Las Vegas' Only 24 Hour Bingo
added 09.10.2011, 6:04PM
This reporter has been at the forefront of the precipitous decline in the bingo scene in the gaming capital of the world, Las Vegas, Nevada. A game that was once the province of mild mannered retirees and low rollers has become--to paraphrase Obi Wan Kenboi's description of Mos Eisley Space Port--'a hive of scum and villainy'. The cheerful grandmas of a more civilized time have been replaced with a growing throng of drunken geriatric degenerates who often seem to care nothing about bingo at all--only in finding ways to behave in a more egregious manner than their associates.
Nevada casinos have reacted differently to the growing menance of 'thug bingo'. Many have beefed up security in a vain attempt to stem the tide of the anti-social players. Others have eliminated bingo altogether. A few have actually tried to leverage the increasing lawlessness of bingo players by adding bingo rooms or expanding their hours. This is the story of one such facility who now advertises the only 24 hour bingo facility in the Las Vegas area.
I'm going to withhold the name of this casino in hopes to preserve whatever shred of dignity its employees have left. In general terms, the only remaining 24 hour bingo facility in Las Vegas is well off of the world famous 'Strip'--in fact, it's in a downright nondescript location away from the bright lights of downtown or the booming locals casinos on Boulder Highway. The 24 hour bingo hall itself is small by conventional standards and--due to its out of the way location--was one of the last vestiges of civilized bingo in the Las Vegas valley. Until recently, that is. Employees have reported increasingly bad behavior among patrons--in fact, there seems to be a vibe among the 'thug bingo' scene that this place is now something of an 'after hours club' for their motley band, a place that everyone who moves in the wretched 'thug bingo' mileu ends up when other places have closed.
Most of the employees of this facility refused to go on record but one kind 50ish woman did agree to speak with me on condition of anonymity. "I used to love my job" she said "all of the old ladies were really sweet. They'd bring me cookies all the time."
Recently, however, things have turned ugly for Ms. X:
"Now its like all of the teenage juvenile delinquents from the 50's and 60's have decided to revert to the ways of their youth. I hate coming to work now. Last week a drunken old man threw a urine soaked diaper at me after I asked him to quit 'planking' on the casino floor".
I got the feeling that stories like this were the rule rather than exception. As we've stressed in the past, if you really want to play bingo the only viable option for a civilized person is to play online bingo.
