Bomb "Threat" at Sands PA Casino last week

Evidently, there was an unidentified "package" left in the parking garage of the Sands casino in PA last Wednesday around 3 pm. I had the pleasure of enduring this supposed threat by being forced to remain in the building, as the place was on lockdown until the threat was neutralized. However, that did NOT include ceasing all gambling activities within the establishment until said package was inspected and removed. A mass of people gathered by the exit(s), asking an assortment of questions like "Why can't we leave this place if there's a bomb in the building?" "Who's gonna pay for my car if it explodes?" etc.

Now I can understand in this day and age why any kind of explosive threat has to be taken seriously, especially given recent events on the East Coast.
But if they were REALLY concerned with the safety of the patrons, why wouldn't they actually shut the place down and have EVERYONE move to another part of the building or even EVACUATED from a potential disaster? Or why not re-locate everyone temporarily to the Hotel Room area which is in a separate building entirely?

Are they really that robotic and desperate for money that they keep operating when there's a possible explosive device 200 ft away from the entrance?

And the ones continuing to throw their money away during this, are they really so de-sensitized to chaos and misfortune they aren't bothered by it?

Just seems poorly handled by the Management to allow table games to continue operating and people to be gathered by the entrance way if they were TRULY concerned about a bomb threat.

Did you feel like you were being held hostage? I'm not familiar with the casino, but was there not somewhere else you could exit and were they locking the exits? In my mind I imagine all the casinos and there are always so many exits you could walk the other way to get away from it. Then of course, you start thinking about diversions and there could be a bigger bomb the other way, like in the movies. Who would have thought a bomb scare increases profits? Silly world we live in.

Nah. Keep people in the casino for awhile that way no one enters the garage in any manner or drives a car past the bomb squad or something.

At most its a "suspicious package" until its examined and the threat is local. Make use of that 300 feet and make use of a very good crowd control technique: give them something to do in the interim: gamble.

Quote: BedWetterBetter

Evidently, there was an unidentified "package" left in the parking garage of the Sands casino in PA last Wednesday around 3 pm. ...
But if they were REALLY concerned with the safety of the patrons, why wouldn't they actually shut the place down and have EVERYONE move to another part of the building or even EVACUATED from a potential disaster?

As a good faith scenario, I would expect that their techs have determined from the size of the package that it could not have contained a nuclear device, and a chemical explosive of its size would not sufficiently impact the building's structural integrity as to cause significant injury to its occupants.

Quote: P90

As a good faith scenario, I would expect that their techs have determined from the size of the package that it could not have contained a nuclear device, and a chemical explosive of its size would not sufficiently impact the building's structural integrity as to cause significant injury to its occupants.

Ditto.

Having been to the Sands many times, it seemed to me that, based on the description of he bomb and location, shutting access to the garage was more than enough precaution.

Maybe, MAYBE, also close the restaurant whose exterior wall is closest to the package. But that's about it.

Besides, with the mentality of most gamblers, evacuation is not necessarily the best option.
Details: https://wizardofvegas.com/forum/off-topic/general/8768-emergency-casino-shudown-and-evacuation-procedures/

Quote: BedWetterBetter

Just seems poorly handled by the Management to allow table games to continue operating and people to be gathered by the entrance way if they were TRULY concerned about a bomb threat.

Most people don't know what to do in case of a possible bomb. I won't claim I do, as all I'd be able to think of doing would be to call the police, and leave the area as fast as I could run.

That said, I would be willing to bet everything I own that if left alone, better than half the patrons at the casino would have rushed to the parking garage to get their cars first (people are like that sometimes).

And what if they kept the casino going? Would you rather have thousands of people temporarily confined with nothing at all to do? Further, who ordered the lockdown? It may have as well been the police. Suppose they thought the perpetrator might be there? We don't have enough to go on.

Just as an aside, you might want to read about the MGM hotel fire: started in a Delicatessen area and spread with a great deal of smoke into the ventillation shafts and spread across the casino well like wildfire, but despite announcements people would not leave their games or their chips.

Quote: onenickelmiracle

Did you feel like you were being held hostage? I'm not familiar with the casino, but was there not somewhere else you could exit and were they locking the exits? In my mind I imagine all the casinos and there are always so many exits you could walk the other way to get away from it. Then of course, you start thinking about diversions and there could be a bigger bomb the other way, like in the movies. Who would have thought a bomb scare increases profits? Silly world we live in.

Certainly didn't appreciate being given limited details and NOT allowed to leave the premises for any reason.

They blocked off pretty much every exit I tried, and lucky me my car was in the garage where the package was located. So I couldn't drive away until the matter was resolved.

