Haunted Casinos Around the World

There have been many reports of unexplained goings on at casinos – and we’re not talking about inexplicable lucky streaks. Many of these grand old buildings hold stories of the past, lives that were lived through these venues – both as casinos, and in past purposes. Only adding to the mythology around casinos, suggestions of ghostly goings on, apparitions and other terrors from the spirit world continue to intrigue gamblers to the present day.

Some of the big Las Vegas resorts in particular have attracted their share of spooky stories over the years, leading to the charge that they are amongst the most haunted casinos in the world. If you’re ready to be spooked, here are just a few of those stories.

Luxor, Las Vegas

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The Luxor is a large luxurious casino resort in Sin City. If you’re not immediately familiar with it, it’s an ancient Egyptian-themed development, complete with Pyramid, Sphinx and various other elements which can be spooky enough in their own right. The resort is literally covered in Egyptian symbology, artefacts and writings, which some say makes it the ideal home for spirits and lost souls.

Over the years, the Luxor has been home to many spooky and unexplained incidents, earning it a reputation as a haunted casino. But is there any truth to these events, and the spirit forces behind them? When the resort was being built in 1993, a number of construction workers found themselves involved in freak and unexplained accidents, even resulting in a death.

Since then, group suicides have taken place at the resort, with guest coordinating jumps from balconies at the resort, while a car bomb explosion in 2006 killed a guest at the casino. It’s hard to say definitively whether these events owed anything to malicious spirit activity, but it does seem a little odd that the Luxor in particular would be so weirdly and consistently afflicted by these kinds of happenings.

Tropicana, Las Vegas

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The Tropicana is another casino with a reputation for being haunted. Most curiously for the Tropicana was their famous tiki mask statue, which overlooked the entrance to the resort for a number of years. Over time, the casino began receiving complaints from visitors that they had developed a rash from coming into contact with the mask – each reporting the same distinct purple facial rash, which the casino denied responsibility for or knowledge of.

To make matters more mysterious, separate reports have spoken of a purple mist appearing around the mask in photographs, which set off more speculation about whether the mask may be possessed or otherwise haunted.

Adding fuel to the rumours, casino management has since removed the mask, which many spirit watchers have taken to be unofficial confirmation of paranormal goings on…you can judge that one for yourself.

Bally’s Resort & Casino, Las Vegas

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Bally’s Resort was built on land that had previously witnessed the second largest hotel fire in US history, a horrific tragedy which saw as many as 80 people lose their lives. When the site was formerly the MGM Grand, a fire tore through the building as a result of faulty electrics, which led to horrifying scenes of guests leaping from the building and to their deaths, just to avoid the flames.

Since those tragic events of 1980, there have been countless reports from Bally’s guests and staff of ghostly figures and apparitions, wandering the upper floors in the dead of night. Of course there’s no way to confirm whether or not there is validity to these claims, but they do surface from time to time, and have come from a number of different people who have had cause to work or stay in the upper floors of the building – the very same floors when many of the victims of the fire lost their lives.

Flamingo, Las Vegas

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The Flamingo was developed by notorious mobster Bugsy Siegel, who was shot to death in 1947. A larger than life figure on the Las Vegas mob gambling scene at the time, Siegel played an instrumental role in transforming Las Vegas into the global gambling destination it is today.

In recognition of his landmark achievements in developing the Flamingo, Bugsy’s spirit is said to haunt the resort to this day. There have been countless reports from employees of seeing Bugsy, including by the swimming pool and the resort’s Presidential suite, with some cleaning staff even reported to have instantly quit their jobs after coming into contact with his spirit.

Not a man to be crossed lightly in the physical world, Bugsy would arguably be an intimidating sight at the best of times, let alone in the spirit world. Yet reported sightings show no signs of slowing down, leading some ghost hunters to label this one of the world’s most haunted casinos.

These are just a handful of the reports of haunted casinos, and of spooky goings on in these resorts. Whatever your position on ghosts, ghouls and spirits, there can be no denying that these occurrences are unexplained, and independent verified by a number of unrelated people over a number of years.

So are these casinos really haunted? You’ll have to visit for yourself to find out for sure