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Is Las Vegas taking a property gamble

It is not only gambling that is changing either, as Las Vegas sits in a tourism industry also struggling to find its feet.

Las Vegas is the world's most iconic gambling mecca. Yet beyond the casinos, it also attracts many tourists for its other amenities and its place in modern American history. Like New York and Los Angeles, it is a hotspot steeped in Americana, some based on its gambling and casino-soaked past and some not. But could its rush to preserve its reputation be eroding what made the city great in the first place?

The changing face of gambling
It is a fact that gambling has changed in the past few decades. The biggest change has come from the booming iGaming industry. With a wide selection of games on offer and easy-to-use interfaces, a casual audience can visit the casino from the comfort of their device. Many of the major casinos in Vegas opened up online offerings as a result of this and while this has not diminished footfall, it has changed the method of operations. In this respect, the US is following the examples of countries like the UK where websites like Betfair offer sports betting along with casinos and other games, with casino offers for new players to boot. Combined with online offerings in this way, Vegas may have become more of a holiday destination than the only place to go to gamble as it was in the past.


Photo by Julian Paefgen on Unsplash

Entertainment in Vegas
A wider shift in attitudes towards entertainment in Las Vegas is also taking place. A recent cancellation by Adele for a huge residency was down to her believing the move to be soulless. These "Weekends with Adele" residencies were scheduled to take place at Ceasars Palace. At first, the reasons for canceling were that she said the shows were not good enough. She then went on to describe them as soulless. 

This followed a similar cancellation by rock gods Kiss, who also canceled after a month citing similar reasons. They believed the strip was saturated with too many acts, providing too much choice, and with too many similar places doing the same thing. So, is Vegas losing its cool?

The new Las Vegas
Anyone who is currently in Vegas will tell you otherwise. Real estate prices have been on a steady upward trend over the past few years, despite global events. While residential real estate has started to drop off a little, commercial properties are still buoyant. Retail space has shown strong demand and vacancy rates have been low. 

In particular, the North Strip is becoming a hotbed of activity. Once the domain of the low-priced gift shops and eateries, the area is being taken up by exciting major new developments. These include Fontainebleau Las Vegas, a project which has been 2 years in the making, and Resorts World Las Vegas. This is alongside a rehaul over at Circus Circus along with a new arena, all of which have forced the price of land up considerably. Part of this may have been that when the strip shut down in 2020 -2021, these major developments kept going. As they come to fruition, with them comes a huge boost to employment and tourism. 

The curse of gentrification
However, this classic case of gentrification does have a detrimental impact in itself. Every major development means that lower-priced motels and restaurants are forced to move or close. Just as much a part of Vegas as the big casinos, in some areas this is eroding the history of the strip itself. It is not only these smaller long-standing projects that are going either. Even large projects with financial backing such as the Hawaiian Marketplace shopping center have closed, possibly because the high land prices have made them reassess the profitability of being in Vegas.

It is not only gambling that is changing either, as Las Vegas sits in a tourism industry also struggling to find its feet. So is building more of the same to attract new customers a certainty? Or is Vegas taking a gamble by destroying the variety and life that made the city what it is?

Main photo by Grant Cai on Unsplash

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