Influencer Victor Ross records video of his blackjack play for All Casino Action at the El Cortez in downtown Las Vegas Thursday, May 18, 2023. His videos can be viewed on YouTube and Facebook.
Tuesday, May 30, 2023 | 2 a.m.
People walking through El Cortez can’t seem to take their eyes off Victor Ross playing table games. Some are curious as to what’s happening; others are downright confused.
Ross, to his credit, hardly seems to notice as he sets his phone up on a tripod, pins a microphone to his shirt and begins recording a solo game of blackjack at a table marked “reserved.”
“Hey everybody, we’re here at the El Cortez,” he says, greeting his online viewers with an air of familiarity before he begins to play.
It’s a pretty typical weekday for Ross — one of the personalities behind the popular YouTube and social media channel All Casino Action. Ross, 39, regularly records and livestreams himself playing table games like blackjack, ultimate hold ‘em and 3-card poker for the channel’s more than 200,000 subscribers.
All Casino Action was founded in 2017 when Sarah Meister, Ross’ friend and colleague, began streaming herself playing slot machines.
“It was just a fun idea,” Meister said. “I had seen other creators doing a similar concept and I thought, ‘I like to play,’ and I thought it would be a fun thing to do.”
Though Ross initially stayed behind the scenes, filming Meister as she played the slots, he began streaming himself playing table games about three years ago. It was then, the pair said, that All Casino Action really found its niche.
Ross, originally from Canada and a self-described “lifelong” gambler, said he figured at the time he may as well share his passion with others.
“When I first started streaming, it was totally new to me,” Ross said. “I’d never done a YouTube channel before. I was actually a little hesitant to hop on and try it. But once I did, I realized how fun it was.”
His favorite part of creating content has been interacting with his audience, Ross said, particularly when he’s doing a livestream and viewers participate by predicting what’s going to happen, giving him advice or cheering him.
He compared the appeal of All Casino Action to that of video game and sports streamers, as well as video poker. Additionally, the channel can be fun to watch for people who don’t live near a casino or who are on the fence about gambling their own money, Ross said.
“There’s a lot of excitement — especially, when it’s live,” Ross said. “The anticipation of what the next hand’s going to be, in terms of if it’s gonna be a win or loss. The excitement of putting a big bet on the table and not knowing the outcome. Things like that.”
While many people enjoy live casino content, there are others for whom it’s still incredibly taboo, said Adam Wiesberg, general manager at El Cortez.
Though it was initially a “scary” proposal to allow All Casino Action to stream table games at El Cortez — making it the first casino in Las Vegas to do so — Wiesberg said he knew it was also an opportunity for the downtown hotel to be on the cutting edge.
Nevertheless, Wiesberg said he got mixed reactions from viewers. Some people reached out to commend him, but others were skeptical.
“Like any social media, it generates controversy because people are just so blown away by the fact that someone is sitting at a table, gambling on camera,” Wiesberg said.
There are state regulations against the use of electronic devices in gaming, particularly against the use of such devices “to obtain an advantage at playing any game,” like projecting the outcome or counting cards, according to Nevada law.
Ross emphasized that live table games don’t provide the player with an advantage, pointing specifically to a delay in recordings that keeps viewers from being able to count cards or cheat.
Smart devices are “everywhere” nowadays, Wiesberg added, so it’s no longer practical to limit them as strictly as they may have been in the past. Staff at El Cortez are trained to watch for people filming, he said, and confirm whether they have received the proper approval to do so.
“Everyone has a cellphone in their hand,” Wiesberg said. “You have to decide how you’re going to adapt to that.”
There’s a fairly labor-intensive effort to ensure confidence in livestreamed gambling, with Wiesberg noting an entire table is reserved for Ross with the presence of a supervisor and the guarantee of privacy for other people in the casino.
“It is challenging, but at the same time, the exposure that you get — the organic exposure to social media — is priceless,” said Wiesberg, who emphasized that there’s no pay or promotion in the partnership between All Casino Action and El Cortez.
It would be nice to see livestreaming in casinos become more widely accepted, Ross said, calling the mutually beneficial relationship between the streamer and the casino a “win-win.”
“We’ve definitely made it much more mainstream, this channel,” he said. “But as far as the future goes, I just see it becoming more normalized.”
The channel has gained a sizable following and generated enough revenue from advertisements and paid “memberships” that provide fans with exclusive content to make gambling Ross’ full-time job. A membership on YouTube starts at $4.99 monthly.
To spend each day playing his favorite games and streaming them is a “dream,” said Ross, who added that he hoped to continue adding a variety of games to All Casino Action and maybe expand its platform in the future. He usually buys in for a few thousand dollars for each stream, winning on some days and losing on others.
“To gamble every day and do a channel and interact with people who are fans — really, really supportive and really, really enjoy what I do — I mean, it’s a fantastic lifestyle,” he said.
Meister said the channel had steadily grown, and she has taken on a more behind-the-scenes role since table games became so popular with viewers. She’s especially good at video and audio editing, communicating with the casinos and more, she said.
“I go on the channel sometimes, but I really let Victor shine with his table game streaming,” she said. “And we’ve seen, like I said, a huge positive reaction for that. So we just kind of do what we respectively excel at.”
One of the biggest contributors to All Casino Action’s success is its authenticity, Wiesberg said. The viewers are right there with Ross — whether it’s for a big win or a tough loss — he said, and the “emotional roller coaster of gambling” just makes it that much more exciting.
“And especially millennials, young people, they want authenticity,” he said. “They want it to be real — organic. They want to watch real motion, but they don’t want the phony stuff anymore. They don’t want that fake commercial and the staged videos of models at a table. That’s not interesting anymore.”
