" New and Shiny" Wynnites,Bellagioites, and The Death of LV

[Eponymous]

The "new and shiny" is just a natural refreshing that has to happen to keep a city (LV or AC) from being run into the ground. I'm happy that the Borgata is starting a trend in AC. When the Trump Plaza gets bulldozed for the new Wynn/Trump casino, I hope they try to move all the Taj poker action there. It would be nice to have a Vegas-style casino with a good poker room on the boardwalk. I hardly play at the Taj anymore because there are other, less grungy alternatives.

The new and shiny casinos attract a lot of people (with money) to the poker rooms that would not otherwise be there (read: unskilled poker players). We should all be thankful that this much investment is being made in B&M casinos.

[Dastone]

[ QUOTE ]
The town will never be the same. After the Tangiers, the big corporations took it all over. Today it looks like Disneyland. And while the kids play cardboard pirates, Mommy and Daddy drop the house payments and Junior's college money on the poker slots. In the old days, dealers knew your name, what you drank, what you played. Today, it's like checkin' into an airport. And if you order room service, you're lucky if you get it by Thursday. Today, it's all gone. You get a whale show up with four million in a suitcase, and some twenty-five-year-old hotel school kid is gonna want his Social Security Number. After the Teamsters got knocked out of the box, the corporations tore down practically every one of the old casinos. And where did the money come from to rebuild the pyramids? Junk bonds. But in the end, I wound up right back where I started. I could still pick winners, and I could still make money for all kinds of people back home. And why mess up a good thing?


[/ QUOTE ]

[belloc]

[ QUOTE ]
Your posts are trolls... Go away.

[/ QUOTE ]

[Cactus Jack]

Sorry, govman, but you don't get the whole picture.

Last year, for the first time, rooms/food/entertainment revenues were greater than gaming revenue. The first time, ever. Hold onto that, a minute.

48 of 50 states have some type of legalized gambling. Most people are within driving distance of a gambling joint, like an Indian casino. That's why gaming revenues have dropped in Vegas. Fewer people are coming here to gamble. So why are they coming? For a vacation, exactly what you said. Why are the blue-collar casinos getting imploded? Because even the cheapos who go to Circus-Circus, Riviera, Stardust, Imperial Palace, and downtown want to gamble at the Wynn, Bellagio and Venetian. They get cheap rooms and spend their gambling money elsewhere.

They are building casinos out on the Boulder Hwy which feel much like the old Strip. I think a lot of people you are talking about will go out there for their "Vegas experience." I hope so. I'd hate it if the place ever completely loses it's old identity and feel.

Times change and the guys who run these giant corporations are pretty smart fellows. They saw it coming, and found a way to keep Vegas in front of the flood of local gambling options. You should actually applaud them. If not for the foresight, Vegas would be shrinking and we'd be wondering why they didn't see it coming?

[cardcounter0]

Two words: EL CORTEZ

[BigBuffet]

[ QUOTE ]
Very interesting post. I'm not sure how I feel about this, especially because my Vegas experience is very limited. But I am very glad they aren't pushing it for "families" anymore.

[/ QUOTE ]

Oldie but goodie:

Taking kids to Vegas is like taking a stripper to DisneyLand [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[BigBuffet]

I have been going to Vegas since 1974. In the old Vegas people dressed better. Nicer clothes than you usually see now in the daytime. Def suits, sportscoats and dresses at night. At the casinos you complain about, you will see people dresing better again. but mostly you see the great unwashed in their outfits that scream "Just came from a Jerry Springer taping".

The Desert Inn was the epitome of class in the old Vegas. If the shiny new casinos can recapture the class of the old Vegas, then I am for it.

It's not the new casinos I'm against, it's casualness of the slobs that have infested Vegas the past twenty years...

[gusmahler]

FWIW, I recently checked hotel prices for the week after Xmas. A bunch of hotels on the Strip for $100/night or lower. I didn't write them down, but off the top of my head, I'd guess Circus Circus, Stratosphere, Tropicana, Excalibur, Luxor, Harrahs.

[bav]

[ QUOTE ]
It's not the new casinos I'm against, it's casualness of the slobs that have infested Vegas the past twenty years...

[/ QUOTE ]

I'll never ever understand this. Why do you care what I wear? Long as I ain't showing my hairy white manboobs, what's your beef? Go ahead and wear what pleases you, but why are you telling me how to dress? Clothes don't make the person, and a guy wearing a Rolex and $1500 suit can be just as obnoxious as the guy in shorts and flipflops. What Vegas doesn't need is more pretentious asshats--you can go to your next highschool reunion if you want that.

[sternroolz]

FWIW, I pretty much visit Vegas only on the weekends and will only stay where there is a decent value involved. So if a four star place(TI, Monte Carlo, Mirage) or better can be had for under $150 a night mid strip, I'm staying there. Same thing for a 3 star under $100 a night(Harrahs, Ballys, etc). If not, I stay at Orleans which is plenty nice. I love to play poker in a luxurious room that will serve me what I want to drink no questions asked. Bellagio, Wynn, and to a lesser extent Venetian and Mirage are plenty nice with eye candy abounding.

If I want to play BJ or craps, its Casino Royale, Slots o Fun, or downtown.

Bottom line is there are many options, and always will continue to be. Lower price recently(within the past 15 years) built places like Orleans, Stratosphere, and to a lesser extent Excalibur and Luxor are not going anywhere for a while. These will become the new low end places, and frankly, they are all(except Excalibur) a TON nicer than any of the current dumps like Circus Circus, Frontier, IP, Trop, and Riviera.