Casino Workers Share Their Saddest Stories, And They Are Heartbreaking

People often show their worst side in casinos.

Stephanie

• Published in Interesting
• July 18, 2024

According to The National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG), around 5 million Americans are considered compulsive gamblers. Sadly, only around 8 per cent of these affected people will ever seek help for their addictions.

It can often be difficult for the loved ones of such individuals to recognize that they have a problem because addicted gamblers frequently lie about their habits. But there's no denying that gambling is a monumental problem in the US and, indeed, the world over.

There are roughly 1,500 to 2,200 casinos across the United States alone, and with such easy access for gamblers, it's no surprise that the crisis has become so severe. Casinos provide the perfect environment for compulsive gamblers to pass their time after all.

When Reddit user u/brew2brew asked casino workers in the Reddit community to share their saddest stories, the shocking responses came rolling in. Casino staff from everywhere began sharing stories about the most devastating things they've seen while on the job.

From adult diapers being flushed down the toilet to people gambling away their entire life savings to attempted fraud and people actually passing away at the machines, you can check out 20 of the most heartbreaking stories from casino workers below.

The Redditor asked casino workers what the saddest thing is that they've seen.

1. Tears, bad smells, and attempted murder

Way too many in 10 years of dealing table games. I’ve seen people lose a lot of money until they cried at my table, people sitting at machines and being there the next day I came to work smelling like actual shit, a regular always brought her disabled kid in a wheelchair and put them next to her while she gambled for almost a day each time.

I had a guy who clearly had dementia at my table and even with complaints they still allowed him to play. He could barely make hand signals and kept forgetting we were in the middle of hands. It didn’t help that he was tipping the beverage server well so he got massively over-served alcohol.

Reports on these people should have made it so they couldn’t continue doing this stuff but it never actually changed anything.

The worst was a few tables away from me a guy’s girlfriend was trying to get him to leave and he got so pissed he tried to choke her to death right at the table. He ran from security into the woods behind the casino and killed himself.

- wickedstorm1989

2. In it for the long haul

3. Any given Tuesday

4. Self-exclusion at its finest

I worked at a casino over a decade ago, but here's mine: Somebody won a small jackpot, something like $2000.

When checking her ID for tax paperwork it was discovered that she had put herself on the state's problem gambler self-exclusion list, which meant the casino was obligated to remove her from the building without paying (she wouldn't have been allowed in the building if she had been recognized).

While double checking the manager downloaded an updated list (we auto-checked against a local copy that was sometimes a few days out of date) and it showed that she had removed herself from the list with sufficient notice, so the jackpot was paid out.

She proceeded to put every penny of the jackpot back into the slot machine... And also made a couple visits to the ATM... And at the end of her stay she asked the cashiers if she could be put back on the self-exclusion list.

- Captainpatch

5. Don't jump!

8. Pure desperation

I was driving cross country for work and stopped in West Memphis for the night. Went to the casino to burn a few hours. From my machine I saw a lady playing slots with tears running down her face. I heard her scream and looked up to realize the machine hit zero and she started bawling uncontrollably.

She was screaming that she had nothing left and to please have her money back. Got removed by security. I hit for $150 and cashed out but the walk to my car was terrifying. I'm not a target demographic for mugging, but the desperation on people's faces was noticeable. Never going there again.

- surfsnower

9. That would be fraud, ma'am

Ex-casino worker here. I saw way too many people spend ridiculous amounts of money on gambling. I've seen little kids asleep in chairs outside the casino floor cause their parents were busy gambling. A gentleman had a heart attack at a poker table and other gamblers were pissed cause we had to stop the games so EMS could come.

Saddest one though was a lady who wanted to cash a check made out to the electric company. She wanted to know if she could scratch out the company name and write in the casino name. I told her we could not do that.

- Dark_Eyed_Girl

10. Addiction is rough

Former casino worker of 20 years.

I’ve seen a lot of things, but this one stands out to me. I was the games manager on shift and there was a lady in her 40s playing blackjack. She had been there a few hours and had made quite a few trips to the ATM and her buy ins were getting into the thousands of dollars.

