Friday the 13th, Strip Club Tacos and a Nightmare on Fremont Street: ‘Secret Life of a Vegas Casino’

^{Golden Nugget security officers escort a man off the casino floor during a chaotic Friday the 13th graveyard shift in the latest episode of “Secret Life of a Vegas Casino.” (Screenshot via Discovery)}

LAS VEGAS – It's Friday the 13th at the Golden Nugget, and somebody thought this would be the perfect night for a new security manager to work his first graveyard shift.

Meanwhile, the director of front services is trying to get one high roller from the airport to the casino. Simple enough, except his passenger seems to think he's booked a personal chauffeur for the weekend.

Welcome back to “Secret Life of a Vegas Casino,” where the only thing scarier than Friday the 13th is whatever comes over the security radio next.

Good-Luck Crystals Won't Save This Shift

Meet Luciano, the Golden Nugget's new security manager, getting a crash course in downtown Vegas nightlife. Veteran security officer Clinton Polk Jr. is helping him learn the ropes, and Fremont Street isn't exactly easing him into the job.

Some employees have their own ways of warding off Friday the 13th bad luck. One has crystals and lucky charms. Another swears by eating mangoes before gambling, claiming he once won $10,000 playing craps without even knowing how the game worked.

And before you judge the crystals and lucky mangoes, a Casinos.com survey found that nearly half of casino-goers carry lucky charms.

Dominic, meanwhile, would probably prefer everyone forget last Friday the 13th. Unfortunately, his coworkers have video of him practically hitting the floor to escape a bat, and they're still replaying it. To be fair, I'd be under the nearest table too.

One Fight, Four People Evicted. Happy Birthday!

Luciano's first real test comes around 12:30 a.m., when security gets called to a disturbance at Troy's Bar. According to someone in the group, another man was flirting with a guest's girlfriend, words were exchanged and things got heated.

The officers separate everyone and tell one angry man to leave. He insists someone else started it, but the casino's rules against fighting and disruptive behavior aren't up for debate.

Then comes the twist: the man says he isn't staying at the hotel. Dispatch checks anyway. Surprise! He's part of a registered party of four.

Now the entire group has to leave, too, so the trespassed man can't sneak back into the room. The other guests insist they didn't do anything wrong. One of them is celebrating a birthday.

Happy birthday! Your present is an unexpected checkout.

Luciano understands why they're upset, but security sticks with the decision. Later, Clinton reviews the footage and points out that Luciano stood dangerously close to the angry guest near a balcony railing. One shove in the wrong direction could have turned a bad night into a serious emergency.

It's barely 1:35 a.m. Luciano still has several hours left in his shift.

The VIP Pickup or Personal Uber?

Across town, Jon Steinman, the Golden Nugget's director of front services, is juggling transportation, valet and bell services. He's got around 30 vehicles on the road, but management has asked him to personally pick up Jamison, a valuable player visiting from the Golden Nugget in Lake Charles.

The idea is to give Jamison such a great first impression that he keeps coming back. Easy enough. At least, that was the plan.

Complimentary airport transportation is already a perk for some Vegas VIPs, but Jamison is about to test just how far that hospitality goes.

First, Jamison wants to stop for cash. Fair. He's here to gamble.

Then he wants liquor. Okay, we're building an itinerary.

Then he's hungry and wants tacos. Jon knows a local spot, so off they go.

Small detail: it's in the parking lot of a strip club.

Of course it is.

Jamison seems thrilled. Jon, meanwhile, is supposed to be running an entire department, not hosting a Vegas bachelor-party scavenger hunt.

Jon tells Jamison to take just one minute inside. One minute turns into one dance, and one dance turns into hours.

As Jon puts it, nobody goes in for just one dance in Vegas.

Back at the hotel, valet is backed up three lanes deep and transportation requests are piling up. Jon approves overtime and sends out more vehicles while Jamison enjoys the nightlife.

At this point Jon should be charging by the hour. Or at least collecting five stars and a generous tip.

Sinatra's Dressing Room, Unlocked

Back at the Golden Nugget, a motion alarm goes off on the Spa Tower's third floor, near the old showroom and Frank Sinatra's former dressing room.

