Many people get stung in Las Vegas, but not everyone gets bitten on the balls by a scorpion while sleeping in their hotel suite.

Michael Farchi was staying at the luxury Venetian Hotel, Las Vegas in December 2023. He awoke in excruciating pain and discovered he’d been bitten on the balls by a scorpion. Here are his boxer briefs, with the scorpion still attached.

“I just felt like somebody stabbing me in my private area,” said Farchi. “It felt like a sharp glass or a knife. I went to the restroom, and I saw a scorpion hanging on my underwear,”

After a trip to the emergency room, Farchi completed this incident report.

The Venetian waived the room charge, but it appears that no other compensation was offered. As a result, Farchi is now suing the hotel.

Here’s Farchi with his attorney, Brian Virag (on the right) – exactly how you’d imagine a Las Vegas attorney to look.

The scorpion in question is native to Nevada, but it’s a mystery as to how it made it to a suite in the Venetian. It may be that it was attached to Farchi’s outer clothes, or the clothes of a previous guest.

This doesn’t look like a set up for compensation – I mean who would deliberately allow themselves to be bitten in this way.

I’ve stayed at the Venetian and it’s a lovely hotel, although I literally lost my shirt when the hotel laundry service failed to return it. It took months of emails, back and forth, before the hotel finally paid for the shirt.

I wouldn’t let the threat of scorpions, or lost laundry, put you off staying at the Venetian – as always check any hotel room for unwanted guests, especially bed bugs.