Casinos are busy, crowded places attracting thousands of people who are looking for entertainment during their vacation or just a fun place to spend the weekend with their friends and family.
Usually, most of the casinos are designed to have a lot of open space so the visitors can walk freely and look around at the other games and attractions.
As much as the fun part sounds great, the constant wandering, drink service, and extremely polished floors could cause visitors to fall and sustain serious injuries. These types of accidents happen a lot more than you think and can lead to rehabilitation years after the injury or, in the worst-case scenario, long-term care.
Informing yourself about legal actions and understanding the risk of reckless drinking that can cause falls is a major step in preventing accidents from happening.
Spilled Drinks
One of the main reasons that can cause the incidents to happen is spilled drinks. Guests usually leave their drinks unsupervised, on the corner of the table/bar, and forget about them.
Also, people are typically distracted in the casinos by talking with others, playing the games, or just checking the whole place out and not focusing on what’s in front of them, and if the floors are wet or slippery. Just a small spill or a combination of cleaning agents can be super dangerous if the person is not careful and responsible.
Moreover, if the person is older, combined with bad vision and not so great reflexes, the situation can be even worse depending on the health state of the injured person.
The personnel should be prepared for such cases and trained on how to react when the accident occurs.
Lighting
The interiors in casinos are usually designed to draw attention to the gaming tables and large TV screens in order to entertain the visitors and persuade them to play.
In most cases, the place has dimmed lights, strong, bright colors like red on the screens, blackout curtains, etc. All of the above can camouflage the spilled drinks, especially on dark tiles or dark colored floors in general.
It can also reduce visibility, so people who normally have great vision could still trip on a carpet, uneven flooring, or different objects standing in their way. The bright lights might even cause dizziness, blurred vision, or, in worst-case scenarios, a seizure.
The owners of the casinos need to make sure that they have proper lighting that will not cause poor vision and therefore injury to guests.
Uneven Floor/Carpets
Most of the casinos are luxuriously decorated with elegant pieces and a mysterious atmosphere that can attract the consumers. The elegant pieces that contribute to the whole mysterious vibe are decorative velvet carpets, which can move over time due to frequent movement.
The edges will curl little by little and cause people to trip over them in a fall.
Combined with several stairs, if the casino has one, and small objects that are difficult to see in the dark, even though it doesn’t seem like a place where a person could be seriously injured, it is possible, and unfortunately, it does happen.
Maintenance workers are responsible for clearing the path and should notice any bumps or uneven spots that would cause damage.
Risky Food Areas
Most casinos serve free drinks and have high-quality restaurants serving delicious food.
Yet, this instantly makes it a place prone to more spills and slippery floors. The majority of the staff working in restaurants have proper uniforms, such as non-slippery shoes, precisely because of the slipping incidents.
This is obviously not the first thing visitors think of when packing for a fun night in the casino.
Nevertheless, it is very important to think about all the spilled drinks, ice, sauces, and the number of people coming in and out of the restaurants, increasing the possibility of the accident.
Legal Actions in Casino Injuries
Casinos are usually run by large corporations that are used to such incidents and, for this very reason, have installed security cameras to protect themselves from accusations that could occur if the guest injures themselves.
This makes the situation tricky itself because getting the surveillance footage may require legal action.
If you’re a guest who found himself in this situation, you should gather all the necessary information that occurred during the accident and find a lawyer who specializes in casino slip and fall cases to see if you might have a case here.
You’ll likely need to prove that the casino already knew about the circumstances and refused to act on them; but leave that to the experienced lawyer that’s representing you – if they specialize in such (or similar) cases, they’ll already know what the entire process will look like and they’ll know what the best, or at least the most optimal, approach will be.
Conclusion
Slip and fall injuries are often, but are more likely to happen in places like casinos where guests could be distracted by bright screens, fall due to uneven flooring, spills, or poor lighting. It is extremely important that anyone involved in such a case takes immediate legal action.
It is the management’s responsibility to make sure the guests are safe and enjoy their stay, and guests’ right to hold them accountable if they want to.
