Las Vegas today - How Las vegas has changed

Chapter 1: Las Vegas Overview

1.1: Early history of the city
1.2: How things have changed!
1.3: Weather in the desert.
1.4: The best time to go
1.5: Geography of Las Vegas
1.6: Leave the kids at home

Early Fremont Street, Downtown Las Vegas

1.2 How things have changed! Las Vegas today

Today, a half a century later, Las Vegas hosts nearly 36 million visitors annually, with about half (100,000 people a day) going through McCarran airport, the world’s 7th (and U.S. 5th) busiest airport. (It is located less than a mile from the strip.) A useful map of McCarran’s proximity to the strip is located here.

The Strip: Las Vegas Boulevard, South

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) says that 1 person in 5 (6.5 million) people visit Las Vegas for the first time every year.

About one third of all visitors come from Southern California, 10 percent arrive from a foreign country.

The average age of a Las Vegas visitor is 50, but 1 in 10 is under age 21. The average stay is 3.4 nights; average room rate: around $80 per night.

More statistics on the average Las Vegas visitor: Two thirds are working; college educated; 60% are married and have an average househood income of $50 thousand. More than half have Internet access.

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) says that 1 person in 5 (6.5 million) people visit Las Vegas for the first time every year. (About one third of all visitors come from Southern California, 10 percent arrive from a foreign country.) The average age of a Las Vegas visitor is 50, but 1 in 10 is under age 21. The average stay is 3.4 nights; average room rate: around $80/night.

More statistics on the average Las Vegas visitor: Two thirds are working; college educated; 60% are married and have an average househood income of $50 thousand. More than half have Internet access.

Nearly one half of Nevada’s funding comes from gambling taxes. All casinos pay a 6.75% state tax on gambling revenues. And more than a third of the state's general fund goes to public education. Thanks to gambling and sales taxes paid by tourists, taxes are low ...and there are neither city, state or corporate income taxes. It is the only state where local taxes are primarily paid by non-residents. Nevada's casinos rake in nearly $10 billion a year, by far the highest amount of any state. Las Vegas gaming revenue is more than $6 billion annually.

Las Vegas has more than 130,000 hotel rooms which, on the average, are 90% occupied year round. (The average U.S. national room occupancy is less than 60%)

In fact, the ten largest hotels in the United States are all located in Las Vegas, the largest being the MGM Grand with over 5,000 rooms! Several have more than 3,000 rooms.

Amazingly, the city is sold out nearly half of the time ...especially during major conventions, sportng events and holidays. And more hotels are coming! The LVCVA says there will be 150,000 rooms in Las Vegas within 5 years.

In recent years there has been a trend towards hotel consolidation. Three publicly owned gaming companies in Las Vegas now – or shortly will -- control the majority of the dollars gambled on the strip. Each owns multiple gaming properties, with each appealing to different classes of clientele. Casino ownership changes frequently and you almost need a scorecard to keep track. (The figure represents the number of hotel rooms.)

MGM Mirage, Inc. owns the Bellagio (3005), Mirage (3044, Treasure Island – now called "TI" to get rid of the family-oriented pirate theme --(2900), MGM Grand (5005), New York-New York (2034) and the Boardwalk Hotel and Casino (654).

The Mandalay Resort Group operates the Mandalay Bay (3300), Luxor (4407), Excalibur (3991), Monte Carlo (3002) and Circus Circus Hotel and Casinos (3700).

MGM Mirage has offered $7.9 billion to acquire Mandalay Resort Group. (Total Las Vegas rooms: 35,298)

Caesars Entertainment Corp. (formerly known as Park Place) operates Caesars (2400), Paris (2916), Bally's (2814), and the Flamingo Hotel-Casinos (3642).

Harrah's Entertainment Inc. operates 28 casinos in the U.S. including Harrahs-Las Vegas (2579) and the Rio All-Suite Hotel-Casino (2500) in Las Vegas.

Harrah's is in the process of acquiring rival Caesars Entertainment for $9.4 billion. (Total Las Vegas rooms: 16,851)

If completed, the deal will make MGM-Mandalay the largest Las Vegas hotel operator with the Harrah's-Caesars announced merger in second place.

Las Vegas Sands, Inc. (which caters to business travelers) will also become one of the largest gambling operations in the world once they go public. They own the Venetian Hotel (3354), its Venezia addition and are planning to build a $1.6 billion, 3,000-room Palazzo hotel-casino on the Las Vegas Strip in 2007. The company also controls the Sands Expo and Convention Center next to The Venetian and the 500,000 square foot Grand Canal Shoppes at the Venetian.

If all of the acquisitions and public offerings go through, the three companies (MGM-Mandalay, Harrahs-Caesars and Las Vegas Sands) will control more than half of the rooms on the Las Vegas Strip.

Does this all seem a little mind boggling? All of these properties are within a two mile area on the same street! The question becomes: when do you go, where do you stay. And how do you get the best deal. We will cover that in upcoming chapters.