10 Things Your Casino Won't Tell You

Below is an excerpt from the book "1,001 Things They Won't Tell You," which was published in May 2009 and highlights popular columns from SmartMoney's long-running "10 Things" feature.

4. “Smell that? It’s subliminal relaxation.”

Taking a cue from retailers, casinos often circulate oils and scents through their ventilation systems to try to put gamblers in a good mood. At 500,000 square feet, the gaming/hotel section of the Mohegan Sun complex in Uncasville, Conn., is the largest scented building in the world. It has more than a dozen different smells circulating within its walls, says Mark Peltier, cofounder of AromaSys, the firm that installed the system. And The Venetian casino in Las Vegas, also an AromaSys client, circulates an array of herbal scents, including lavender, throughout the casino floor.

Why the olfactory overload? It’s generally believed that people will stay longer—and therefore spend more—in a place with a pleasant smell, says Peltier. The scents have no known harmful side effects, but be aware that it might be more than just the free drinks making you feel so happy-go-lucky.

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Posted: 11:06 PM EST January 04, 2010

Posted by: BlueSkunk12

The statement "They can ask you to leave for any-or no-reason" is true of any business. So there is no reason it would not be true for Casinos. They don't even have to tell you why. Just that they want you to leave now, so that means you have to leave now.

Posted: 7:27 AM EST October 12, 2009

theOriginalGateKeeper

1 Comments

In your article, you placed the following statement, "according to I. Nelson Rose, a gambling law expert at Whittier Law School in Costa Mesa, Calif. In some states such as Nevada and New Jersey, casinos can also ask a guest to leave for any—or no—reason. If you refuse, they can have you arrested for loitering."
Well, Mr. Rose was trying to purposely mislead you. Having spent the better part of nearly 20 years in the N.J. casino industry, I can tell you that statement is not quite accurate. If you are caught "card counting" in a NJ casino, the law DOES NOT permit the casino from banishing you from the property. The law ONLY allows for the casino to take limited action, i.e. lowering the maximum, shuffling the deck at anytime, and restricting the player to 1 betting square. We COULD NOT prevent somebody from playing. The law in NJ does NOT allow for it. I know this full well because for 8 of those near 20 years in the casino industry, I was on the "Count Team". That is a group of...(Read more of this comment)

Posted: 11:10 PM EST June 01, 2009

Posted by: davidhb

This is a rather peculiar article for a "Money" management magazine. I would expect that the best advice is just stay away. Perhaps we can now look forward to articles such as "Ten things your prostitute wont tell you"

DB

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