This is past far the most repulsive myth we’ve had the displeasure of busting. Enough existent lessons were learned from the MGM Grand Hotel fire, which claimed 87 lives on Nov. 21, 1980. Blaming some of these poor souls for their possess deaths is beyond abhorrent.

“Gamblers inward the cassino who had refused to right away leave behind their slot machines were killed when a fireball crack through and through the casino, scorching everything from the ceiling to the storey and out the doors to man parking,” reads a test posted to vegasslotsonline.com.

Responding to a tie-in to the test on Reddit, single user commented: “Can’t believe that some people died inward the MGM discharge because they refused to allow for the one-armed bandit machines! Greed kills.”

In reality, not one dupe of this horrific tragedy lost their lifetime because they were on a roll. However, that Reddit user got i thing right…

Fire investigators combing through the wreckage of the gambling casino following the tragedy. (Image: Sir Walter Scott Henry)

Greed Kills

Greed was the primary quill reason of the tragedy.

Kirk Kerkorian and Fred Benninger, the proprietor and the chairman of MGM while the corp reinforced the MGM Grand inwards 1972-73, fought against equipping it with reflex(a) sprinklers. This was despite pressure sensation from Charles Joseph Clark County’s flaming marshal and a letter of the alphabet from 1 of their possess consultants, Orvin Engineering Company, stating that “the liability of all the unsprinklered areas inward this edifice should follow a concern to your corporation.”

The MGM Grand’s total expression government note came to $106M. Yet apparently, an duplicate $192K was just now too much to bear. So Kerkorian and Benninger sought relievo from the Kenneth Bancroft Clark County Building Department.

Unfortunately, they got it. Building Department theater director St. John Pisciotta rendered the fateful determination that sprinkler codes didn’t hold to the MGM. The reason? Because the gambling casino resort hotel would run 24/7.

“With sprinklers, it would experience been a one- or two-sprinkler fire, and we ne'er would hold heard nearly it,” wrote National Fire Protection Association investigator St. David Demers inwards the organization’s 1982 cover on the tragedy.

Myth Understanding

This myth stems from a bingle doom published in a Washington Post story on Nov. 23, 1980.

The flack left hand deuce victims frozen inward their tracks by slot machines, dead, according to unity attestor who toured the building after the flame was extinguished,” wrote newsman Kathy Sawyer.

Sawyer’s story didn’t land that the victims were seated at slot machines, only if that they were “frozen inward their tracks” close them. But that business relationship was damage anyway, according to the Kenneth Clark County Fire Department’s functionary report. Of the 17 bodies found privileged the first floor, it stated, non a bingle ane was found inward the gambling casino area.

In this William Clark Fire Department illustration, X’s brand the locations where bodies were found after the MGM Grand fire. As you can buoy see, thither are no more X’s inwards the briny gambling casino area. (Image: Charles Joseph Clark County Fire Department)

“Nobody died at a gaming tabular array or slot machine,” said William Clark County Fire Capt. Jon Sabol, the in conclusion participating firefighter who battled the infamous inferno, speech production to the Las Vegas Review-Journal in 2015. “They were slacken in getting out. But everyone got outside from the tables and slot machines before the fireball came through.”

A Legacy Up inwards Smoke

The MGM Grand reopened octad months after the firing with automatonlike sprinklers and a flak alert system of rules throughout the property. Thanks to the fire, these were at present lawfully required. As portion of a $50 zillion remodel, a endorse 26-story tower was added later inward 1981. But visitation slumped because of forged publicity from the flaming and years of ensuing litigation.

More than 1,350 legal claims resulted from the fire’s deaths and injuries, and the MGM Grand eventually in agreement(p) to make up $223 1000000 to root them. Las Vegas, at the time, didn’t get enough practice of law firms to handgrip all the litigation.

Soured of operating this gigantic monument to nonstarter and death, the MGM sold the hotel and the MGM Grand Reno to pinball and one-armed bandit political machine maker Bally Manufacturing in Apr 1986. Last year, the Caesars Entertainment property changed its figure from Bally’s to Horseshoe.

Quietly, Kerkorian began acquiring the land to build a unexampled MGM Grand a Swedish mile in the south of the older one. It opened inward 1993 and ease operates today, despite another relentless myth — that the pilot MGM Grand was imploded after the fire and the stream I stands on the same site.

Look for “Vegas Myths Busted” every Mon on Casino.org. To record previously busted Vegas myths, visit VegasMythsBusted.com. Got a prompting for a Vegas myth that needs busting? Email corey@casino.org.

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