PLAYERS TALK

WHEN TOO MUCH IS TOO MUCH

Plus: Responses To The Question In May’s Issue

Dear Players Talk, The question I’m asking is why do [the casinos] serve people drinks when they are already drunk? Don’t they see their bartenders doing the wrong thing? I see they continue to sell people drinks all the time. I even had an argument with one of [the employees] because a guest was already drunk. Afterall they are the ones selling the guest all the drinks they wanted!

Please ask management to check the bartenders carefully. I don’t want to be on the road with drunk drivers. I enjoy going to the casinos but I want to be safe when I go home. Thank you for your time and I enjoy reading the Arizona Gaming Guide each month.

Margaret Quiroz—Tucson, AZ

Hi Margaret! Thanks for writing in with your concern. The topic you write about is certainly valid. All of us want to feel safe inside a casino, and on our way home. Fortunately, casino staff, including bartenders, are trained to detect intoxicated patrons. As you can imagine, this can become challenging for employees to track when a casino is busy and when there may be staffing problems at the bar. So, things happen.

However, security personnel and other employees on the casino floor are on the lookout for intoxicated guests. That’s part of their job too. So, you may not be aware that people who appear to be drunk are then escorted by other casino staff in a variety of ways. We’ve witnessed security assisting patrons back to their hotel rooms. We’ve also seen security request assistance from staff who are EMTs to determine if there may be medical issues involved. On other occasions, we’ve observed security arranging transportation back home for patrons who have indulged a little too much. And, we’ve also seen Tribal Police get involved in situations concerning alcohol as well. Hopefully our response alleviates some of your very valid concerns. We appreciate your message (so do the casinos) and thanks for writing in Margaret!

Editor’s Note: Last month's question from a reader about slot videos that are posted online, and our reply, produced an overwhelming response. What follows is a small selection that is representative of the emails, letters, and messages we received. Overall, it seems a majority of our readers and fans agree with how we feel and the issues we raised.

I used to like watching these slot videos. Now I can’t stand the interactions and comments. The flirting, weird comments, the drama, random opinions, fights and more is just too annoying. Now I just watch the videos made by the slot companies on their websites.

Carla Shaffer—Tucson, AZ

Watching someone else play a slot in a casino that I can’t get to is just dumb. All I care about is playing my games at [my favorite casinos].

Bob Witkowski—Sahuarita, AZ

I never thought about watching someone else play slots online. So I checked out a few videos. I’m not doing that again. That’s not real and it’s not fun. I’ll stick to watching my cooking and healthy living videos. And, when I have the itch to play a slot, I’ll go to [my favorite casino]. I’m not going to my iPad and watch someone else play.

Marie T.—Mesa, AZ

Like I believe everything I see in the latest Spiderman movie or on the news either! Whatever. That’s just a bunch of overproduced noise.

Joe Schneider—Cave Creek, AZ

You wrote about internet slot videos in the May issue. While I don’t agree with everything in your response (most of it I do), you do know these videos are set up by the casinos, right? J.J. Scott Thomas—Golden Valley, AZ

I asked around and the videos you talk about are all paid for by the casinos. That’s not even [their] money they are playing with. It’s just like in the old days when the casinos used to pay people to sit in the casino and play all day long screaming “I won” just to attract attention.

Wayne Carlton—Yuma, AZ

Thank you for writing about recording videos in casinos. I don’t like it when I see people recording in the casinos because I don’t feel comfortable in general when people have their cameras out taping random things. I don’t want to be a part of their video. Especially not when I’m [playing at the casino] and they can post all over the internet. I like my privacy, thank you.

Linda D.—Chandler, AZ

Thank you to all our readers and fans for your questions and comments. We appreciate you! Have Fun & Good Luck! $