Viva Las Vegas: But beware a power shortage!

Whilst casinos have traditionally been associated with glamour and glitz, there is less info on what actually goes on behind the shiny fluorescent lights and glittering decor. True, films like Oceans 13 give us a little more insight into the inner workings of a casino ( mainly on how to defraud and over rule the security system) but how much of this is really applicable out on the floor?

Whilst gambling is associated with drunken devil may care rolls of the dice, or poker faced poker players, there is an underlying element that feeds off technology, from the top of the range card shuffler (prevents card counting) to the discreetly hidden video cameras that are placed in every available nook and cranny. Whilst once Vegas was associated with debauchery and crime, now the casino’s are heavily regulated, indeed there is an unspoken code of conduct, and very definite RULES about how to play the tables.

During my first visit there I was confounded by many things, and aside from the life size model of the Eiffel Tower, the random Venetian gondola’s and the blackjack table in the middle of a pool, I was frustrated by some of the etiquette. When playing a blackjack table you can’t merely nod or shake your head to hit or stay, as the camera’s don’t pick this up; instead you have to physically tap the table. Some of my fellow players enjoyed frustrating the croupier by tapping the air not the table, a system that plausibly should be fine, except for all that nit picking. Seriously though, when you’re drunk and virgin fresh to this gambling hot spot some of these rules seem a little over zealous.

It does work out in your favour sometimes though. At one point I’d just left the cashier after collecting my winnings (Yes, I did win some, huzzah!) and a frightened teller ran after me, saying she’d given me the incorrect change. I followed her back and it turned out I was short two whole dollars, of which I then had to shake her hand so the all seeing cameras could view that she’d rectified it.

It’s a strange city, as light in the day as it is in night, with nonstop gaudiness comprising fireworks, show stopping displays and random trapeze artists swinging aimlessly high above.. I don’t even want to think about what kind of carbon footprint that causes. In the city of excess, no much is to much, and sometimes the 24 hour party lifestyle gets exhausting. Not that you can switch off of course, for even in the sanctity of your room various devices infringe on your private time. In some hotels (not mine, but ones that I visited) everything is super high tech, we’re talking faucets that you have to clap to turn on, curtains that only close via remote control and of course, wi-fi at every available spot.

The undeniable fact about Vegas is that it’s a city that runs on enormous amounts of energy, both electrical and mental, as it’s not only the lights glowing in the panorama that create this surreal world, but also the eagerness of people to escape from reality and let themselves sink into this adults Disneyland. A power cut might temporarily disable the casino’s but it would never turn off peoples imaginations.

Zara Rabinowicz writes for Shiny Shiny, Star Trip, and Dollymix and wishes she was in Vegas right now.