{"id":284283,"date":"2023-08-07T20:53:29","date_gmt":"2023-08-08T01:53:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=284283"},"modified":"2023-08-08T10:57:37","modified_gmt":"2023-08-08T15:57:37","slug":"whale-of-a-freakout-blackens-eye-of-major-las-vegas-strip-casino","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/whale-of-a-freakout-blackens-eye-of-major-las-vegas-strip-casino\/","title":{"rendered":"Whale of a Freakout Blackens Eye of Major Las Vegas Strip Casino"},"content":{"rendered":"

A tantrum reportedly thrown by a vengeful high roller this weekend has resulted in a very public black eye for a major Las Vegas Strip casino and a probable major rethink of the perks it extends to its VI-ist of its VIPs going forward.<\/p>\n

\"\"
The first message that a Resorts World big-spender was able to broadcast on the largest billboard on the Las Vegas Strip, thanks to a VIP perk, was perfectly acceptable. But there was also a second message. (Image: Scott Roeben\/Vital Vegas<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The full story was broken by Casino.org<\/em>\u2019s own Vital Vegas<\/em> blogger, Scott Roeben, and it\u2019s worth checking out.<\/a><\/p>\n

In brief, the whale, who, according to Roeben\u2019s anonymous sources, is an Australian tourist named Ben Ralph, was partying at Encore Beach Club on Saturday, August 5, with his usual huge bankroll and corresponding sense of entitlement.<\/p>\n

\n

As day transitioned to into night, he decided to transition to Wynn\u2019s XS Nightclub. Unfortunately for all involved, XS didn\u2019t open for another hour. Ralph, no doubt used to having his every desire fulfilled following a snooty wave of a couple of Benjamins, demanded that the club open early.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Just for him.<\/p>\n

For many obvious reasons, XS couldn\u2019t honor this request, news of which was broken to Ralph by nightclub manager Niko Samarxhiu. For equally obvious reasons, Ralph wasn’t happy to hear it.<\/p>\n

In the argument that ensured, Ralph is alleged to have threatened both Samarxhiu and his family, earning him a lifetime ban from Wynn and a visit from inquisitive Las Vegas police officers to boot.<\/p>\n

Should Have Called it a Night<\/b><\/h2>\n

Instead of heading back to his hotel defeated, Ralph headed across the Strip, to Zouk, the nightclub at Wynn\u2019s competitor, Resorts World. (Wynn Resorts and Resorts World aren’t friendly competitors, either. In 2018, three years before Resorts World opened, Wynn sued it<\/a> for copying its trademarked exterior design.)<\/p>\n

\n

At Resorts World, according to Roeben\u2019s sources, Ralph spent more than $200K on booze and table packages. As part of one of the packages, guests get to write text messages that briefly appear on the massive video screen that basically is <\/em>the side of Resorts World. Ralph\u2019s first message was \u201cBEN\u2019S HOUSE,\u201d which was a perfectly acceptable way for him to retaliate. Though he had no moral standing to do so, only employees at the Wynn were aware of this at the time.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

But Ralph\u2019s second message wasn’t acceptable at all. Yet Resorts World ran it anyway, revealing that basically the largest billboard on the Las Vegas Strip either has no message-vetting process, or a woefully inadequate one.<\/p>\n

It read \u201cFOOD STAMPS FOR NIKO.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
This is undoubtedly one of the last unvetted messages a Zouk nightclub VIP will get to post to the side of Resorts World. (Image: Scott Roeben\/Vital Vegas<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

During his fuming stomp across the Strip, it was later discovered, Ralph had been posting offensive messages about Samarxhiu on Instagram. One called him a \u201cbroke ass immigrant.\u201d<\/p>\n

Too Late for Sorry<\/b><\/h2>\n

Jon Opas, Resorts World\u2019s executive director of lifestyle marketing, told Roeben that the Zouk team was unaware aware of the events leading up to Ralph\u2019s messages. He also said that he apologized to Niko Samarxhiu in person.<\/p>\n

\n

While most Las Vegas nightclub drama is able to fly under the radar, this one played out in the most public way possible. Once a snapshot of the offensive second message appeared on social media, the damage was forever done. Roeben\u2019s tweets about the incident alone have so far generated more than 1.5 million impressions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

It’s too late now for Resorts World to just change its policy or even publicly apologize. At this point, heads are expected to roll.<\/p>\n

As for Ralph, according to Roeben\u2019s sources, you can probably find him partying soon at the Holiday Inn bar. Roeben\u2019s sources say he is now also banned from Zouk, and may also be banned from such Tao Group hotspots as Omnia and Hakkasan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A tantrum reportedly thrown by a vengeful high roller this weekend has resulted in a very public black eye for a major Las Vegas Strip casino and a probable major rethink of the perks it extends to its VI-ist of its VIPs going forward. The full story was broken by Casino.org\u2019s own Vital Vegas blogger, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":78,"featured_media":284285,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[81886,84511],"tags":[87424,87426,87422,87427,84591,23,82012,87425,82138,87419,84590,87423,83157,81941,87421,87420],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhale of a Freakout Blackens Eye of Major Las Vegas Strip Casino - Casino.org<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A tantrum reportedly thrown by a vengeful high roller this weekend has resulted in a very public black eye for a major Las Vegas Strip casino and a\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/whale-of-a-freakout-blackens-eye-of-major-las-vegas-strip-casino\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Whale of a Freakout Blackens Eye of Major Las Vegas Strip Casino - 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