VEGAS MYTHS BUSTED: Women Shouldn’t Wear Red in Casinos
Posted on: August 18, 2025, 07:21h.
Last updated on: August 18, 2025, 11:19h.
- The author of “Why Shouldn’t a Woman Wear Red in a Casino?” claims that infrared security cameras can see through sheer or thin red garments on the casino floor
- A well-known casino security expert calls BS
Some women won’t bet on red when deciding what color outfit to wear to a casino, and there’s a pervy reason why. A 2001 book claimed that casino security cameras can see right through the color, if the fabric is thin enough.
Through black-and-white security cameras with infrared capability, “red chips (or any red colored item) appear as an off white,” George Joseph, a casino surveillance expert, explained in “Why Shouldn’t a Woman Wear Red in a Casino?”
The human eye sees between 400 and 700 nanometers of light, while the infrared capability of a black and white camera sees up to about 1100 nanometers of light and can be set to see much higher,” Joseph continued. “To the average surveillance operator, this information means very little until a woman walks into the casino wearing a flimsy red colored silk dress or top.
“In many cases, the camera doesn’t see much of the color red and, in affect (sic), you see through the dress.”
Infrared Light District?
Even to someone with no knowledge of infrared light’s behavior and a better knowledge of how to spell the word “effect,” this argument is flimsy.
Joseph started by explaining that infrared cameras see red as off white. So why should the red in a red dress appear invisible instead of just off white?
Fred Del Marva is also a casino surveillance expert. Since he started consulting for casinos in 1986, his clients have included Caesars Palace, The Mirage, and the Golden Nugget.
“I’ve never heard of this,” Del Marva told Casino.org, “and casinos consistently look for potential liability issues to deal with, so I would have heard of it if it was true.”
The only evidence Joseph’s book offered to support its claim was a 1998 CNN report about a camcorder with infrared night vision that was pulled off the market by Sony in 1998 for being able to see through clothing.
Indeed, before Sony modified its NightShot camera, it could render sheer synthetic fabrics (often red or black) as semi-transparent. But this effect was seen strictly in bright sunlight, which radiates powerfully in the infrared due to the sun’s heat.
All indoor casino lighting lacks the IR intensity to reproduce this effect.
Sheer Nonsense
Most clothing, even thin silk, blocks or absorbs enough IR indoors to prevent seeing anything clearer than vague outlines and heat patterns, according to every reputable internet source on the subject we could find.
Seeing body parts, or even undergarments, in any detail is impossible.
Joseph’s one and only book, which is self-published, obviously required a grabby title to help move it to the masses. And “Why Shouldn’t a Woman Wear Red in a Casino?” worked, even though the tome — which answers this and 100 other questions about casino gambling in Vegas — devotes only three insufficient paragraphs to proving its scandalous titular claim.
“All the big casinos have people in their organizations with as much knowledge about infrared cameras as the guy who made these accusations,” Del Marva said. “If his claim were true, it would be the obligation of every casino to give women notice as soon as they enter.
“And they’ve never done that, so this is just a bunch of bullshit.”
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