Blackjack dealer stabbed by co-worker at Bellagio

A Bellagio blackjack dealer suffered deep cuts to her face after a colleague stabbed her while the two were inside a casino pit Friday night, officials said Saturday.

It was the second violent incident in a week inside a high-profile resort on the Strip, the other being a murder-suicide at the Excalibur last weekend.

Officer Marcus Martin, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Police Department, said the female victim, whose identity had not been released, was taken to Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center, where she was being treated for her wounds. Her condition wasn't immediately known.

Brenda J. Stokes, 50, was arrested in connection with the stabbing, and was being held at the Clark County Detention Center on a variety of charges - burglary; battery with a deadly weapon; battery with use of a deadly weapon with substantial bodily harm, and mayhem.

A motive for the attack wasn't immediately known.

Witnesses inside the casino reported the fight at 9:47 p.m., Martin said. He said "an edged blade" was confiscated, although he did not know whether it was an actual knife, a box cutter or a small blade of some sort.

Within minutes of the altercation, the Clark County Fire Department was on the scene and attending to the wounds of the victim, and Stokes was taken into custody, Martin said.

The blackjack pit was back up and running after the crime scene was "secured and restored," said Yvette Monet, a spokeswoman for MGM Resorts International, the owner of the Bellagio.

The stabbing was out of the ordinary for the high-end, Italian-themed resort that's known mostly for its spectacular water fountain outside, its 2,000 hand-blown glass flowers on the lobby's ceiling near the hotel's registration desk, and a conservatory with a display that changes with the seasons. The stabbing occurred about 100 yards from there, at one of the blackjack tables in Blackjack Pit No. 2.

It's right across from The Baccarat Bar, where a piano player can be heard nightly entertaining the visitors and guests who pass by.

The minimum bet inside the pit is $100 and the maximum bet is $1,000.

Martin said investigators were still trying to figure out what caused the fight, but he was also trying to wrap his head around the recent spate of casino violence.

"I gotta say, if you look at the people we serve, the tourists and the locals, events like these do happen on the streets in Las Vegas. But this latest sort of stuff? Inside casinos? Just off the Strip? This is rare," Martin said.

On Dec. 14, the lobby of Excalibur was abuzz with activity like any other Friday night when Edward Brandt, 30, of Lake Forest, Ill., walked through the front doors, then fatally shot Jessica Kenny, of Grayslake, Ill., at 8:30 p.m. while she was working as a concierge. He then killed himself in what was described by Las Vegas police as a crowded lobby.

Investigators think Brandt had a relationship with Kenny, and a close friend of Kenny's said he was a former boyfriend who apparently wanted to get back together with her.

Casino supervisors, when questioned, declined to say whether the two women were working as blackjack dealers at the same time, or whether one of them was working and one of them wasn't.

Contact reporter Tom Ragan at tragan@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5512.