Any chance casino gambling in Las Vegas will be shrunken to sports book only?

GON

GON

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Preface- I am not a gambler and have zero interest/ desire to gamble.

Watching numerous videos and reading articles, I keep learning that Las Vegas strip casinos are changing the already bad mathematical odds against their customers. On example, a roulette wheel use to have two zeros (0, and 00), now these wheels have three zeros (0, 00, 000). Blackjack use to pay 3 to 2, now pays 6 to 5.

Reports also point that Las Vegas is cleaning up on its visitors. Not only room charges, but parking charges, resort fees, on and on. Reported food prices on the strip are often higher than New York City, or Los Angeles. Yet, Vegas as a popular as ever, and making money in every conceivable way.

So, it begs the question- is the future of Las Vegas more on entertainment and sports, and less on gambling. Do hotels in Vegas need a casino to attract customers and make profits? Or can these hotels just keep a sports book, and utilize casino floors for other purposes like retail shops, and additional dining?
 
GON said:
Preface- I am not a gambler and have zero interest/ desire to gamble.

Watching numerous videos and reading articles, I keep learning that Las Vegas strip casinos are changing the already bad mathematical odds against their customers. On example, a roulette wheel use to have two zeros (0, and 00), now these wheels have three zeros (0, 00, 000). Blackjack use to pay 3 to 2, now pays 6 to 5.

Reports also point that Las Vegas is cleaning up on its visitors. Not only room charges, but parking charges, resort fees, on and on. Reported food prices on the strip are often higher than New York City, or Los Angeles. Yet, Vegas as a popular as ever, and making money in every conceivable way.

So, it begs the question- is the future of Las Vegas more on entertainment and sports, and less on gambling. Do hotels in Vegas need a casino to attract customers and make profits? Or can these hotels just keep a sports book, and utilize casino floors for other purposes like retail shops, and additional dining?
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My neighbor went to vegas for a business trip last year and stayed at the mgm grand. He had his last day free so he played a little blackjack. He said it seemed like all of the blackjack tables had card shuffling machines. Anyhow he placed a side bet and should have won $100 yet he had to stop the dealer and not just him three others pointed it out. Apparently a manager then pit boss came over and assured my neighbor he was mistaken. Long story short my neighbor was correct but the weird thing was the manager told my neighbor "You will be leaving after you get your $100 right?" My mom had a similar issue at a casie in Arizona after she hit $1350. They tried really hard to not pay out. If this continues and they keep hosing customers then yeah expect people to not come back. I see parking fees at upscale hotels/resorts yet the best western down the street is free parking. The real thing irritating people are the "resort fees" that are automatically tacked on.
 
97prizm said:
Anyhow he placed a side bet and should have won $100 yet he had to stop the dealer and not just him three others pointed it out. Apparently a manager then pit boss came over and assured my neighbor he was mistaken. Long story short my neighbor was correct but the weird thing was the manager told my neighbor "You will be leaving after you get your $100 right?" My mom had a similar issue at a casie in Arizona after she hit $1350. They tried really hard to not pay out.
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Need details here.
 
Just wait til everyone is on semaglutide and eating less, drinking less, and doing less impulsive things like gambling.
 
RhondaHonda said:
Just wait til everyone is on semaglutide and eating less, drinking less, and doing less impulsive things like gambling.
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Sadly, I think legal gambling on sports is a growing industry in the U.S. Why work when one can become wealthy betting on sports. Or so the story goes.

Disclosure - not a fan of gambling.
 
GON said:
Preface- I am not a gambler and have zero interest/ desire to gamble.
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Same here.... I've never understood the appeal.

Las Vegas keeps drawing 'em in, apparently. I've seen the traffic jams coming up for the weekends from L.A. The entertainment options might be a big part of it, I suppose. It'll be interesting to see if that proposed high-speed rail from LA to LAS ever gets built.

I'm going there in a month for a photography workshop in the desert. Miles and miles from the crowds! But since it is Vegas I gotta pay the taxes and fees to get a rental car, and they aren't cheap.
 
I've been going to Vegas 1 to 4 times a year for the past 20 years. Love it there. So much to do even if you don't gamble. Sports gambling is a very small part of it. Most sports books are empty unless there is a really big event going on. The casinos are packed with gamblers on the slots and table games.
 
