Man Sues Bellagio Over Alleged Assault by Would-Be Jackpot Thieves
Posted on: October 7, 2025, 07:17h.
Last updated on: October 7, 2025, 09:48h.
A Las Vegas resident, Joel Vargas-Guitierrez, has filed suit against the Bellagio, alleging negligence and inadequate security after he was assaulted by three individuals attempting to claim his slot machine winnings.
As part of the lawsuit — filed on October 3 in Clark County District Court and first reported by the Las Vegas Review-Journal on Tuesday — Vargas-Gutierrez is also suing his three alleged assailants (two men and one woman) for assault, battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
The suit seeks damages exceeding $15,000, plus attorney fees, court costs, interest, punitive damages, and other relief deemed appropriate by the court.
Incident Details
According to the complaint, on December 12, 2024, Vargas-Gutierrez, a regular Bellagio patron, won a $2,600 jackpot on a “Mo Mummy” slot machine. Due to the size of the payout, standard casino protocol required him to wait for an attendant to verify and process the winnings.
While waiting, according to Vargas-Gutierrez, he moved to a nearby slot machine to continue playing. During this time, three individuals approached the original slot, saw the jackpot display, and loudly proclaimed they were entitled to the winnings.
As Vargas‑Gutierrez attempted to resolve the dispute, the complaint alleges, one of the men advanced toward him in a threatening manner. Outnumbered, he took a swing in self‑defense, sparking a physical altercation that a bystander attempted to break up.
No security personnel were present for any of this, according to the filing.
The woman in the group then slapped Vargas‑Gutierrez, triggering a second confrontation in which he was tackled to the ground by her two accomplices, the complaint states.
Security guards allegedly arrived only after the altercation had escalated significantly.
“As a direct result of the incident, Mr. Vargas‑Gutierrez has suffered physical injuries, and mental and emotional distress which required professional medical treatment and he continues to deal with these symptoms to the present day,” the lawsuit states.
Last Comments ( 4 )
It happens all the time as casinos don't do enough to keep people from "slot surfing" where they just walk through casinos looking for cash in the machines, often just cents or dollars someone left behind when they thought they were out of cash, for instance, if you're playing $5 per bet, and there 2.21 left, you think you're out of money and walk away not knowing you could cash out. This will be happening less and less now as machines are now programed to ask if you wan't to wager the remaining cash for a chance spin at the same demonination, but still, there are many slots that don't do this. Originally, it seemed as if it were just vagrants doing this, but it turns out, it's alot of gambling addicts who search for more money to play with after they run out, and sometimes it's drunks or just people who see a machine un-attended and try to claim the cash, either way, the money belongs only to the person who played it or should be given to a secuirty officer. In this case, those people are stupid for thinking they could rob someone out of a jackpot they didn't win. Should have been charges of a felonious level.
All the guy would have needed to do was walk away and tell a slot attendant. They would be able to easily roll back the footage from the millions of security cameras to see who won the jackpot. Trying to strong arm a guy out of a jackpot when he won it on camera is dumb. Trying to fight 3 people for your jackpot when all you need to do is tell an employee is also dumb.
Regardless if he left the machine or not it was his money that he put in and his money that he won. Those scumbags saw an opportunity and tried to finesse him. It's sad how desperate people are and especially for only $2600. They would rather try shenanigans like this or scam instead of going to work. I hope the justice system hands them there a$$ and I hope they learn there lesson. But I can almost bet on it that they will get let off easy
Stupid to leave the machine. In a rush to keep on playing. Fat chance to win that case!