For 110 years, Las Vegas has stood in the desert as a monument to the sheer weirdness of human potential. It's a collection of impossible structures shining in the middle of a wasteland, a bunch of windowless buildings where you can go if you want to lose money according to the vicious laws of probability. Casinos are traps, everyone knows this, and yet Vegas attracted more than 41 million visitors in 2014. But how do these places part patrons from their money? How does the gambling machine work, hour by hour? I spent 24 hours in the D Hotel and Casino to find out.
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The D—yes, really, "the D"—sits smack dab in the middleof Fremont Street, the heart of Old Vegas. Atomic-era neon fills the tightly packed streets here, in stark contrast to the gaudy, ultra-modern behemoths that comprise the Ocean's Eleven version of Vegas down the Strip. Fremont is in the midst of a concerted revitalization effort, with its legacy casinos getting facelifts and CEOs like Zappos's Tony Hsieh pouring hundreds of millions into sections like "Fremont East," a hip enclave that's the Vegas answer to Williamsburg or Silver Lake.That's to say this slice of Vegas is quieter, or less VEGAS, BABY, than some parts of town and therefore maybe the best place for a relative gambling newbie like me to watch the never-ending festivities for an entire day and night. In any case, that's what I did. Here's how it went.
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I ask him to just take me on his normal rounds, and we start our little Sorkin walk-and-talk going through the kitchen area that connects the D Grill and Andiamo Steakhouse, the fancier eatery on the property. Derek shows me the keg room and the wine room and food storage, and I have to wonder if he's really in there on the regular checking ranch-dressing expiration dates.What I observe as he goes through each zone is how he interacts with almost everyone. He thanks bartenders for "a phenomenal Thursday night," he asks how a cook's kids are. Even a janitor greets him with what seems to be a non-perfunctory "Hello, boss!" Derek tells me the property has 1,100 employees. I don't find it hard to believe at all that he's interacted with each and every one of them.
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Derek's approachability extends to the patrons as well. A table of high rollers seated in Andiamo motion him over, and he glad-hands like a seasoned politician. He tells me about the car giveaways he does, the most recent one offering a Dodge Charger Hellcat."So you just buy a flashy car for yourself through the company, drive it around for fun a while, and then give it away as a prize. And then repeat?" I ask."Yeah, pretty much," Derek chuckles.
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"No fights here are premeditated," Derek says. "Think about it: There's a billion cameras. This is the worst place in the world to fight or steal something. Something like that has happened maybe once before since we opened."Unfortunately, biomaterial (usually puke) spilled in a public setting like this requires a clean-up crew to jump through a fuck-ton of hoops to deal with the situation. Derek grimaces at the paperwork and hassle this tussle is going to cause him.Cynthia and I have a show to catch and Derek has matters to attend to, so we thank him for his time and tell him we'll rendezvous at the bar later.
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