I was doing paperwork in the pit when a dealer called me over while the lady was on another ATM trip and said she was crying just before. I kept an eye on her and after she lost a few more hands I could see the tears start and she was silently crying while playing.

I went up and as discreetly as possible, asked her if she was ok and offered help through our partnered addictions help program. She looked me right in the face and got mad at me for asking and told me she’s fine and to leave her alone.

She was making staff very uncomfortable at that time and it was obvious she was crying more and more as she continued to play and lose. I made the decision to ask her to leave for the night and comped her cab ride home. I tried again to offer her information to organizations to help with her gambling again, but still not interested.

Addictions are heartbreaking to see and I really hope she was able to get help.

- spades56

11. A sad state of affairs

12. It's no place for a child

13. Rinse and repeat

Not a worker but…

Back when casino boats used to actually cruise the river, every Friday night we went there was a guy who would grab a $1 poker machine, feed a hundred dollar bill, lay his face down and hit Max bet. Rinse and repeat, 1,2,5 times, once we saw 10 times. Never saw him win a penny.

Cruises were 1 hour 15 minutes, he took about 10-25 minutes max, would get done, leave the machine to take a seat by the gangway exit.

- Koolest_Kat

14. Robbed at gunpoint

Video poker casino, i worked graveyard shift,10pm - 6am, and we got robbed at gunpoint one night. We had about 5 people there playing. The robber disarmed the security guard and forced all the people to go to the ground.

So they did their thing and fled. I am sitting in the cage, smoking stressfully waiting on the cops and those 5 people fucking got up and went right back to their games. Cops were in questioning them, and they are just playing away.

I am in the cage talking to the cops and my boss while they are dusting for prints and such, and these people just keep coming to change out money. I quit the job the next day.

- No_Self_Eye

15. "What is this?"

You wanna hear about the guy who looked at mashed potatoes with a label that said mashed potatoes and then looked me dead in the eye and said "What is this?" While gesturing towards the mashed potatoes.  

American accent. White guy. How has he never seen mashed potatoes before? This was in 2008 and it's stuck with me since. 

Or about the guy who literally lost 125,000$ and the casino gave him...a hotel room and a free buffet meal. He was quite an unhappy customer. 

- JurassicParkTrekWars

16. The saddest end

17. "I have to watch my money!"

I was a bartender in a local casino and especially older people would sit at my bar 8-10 hours a day, feeding money into the bar top machines, all while talking about their homes being foreclosed on, their lights getting shut off, etc. T

hey got free pop, coffee, juice, and then after feeding all this money in them, would tell me, "Sorry I cant tip you, I have to watch my money!".. not even a damn dollar. I had to quit because the whole scene went against what I believe.

My next door neighbor came in one day and asked me if I could lend them $300.00 cause this machine was "getting ready to hit". He said he was in there to win money to pay his light bill. That was a big fat NO!

- Altruistic_Fondant38

18. A vicious cycle

Used to be a supervisor in a casino. Anything $10,000.01 or more I had to hand pay with a security supervisor. $25k+ had to be paid by check, which could be cashed for up to $50k.

Had a guy win $125k. He cashed out $50k of it, tossed it all back in the machines that night. The rest went in over the next month. This was a guy that really could have used that money to better his life too.

- MyBatmanUnderoos

19. Too many to mention

There’s the women who would try to sell their jewelry in the bathroom to get money to keep playing. The little boy calling for his mommy from the edge of the gaming floor.

The guy who called his kid from the table with some lie as to why he couldn’t be at his birthday party that day. The guy who died on the table and the player waiting for a seat who stepped over him. I could go on. Unfortunately.

- HopefulLioness

20. Flushing diapers

It's certainly eye-opening to read about what goes on in many casinos. The gambling crisis in America is undoubtedly worse than ever before, and people's lives are being destroyed by their addictions.

What are your thoughts on these stories? Are there any that stood out to you?

As always, we would love to hear your stories too. You can share them with us in the comment section.

Stephanie