Visitors staying at three separate MGM Resorts International casino hotels in Las Vegas experienced up to three-hour waits to check-in on Tuesday afternoon.
New guests arriving at New York-New York Hotel & Casino (pictured), Excalibur Hotel & Casino, and the Luxor all saw disruptions because of the computer glitch.
MGM has since confirmed that by 5 p.m. yesterday, all systems were back online and customer lines were back to usual levels. The glitch was seemingly nowhere near as serious as the massive, company-wide 10-day cyber outage caused by a hacking attack that the operator suffered in September 2023.
The company did not confirm to the media what caused the outage. However, several guests told reporters that MGM staff had mentioned a computer issue.
“The front desk hotel booking system was down briefly this afternoon and was restored shortly after. Everything has been running normally since,” a spokesperson wrote to media outlets Tuesday night.
Nothing IT Can Do
The outage started around midday. As on every day in booming Las Vegas, hundreds of people were arriving across the three affected MGM properties at the time. One visitor from Michigan told KLAS TV Las Vegas reporters that he waited four hours in the Excalibur lobby. Overall, several hundred guests were forced to wait in the lobby for several hours, with many documenting the large lines on social media.
“Someone said it’ll take four hours,” he said. “If there is nothing IT can do to help, I get that. But they need to be walking around explaining what’s going on.”
The same visitor added that his relatives had left him to enjoy the line while they took a dip in the pool.
Meanwhile, at New York-New York, one customer was frustrated, but appreciated the effort that MGM staff were putting in. That included regular updates on the line status, as well as free bottles of water and compensatory discount vouchers.
“Nobody wants to wait in line, but everyone is doing what they can,” he said.
The incident ended up lasting about five hours. Lines were back to usual levels by 5 p.m. on Tuesday evening, MGM confirmed.
The operator will be glad the outage was nowhere near the seriousness of the 2023 cyberattack that lost it $100 million over 10 days of disruption across its U.S. casino resort operations.
MGM may also be facing a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) investigation over its response to the attack last year. In an unlucky coincidence, the head of the FTC, Lina Khan, was checking in at the MGM Grand when the cyberattack occurred.
The federal regulator claims that MGM staff may not have been properly briefed on data protection regulations in the event of a cyber outage.
MGM has petitioned to quash the investigation, as they believe it exceeds the regulators remit. A decision on the matter from the FTC is still pending.
David is an online casino expert who specializes in online slots and boasts over 10 years experience writing about iGaming. He has written for a wide range of notable publications, including eSports Insider and WordPlay Magazine.
David graduated Derby University with a BA Degree in English Literature and Creative Writing.
