1. A woman asking security if she could come back in clean clothes, after she got kicked out for shitting herself while working the slots. She wouldn’t leave that machine, even to use the bathroom. Gross. She wasn’t even phased or embarrassed by the scene she was making in public.
2. Casino dealer here for 10 years. I’ve worked at three casinos and worked in many departments . Young best buy worker comes in buys in for 500 on roulette and loses it. Goes to the parking lot and sells his car for 500 and comes back and racks up 75,000 bucks. In 20 minutes he loses it all. 25 years old I couldn’t believe it. Feel free to ask any question.
3. Not a dealer and it was a card room, but while playing poker a guy sat down with the max buy in and got wiped out on his first hand at the table. He reloaded for the max and lost it all his second hand dealt. He reloaded max a third time, and no shit, went broke again on his third hand of the night. Like, wtf? He stood up real quick and stared at the board stunned. Then, proceeded to freak out about how his wife was going to divorce him. He grabbed as many chips off the table as he could and made a break for the door. Unfortunately, he tripped over the back of someone’s chair and chips went flying everywhere. Police kindly escorted him out as he was having what had to be a mental breakdown.
4. I am not a dealer but I am a cocktail server at a local casino. I am still fairly new but it is a very sad place. I work anywhere from 7-10 hours shifts at a time. People will sit at a slot machine for my entire shift and put every single dollar they have into it hoping to win big. They constantly visit the ATM or main bank for cash advances on credit cards or go into the negative in the bank account. I see the same people there daily. Most are friendly but some bark orders at me or don’t thank me. I am always smiling and friendly with everyone I come into contact with.
I’ve witnessed people win thousands of dollars and be completely miserable because it wasn’t enough for them and they are still in debt from their addiction.
I’ve heard horror stories about people pissing or shitting because they refuse to visit the restroom in fear of leaving their machine for a few moments.
5. Former slot attendant and cage cashier at Showboat in Atlantic City (RIP): the worst is watching the people who clearly don’t have enough money to be in there coming in, losing it all, and begging for a marker (a line of credit that allows them to keep betting) so they could try to win it back.
Showboat was a Harrah’s casino, and Harrah’s made a very big deal about their commitment to responsible gaming. We were told to refer them to Gambler’s Anonymous or point out the brochures and signage about needing help if we determined a guest was gaming irresponsibly, but we couldn’t actually stop them if they had the money. Once they were out, though, you’d still get a few sad sacks a day that tried to open the marker. I don’t know which was worse: watching them get the application accepted and piss away even more money, or watching them get denied and leave in tears.
6. Tossup between:
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Coming into work to see some of the same people still playing that were there when i left the previous night.
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Watching other dealers take their tokes and sit down at a table and lose it all after their shift ended.
7. Been in the casino industry for about 14 years. Dealt for about 8 of those, I have since moved up and am in management now.
The saddest thing I’ve seen is death.
Death by itself is tragic and rare, and seeing someone keel over from a heart attack is sad to say the least. But you are trained and ordered to never stop dealing if there are bets that need to be paid or taken.
Case in point: A normal, slightly overweight guy has a heart attack. He drops. It happened across from me in a different pit, but I saw it just the same. Concerned crowd, EMTs arrive, all of what you would expect. But he had this misfortune of dying on a live craps table. In the middle of a good roll. People complained that the game stopped, so they kept the game going as EMTs were doing their thing. People were straight stepping over the guy’s legs to place bets.
In St. Louis if you are curious. I’ve seen two other people die in my casinos, but this one was the saddest by far.
8. The first time I was ever in Vegas a security guards came up to the slot next to me and removed the stool from the floor. Another guard wheels up an old lady and she starts throwing her money in to that slot. Within a minute of her losing every last dime the guard is back wheeling her away while the other fixes the stool back in to the floor. I notice them taking her out the front door towards Fremont street. A couple hours later as I am leaving the casino I see her right by the front door where they wheeled her and I figure perhaps she is waiting for a ride. Four hours later when I come back she is still in the same place so I ask her if I can pay for a taxi for her and she asks if I can give her $20 dollars to buy some groceries. I give it to her and a few minutes later see security wheeling her back to the slots.
9. 90 (ish?) year old woman wearing tattered rags, and in a wheelchair that was falling apart, cigarette in one hand, a drink in the other spending what I could only assume was her life savings on the slot machines.
10. I used to work as a change person, pushing a cart around and making change for gamblers. I once saw a grown man at about 3am – desperately walking from slot machine to slot machine, dropping coins into the slots, pulling the handle, and watching the tumblers roll – quietly sobbing and mumbling to himself, seemingly looking desperately for a winner. I left that job the next day and never forgot his face (it’s been about 25 years).
11. I worked as a croupier for 3 years, I had an Irish student come into the casino drunk. He proceeded to spend his entire years worth of student loads and bursary. He stood at my blackjack table and begged me and my manager for his money back, trying to explain to me that he was only 18 and why it was illegal for us to put him in such a position e.g. bent over the table and looted of all monies.
12. I wasn’t a dealer but i use to work security at a casino. I remember a relatively wealthy couple explaining to me that they sold their fridge and stove so that they could use the money to keep gambling. They said they had no need for them because the casino comped them so many meals. All i could think of was how sad of people they were.
This one for some reason bothers me more than anything though; seeing a mother leave her children at the entry gate so she could gamble. This was like 2:30am and the children were something like 4 and 16. We told her numerous times to take them home but she wouldn’t. We contacted DCI (state troopers basically that are always on property) to come and talk to her. Because the 16 year old was watching the other child they couldn’t do anything. We also had a policy that if they were at the table games, the pit boss had to make the call to kick her out. He wouldn’t because she was spending too much. I just watched as these kids sat on a bench for hours waiting for their mom. They complained they were hungry and thirsty but i couldn’t do much more than get a waitress to grab a soda.