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Las Vegas hotels scramble to tighten security
As Las Vegas starts to return to some kind of normality following the worst mass shooting in US history, strip hotels are beefing up security measures.
Guests entering the Wynn Resort are now being scanned by hand-held metal detector wands
Encore also stepped up bag checks for all guest and visitors.
Stephen Paddock went on his shooting rampage from a 32nd-floor room at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, where a huge arsenal of firepower was found.
On TV news footage long lines were seen forming to enter the Wynn, which exposes the difficulty hotels have in balancing convenience with guest safety.
"One of the fundamental principles within security is that you really cannot protect against everything," John Choate, former executive director of security at Wynn Las Vegas told CBS.
TSA style screening procedures at all hotels is impractical, says Steven Adelman, vice president of the Event Safety Alliance.
"There is no hotel in the US that has that kind of x-rays or metal detectors at every entrance and every elevator because this is literally unprecedented," Adelman said.
The city’s mayor says no amount of security measures can stop a determined ‘nutjob’ from causing mayhem.
"Can we ever do anything about that one percent? Do we want to tie down everybody’s freedom because we have a nut and piece of garbage like this? We’re not about going into people’s private belongings," said Las Vegas mayor Carolyn Goodman.
Boyd Gaming Corp spokesman David Strow said: "We have very robust security measures in place today, however in light of this incident we are reviewing our security measures and will heighten them as necessary."
A year ago casino magnate Steve Wynn cautioned that Las Vegas was a ‘target city’ for some kind of terrorist or large-scale attack.
"This could be a turning point. Every management team is going to move this up to the top of the list," an unnamed casino executive told Reuters.
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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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