Smile for the Security Cameras Facing Your Las Vegas Strip Balcony
This week, X user @JoeWarner81 became famous for noticing multiple cameras in the corner of a TikTok clip taken from a balcony at the Cosmopolitan Las Vegas. The cameras were positioned on a nearby low rooftop and directed in all directions.
“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 successfully pinpointed five of the camera clusters in a Google Earth satellite image of the hotel. They are components of the Cosmo's outside monitoring system.
While MGM Resorts and the Cosmopolitan's former owner, the Blackstone Group, have not publicly clarified their intention, it is probable that they were positioned to record incidents that might lead to liability lawsuits for the property that features the most visible and elevated balconies on the Las Vegas Strip.
These incidents involve beer bottles, lit cigarettes, or other items falling or being thrown from them, causing injuries on the ground, individuals jumping or being pushed off, fires, or (heaven forbid) another mass shooting.
Images of the arrays have been shared on social media since at least 2017, although they have been rumored in posts from even earlier.
Here’s to You, Children
A 2013 Tripadvisor review mentioned: “I was reading Yelp comments on the Cosmopolitan Hotel, and one referenced being monitored (security approaching the door claiming underage drinking), while another comment bluntly stated: ‘The first thing anyone asks is, how does Cosmo know what’s happening 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 claimed that security visited after they had sex on their Cosmopolitan balconies.
MGM Resorts did not promptly reply to a request regarding the purpose of the cameras. However, from a technical standpoint, the balconies are considered part of the hotel’s outside area, which is not a location where one can reasonably expect privacy.
Additionally, contemporary Las Vegas does not offer a realistic expectation of privacy
