I'm Pissed Off at Winstar Casino's Security Guards

[Chung Tran]

I take a few relatives to Winstar every 3 months, or so, because they are not competent to drive that far, or drive at night.. so I drive and babysit my Niece and Nephew, and occasionally my Cousin's son.. I had a little run-in with security before, regarding the children staying on "the yellow brick road", as I call it, that strip that runs through the casino, where security goes ape shit if a minor strays slightly outside the strip.. I get that it is State law, and I have complied strictly since the initial confrontation 2 years ago. I don't gamble, and since the first run-in, I stay outside of Winstar, off the property when I have the children.. but tonight..


the adult relatives were supposed to meet outside at a specific time.. they did not.. phone service, texting was not available, no network coverage (which is common there).. I take my Niece (age 7) and Nephew (age 6) inside, one on each side, holding hands, to see if we can locate our party near the entrance where they were dropped off. we enter the Rio doors that lead to the poker room, and spy a restroom that says "Women" in bright letters.. now, every other restroom I have seen at Winstar had a men's and women's next to each other, so I assumed that might be the case here.. some of you know this restroom I'm sure, there is an entrance way, where you immediately step into a horizontal hallway, about 15 feet in length.. I looked up at the sign that said "Women", and paused.. a fat white lady guard said, somewhat cheerfully, "are you looking for the family restroom?" I said "no, we got it", and entered. to the right is a utility room that we thought might be a men's room, we quickly saw it was not, and turned back to that entrance way.. my Niece went to the restroom on the left, some 8 feet from the entrance way itself, my Nephew and I stood, still holding hands, to wait for her.


the 3 of us had spent all of 10 seconds after passing the entrance way, before returning to the entrance way, with my Niece continuing to the ladies room. in those 10 seconds, a fat black male guard was suddenly at the side of the female guard, both stood no more than 5 feet from me and my Nephew.. the black guy gave me a long stare, looking me over, without saying anything. my feeling is he was sizing us up, then realized the situation looked kosher.. that was the vibe I got.. moments later, a white security guard, probably late 60's scurries up the hall and stands 7 feet directly in front of me.. he barks, "Sir, is there any reason why you're standing there with one foot in the ladies room"? mind you, I have one foot at the entrance, and one slightly pass the entrance dividing line.. I am holding the hand of a 6 year old boy, and we are in full view of anyone in the area.. the ladies room is some 8 feet away, impossible to see in, unless I was 8 feet closer at the doorway.

"I'm waiting for a little girl", I snapped.. just then my Niece emerged and stood at my side. "never mind, she's here now.. don't worry about it", I said. I am certain that last guard was summoned by one of the others.. I wanted to slap all 3 of them. we walked, located some of our party, and walked back toward the same entrance.. the white male guard was headed our direction, as he walked by I snapped "we're out now, are you satisfied?".. he gave a somewhat embarrassed grin, and said "yeah" as he passed.. we kept walking, the black guy stood near.. I walked up to him. "I'm a little irritated with you, do you know why"?


he smiled, a knowing smile. "I just had a word with your partner", I said.. he nodded and gave a mild thumbs up.. he appeared to understand.. we left.


I am pissed at these people.. but I don't know why they did what they did, exactly.. my initial thought was I was sized up as a potential child molester.. my Niece and Nephew look substantially different from me, and are too young to be my children, in the likely sense of the word. I don't know if kidnapping was in their minds. could it be they thought I was a bathroom peeper? taking 2 children as cover, to sneak a peek at 75 year old women with smoking habits and large guts? that is most of what I see at Winstar, honestly. the fat woman guard summoned the others, from what I can deduce.. she needs a good slap. maybe a stew of racism, ageism, and sexism is in play. the ingredients are all there.

any thoughts and legitimate commentary is welcomed.

[pyramider]

It could be a combination of things. They were probably trying to size up the situation without a direct confrontation. But they should have approached and then assisted you for the appropriate facilities. They easily could have done that without the escalation. Probably poor training.

[slubby]

I don't think it was poor training at all. From the way you described it, they did their jobs very well. They kept an eye on you to make sure that you were not any harm or endangering those children.

It's sad to realize, but in this day and age, anyone can be a potential harm to children. It would cause me to take notice if a person did not look like the children that were with them or around them. I would ask questions or be on guard.

Is it offensive? Sure, it's stereotyping or profiling a person based off of their looks. But you didn't do anything wrong and the guards were just looking out for the welfare of the children.

...that's just my two cents.

[dallasfan]

The eye in the sky was probably directing them.

[whosnext]

that was a long story...

[ScrewDriver01]

Chung - I agree with Slubby on this ! I would say - consider this as They were just doing their job !!
Just think about this - How on earth would they know or imagine that you were not a potential Kidnapper or a Pervert ? The cops / LE / Security have been trained to suspect and not take anyone lightly !!
So, it's just bad luck that "YOU" were the suspect this time !! Lol..

[Sleepy363]

Many casinos don't allow kids in at all. The security guards did a great job.

[Chung Tran]

Originally Posted by ScrewDriver01

Chung - I agree with Slubby on this ! I would say - consider this as They were just doing their job !!
Just think about this - How on earth would they know or imagine that you were not a potential Kidnapper or a Pervert ? The cops / LE / Security have been trained to suspect and not take anyone lightly !!
So, it's just bad luck that "YOU" were the suspect this time !! Lol..

I agree they were "just doing their job".. but does that make it okay? police are "just doing their job" when they beat the shit out of innocent "suspects".

how would guards know that anyone with children isn't a kidnapper, anywhere or any place? you seem to think it is okay to profile and assume the worst.. there were literally 3 guards sizing me up within 12 seconds. do you not think that was at least an overreaction?


