Saftey

Ladies, when we thought of developing this site the issue of security came up right away. This section is not meant to scare or deter you in any way. These are simply some common sense suggestions which probably could be applied to visiting any large tourist city. The fact is, we see women getting careless here in Sin City because, frankly, they come here to let loose and party. With a little simple planning and caution, we can all have a great time with no problems.

Never, NEVER, leave your purse hanging on the back of a bar stool or chair in a casino. There are professional thieves that just look for easy pickings such as this.

Speaking of purses: buy yourself a sturdy but light purse that you can wear with a long strap over your body. Make sure it has a clasp or cover that closes securely. Make it light so you can have it on all day long while walking and not have neck pain. We don’t mean to scare you, but in any city where tourists are present, thieves are looking for carelessness and it only takes a second to lose your purse or wallet.

Along the same vein: there are pick-pockets on the strip and at the Fremont Street experience. Keep your purse on your body and/or your money and ID in a pocket.

Now some good news:  as far as women hanging around together or alone, for that matter, Vegas is one of the safest cities to hang in within the large casino environments. This is due to the superior security in these facilities. If someone is bothering you or your group simply ask for or go seek out a security guard. In some of the more fancy casinos security may be just standing around wearing a suit or a sports coat. They will be happy to come and chase away anyone who is acting obnoxious or weird. We have used security guards many times in casinos. Don’t be intimidated—they are there to help you. But remember, if you are the ones acting obnoxious, they won’t hesitate to kick you out either! We have found that if you are sitting at a bar and have established a “relationship” with your bartender, they will watch out for you as well and you can call on them to contact security for you.

If you win a jackpot: it is only natural to yell and cheer especially if you are in a group. Ladies do it all the time even if they have won 2 quarters! The casinos put up with this because it sounds like people are really winning a lot even if

they aren’t. If you win a big jackpot (we mean like maybe a thousand dollars or more) and you attract a large crowd, just be mindful of your surroundings and people who may “take a sudden interest” in your activities. If you are alone, especially, security will walk you out to your car if you are carrying around jackpot money. Just tell security you would like an escort. Experienced women gamblers don’t make a lot of noise when they hit a jackpot just to protect their privacy. We have had people come up to us and: ask “what are you going to do with ALL that money?”, “who is your accountant?”, and the most frequent, “HOW MUCH DID YOU WIN?” Don’t feel like you have to talk to every stranger that comes up to you. We know you’re here to drink, have fun, and win money, but don’t be careless. If you would like to be super careful, you can ask the casino to pay your jackpot with a check. We don’t get the impression that the casino really likes to do this because they are hoping to get some of that Jackpot back before you leave town, but they have to do it if you want it. Be prepared to wait for as much as a half an hour for the check, but you will get it eventually and not have to worry about walking around with tons of cash on you.

When you are driving on the strip cruising casinos ALWAYS use the valet parking. It’s free and for a couple dollars tip to the valet, it’s worth not having to search for your car in the huge parking garages out here. A valet is just another great way to make sure no one is following you or harassing you on the way out of a property. Valets are also supposed to assist you with any bags and to give you directions if needed.

Don’t be aggravated if a security guard is posted to ask for your key to be shown when getting ready to enter a hotel elevator. This is for your safety so not just any Tom, Dick, and Hairy can follow or roam the halls upstairs. Actually, we prefer to stay at a hotel that asks for key identification.

Again, more common sense: don’t leave expensive looking shopping bags lying all over the floor in a casino. We see this all the time at the bars, especially at expensive properties such as the Bellagio. If you want to chill at a bar, machine, or gaming table, take your bags up to the room first, check them with the bellman, take them back to the valet (you will have to tip them for making an extra trip), or you can sometimes ask the bartender at a larger bar to put a couple bags back behind the bar for you for a while. By the way, this goes for luggage as well. And we don’t like having to trip over other people’s bags when we are out having fun either!

Never, never leave a stranger to “watch” your machine if you have money or a ticket in it. With the ticket system (which most modern casinos have now) there is no excuse not to take your ticket with you to the ladies room or whatever. Most “fellow gamers” or bartenders will not have a problem saving your seat if it’s a busy place, but why take chances by leaving your money behind. This may sound silly, but, again, we see it all the time.

If you are playing somewhere that still uses “coin” machines cash out your coins immediately when you get them in the bucket. Leaving buckets of coins sitting around near your machine is a really bad idea.  Once we were walking around carrying a bucket of coins, set it down, turned away for a minute and it was nowhere to be found–$300 down the drain! Again, we don’t mean to make you paranoid, just use common sense.

Being simple Midwestern gals who learned the right way to vacation in Vegas over many years, we must admit, in the early years, we were shocked to see how many prostitutes and potential customers were hanging around at the bars in the larger hotels at night. This is very common and not discouraged by the casino staff. We have overheard many raunchy conversations at many bars in some really nice places. Our experience indicates that if you are offended by these types of activities or conversations, you will have to find another place to hang.  In 20 years of gaming in Vegas, we have only witnessed 1 “working girl” being questioned by security. Remember this is “sin city” so you have to put up with all the sins sometimes!

When you are traveling to Vegas with large amounts of cash in your purse, put that money in a pocket before you go through airport security. DO NOT leave cash in your purse or wallet as these sometimes get picked up if you get called over for a search by airport personnel.

When walking on the strip, lots of guys will try to stop you to sell you something or hand you a flyer for something. We just ignore these guys and keep on walking. You don’t have to be nice and take all their stuff if you don’t want to.

Most every hotel room in Vegas has a safe. Don’t be afraid to use it—they are simple to operate. Leave large amounts of cash (hopefully big winnings) in your safe. This is a good way to slow down your spending if you have to think about going to your room to get more cash. Also, put ALL of your jewelry in the safe when you leave the room. We don’t bring fancy jewelry with us to the rooms so that’s never been a concern but we have had the maids lift some cool costume jewelry over the years. In short, anything that has value, sentimental or otherwise, keep it in the safe.