Las Vegas

Confidential
We sent our
“high roller”
reporter to the
famed Strip to
lift the veil on
the casinos
by robert Kiener

Casinos vie
for monied
guests from
around the
world.

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I don’t gamble. I am not overly
fond of crowds. Not a big fan of Wayne
Newton or Celine Dion. And my idea of
the perfect vacation is lying on a nearly
deserted palm-fringed beach away
from it all. So I’ve come to Las
Vegas for a week.
M
My mission is straightforward. A
first-time visitor, I want to peel back
the façade and see what makes Las
Vegas tick. I plan to go behind the
scenes at some of the town’s most fa-
mous casinos to get the inside dope
on the city that, as Frank Sinatra once
said in a film, “is the only place where
money really talks. It says goodbye.”
I am starting at the top, literally.
After being escorted up an elevator,
through a series of locked, unmarked
doors, I am welcomed into the Palazzo
Hotel’s ultra-exclusive Paiza Club on
the 50th floor. Overlooking the fabled
Las Vegas Strip, this richly paneled
club is off limits to all but the richest
gamblers in the world; the so-called
“whales,” or “high rollers” who reg-
ularly gamble tens of thousands of
dollars on a roll of the dice or turn of
a card. Baccarat is the game of choice.
However, for the regular who has a
fondness for slot machines, the casino
will bring up its most expensive one-
armed bandit; $500 per pull.
Although the elite guests who stay
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in this club, 80 percent of whom are
Asian, pay nothing, the price of ad-
mission is steep. “Our guests have at
least one million dollars on account
with us,” explains Ken Wong, the
club’s executive director. There are
fewer than 1000 of these mega-rich
gamblers around the world, and com-
petition for them among the premiere
casinos is intense. “We all know who
the whales are,” says Wong. “And we
all go after them. Admission is strictly
by invitation only.”
The Palazzo, like several other casi-
nos, has its own fleet of corporate jets
to ferry the whales from their home
countries to Las Vegas. Around-the-
clock chef service, fresh food flown
in via private jet from Asia, a staff of
dozens of multi-lingual butlers, and
televisions tuned to Hong Kong, Japa-
nese and Chinese television stations
help the high rollers feel at home.
“We cater to our guests’ every
whim,” says Wong. He will person-
ally search out the best bird’s nest
soup in Asia for his whales. Recently,
on the day before Christmas, a Paiza
Club guest asked Wong if he could
expert David G. Schwartz, PhD, at the
Caesars Palace casino. Schwartz has
arrange a private Christmas show,
complete with a piano and a singing
written widely on the history and psy-
chology of gambling and is director
Santa Claus, for the next day. The only of the Center for Gaming Research at
problem is that Las Vegas shows are
“dark,” or closed, on Christmas and
the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
He has agreed to give me an “insider’s
entertainers take the day off. “But we
don’t know the meaning of no,” says
tour” of the casino.
Casinos are designed to separate
Wong. The next day the high roller
got his private Christmas pageant,
gamblers from their money. As we
walk through the glitzy Caesar’s
including the singing Santa. Palace casino, Schwartz admits, “Ca-
sino design is more of an art than a
To see how the other half, or the science.” Casino owners employ a diz-
other 99 percent, of Las Vegas gambles zying array of experts, from interior
and to learn how the casinos coax ev- designers to psychologists to gaming
ery cent out of them, I meet gambling mathematicians, to perfect that pro-
This iconic sign
has welcomed
visitors to the
Strip for more
than 50 years.
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 What a
million
dollars’ worth
of chips looks
like.
cess. No detail escapes their attention.
Ceilings are usually low to create a
more intimate space for gamblers.
Planners usually opt for curved lines
instead of straight passageways; these
encourage guests to explore.
Often there are few or no benches
or sofas in public areas; if you’re sit-
ting you’re not generating revenue.
Red, long considered a lucky color,
and gold, a sign of wealth, are fa-
vored design colors. Blue is a no-no.
