"Secret Life of a Vegas Casino" reveals how Golden Nugget staff use hidden design tricks and strict security to keep guests gambling.
What happens behind closed doors at a Las Vegas casino usually stays strictly off-limits to the public, guarded by the tight-lipped hotel and gaming officials who run the show.
But now, the Discovery Channel's new series "Secret Life of a Vegas Casino" is pulling back the curtain to reveal how the high-stakes machine really operates.
The reality TV show, which premiered on Sept. 29, follows the frontline crew at the Golden Nugget, a legacy hotel and casino located about 5 miles off the Strip in downtown Las Vegas.
In an exclusive clip shared with Realtor.com® from the upcoming episode of the show, due to air on Tuesday at 9 p.m., Golden Nugget security operations manager Clinton Polk takes a tour with Luciano Botelho, a newly hired security assistant manager.
"Coming in to Golden Nugget was a good opportunity and a step up," explains Botelho. "It’s the Golden Nugget, that’s been around since 1946. So if I’m going to work in downtown, I want to work at an iconic hotel. So I was excited when I actually got the interview to come in. ... I haven’t done casino floors in a while."
Polk notes that "it's pretty busy" and then describes how the casino floor layout is organized to help the security team efficiently carry out its duties.
"Our door right here, it goes right into the heart of the casino, which is nice because if we take someone into custody, we can have easy access back to the security office," he says.
As the pair make their way across a terra-cotta-patterned carpeted floor and through clusters of colorful neon-lit slot machines, the veteran guard details the peak playing hours.
"Everything is kind of centrally located right here with craps pits and everything. You have high-limit slots. And again, up until about 2, 3 o’clock in the morning, it’s going to be pretty busy," he says.
On “Secret Life of a Vegas Casino,” the stars of the new Discovery Channel series are showing all their cards about off-limits areas and design strategies that keep guests gambling. (Discovery Channel) 
The reality TV show, which premiered on Sept. 29, follows the frontline crew at the Golden Nugget, a legacy hotel and casino located about 5 miles off the Strip in downtown Las Vegas. (Discovery Channel) 
Golden Nugget security operations manager Clinton Polk takes a tour with Luciano Botelho, a newly hired security assistant manager, around the property to point out its unique safety and security challenges. (Discovery Channel) At the edge of the casino, floor-to-ceiling glass doors lead out to Sin City’s famed Fremont Street.
This particular exit can present a challenge if security guards are on the chase because their jurisdiction ends at the Golden Nugget's property line.
"One of the unique things for us downtown is when you walk right outside this carpet, now you’re off property. This goes right onto the mall, so the guys in the casino have to be hyper-vigilant," says Polk.
The constraints caused by the casino’s physical boundaries catch Botelho off guard.
“Holy crap. Wow, OK, even with all the experience I have, Golden Nugget, it is a different planet compared to the Strip,” he says. “You don’t have a big lane separating the sidewalk to your property. It’s right there, so they can come over here and snatch a purse and we’re screwed.”
Another troublesome spot to surveil is Troy's Liquor Bar—a second-story watering hole near an outdoor deck.
"A lot of the working girls are going to be here doing their business. Conflict all the time. It’s loud. It’s also elevated so it’s a safety thing to pay attention to people. Just keep your head on a swivel," Polk warns.
Botelho, observing the crowded scene, says the Golden Nuggest is "a different game."
At the edge of the casino, floor-to-ceiling glass doors open to Sin City’s famed Fremont Street. (Discovery Channel) 
A second-story bar at the Golden Nugget tends to be a troublesome spot to surveil. (Discovery Channel) 
Cindy O’Keefe, the general manager at the Golden Nugget, tells Realtor.com that the safety of guests and staff is the top priority of the property’s design. (Discovery Channel) While the Golden Nugget’s location and layout certainly create some complexities for security, the hotel and casino’s general manager, Cindy O’Keefe, tells Realtor.com that the safety of guests and staff is the top priority of the property’s design.
“The biggest thing is safety and our egress and flow in and out of the casino, to make sure we have no safety hazards. That's the utmost in designing where the flow comes from,” states O’Keefe.
“If there is something that comes up that security has to get involved with, we want to make sure that the exiting is clear and free,” she adds.
