Discrimination by casino/hotel security

Recently I stayed at a casino property in the Midwest. During my stay I had an encounter with the security near the hotel elevators. This security desk was set up close to the hotel desk and maybe a good 30-40 yards from the actual hotel elevators.

On my first night, I checked into my room at the hotel desk, and walked to the elevators, pass security near the elevators, no problem. It was approximately 5pm. Later that night I had left my room and returned around midnight and was stopped by security and asked to see my room key. To be fair, there was a sign near the security desk that said "ALL guest must show room key to security to access elevators" or something along those lines....

The next morning I left and returned to my room at approximately 10am. I get stopped by security again, show my key and move on. That same day, later that afternoon around 3pm, I return to my room, walk pass security and do not get stopped. I did notice though that security had stopped another somewhat young looking male. Again, later that night around 10pm, I returned and was stopped by security. I noticed all while I was getting stopped by security, others around me was not getting stopped. The first two days I was there, I actually only saw 1 other person stopped and it was that younger looking male. I was annoyed but thought maybe I was being unfair about things.

On my 3rd day I had left/returned to my room 4 times, and was stopped by security all 4 times. 2 of the 4 times he also stopped 2 other young males, and 1 younger girl that looked pretty sketchy (Torn/ripped/dirty clothing, etc) As I was stopped, I would witness older males & females walk by not bothered as well as a few younger looking females dressed nicely.

On my 4th time up to my room that night I called the security guard out asking him why do only young looking males get stopped and not ALL guest like the sign says. He tried telling me that it was random at first, then tried telling me that he witnessed most people. I called bullshit.

I thought about talking to hotel security management the next day, but figured it would go no where.

Has anyone else experienced anything like this?

I know at the Rio later at night I had experienced this, but they were stopping literally everyone asking to see there room key. Rio's was also REALLY close to the elevator.

Security at hotels will sometimes just ask for everyone's room keys, but often they have discretion not to do so, if the person doesn't seem to be a likely threat.

The purpose for this security is to prevent:

1) People looking to mug guests

2) Hookers

So that would explain why they target young males (far more likely to commit muggings) and trashy looking females (far more likely to be hookers).

Let's take an extreme here. Say an 85-year-old woman is making her way to the elevator. They know she's not a hooker. They know she's very unlikely to mug anyone. So their concern about her is zero.

What about a 60-year-old female? Again, very unlikely to fit the profile of either category.

What about a clean-cut, 60-year-old male? Once again, not a likely mugger. It happens, but not likely.

What about a middle-aged couple? Once again, not likely falling into either of those two categories.

So they're basically targeting exactly the demographics they feel are threats. Unfortunately, you'd fit into one of those.

I would be curious to see if they'd target me, especially if I were alone. If with the family, I doubt I'd be bothered. If by myself, it's probably a toss-up whether they'd ask me for the room key, or if they'd deem me to be too old to be a likely threat.

In my general experience, in places where the guards have discretion who they ask for the key, they ask me about half the time, so it really does seem like a toss-up in my age group.

Are they committing any kind of federal violation by this profiling?

They aren't. There's no such thing as age discrimination against the young, because young people will eventually get older. Discrimination is only considered for permanent characteristics, such as race, religion, sexual preference, gender, or older age.

If you were black and noticed they were only questioning black people, then you'd actually have a possible lawsuit!

Considering young men commit most crimes, especially violent crimes, why wouldn’t you want them profiling that demographic? Anything less would just be bad security. JuSt like failing to profile young men, especially young black men, is bad policing.