My wife and I drove through on our honeymoon back in 1998. We were so tired we literally slept on the grass between the sidewalk and the side of a building while people walked by.
Then we got in the car, filled the tank, and left. There was nothing for us there.
illegals forcibly handing out pornos on every corner, no free drinks, charging an arm and a leg for everything, ghetto thugs and meth heads everywhere, salesmen and timeshare creeps everywhere, gee what’s not to like about vegas?
Such a shame what happened to it.
I do really like the movie, Casino. Even though it’s protagonist is an ignorant political hack in real life.
Get rid of the Saudi owners and bring back the mafia
It’s sad to read about this; I haven’t gone for a long time but reports from my family are very bad. In the mid to late 80’s, it was good cheap food and fun. Today, you can’t even blow a fart there without being charged something for it.
Good article. Just on principle, the resort fee thing makes me gnash my teeth. When I was there last year many hotels were charging $25 to have a refrigerator in the room
Vegas cares about the guy and his mistress who puts 150k in the cage. They no longer care about the ordinary person. This means in 20 years Vegas would be down to two or three casinos. The rest will be imploded and prepared for section 8 housing.
Look at the I-15 traffic from southern California; it’s no longer a 200-mile traffic jam Friday-Sunday. Primm has largely shut down, save one hotel and gas station.
That’s a big danger sign for Las Vegas.
Wait until Havana re-opens and casinos become legal in Hawaii.
Who wants the desert when you’ve got the beach?
The old Las Vegas is gone. Back in the day in Italian-American neighborhoods when a young man was starting to get in trouble there was not an uncommon solution. The boy was sent to Las Vegas to work with a relative or close friend to learn dicipline and the casino business. Personally knew two guys who had this happen and both did very well. They still lead non criminal productive lives with families of their own. That theme was explored in the Godfather movie and novel.
And any problems were rubbed-out, stuffed in a 55 gallon steel drum, and dropped to the bottom of Lake Mead!
They can’t write about online gambling because that would give away that this decline isn’t temporary.
The good old days in Vegas were awesome.
The new Vegas is an overpriced disaster.
It’s become like a Disney Land where the rides shake you down for money.
The author is correct.
If you go onto the Vegas subreddit, the leftists here will tell you it’s all because of DRUUMMPPFFF and his scaring international tourists off because they of his immigration policies (and Canada hate).
I read this earlier - but already knew about how expensive Vegas has gotten.
It used to be a cheap weekday or weekend getaway for us - We’d stay in a nice but cheap place like the Stardust (has been torn down)- and get coupon books when we checked in - two for one at the buffet for breakfast, lunch and dinner - a couple of free pulls on the house one-armed bandit with a chance to win a car, free drinks, (free cigarettes too for those who smoke), penny and nickel slots, $1.00 blackjack, .99 shrimp cocktails or foot-long hot dogs, free parking as far as the eye could see...Those were Great Days.
Stayed at the run-down Luxor last time I was there a few years ago - way overpriced, buffet was $30, “resort” fee and we had to pay for parking. Blackjack was too expensive to play, slots didn’t pay and I think it starts at $1.00/pull now for one line. Homeless everywhere on the streets, low class street buskers and dancers or aggressive hustlers trying to sell porn or trips to the Grand Canyon.
No Thanks.
Got stationed there in 79 (Nellis AFB). Fun town then, about 200,000, didn’t cost an arm and a leg to go get some entertainment.
Then the “growth” started. The County Commission, Las Vegas, etc went gangbusters stimulating growth. It worked, to some extent. High-growth is not good for residents, lived it, hated it.
Then about 2010-2012 california started seriously moving in, bringing their crowding, crime, and stupidity with them. Saw the politics start to degrade to california levels. That was too bad - I had planned on retiring in Nevada, just had to move to a smaller town.
Held on until 2020, retired, got out of there as fast as I (we) could in spite of the china flu panic. Happiness was Vegas in the rear-view mirror.
Living the good life in Flyover Country.
I went to Las Vegas just once though I live in Phoenix and the flight is not long.
Never wanted to go but went for my nieces wedding, which she had there.
Hated it from the minute I saw it from the air. So phony looking. Artificial. Everything new and glitzy is not my like.
Terribly expensive. But here’s something.
We stayed on the 14th floor of a hotel, very empty. Only one other room on our floor was occupied and it was two doors down from us.
The halls were dark and quiet and my mother came with us, occupying the suite on the other side of us, same side of the hall as us.
In the middle of the night I awoke to hear a woman being beaten, badly. Thrown against the wall, screaming and crying. You could practically hear the punches landing.
I was so groggy I heard it in a fog and fell asleep during it all. In the morning I thought I dreamed it.
But in the morning my mother said, ‘did you hear that woman being beaten last night’?! It was then I even remembered hearing it.
We had to go to a prior breakfast before the wedding and then the wedding itself and the plane was scheduled but when I got back I phoned the hotel desk to tell them about it.
The desk clerk got the manager who asked me where I stayed and then gave me a kind of a gruff, ‘you better drop this’ kind of answer, saying nobody else heard anything like that and gave me the impression he was accusing me of being a liar and not to bring this up again.
Yeah. I don’t have any love for Vegas.
But I do feel sorry for Bugsy Siegel. They’re ruining his creation and I would’ve loved to see how HE would’ve run it.
The mafia did run it better after his demise and I know many that went and loved it back in the day. I knew a trucker who said he went for the breakfast’s alone. Steak and eggs and I think he said $1.75 and it was gooood.
“If you want people to spend money you have to treat them like royalty.”
One time mob casino manager in Vegas.
They dont hand out comps like they used to do, dont offer free drinks if your gaming like they used to do, and no more cheap buffets, etc. The attitude from staff is purely arrogant in most places.
They could give a rats ass now. Just dump your money and GTFO.
That is what corporate control brings.