(It makes everyone look pale or sick,
which can affect their mood and will-
ingness to gamble.) Others explain
that the ornate designs add to the ex-
citement factor of being in a casino.
As he points out the colorful carpet,
Schwartz tells me, “Casino design-
ers want to make these surroundings
look as far removed from your home
as possible.”
Usually, guests have to walk through
the casino, full of noisy, colorful, at-
tention-getting slot machines, to get
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to their rooms. That’s by design. Once
in their rooms, visitors may notice
there are no coffee makers. That’s to
lure guests downstairs to the restau-
rant. And to get there they will have
to again walk through the casino.
I notice there are no clocks or win-
dows. Casinos don’t want to detract
gamblers’ attention from the business
at hand. As some note, there’s no day-
time or nighttime in a casino, there’s
just “gambling time.” Others claim
that’s also why there are few mirrors
in casinos; management wants a gam-
bler to think he’s James Bond, not a
pudgy guy from Iowa City who’s los-
ing money on the slots.
Schwartz and I pause in front of a
loudly whirring “ching-ching-ching”
slot machine and watch a woman fe-
verishly hitting the machine’s buttons.
After several “pulls” Schwartz asks
me, “Did you notice how often she al-
most hit a jackpot? That’s by design.”
The machines are built to show how
close a gambler can come to winning. bet. On every pull, 24 hours a day.
It’s psychology 101. Schwartz spots the “Big Six,” the
Even the noise is regulated. “The spinning wheel also known as “the
casino ratchets up the noise of the Wheel of Fortune.” He points out
slots to maintain a level of excite- that it’s in a high-traffic area and is
ment,” says Schwartz. He shows me a shunned by knowledgeable gamblers.
slot machine that pays out with a re- “That’s because this has about the
deemable ticket instead of coins. But worst house advantage of any game
as the machine spits out the printed on the floor. It’s pretty much for nov-
ticket it also emits the sound of coins ices only.”
spilling into a tray. More psychology. Some slots pay out small, frequent
Casinos have also experimented payments to create the feeling that the
with scent; after spraying a group player is winning while he keeps los-
of Vegas slot machines with a floral ing. More psychology.
scent, researchers noted a 45
percent jump in the amount
gambled. Slot machines that
are “loose,” meaning they
Vegas-speak
pay off more often than oth- If you want to win big in Las Vegas,
ers, are supposedly often it helps to know the language.
located in high traffic areas.
Because slot machines on High Roller: Big Hold: The opposite of
Las Vegas’s Strip produce, gamblers, also known as “payout”—the percent-
“whales” age the casino keeps
on average, more than half
of a casino’s revenues, they Loose: Used to describe Shoe: The container
a slot machine that is that holds the cards at
are carefully monitored. blackjack
thought to pay out more
Each machine is controlled than others Dark: Vegas-speak for
by a random-operating com- “closed”
Tight: Slot machines
puter chip that pays out at that pay out less than Pit Boss: The employee
a predetermined rate. The others in charge of the dealers
revolving cylinders are just Eye in the sky: The Box man: Casino em-
for show. casino’s overhead security ployee who handles the
The state-wide average and surveillance cameras cash at the craps table
payout is 93.9 percent; that is, Comp: Short for “compli- Stick man: Casino
for every dollar wagered, the mentary,” as in free rooms staffer using a long stick
casino keeps about 6 cents. or drinks offered by casi- to retrieve dice at the
“The average ‘slot hold’ on nos to favored customers craps table
the Strip is over 7 percent,” Payout: The percent- “Hit me:” Casino-speak
says Schwartz. That means age a gambling game for “Give me another
returns—on average—to card”
the casinos keep a little over the customer
seven cents of every dollar
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 As we continue our good guys and try to catch the bad happened seconds or days ago by
tour of Caesars Palace guys.” (To gain entry, I’ve agreed not pressing a few buttons. “Cheaters hate
casino, we watch a craps to disclose all of the secrets I will this new technology,” says Flynn.
