Casinos and Drunks

One of the things I find myself doing quite often as a manager is dealing with drunks. In some ways they can be quite funny. In other ways, they can be absolutely irritating. Take last night for instance. I had two different drunks to deal with.

Drunk number one is a guy that comes into the casino about once a week. He's a friendly type of drunk, but he gets to you after a while because it's the same old thing each and every time he comes in. After the seventh or eighth drink, I walk up to him and ask him to switch to a non alcoholic beverage. He doesn't have a problem with it and smiles merrily and goes about his gambling with a carefree attitude. Several hours later, he's trying to get someone else to get his drinks for him and it's time for him to leave.

Drunk number two is a kid. Not a punk kid, but still, just two days over his twenty first birthday. Gonna come to Cripple Creek, make his fortune and get drunk while he does so. Thinks it's neat that he gets to drink free as long as he's gambling. After the fifth or sixth drink, he's getting into arguments with well established patrons because he's trying to put money into a machine they are currently playing. Get him out of that situation and he goes and tries something else stupid. After explaining it to him that he can't do that either I finally cut him off before he gets to the really stupid stage and wants to argue over his drinking. Typical young kid thinks the world is a party and he's the main attraction at it. Get him settled down and all's quiet for a while, then he starts getting his buddies to get drinks for him, and so it's time for him to leave.

The thing people don't understand about drinking in casinos in Colorado is that there is a law that states once a person is to the point of visible intoxication, they are not allowed to gamble. It keeps them from doing stupid things like spending more money than they can afford. It also keeps the casinos out of trouble by not getting a person so drunk the drunk tries to sue the casinos for taking advantage of them while they're in a suggestible state.

Well, that's my rant for today. Think I'm gonna go to bed now.