Disability Guide to Visiting Las Vegas to Play Slots
Ian C. Langtree - Writer/Editor for Disabled World (DW)
Published: 2010/02/01 - Updated: 2023/11/21
Publication Type: Informative
Topic: Accessible Games and Gaming - Publications List
Page Content: Synopsis - Introduction - Main
Synopsis: Accessibility information for the disabled and seniors with mobility problems wanting to visit Las Vegas to play slot machines. Nevada has over 10,000 severely disabled in wheelchairs, and 55,000 residents have been issued permanent handicapped parking rights. With today's Las Vegas population, approximately 81,000 residents are disabled, and out of the 36 million people that visited Las Vegas this year, 2.8 million were disabled!
Introduction
Did you know some 43,000,000 Americans have one or more physical or mental disabilities, which is increasing as the population grows older? That means that one in every 5.8 Americans had at least one disability.
Main Item
Nevada has over 10,000 severely disabled in wheelchairs, and 55,000 residents have been issued permanent handicapped parking rights. With today's Las Vegas population, it means that approximately 81,000 residents are disabled, and out of the 36 million people that visited Las Vegas this year, 2.8 million were disabled!
Accessible Casinos in Las Vegas
Las Vegas casinos treated the disabled as first-class citizens even before the ADA told them they had to.
Kerkorian built the Las Vegas Hilton and the MGM (Now Bally's) with ramps to accommodate wheelchairs. Wheelchairs were also kept on hand and were easily signed out for the use of hotel and casino guests. Security personnel were available to push ill or injured guests from one location to another.
All new casinos and hotels fully comply with ADA when they open for business. So, too, are all of the new restaurants, stores, and office buildings, supermarkets have electric carts that will be loaned to the wheelchair-bound or seniors that have difficulty walking, and parking spots for the disabled are all over the valley. Las Vegas is excellent accessibility-wise for disabled visitors.
Las Vegas Hotels
All Vegas hotels are disabled accessible.
Room designs and special services vary among hotels. Talk to the hotel concierge for any special requests or needs.
Many hotel pools have lifts available to assist guests with disabilities - ask the hotel reservations agent when booking a room.
Disability Transportation
There are several companies in Vegas that offer transportation for visitors in wheelchairs:
- Nevada Medi-Car: (702) 382-5820
- Showtime Shuttle: (702) 261-6100
- Las Vegas Transportation: (702) 248-2631
Wheelchair Rentals
There are a few companies in town that offer wheelchair or scooter rentals for visitors:
- Scootaround: (888) 441-7575
- Scooters4Less Inc.: (877) 524-5308
- Ability Center: (702) 434-3030
- Active Mobility: (702) 736-4399
- Medical N Mobility: (702) 233-3770
- Mesa Medical: (702) 263-8511
- Universal Mobility Equipment:(800) 852-3006
- Better Life Mobility Center: (702) 876-9606
- Desert Medical Equipment:(702) 876-9171
- Las Vegas Wheelchairs:(888) 678-6267
For many elderly and even not so older adults, playing slots is still the most enjoyable and relaxing form of gambling. With this in mind, we have compiled some interesting slot machine facts and fiction.
- The slot machine was invented in 1895 by Charles Fey of San Francisco, California.
- The first slot machine was called Liberty Bell. Three bells in a row produced the biggest payout to the grand sum of ten nickels. Still, slots did not become popular until Bugsy Siegel installed them in his Flamingo Hilton hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, resulting in overnight success and a thriving gaming device industry.
- Slot machines are known in the UK as fruit machines, in Australia as poker machines (pokies), and in the USA as slot machines. Slot machines are commonly found in pubs, clubs, arcades, and casinos.
- Slot machines owe a lot of their popularity because they can be played at the player's own pace with no skill required. They have evolved over the years from simple three-reel machines with each reel containing 20 symbols to the random number generated machines in today's casinos, with each reel sometimes containing hundreds of symbols.
- Today, these so-called 'one-armed bandits can be found in casinos worldwide in hundreds of different models and coin denominations to suit every player, including mechanical reels, electro-mechanical video, and the new touch screen styles. With just a touch on the screen, you can change from poker games to slots, from three to nine reels, or other games such as 21 (Blackjack), Keno, Video Poker, or Poker Bingo.
- The game's object is to win money from the machine. The game usually involves matching symbols on mechanical reels that spin and stop to reveal one or several symbols on a video screen. Casinos offer slot machines with denominations from $.01 or penny slots up to $100.
- Slot machines have various winning combinations of symbols. If a player matches a certain combination, the slot machine "pays out" either in cash or as different games. Nine-line slots with a bonus round and scattered symbols (scatters) are becoming popular. Most accept variable amounts of credit to play with. The higher the amount bet, the higher the payout will be.
- Most slot machines are programmed to pay out between 80 and 99 percent of coins (including jackpot payoffs). Although several machines may be located beside each other and look the same, they could be programmed to payout an entirely different percentage rate.
Related Information
- Reasons Why Slots are Not Random - Why, in my opinion, slot machines are not as random as casinos say they are.
- You may also be interested in meeting new friends by playing online bingo with chat - Free Online Bingo
- Another article of interest - Online Casinos - Accessible to the Elderly and Disabled
Remember - Slot players don't lose because they never win; they lose because they don't quit when they're ahead.
Author Credentials: Ian was born and grew up in Australia. Since then, he has traveled and lived in numerous locations and currently resides in Montreal, Canada. Ian is the founder, a writer, and editor in chief for Disabled World. Ian believes in the Social Model of Disability, a belief developed by disabled people in the 1970s. The social model changes the focus away from people's impairments and towards removing barriers that disabled people face daily. To learn more about Ian's background, expertise, and achievements, check out his bio.