dealer ending his shift learn about.) While all these cameras may seem
by looking up in the air, Several surveillance agents sit in oppressive to some, they are there,
clapping his hands, out- front of a bank of more than a dozen explains Flynn, “To preserve the in-
stretching his arms and giant screens that relay real-time tegrity of the game and protect the
turning his hands both video of the hotel’s several thousand guests.” Indeed, studies have shown
sides up. “He’s ‘clap- cameras. These agents are experts that one of the “best” places to have
ping out’, showing the in casino cheating; they are adept at a heart attack is in a Las Vegas casino.
surveillance team, who spotting everything from card coun- Because security guards are continu-
are watching on digital ters to chip stealers to card swappers. ously scanning the casino, if a visitor
camera, that he has noth- Each gaming table has multiple cam- collapses security personnel should
ing in his hands,” says eras trained on it, watching the game, notice it right away and be able to
Schwartz. He points out the players and the dealers. If a casino administer first aid. The heart attack
the apron-like wrap the pit boss sees something suspicious, survival rate in Las Vegas is more than
dealers wear to prevent he’ll phone the surveillance agent and 50 percent, compared to 30 percent
them from slipping any- ask him to train his cameras on the in Seattle or just one to two percent
thing into their pockets. suspect gambler. Mostly, they look for in New York City. Finally, Vegas gam-
“It’s like what you see “tells,” actions that don’t look right. blers have some odds in their favor.
in the movies,” he con- Caesar’s Palace Say a crooked gambler wins a bet
tinues. “The stick man has the highest and tries to slip a $100 chip under By the end of my week in Vegas I’ve
watches the dice, the betting limits, the $25 chip he actually bet, a move learned the difference between a
dealer watches the table, says President called “bet switching.” “Our people whale, a stickman and a box man and
the box man watches the Gary Selesner. know just what to look for and we’ve why it’s just about impossible to get
players, the floor person got the cameras to help,” says Flynn anything past the eye in the sky. But
watches several games as he asks an agent to use a joystick I’ve yet to place a bet.
and the pit boss watches everyone, cajoling, but Caesars Palace has fi- to demonstrate how powerful and I know, after talking with Caesars
while the “eye in the sky” watches ev- nally granted me a visit to the inner precise the casino’s digital cameras, Palace President Gary Selesner, that
erything. And I’ll bet they’re watching sanctum, the world-famous hotel and called “eyes in the sky,” are. the casino is famous for having the
us right now.” casino’s main surveillance room, off First, he zooms in on a craps table highest gambling limits on the Strip.
When I mention to Schwartz, who limits to 99.9 percent of the world. It’s (close) and a mustachioed gambler “We’ll let a Baccarat high roller bet
used to work in casino surveillance, been worth the wait. (closer) holding a fifty-dollar bill in $200,000 a hand, a blackjack player
that I hope to get a behind-the-scenes At the end of a long, nondescript his right hand (closest). The camera is wager $50,000 a hand and a roulette
look at the casino’s surveillance room, corridor, hidden away in the bowels of so powerful I can read the bill’s serial player bet $3000 a spot,” he tells me.
he smiles and tells me, “That’s a tough the organization’s marketing and sales number. Another side-angle camera I head for the penny slots. A half
one. Hardly anyone gets in there. It’s department, I am ushered through an allows the operator to see the number hour later I’m down $17.70. Ol’ Blue
like Fort Knox.” unmarked, double-locked door. “Wel- and value of chips in a stack. Eyes was right; Las Vegas is the only
come to what we call ‘The Eye’,” says All of this action is now digitized place where money really talks. It re-
Finally, I’m in. It’s taken a lot of con- Tom Flynn, the hotel’s VP of surveil- and saved on computer servers. Flynn ally does say goodbye. Take it from a
vincing, a bit of pleading and some lance. “This is where we protect the and his team can replay a scene that high roller like me.
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