My gripe was that, if this was in fact a legit threat, why are the needless table games allowed to run the ENTIRE time? They should have suspended activity for a little while, if not the through the entire ordeal.

But like you said, it was an opportunity for them to increase profits and gave compulsive gamblers an excuse not to leave the tables/machines.

Like I said, it doesn't surprise me that they didn't interrupt the gaming activity. I really believe there was no danger to those inside.

But it DOES shock me that they wouldn't let a Nervous Nellie leave thru, say, the hotel or retail front door.


For those not familiar with the Sands, the layout is not like a typical hotel/casino. There's the 6 story garage, next to it is the casino, with restaurants all around the perimeter. At the end of the food court (on the side furthest from the garage) is a rather long corridor with upscale retail, with another corridor next to it with a couple more restaurants, then meeting rooms and small event venue, followed by the hotel elevator. The front desk is down one level, and the hotel has it's own surface parking. (About 1/2 mile further is the Steel Stacks large concert venue.)

The very weird thing is, there is an avenue that travels over the middle of the building. Check out this Google view.

I have been in about 10 bomb threat evacuations in my life, every one of them was a complete waste of time. Unless a bomber is holding out for money or some other blackmail they seem to be attention seekers. Real bombers want the terror more than the disruption.

Quote: AZDuffman

I have been in about 10 bomb threat evacuations in my life, every one of them was a complete waste of time. Unless a bomber is holding out for money or some other blackmail they seem to be attention seekers. Real bombers want the terror more than the disruption.

I guess the first thing I would say is that I have no problem with them keeping the Tables going, it doesn't force anyone to play, but if one is going to be stuck in there anyway, he might as well have the option. Maybe lower all minimums to $1.00 during the pendency of the bomb threat for S's&G's.

I've been through two of them, and the second one was really a mess, and neither of them were pleasant! I actually got into minor trouble on both occasions!

The first one is when I was fifteen years old and there was a bomb threat at my new High School, on my very first day there!!! My Mom, sister and I had just moved, so it was my first day at the new high school. Everyone was evacuated from the building and sent to the parking lot, but I decided it would be a really good opportunity for me to learn where everything in the school was, so I dropped out of line and ducked into a stairway (The entrance to every stairway in this school was behind a door).

Inevitably, I was found by an officer after about ten minutes, which was unsurprising because I was openly roaming the halls. He asked me what I was doing, and I explained I was a new student and had simply gotten lost, so he walked me outside.

The second bomb threat was where I went to college, and they were worried that one was serious because someone had parked a pick-up truck with a tarp over it and called in stating that is where the bomb was. Anyway, they evacuated everyone from the building I was in, (I was in the computer lab in that building) but they never checked the restrooms. There were only two people in the computer lab besides me, and I had gone to the restroom to do something that takes longer than the other thing you can do. I returned to the computer lab and nobody was in there, but that didn't really alert me to anything because there were only two other people in there in the first place.

I probably took twenty minutes (or so) finishing what I was doing in the computer lab, and by the time I got outside, there was police tape around the entire building I had just left. I tried to leave the building and go under the police tape without being noticed, but they were all over me. They briefly questioned what I was doing, which I explained, and then they let me go about my business.

Everyone was prevented from leaving the premises for a time, but then they decided to let people leave if they had a car, as long as they stated that they didn't need to come back until it was over. The thing that sucked was we couldn't get back into the dorm building, and I had just run over to the computer lab to take care of something I had forgotten before getting a shower, so I was in my pajama pants, T-Shirt and flip-flops. I had grabbed my wallet and car keys, though, so I opted to set out on the town in my pajamas rather than stand around and do nothing in my pajamas.

The worst part of what happened was that (in addition to working as a hotel desk clerk full-time) I also worked the cushy job of overnight Fri/Sat doing campus security. They found out about me being stopped and questioned by police for being behind the tape, and asked me what happened. I explained that nobody had checked the bathrooms when looking for people, so I had no idea what was going on. They didn't believe me, and so I was dismissed from campus security, but they made me a lab monitor, same shift, in one of the computer labs...so that was okay. It only lasted a week, anyway, because I got promoted to manager of the hotel I worked at after that.

Most of the people involved dont know what is going on and are not the type to be inclined to be informative or cooperative anyway.

Quote: Mission146

[..]and then they let me go about my business.

I thought that was what got you in trouble in the first place ;)

Quote: Nareed

Quote: Mission146

[..]and then they let me go about my business.

I thought that was what got you in trpuble in the first place ;)

Well played!