US casino operators are putting public safety ahead of customer privacy in the wake of last year’s mass shooting on the Las Vegas Strip.
On Friday, the Associated Press reported that casino operator Caesars Entertainment would now enter its guests’ hotel rooms every 24 hours, regardless of whether the occupants have hung out a plea for privacy.
Caesars plans to implement the new policy ‘soon’ at all 47 of its properties across the globe. The company may also provide staff with ‘panic buttons’ allowing them to promptly summon assistance should they feel threatened for whatever reason.
Company spokesperson Noel Stevenson said the new policies were a direct response to “recent tragic events,” referencing last October’s mass shooting at an outdoor concert on the Strip that left 58 concert-goers dead. To protect hotel staff from potential harm, Caesars said security guards will conduct the checks on rooms displaying Do Not Disturb signs.
Caesars is the latest casino company to tighten its oversight of goings-on by its guests, including Boyd Gaming, Wynn Resorts and MGM Resorts, in whose Mandalay Bay property the Vegas shooter amassed his weaponry over a period of several weeks, but which went undetected due to the Do Not Disturb sign hung on the doorknob.
MGM’s new policy authorizes hotel security to enter a room if its guest has not interacted in person or over the phone with hotel staff for a period of 48 hours.
The new room checks will also likely cut down on the frequency of less malevolent but nonetheless dangerous incidents, such as would-be drug lords setting up methamphetamine laboratories in casino hotel rooms. A makeshift meth lab resulted in a fire at the Tropicana Casino in Atlantic City this week that injured one hotel staffer.
Casinos around the globe have been beefing up their security protocols in the wake of last year’s Vegas shooting and the purposely set fire at the Resorts World Manila casino that left 37 guests dead.
Last month, Galaxy Entertainment Group teamed up with Macau authorities on a mock hostage incident at Galaxy Macau to test the reactions of emergency response teams. That same week, a similar exercise was conducted at the Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut.
