In 2000, Bally's Atlantic City caused something of a media stir when it added a 34-foot-high clock tower to the middle of the casino floor. The brick pillar was a key structure in the building and executives, who wanted to dress it up, eventually settled on the idea of an ornate clock for the center of Coyote Kate's Slot Parlor.
To the uninitiated, that's seemingly not so remarkable, but in fact it was the first (and remains the only, so far as we know) casino in Atlantic City to feature a clock on the main casino floor -- something that no Las Vegas casino does to this day.
It's part of a convention that dates back to the psychology of the early casino days, when owners wanted their patrons to leave reality at the door and lose track of what time of day or night it was. For a long time it was thought conducive to the perpetual party atmosphere for the casinos to evoke 24-hour-a-day nighttime, hence the lack of windows and dark artificially lit nightclubesque interiors of the '50s and beyond.
Then in the '90s, around the same time the whole wholesome "family-friendly" concept was being experimented with, there was a switch away from the old slightly seedy nightclub feel and a new trend toward an atmosphere of perpetual daytime -- hence the blue ceilings with floaty clouds that adorn the likes of Paris, Sunset Station, and the Forum Shops at Caesars.
Even exterior clocks are a casino rarity, with only a few that we can think of attached to current Las Vegas properties. These include the one you noticed at South Point (formerly South Coast), the one on the clock tower at the entrance to the Main Street Station parking structure downtown, one on the exterior marquee of Bellagio (viewable from I-15 and keeping good time last time we checked), three each on the clock towers at Sunset Station (not one of which was even vaguely keeping time when we checked recently) and Texas Station (haven't yet had time to check the time...), one that keeps good time at the entrance to the Palace Station casino, and the replica of the famous 500-year-old astrological clock in St. Mark's Square in Venice that adorns the exterior of the Venetian. The digital clock that graced the Sahara tower, well-known for its accuracy, disappeared over a decade ago, although the one above the old Mint casino downtown (now Binion's) remains.
One quirky new addition to the casino horological scene is the chocolate clock in the Payard Pâtisserie at Caesars Palace. Reputed to be among the most dangerous places in the city (if you're watching the calories, and even if you weren't when you first went in), this decadent dessert heaven was recently graced with a 13-foot-tall truffle-shaped timepiece that dispenses free chocolates at intervals during operating hours. Lethal.
All that said, the myth that casinos have no clocks is unfounded. There's one place on the casino floor where you'll generally always find one, namely the race and sports book, and the reason is obvious: The casino would hate for you to miss getting your wager down on a race or game and the betting stops a few minutes ahead, so they provide a clock for your gambling convenience. Hence, if you need to know what time it is and forgot your watch, just head for the race and sports book (where you can also generally pick up a complimentary writing implement, should you need one, since patrons are provided with pens and pencils for the purpose of completing parlay cards and so on). There's usually a wall-mounted clock in the main casino cage as well, plus, if you're in need of the time and happen to be in the table-game area, you'll generally find clocks on the pit podiums, too.
