from LVA.com
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A: As we touched upon in the QoD for August 29th regarding filming in casinos, there's a long-standing reluctance to allow any kind of photography in gaming areas. This is partly a security issue, both to stop people recording information that might facilitate a robbery and to prevent possible cheating scams (spycams have been used in the past to transmit information about cards to accomplices located outside the casino, who then relayed the information back to the players, for example).
It's also to prevent potential invasions of privacy and attendant lawsuits. When visiting Las Vegas, a lot of people tell their spouses or bosses that they're going somewhere else, so if they accidentally get caught on camera throwing money around at the gaming tables or cozying up to the babysitter and end up in trouble for it, they may well sue the casino that allowed this to happen. Vegas is all about escapism and letting your hair down, and the presence of cameras can make people nervous when the casino wants them to relax and forget about everyday responsibilities.
So, not surprisingly, a lot of places don't permit photography. In fact, only one casino of those we surveyed allows the taking of photos (almost) anywhere within the interior: San Remo. There, it?s even okay to take a picture of a person at a live table, unless someone at the table objects to it. The only thing you can?t take a picture of is the cashier cage.
Not one casino that we surveyed allows photos to be taken of the cage.
Giving us a solid ?no? on taking pictures anywhere in the casino or gaming areas were: Aladdin, Bally?s, Barbary Coast, Bellagio, Bourbon Street, Casino Royale, Excalibur, Fitzgeralds, Flamingo, Golden Nugget, Luxor, Mandalay Bay, Mirage, New Frontier, New York-New York, Paris, Sam?s Town, Stratosphere, TI, Tropicana, and the Wynn.
Slightly less emphatic, no photo-taking is allowed ?near or of the live gaming areas? at Circus Circus, Four Queens, Fremont, Hard Rock, Gold Coast, Palms, Rio, Riviera, Sahara, and Stardust.
At Caesars Palace, you can?t take any photos of live games, money transactions, or people playing -- basically, anything involving gaming. But it?s okay to take a picture of yourself or anyone you know inside the casino near a statue or other adornment.
None of the properties contacted had an issue with taking a photo elsewhere on the property.
What happens if you try to take photos of a casino other than San Remo? If you?re discreet and quick about it, you can often get away with a snapshot here and there (especially with the advent of camera-phone technology), though as this answer shows, it?s strictly against the policies of almost every casino in town. So what happens if you?re caught trying? It probably varies from casino to casino (and if you have a story on this, let us know). But Huntington Press senior editor Deke Castleman relates the following incident.
?In 1989 I was writing the first edition of
Compass Las Vegas, a guidebook illustrated with dozens of color photographs. I was wandering around town with Michael Yamashita, a National Geographic photographer and a third-generation Japanese-American, who was born and raised in this country and speaks better English than I do. Rather than call PR departments and beg for permission, Michael decided just to take his chances snapping frames of the casinos that caught his eye.
?Well, we got away with it at Tropicana, Riviera, the old Vegas World, even the Mirage, which had just opened. This surprised me, since Michael had all kinds of lenses and cameras hanging around his neck and off of his photographer?s vest -- he wasn?t exactly inconspicuous. But no one paid us any attention until we tried it at Caesars Palace. Immediately, a security guard approached us, wagging his finger back and forth.
?Michael got this startled and curious look on his face, like, What -- we?re doing something wrong?
The security guard explained, ?You can?t take photographs inside Caesars.? Yamashita?s face suddenly registered recognition and, in his most fractured Japanese English, responded, ?Ah so? No pick-chah in ca-sino?? The security guard, most likely,
would have taken him for a Japanese tourist and let us go, figuring he?d gotten his message across. Except that I was laughing so hard, he knew something was amiss. Another guard appeared and the two of them unceremoniously ejected us from Caesars.?
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