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Las Vegas blackjack player, casino critic, and frequent BJ21.com contributor LVBear offers his opinions on things that sometimes go wrong in the world of casinos. He can be reached at LVBear584@cox.net.

Idiotic bill by Senator Nolan
Senator Nolan’s bill to allow casino guards and motel guards access to DMV and law enforcement records is idiotic.  To give people who are hired off the street at barely above minimum wage, with no educational or meaningful background-check requirements, access to this type of information is the height of irresponsibility.  The danger is obvious. 

In reading Senate Bill 308, the actual information they would be allowed to access is minimal.  But with the camel’s nose under the tent, it can only get worse and more dangerous.  The bill tries to draw a distinction between an ordinary guard and a "shift supervisor," as if a shift supervisor is some exalted person.  In my experience with casino guards, the shift supervisor often has no more intelligence, common sense, or integrity than the monsters he supervises.  Limiting the access to shift supervisors is no safeguard whatsoever.  In the infamous Imperial Palace guards’ assault, kidnapping, and false imprisonment of James Grosjean, the shift supervisor was the main culprit, and the jury assessed damages against him personally.  Senator Nolan wants to give him and others like him access to information not available to the general public that can be used to harass patrons, or worse!  This is unbelievable, even for Nevada.  If a casino or motel security guard misuses this information to stalk, rob, rape, or kill a pretty female patron, or simply to obtain a winning patron’s address to later rob him, the public will be outraged.  In addition to the personal tragedy this will cause, Nevada’s reputation as a safe tourist destination will be so tarnished it may be difficult to recover.
 
What this horrible legislation has the potential to also do is to encourage these guards to think they are somehow part of law enforcement.  The behavior of many casino guards is reprehensible. Their general ignorance of the law and people’s civil rights is painfully obvious to those who have had the unfortunate experience of interacting with some with them.  Giving them authority beyond what other private citizens have is crazy.  Putting private information about patrons into their hands is preposterous. A casino guard is just a private citizen employed by a private business -- nothing more. If Senator Nolan does not come to his senses and withdraw the bill, we can only hope that the others in the Legislature realize the danger and quickly kill this bill.

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Link to R-J story about the bill:  http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2005/Apr-13-Wed-2005/news/26276571.html

Shame on Binion’s and Golden Nugget
I recently praised the new management of Binion's.  Apparently my praise was premature.  Management has gutted the blackjack games,  eliminating some single decks and making the remaining ones unplayable due to constant shuffling. Binion's will lose more from the time wasted shuffling and by antagonizing and driving away patrons then it will ever gain by eliminating skilled play. Another typical case of casino management shooting itself in the foot. Judging from how MTR Gaming has run other properties, I suppose this should be no surprise. Further, I thought management would have removed the ripoff 6 to 5 single decks that Harrah’s installed near the front entrance by now, but the 6 to 5 table is still there. The hoped-for breath of fresh air in downtown turned stale rather quickly.

Golden Nugget has deteriorated, too, cheapening its formerly classy appearance by eliminating its two single deck blackjack games and replacing them with the ripoff 6 to 5 game.  Shame on the Golden Nugget!