Personal Safety

What can we do to stay safe in Vegas or anywhere else? Spending a lot of time in New York City has taught me to be highly aware of my surroundings at all times. What I see especially in Vegas is a lot of sitting ducks-women leaving their purses open and unattended, people flashing cash excessively, men following women down dark alleys etc.

What do you do to stay safe?

The most important thing is being aware of your surroundings, as you said. I normally carry my cash in different pockets and only pull out the amount I intend to use during that session. If I have lost track of the amount I am carrying, I go into a restroom stall to check. NEVER COUNT YOUR MONEY IN PUBLIC. NEVER PULL OUT YOUR ENTIRE BANKROLL TO PEEL OFF A FEW BILLS, unless your goal is to attract hookers and theives.

I've actually gone to Vegas alone twice with no problems (other than my sister backing out on me twice...)

Stick to the Strip. If you stay off-strip, stay in a hotel with a lot going on so when you're there after dark there's stuff to do and places to eat. I'd take a shuttle from the Rio and walk on the Strip or use the monorail during the day, then be back on the shuttle by dusk.

I keep a separate "casino wallet" with just player's club cards and use a purse that goes across my body. If there is money in my purse, it's in a separate zipper pocket so even if you reach in, you get the wallet of player's cards and a hairbrush. The cash I intend to play with is in a front pants pocket so once I sit at a table, that pocket is empty. I keep my room key, ID, and credit card in another pocket. If I need to transfer playing cash to my pocket from the zippered compartment in my purse, I do that in a bathroom stall.

Everything else stays in the room safe. My "real wallet" could probably be used as a weapon with all the grocery cards, school pictures, and loose change stuffed in it, but it goes in the safe.

If you stop and watch the Bellagio fountains or the Mirage volcano or the Sirens show at TI, casually keep a hand on your wallet or keep your purse tight against you. Being aware of your surroundings at all times helps a lot. I don't drink when I gamble and would never drink when I was travelling alone or with only a child with me, like when I take my daughter to Disney World. Watch out especially on those escalators down to the strip. I'll see someone linger at the bottom to try to create a logjam, and they have an accomplice a few people behind them to bump into the folks stuck at the bottom. If someone seems to be dawdling I will just GLARE at them and they move away. They don't want to be identified. I've also found smiling at the porn slappers like "You've got to be kidding me" made them stop trying to hand their stuff to my kids. I think those guys just look at hands and not faces. Make them look at you.

I read your pickpocket story and really can't see how you went wrong. They came at you from all sides, huh?

Consider keeping most of your wallet in the hotel safe. Take with you just your drivers license, one credit card, and cash you need. Consider putting your "real" wallet in say a sock of hidden pocket. Carry a "give up" wallet in your normal pocket. Be smart, you nailed it in that most people are not paying attention to their surroundings. Thieves will watch the crowd and look for the person not paying attention same as a lion looks for a weak antelope. Women moreso seem to get taken in by the city ("Oh, look at how beautiful all this is!") and not realize they are prey. If you are looking up at stuff, say the Freemont St Experience, keep a hand on your wallet pocket at all times.

Doing all of this will not stop a pro determined to take your money. But what it will do is get the pro to move to someone else. Same as having good lokcs and an alarm on your home makes them move to the neighbors.