After an injury in a Las Vegas casino, most people are focused on getting medical help, getting home, and dealing with the pain. Paperwork and video footage might seem like something that the casino or insurance company will take care of on their own later. However, making that assumption can cost you if you decide to take legal action later.
Casinos are not neutral parties after an injury. They are sophisticated businesses with risk management teams, internal policies, and strong incentives to control what information leaves the building. If you don’t act quickly and deliberately, key evidence and documentation might be lost before you have a chance to file a personal injury claim.
The experienced Abogados de lesiones en casinos de Las Vegas at the Cottle Firm help our clients begin gathering evidence as soon as possible after an injury. If you’ve recently been injured in a Las Vegas casino, we’re prepared to help you collect everything you need for a strong case. Contact us today at 866-755-9111 to learn more in a free consultation.
How to Request Your Incident Report
After you’ve reported your injury and sought medical attention, the next step is getting a copy of the incident report that the casino created after your injury. This document often acts as the casino’s version of events, so you need to know what it says and whether it matches reality.
Identify the Right Department
Incident reports are usually handled by casino security or the risk management department, not the front desk or guest services. Calling the general casino number often leads nowhere. Instead, ask specifically for security administration or risk management and confirm that you are contacting the department responsible for injury claims.
If you don’t get a clear answer, ask for the name and the title of the person you are speaking with. Documenting who you contacted can be useful if the casino later claims no request was made.
Make the Request in Writing
Verbal requests are easy to ignore or forget. Always follow up with a written request by email or letter. Keep the tone professional and direct. You are not asking for a favor; you are requesting a document related to an injury that occurred on the casino’s property.
Your request should include your full name, contact information, the date and approximate time of the incident, and the specific location within the casino. State clearly that you are requesting a complete copy of the incident report related to your injury.
Language to Use When Requesting the Report
Be precise and avoid vague wording. A simple, effective request might state that you are seeking “a complete copy of the incident report, including all pages, attachments, and witness statements, prepared in connection with my injury on [date].” This makes it harder for the casino to respond with a partial summary instead of the full document.
You should also avoid providing unnecessary commentary about fault or your injuries in this request. The goal is to obtain the report, not argue your case yet.
What to Expect in Response
Casinos may delay, request additional forms, or say the report is “for internal use only.” Even if the casino refuses to provide a copy voluntarily, your written request helps establish that the report exists and that you sought it early, which can matter later in negotiations or litigation.
Preservation of Surveillance Footage
Surveillance video is often the most powerful evidence in a casino injury case, and the easiest for a casino to lose. Video footage is routinely overwritten unless someone takes specific action to stop that process.
Why Surveillance Footage Matters
Cameras cover just about every square inch of the casino. Multiple angles often cover the same area and may have captured not just the injury itself, but what happened beforehand. Video can show how long a spill was on the floor, whether warning signs were present, how employees responded, and whether the casino’s written report matches what actually happened.
The 30-90 Day Deletion Window
Most casinos do not keep surveillance footage indefinitely. Storage is expensive, and routine overwriting is standard practice. Many systems automatically delete footage after as little as 30 days, while others may retain it for 60 to 90 days, depending on the camera and location. If the footage is not affirmatively preserved, it will likely be gone before an insurance claim or lawsuit gains traction.
Why Casinos Don’t Volunteer Video
Casinos rarely offer surveillance footage on their own. From their perspective, video creates risk. It can contradict employee accounts, expose safety failures, or show that a hazard existed longer than claimed.
This is why simply asking “Can I get the video?” is usually ineffective. Without a formal preservation demand, there is no obligation for the casino to interrupt its normal deletion process.
The Duty to Preserve Evidence in Nevada
Under Nevada law, once a business knows – or reasonably should know – that an injury claim or lawsuit is likely, it has a duty to preserve relevant evidence. That duty does not require a lawsuit to be filed. Written notice that an injury occurred and that evidence may be needed can be enough to trigger it.