I forgot to mention a previous ape shit response from last Autumn.. I was in the foyer at Winstar (not inside the Casino, proper), sitting on a bench, on my notebook.. my Nephew sat next to me, on his little minipad. my Niece stood 5-6 feet away (not enough room for 3 on the bench), to the side, against the wall immersed in her phone. we were not there 3 minutes before a guard began to question her, almost hysterically.. "who are you with, are you by yourself"! I looked up.. "she's with me".. he retorted, "you need to keep her next to you at all times"! these people are batshit crazy.. I think of them as want-to-be Cops, who took a security guard position because the Academy would reject them.. they probably get paid $12 an hour, max, but revel in the authority they believe they possess. similar to TSA Agents, by the way.


if this is normal security at play, why have I not experienced issues anywhere else? yet it is endemic at Winstar? I think there is a huge culture problem there.. I would have asked for the Head of Security and bitched him/her out, had I not been in a hurry to leave.


if the ape shit overreaction is related to this

https://www.nytimes.com/1997/05/29/u...in-nevada.html

I can understand.. but given the earlier confrontations that were unrelated to restroom activity, I highly doubt it.

[ScrewDriver01]

I agree !! It's not "Okay" all the times !

Originally Posted by Chung Tran

I agree they were "just doing their job".. but does that make it okay? police are "just doing their job" when they beat the shit out of innocent "suspects".

Yep - I agree. That could be an over-reaction. But, Chung - just give it a thought - you are not anywhere in the vicinity of a prayer hall or a Mall or some park. You are near a Casino, which is "THE" place !! So !

Originally Posted by Chung Tran

how would guards know that anyone with children isn't a kidnapper, anywhere or any place? you seem to think it is okay to profile and assume the worst.. there were literally 3 guards sizing me up within 12 seconds. do you not think that was at least an overreaction?

Probably Yes !! You are right !

Originally Posted by Chung Tran

I forgot to mention a previous ape shit response from last Autumn.. I was in the foyer at Winstar (not inside the Casino, proper), sitting on a bench, on my notebook.. my Nephew sat next to me, on his little minipad. my Niece stood 5-6 feet away (not enough room for 3 on the bench), to the side, against the wall immersed in her phone. we were not there 3 minutes before a guard began to question her, almost hysterically.. "who are you with, are you by yourself"! I looked up.. "she's with me".. he retorted, "you need to keep her next to you at all times"! these people are batshit crazy.. I think of them as want-to-be Cops, who took a security guard position because the Academy would reject them.. they probably get paid $12 an hour, max, but revel in the authority they believe they possess. similar to TSA Agents, by the way.

Again, possible Yes and No !

Originally Posted by Chung Tran

if the ape shit overreaction is related to this
https://www.nytimes.com/1997/05/29/u...in-nevada.html

[slubby]

Is it okay they over reacted? No.
Is it okay they profiled you? Hell no.
Can you change the way another person thinks about you/their actions or the past? Absolutely not.

Take it as a learning experience. You learned what to do or not do next time.

Maybe you will get some peace of mind from this: You were doing nothing wrong and did the right thing, even when someone was doing something wrong to you. That's the real sign of a person with character. Just because they do/did wrong, you didn't mimic their actions. My hat is off to you sir. You took the higher moral ground.

[Chung Tran]

thanks slubby.. if I do say so, I kind of surprised myself with my measured response to them, which was far more subdued than the feelings that raged inside, LOL.. and I hate to think people can't be changed, but I realize change is hard, and change is long and slow to formulate, if it happens at all. I probably did the best I could with the little time I had.. that is, to obtain a tacit, unspoken agreement from the 2 Guards that they overreacted.

[TexTushHog]

I disagree with almost everyone who posted. I’m in my mid 50’s, have white hair, and am as white as the Pillsbury Doughboy. They wouldn’t have treated me suspiciously if I’d been in your shoes. You got treated that way because of your race. If the rest of these guy’s white privileged blinds them, don’t let it blind you.

And if you want to prove it, go to Las Vegas where there are a ton of wealthy Asian tourists. They don't automatically assume that because your Asian, you must be somehow inherently suspicious. And they’re not as hamfisted about security. If they think someone is suspicious for some reason, the person being monitored rarely knows it unless they want them to know it. That’s not to say that security in Las Vegas is free from racial bias, but I’ve never seen it directed at Asians.

[CG2014]

Plus, Chung, you are at Winstar in Oklahoma.

If you think North Texas is racist against Asians, Oklahoma is even worse.

Nothing but inbreds trailer trash meth heads up there.

https://www.roadsnacks.net/most-dang...s-in-oklahoma/

[Tsmokies]

The great red state of Oklahoma lol.

I don't like winstarve because they charge for drinks when your playing and they CHARGE you to play table games. I took a couple of ladies there on a recent Saturday. It is close and we had a great time and I made out ok . We only played the slots though lol.

In this day and time...children should always be watched and protected no matter who they're with...unless your name is trump

[Chung Tran]

Originally Posted by Tsmokies

In this day and time...children should always be watched and protected no matter who they're with...

thing is, the fat white woman was within 5 feet of me the whole time.. she could see I never was near the women's restroom entrance.. yet she summoned the male security guards immediately.

the reaction was batshit crazy.. what were they afraid of, really? did they think I was marching 2 children into the ladies room to molest them, even as I spoke to, and walked past the female security guard? there is no logic at all in what happened (to me, at least).

I would like to see a Provider's perspective of this incident. I think we would all agree that if the script was switched.. that is, I was female, holding the hands of 2 small children who didn't look like me, standing near the Men's restroom entrance while the little boy went in alone.. NOBODY would have given it a second thought. being a guy, I was immediately marked as a child molester.. which by the way, was the feeling of the white woman, black man, and white man.. that stereotype crosses every boundary.