian, so I had to deal with her every night for 10 days. Reddit User: waffleking9000
Gambling Problem
I actually did work in a casino in Las Vegas a few years back in VIP services. One of our high rollers, who visited frequently, had a very bad gambling problem that his wife was divorcing him over. He lost everything at the tables and couldn’t even afford his plane ticket back home.
He threatened to go to the roof of the hotel and throw himself off. The casino felt so sorry for him that we ended up buying a ticket back home for him. We heard from him a month later, and he is doing well. Reddit User: [redacted]
He Couldn’t Afford the Loss
The worst and the saddest one that sticks in my mind is a guy who was around $2000 down on blackjack. He was nice. He was tipping pretty well. I was rooting for him, as I tended to do. I knocked his tens for good luck. Then he lost a big one and just yelled “NO!” so loud that the entire casino must’ve heard it.
It was the kind of desperation in his voice and everything about him that told me he could not afford to lose as much as he just lost. He went to the atm, and I rotated to another table. Reddit User: [redacted]
Vegas Cruise Not Going Well
There is one woman that will never forget. She was gambling A LOT. Towards the end of the cruise, I found her on the slots; she was crying and playing. I asked her what’s wrong, and she said, “I cannot afford to play anymore, this is all on my credit card…” all while talking/playing/crying at the same time.
I banned her from the casino, but it was already too late. I also heard stories from colleagues that used to work for an Asian cruise company that they always keep one lifeboat half-lowered because Chinese people would jump overboard after losing all of their money…. Reddit User: Whateverdude1
She Stole Wallets/Purses
My father-in-law (security) watched an elderly lady lose everything at a poker table and then go around and steal a couple of people’s purses/wallets. When they confronted her and asked for ID, she wouldn’t give it to them because they weren’t the police. When the police arrived, she still wouldn’t give them her ID or even her name, saying they couldn’t arrest her if they didn’t know who she was.
Needless to say, they arrested her anyway. They hoped she would at least leave with them calmy. Nope. Reddit User: DootMasterFlex
It Should’ve Been Their Money
Not an employee, but my mum’s friend won a slot machine jackpot. Security had to swoop in and save her because she was a very casual gambler and would use like 5 coins then leave, but that night on one of her first coins, she won the jackpot. The people around her were gambling addicts, and some of them had been working that machine for hours before and felt it should have been their win.
So they tried to attack her for the money, but she did get it. This wouldn’t have been a big win either because it was a small place, but scary stuff. Reddit User: the_dark_half
Don’t Risk Your Life
Had a roulette spinner tell me that one time a woman came in and gave the woman a check to cash out and announced, “Alright, time for me to win my rent money for the month.” The dealer handed her the check back and said, “Ma’am, we are not accepting your money in this hotel, take this check and go pay part of your rent with it and work to pay the rest.
This is supposed to be a place of fun, not where you risk your life.” Reddit User: Trogdoryn