According to security, the showroom was practically built for Sinatra back in Vegas' mob-era heyday. And while Vegas still has plenty of old-school spots keeping the Rat Pack era alive, the Golden Nugget has one particularly strange tradition.

But here's the fun fact: Sinatra reportedly had a rule that the dressing-room door was never to be locked. And according to security, that very door STILL isn't locked to this day.

The officers head into the pitch-black backstage rooms with flashlights, already creeped out by how quiet it is. One mistakes something on a shelf for an actual person and nearly jumps out of his skin. Another keeps losing track of his partner. Suddenly we're watching Ghost Hunters: Golden Nugget Edition.

The intruders? A group of kids messing around. Security gets them out through the stairwell. No Sinatra ghost, no mobsters, just kids making a creepy shift even creepier. Maybe it's time to reconsider that door policy.

Sir, This Is a Slot Machine, Not a Motel 6

Next up: a man sleeping near the slot machines. Security wakes him up and explains the gaming floor isn't a place to catch up on beauty sleep.

His response? Throwing a beer at security employee Maggie.

SIR. YOU WERE THE ONE TAKING A NAP.

Officers take him into custody in connection with the apparent battery. In the holding room, he makes repeated threats and even claims he killed someone in New Jersey in 1989. That's an unverified claim he shouts, not a confirmed crime, but it's certainly a bizarre leap from being told to wake up.

Luciano checks on Maggie, makes sure she can change her uniform and tells his team he's got their backs. Not exactly the first-shift bonding exercise anyone wanted.

Those Friday the 13th crystals are really earning their keep.

A Drunken Dash Through Downtown

Security's next call involves a heavily intoxicated woman stumbling out of the casino. When officers try to check on her, she lifts her dress, flips them off and keeps going.

Things stop being funny when she crosses the street, takes a hard fall and continues into traffic. The Golden Nugget team watches from its property and contacts Metro because they're worried she'll get hurt.

Officers work to arrange someone to pick her up or get her medical attention. It's a reminder that these security shifts aren't just about throwing people out. Sometimes they're about making sure someone gets home safely.

And after all that, Luciano says the night isn't even halfway over. I would already be updating my résumé.

Don't Fight. Seriously, Don't.

Just when Luciano might be getting used to the chaos, dispatch spots a man who's already been trespassed from the property. Officers head to the slots to take him into custody and keep repeating one very reasonable instruction: don't fight.

He fights. During the struggle, the man reportedly punches a security officer in the mouth, leaving him with a busted lip. Because apparently Friday the 13th needed one more souvenir.

The injured officer says he wants to press charges, and Metro and paramedics are called. Security also finds something wrapped in foil among the man's belongings, though they can't identify what's inside. After the beer, the death threats and now a punch to the face, I'm not sure there's room left on Luciano's incident report.

Clinton is impressed with the way Luciano jumps in to help. He's seen managers crumble under the pressure of downtown Las Vegas, but Luciano doesn't hesitate. Despite the fights, arrests and nonstop radio calls, Luciano says he thinks he likes it here.

There's a reason the Golden Nugget ranked second for the friendliest staff among Las Vegas casinos. Although I'm guessing getting beer thrown in your face wasn't part of the job description.

Luciano also jokes that between the beer, blood and possibly puke, his dry-cleaning bill is going to be insane.

Jon's Expensive Free Car Ride

And across town, Jon finally gets Jamison out of the strip club and headed back toward the Golden Nugget. Or so he thinks. Jamison has one more request: a stop at the bank.

(Sir, is there a single errand you didn't run tonight?)

They eventually make it to the casino, where Jamison immediately asks for the host office and someone named Tiffany.

Jon figures all those detours were a test: could he give an ultra-VIP guest the full Vegas experience, no matter how inconvenient? In Jon's words, it may have been the most expensive free car ride ever.

What a Night on Fremont Street

So we've had a birthday party evicted, a bat scare, mystery alarms, a nap that ended in a beer-throwing arrest, a drunk woman running into traffic and a trespasser who allegedly punched security. Meanwhile, one high roller managed to turn an airport pickup into a cash-and-tacos-and-strip-club tour of Las Vegas.

Luciano survived his first graveyard shift. Jon finally delivered Jamison. And the staff's good-luck charms? Honestly, I'd ask for a refund.

See you next week. And maybe pack an extra shirt.

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