Smile for the Security Cameras Facing Your Las Vegas Strip Balcony

This week, X user @JoeWarner81 went viral by spotting an array of cameras in the corner of a TikTok video filmed looking out from a balcony at the Cosmopolitan Las Vegas. The cameras were mounted on an adjacent low rooftop and pointed in every direction.

“Anyone in #vegas know what this is facing the cosmo?” asked the July 15 post, which has so far generated 300K views. “Be careful what ‘activities’ you do on your balcony at the Cosmopolitan I guess.”

“No more privacy anywhere,” commented @KyleInLas Vegas beneath Las Vegas Locally’s retweet, which received 109K views.

“It’s like a beautiful yet terrifying dystopian flower,” added @ZOMBEATS.

Casino.org was able to identify five of the camera arrays in a Google Earth satellite photo of the hotel. They’re part of the Cosmo’s external surveillance system.

Though neither MGM Resorts nor the Cosmopolitan’s previous owner, the Blackstone Group, has publicly detailed their purpose, they were likely installed to document events that could cause liability lawsuits for the property with the Las Vegas Strip’s highest and most prominent balconies.

These events include beer bottles, lit cigarettes or other objects falling or being thrown from them and resulting in injuries on the ground, people jumping or being pushed off, fires, or (God forbid) another mass shooting.

Photos of the arrays have been posted on social media since at least 2017, though they have been suspected in posts dating back further.

Here’s Looking at You, Kids

A 2013 Tripadvisor comment noted: “I was looking at Yelp reviews on the Cosmopolitan Hotel and one of them alluded to being watched (security coming to the door alleging underage drinking) and another post came right out and said this: ‘The first question anyone wants to know is, how does Cosmo know what’s going on in our room?’

“Answer — we figured out there are ‘security cameras’ on the outside of the building, looking at private patios & potentially in rooms.”

Other commenters alleged visits by security after having sex on their Cosmopolitan balconies.

MGM Resorts did not immediately respond to a request to explain what the cameras are used for. But technically, the balconies are part of the hotel’s exterior, which is not a place with a reasonable expectation of privacy.

Also, modern Las Vegas is not a place with a reasonable expectation of privacy.