Question of the Day - 06 September 2024

We're getting this question more and more lately. And try as we might, we've never been able to get anything official from any casino that we've queried on the matter. 

So here's our continuing take on it, which you basically summed up in your last sentence: "Or is it just the natural evolution of living in a world where everyone has a cell phone camera." (We're not sure about the making-money part.)

Yes, with today’s technology -- everyone having a cell phone with camera and video -- you'd need a security guard for every guest to enforce a no-photo no-video policy. In addition, the days when gambling was a vice everywhere except Nevada and the mob, notoriously camera-shy, was running the town, are long gone. Casinos are everywhere. Cameras are everywhere. And social media is voracious for this kind of content, though why is, we admit, a bit beyond our comprehension. 

That said, privacy is still an issue for many in Las Vegas. This is a place that people have always escaped to, sometimes when they're pretending to be somewhere else with someone else. So the casinos try to ensure the privacy of their players, if only to avoid lawsuits from those who might lose their marriage or job over an inadvertent exposure or, in the worst-case scenario, someone who's compromised by incriminating photos or footage.

Then there's the issue of using a cell phone as a device for cheating at table games.  

Of course, the popular influencers have permission to video their playing sessions at slot machines, where cheating isn't much of a concern. Also, the publicity to the casino from having someone like Brian Christopher, Lady Luck, or Casino Daddy do an episode from the floor is very valuable.  

The rest of the people taking "dozens and dozens of videos shot in casinos," as the question states, are taking their chances. We've heard at least one story of a casino confiscating the high-end equipment of a casino videographer. 

But in the end, as the question states and we concur, the continual loosening of restrictions on cell phone cameras and video is all but inevitable.