Question of the Day - 02 September 2019

The odds, actually, were excellent, though you wouldn’t know it from the Las Vegas casinos themselves, whose representatives all ran and hid from this question. Fortunately, Dan Stromer, a 27-year industry veteran and a casino adviser for Raving Consulting, stepped into the breach. His findings are summarized here.

In the interests of Americans with Disabilities Act compliance, blackjack tables are lowered, with sit-down dealers. These were wheelchair accessible, so one “could roll right up to the table. 

“For players who were blind or vision-impaired, the dealer on blackjack in a face-up game, would assist in placing  the desired wager in the betting space and, as the cards were dealt, would announce to the player what their cards totaled and what his up-card was. The dealer would then, upon a request for a hit, tell the player what the card was and the total of the hand,” Stromer recalls. Should the player win, the dealer would push the chips to the player and ask 'Same bet?'"

In poker, a blind player would be seated next to the dealer. “Upon dealing the cards the dealer would then look over to the player as he would expose cards and then whisper in his ear what the cards were.” The player would then say whether they wanted to stand or fold. If the former instance, the dealer would lay down the flop and again tell the player what the cards were. “The dealer would then announce the action. If the blind person wanted to bet they would announce the amount of the wager, or check or call. The dealer would then assist in placing the correct wager out.” This would continue through the exposure of the turn card and the river.

During all this, the dealer would assist the player with stacking his chips, keeping them “in a meticulous order” of dollar, five-dollar, $25 checks and so forth, separated and stacked in columns of 20. “Most players were very gracious in assisting.” Slot players “usually had someone with them.” The blind person would pull the handle or press the button “and the acquaintance would let them know the outcome.”

In 2002, Bally Gaming Systems saw an opportunity to attract visually impaired players and introduced its Ray Charles slot machine. The game, which included audio cues and a Braille button deck and featured Charles' rendition of "America the Beautiful," came about as a result of a close collaboration between the gaming manufacturer and the late artist, who lost his sight as a child.

The company received an Access Award from the American Foundation for the Blind for the innovation, but the experiment was short-lived. A marketing spokesman told us that the game was "a very noble experiment, but frankly, it just never caught on."

In non-gaming departments, standard ADA compliance includes lowered countertops for the hotel cashier desk, the players’ club, the restrooms, as well as keeping a certain number of hotel rooms handicap-accessible. ADA-compliant showers and high-rise toilets “are almost standard … More and more space is dedicated to handicap parking and it is the closest to the entrances.” Available on a first-come, first-served basis, these were so popular that Stromer’s team had to set aside even more.

Obviously, not all casinos are the same, but if the National Federation of the Blind is patronizing the Strip, the industry must be doing something right.