The Cyberattack That Sent Las Vegas Back in Time

livemint.com:

LAS VEGAS—The bellman at the Bellagio Resort & Casino was frank with the couple in line to check their bags early Wednesday morning. “Just to let you know," he said, “everything’s a mess right now." The full fallout from a cyberattack at MGM Resorts this week remains unknown, though it has frustrated travelers at every turn. Snaking check-in lines have been the norm, show and restaurant reservations have been upside-down and some slot machines have been dark.

MGM dominates a chunk of the Las Vegas Strip with a dozen hotels from Mandalay Bay to Bellagio. For a place that promotes digital everything, from mobile room keys to slot machine vouchers, it’s been back to basics. Call it Bizarro Old Vegas.

All hands on deck On a sweep through half a dozen MGM casino hotels, I saw employees armed with clipboards and pens everywhere. It was the strangest site I’ve seen since MGM installed those handwashing stations on the casino floor when Las Vegas casinos reopened in June 2020 after the pandemic closure. At Aria Resort & Casino, a crown jewel in the chain, concierges were pressed into service to help manually check out travelers.

They wrote down guests’ names and emails on white slips of paper so they could send a receipt. Behind the front desk, tables were filled with binders of master keys in case the system went down again and guests couldn’t get into their rooms. At the luxe Bellagio, home to the famous fountain show, the reservations desk for the Cirque du Soleil show “O" told visitors who wanted tickets they needed cash or could book through Ticketmaster.

Buffet workers wrote out credit-card numbers. All parking was temporarily free. Getting cash was a problem, with ATMs not working at many of the casino hotels.