The bar has been set.
Armijn Meijer and Dominique van der Geer planned to visit 112 casinos in 24 hours. Even though they only made it to 110 casinos, they still set a new world record for the most casinos visited in that time. They accomplished it much faster than they had originally thought.
Their accomplishment earned them a spot in The Guinness Book of World Records. They streamed the entire adventure live on their YouTube channel, allowing viewers to follow along. They broke the record with five hours to spare and completed their journey with about three hours left.
They actually set the record in about 21 hours. They reached this milestone around 11:15 p.m. Las Vegas time, at The D on Fremont Street.
"I fell asleep instantly after setting the record, while the team, including Dominique, held an afterparty at the Grand Casino downtown," Meijer said.
Casino Visit Record Falls Early
The quest began in Laughlin, Nevada, where they hit their first round of casinos before hopping on a helicopter and flying to Primm to continue the casino blitz by SUV. From there, they made their way to Las Vegas for a run of casinos on The Strip, and the adventure ended on Fremont Street.
The original plan had them arriving at El Cortez in Downtown Las Vegas by 1:30 a.m. on February 6 as record holders. However, they made such great progress that they were well ahead of their original schedule.
The list of casinos visited included well-known spots on the strip like Caesars Palace, Golden Nugget, and Park MGM.
Old Record Surpassed by Visiting 36 More Casinos
Armijn and Dominique broke the record previously held by Americans Kimo Ah Yun and Gary Meyer, who visited 74 casinos in just 22.5 hours. Before that, they had set a record by visiting 69 casinos in 2015. To capture the record, Guinness requires you to visit each casino and play a table game.
In 2023, John and Christina Mehaffey attempted to break the record by going to 93 casinos, where you can win real money. However, Guinness did not recognize their attempt because they only played slot machines and not table games, which wasn’t sufficient to set the record.
World Record Quest Included Games Along the Way
Armijn and Dominique were planning to spend about four and a half minutes at each casino, but the times varied. They’d walk in, find a slot machine to play, throw in $5, hit the button, grab their vouchers, take a picture holding their vouchers, and race to the next stop.
"We played $5 in each of the 110 casinos, spending a total of $1,100 in the machines and winning approximately $600 back," Meijer said. "We'll have the official numbers in a couple of days, but our biggest wins were $77 for me and $67 for Dominique."
They occasionally mixed things up by playing video roulette. They also surprised random casino guests with gifts. One woman received $50 for guessing Armijn’s favorite number. Another casino visitor won a free $25 bet after picking one of three 'Golden Envelopes.'
To keep themselves busy during their adventure, Armijn, Dominique, and their team played “Bingo.” They had a sheet with everything from a Starbucks to a police car with flashing lights to the Las Vegas sign on it. Whenever anyone from the team spotted something, they marked it down.
Team member Monica not only documented everything, but she also added some flair by changing into a different costume multiple times along the way, including Wonder Woman.
A Record for Miles Covered May Have Also Been Set
Meijer estimates that they walked about 19 miles, in addition to taking helicopter rides and high-speed truck trips between casinos. "Dominique was smiling for all 24 hours and managed it well," Meijer said. "I found the first 10 hours particularly challenging, but the whole team helped me through!"
There were some expected connection issues with the live stream, and they had to call a couple of audibles. For instance, when one of the casinos didn’t provide tickets from its slot machines, Armijn, Dominique, and the team had to move on because they needed the tickets to verify the record.
There was still plenty of time for bathroom breaks and food. The crew packed the SUVs with a mountain of snacks and drinks to keep the team full and hydrated along the way.
"We could have visited more casinos, but it was important to keep it fun and safe," Meijer added.
Now, they’ll catch up on some sleep and eventually return to the casinos to cash in any winning tickets they have.
Congratulations on accomplishing your goal!