O’Keefe, who has spent 12 of her 48 years in the industry working at the Golden Nugget, oversees all on-site employees at the hotel. She also works closely with the design and development team to create an inviting atmosphere that wins over guests.
“With design, you've got all kinds of elements, whether it's from your eyes to the smell to your hearing. That's that first impression that a customer's going to go, ‘Yep, I made the right choice coming here,’ so it's extremely important,” she explains.
Beyond the 2,420 guest rooms at the Golden Nugget, the iconic hotel and casino houses 10 restaurants, 11 bars, a spa, salon, pool, and various retail shops.
O’Keefe says she spends about a third of her time on the job “walking the building [and] inspecting” to ensure everything is in place.
“We’ve got to maintain the aesthetics of the property, making sure that I've got light bulbs that all have the same wattage ... maintaining temperatures, listening, is the music the right level?” she begins. “Those are the things that can drive you nuts. And maybe most guests don't realize that, but it's an important design feature, the consistency.”
So far this season, crews have been called to address a missing piece of art in a hallway and a broken double-paned glass window in a guest’s room. O’Keefe says repairs of all kinds happen daily, while large-scale renovations are ongoing.
“In the 12 years I've been here, I don't think there's ever been a year that we haven't had a reinvestment back in the property—from this previous year at $4.1 million reinvested in designing the slot floor, another $3 million in redesigning our high-limit [area], which is getting ready to open in November, and a brand-new poker room ... to the types of mattresses and pillows that we have in the guest rooms. That's a constant reinvestment in capital expense that we do,” reports O’Keefe.
Updating the Golden Nugget has required careful planning. Any new interior design elements that are to be added must complement both the vintage and recently remodeled pieces. Plus, construction must often be completed in phases to avoid major disruptions to the business and customer experience.
“When you have a hotel and you've got to do renovations throughout, you can't do everything all at the same time, so it's really important that you're going to choose designs and colors that are going to be able to to live through the trends of the moment and still be relevant to our customers,” says O’Keefe. “When you do different pieces and parts, it's got to be able to flow.”
In addition to choosing timeless styles over trendy ones, O’Keefe reveals most every design decision revolves around putting guests at ease so they’ll spend time—and money—at the Golden Nugget. (Discovery Channel) 
Design strategies employed to keep guests comfortable include soft lighting, a moderate room temperature, and easy floor plan flow. (Discovery Channel) 
O’Keefe insists the intentional hidden form of the casino's security camera network is more about function than spoiling anyone’s fun. (Discovery Channel) In addition to choosing timeless styles over trendy ones, O’Keefe reveals most every design decision revolves around putting guests at ease so they’ll spend time—and money—at the Golden Nugget.
“We want you to stay here,” says O’Keefe about the design strategies.
“In the casino, you want people to feel comfortable. They need to be able to see their gaming cards when they're playing, but you don't want any [lighting] that is stark white out there.
"Temperatures, [guests] sit a lot of times at the slot machines and our gaming tables for more than just 30 minutes, so it needs to be where no matter what it is outside, that we've got that 70-degree temperature range that's going to keep everybody comfortable."
O'Keefe adds that the floor needs to have "a good flow."
"We lay [the casino floor] out in sections and pods to make it easy to understand when an employee gets a question, we've got to be able to direct them through the casino," she says.
Decorative features and accessories are also carefully considered and prepared for display differently in the hotel and casino environment than they would be in a home.
“We try to make sure that things are safe. We don't want people climbing on decorative walls,” says O’Keefe.
“Some of the elements that may be on our tables, we put silicone underneath. Guests aren't going through our property on a mission to damage—they're having a good time and they may not watch what they're doing, so we don't want to have an incident where something gets knocked over.”
Of course, a ubiquitous network of security cameras may just be a casino’s most recognizable design, even if the cameras are difficult for guests to spot.
O’Keefe insists their intentional hidden form is in fact more about function than spoiling anyone’s fun.
“It's not for spying on the guests,” she says. “We're in a gaming environment that's highly regulated, and we follow those rules and regulations. It's to make sure that everything stays within the rules of gaming and that we are looking at every single aspect of our gaming floor and throughout to make sure we're not having somebody try to game us.”
New episodes of 'Secret Life of a Vegas Casino' air on Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on Discovery Channel.