Sending a clear, timely preservation or spoliation letter puts the casino on notice. From that point forward, deleting or overwriting relevant footage can expose the casino to sanctions, adverse inferences, or separate spoliation claims. This is the legal leverage that turns a routine deletion policy into a serious problem for the casino if it ignores your request.
How to Send a Spoliation Letter
If you want surveillance footage to be preserved, you need to put the casino on formal notice. That’s what a spoliation letter is designed to do. This is a written demand instructing the casino to preserve specific evidence related to your injury.
When to Send the Letter
Timing matters more than wording. Ideally, the letter should be sent as soon as possible after the injury. Many casinos overwrite video at the 30-day mark, sometimes sooner, depending on the camera system and location. If you wait until negotiations start or a lawyer is formally retained, the footage may already be gone.
Who Should Receive the Letter?
Do not send the letter to a generic customer service email. It should be directed to parties who have authority over evidence retention, such as:
- The casino’s risk management department
- The director of security
- The casino’s legal department or general counsel
Sending it to multiple recipients reduces the casino’s ability to claim it was misdirected or overlooked.
What Evidence Should Be Preserved
Your letter should be specific but broad enough to prevent selective preservation. At a minimum, it should demand preservation of:
- All surveillance footage of the incident location and the surrounding areas
- Footage from a reasonable time window before and after the injury
- Incident reports, witness statements, and security logs
- Maintenance, cleaning, and inspection records for the area
Sample Spoliation Letter Language
Clear, direct language works best. A properly worded letter might include language like this:
“This letter serves as formal notice to preserve all evidence related to the incident involving [your name] on [date] at [casino name]. This includes, but is not limited to, all surveillance video, incident reports, witness statements, security logs, and maintenance records for the area in question. Please immediately suspend any routine deletion or overwriting of this evidence.”
This letter should also request written confirmation that preservation steps have been taken.
Nevada Case Law Regarding Evidence Preservation
Nevada courts have repeatedly made one thing clear: when evidence disappears after a party has been notified of a potential claim, the consequences can be serious. Here is a real-world case that shows why incident reports and surveillance footage matter.
Bass-Davis v. Davis
In Bass-Davis v. Davis, 122 Nev. 443 (2006), the Nevada Supreme Court addressed spoliation of evidence directly. The court held that when a party destroys or fails to preserve evidence that it knew, or should have known, would be relevant to foreseeable litigation, courts may impose sanctions under NRS 47.250(3). Those sanctions can include adverse inference instructions, allowing a jury to assume the missing evidence would have been unfavorable to the party that destroyed it.
While Bass-Davis was not a casino case, it is foundational Nevada law on evidence preservation. The principle applies directly to surveillance footage and incident documentation. Once a casino (or another property) is on notice that an injury occurred and that a claim is likely, routine deletion policies no longer provide legal cover. Preservation becomes a legal obligation.
The Practical Lesson for Injured Casino Guests
Nevada law does not require you to file a lawsuit before evidence must be preserved. What it requires is notice that litigation is reasonably foreseeable. Incident reports, written requests, and spoliation letters create that notice. Once it exists, the legal burden shifts onto the defendant to preserve all potentially relevant evidence.
This case shows why early documentation and preservation demands can be used as leverage. Used correctly, they can turn missing evidence into a problem for the casino, instead of a fatal weakness in your claim.
Contact Our Las Vegas Casino Injury Lawyers
Evidence disappears quickly inside Las Vegas casinos. Incident reports get buried, and surveillance footage gets erased. If you’ve recently been injured in a slip and fall or another accident in a Las Vegas casino, the Las Vegas casino injury lawyers at the Cottle Firm are here to help you preserve the evidence you’ll need for a personal injury claim. Contact us today at 866-755-9111 para discutir su caso en una consulta gratuita.
Related: 5 Critical Mistakes That Can Destroy Your Las Vegas Hotel or Casino Injury Claim Before Even Filing
