Thousands of Bellagio, Mandalay Bay Guests Locked Out of Rooms in Wake of Massive Hack

MGM Resorts has about 48,000 rooms on The Las Vegas Strip, none of which could be accessed due to a massive hack.

Mandalay Bay, the Bellagio, and MGM Grand are just some of the properties affected.

MGM said it's working with police after identifying a cybersecurity issue, but as of 4:30 pm local time the issue continued.

The company said in a statement on Monday: 'MGM Resorts recently identified a cybersecurity issue affecting some of the Company’s systems. Promptly after detecting the issue, we quickly began an investigation with assistance from leading external cybersecurity experts. 

'We also notified law enforcement and took prompt action to protect our systems and data, including shutting down certain systems. Our investigation is ongoing, and we are working diligently to determine the nature and scope of the matter.'

The hackers are said to be demanding a large ransom, though details were not immediately known as of Tuesday morning.

One guest attending a conference at an affected hotel expressed via Twitter what he had to go through this day.

"IBM Conference at MGM Grand is wild. MGM is experiencing a cyber security event. Room key app, credit cards and even slots seem affected. I had to go offsite to get cash to buy food."

Footage shows the casino at the ARIA with the machines off as the outage continued just before 1pm EST.

MGM also shut off some of this websites.

MGM's properties outside of Vegas, including its Detroit casino, appear to have been hit as well.

The company's sportsbook, BetMGM, does not appear to have been affected by the breach.  BetMGM, which is partnered with Entain, disclosed it had been the target of a massive hack last fall.

- Jagajeet Chiba, Gambling911.com