GON said:
Preface- I am not a gambler and have zero interest/ desire to gamble.

Watching numerous videos and reading articles, I keep learning that Las Vegas strip casinos are changing the already bad mathematical odds against their customers. On example, a roulette wheel use to have two zeros (0, and 00), now these wheels have three zeros (0, 00, 000). Blackjack use to pay 3 to 2, now pays 6 to 5.

Reports also point that Las Vegas is cleaning up on its visitors. Not only room charges, but parking charges, resort fees, on and on. Reported food prices on the strip are often higher than New York City, or Los Angeles. Yet, Vegas as a popular as ever, and making money in every conceivable way.

So, it begs the question- is the future of Las Vegas more on entertainment and sports, and less on gambling. Do hotels in Vegas need a casino to attract customers and make profits? Or can these hotels just keep a sports book, and utilize casino floors for other purposes like retail shops, and additional dining?
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Yes, since COVID the odds on some games have become worse. However even for a few years before COVID you had parking and resort fees both of which can be avoided is you meet certain levels of status. The parking thing was funny because one property decided to charge, it forced the others to also charge in order to preserve spots for guests rather than guests of the other property who were looking to avoid having to pay. The shift in revenue share from gaming has been slow but gradual since the late 1980's-1990's as more money was put into entertainment. Clubs of the early 2000's became huge draws and continue to draw today. A popular club can clear over $1M a night. If a group of guys are spending $5k in a club on a Saturday night they're not going to spend that at the tables before the drive/fly home on Sunday. Remember the "Vegas experience" revolves around a weekend. 1-2 nights were you splurge on expensive food, entertainment and a little gaming. Retail doesn't do a lot of business and what business they would do probably depends heavily on big winners from gaming being that the shops themselves are almost all exclusively high end.

Food prices definitely became worse after COVID and so did the prevalence of additional "surcharges" on food bills. The food portions themselves are rather absurd. 72 oz steak for one!

As for your last question. Yes Vegas needs their casinos to attract customers because they would not survive without their "whales". These are the customers who will gamble tens of thousands up to millions during their stay. Never mind that people get bored and need something to do, especially during convention season.

The Sportsbook is one of the lowest profit centers for a property.
 
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97prizm said:
My neighbor went to vegas for a business trip last year and stayed at the mgm grand. He had his last day free so he played a little blackjack. He said it seemed like all of the blackjack tables had card shuffling machines. Anyhow he placed a side bet and should have won $100 yet he had to stop the dealer and not just him three others pointed it out. Apparently a manager then pit boss came over and assured my neighbor he was mistaken. Long story short my neighbor was correct but the weird thing was the manager told my neighbor "You will be leaving after you get your $100 right?" My mom had a similar issue at a casie in Arizona after she hit $1350. They tried really hard to not pay out. If this continues and they keep hosing customers then yeah expect people to not come back. I see parking fees at upscale hotels/resorts yet the best western down the street is free parking. The real thing irritating people are the "resort fees" that are automatically tacked on.
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I've had a situation where I hit a side bet on 3 card poker and the had to correct the dealer to pay me. I was making a bet that wasn't common and the dealers are often on autopilot and not paying attention to out of the ordinary things. If your neighbor was loud and annoying, I can see him getting backed off the table. If he wasn't, I don't understand why the pit boss would back him off.

Hits over $1200 trigger a hand-pay and you need to provide ID for tax purposes. Sometimes that takes time if it's your first hand-pay and you're not on file at the casino. What were the details of them not wanting to pay out the $1350?
 
Sports and entertainment are a larger money maker for the whole of the city, so of course it will and has been a major player in the infrastructure of LV, has been for 30+ years. Gambling pays for the schools police fire etc........and of course profit.

No other city can accommodate a Superbowl, Nascar Race, NHRA Drag event, INdy race and World Series All At the same time, if it worked out that way.

The city is much different than when I was growing up as kid, and "secretly" ran by the mob. Now it is a nasty mess IMO
 
Kira said:
How far from the center city would one have to go to rent a car outside this "taxes and fees" zone?
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I dunno..... Barstow, perhaps. or Needles?

In all fairness to the rental industry, I might just be trying to rent during a peak season.
 
GON said:
is the future of Las Vegas more on entertainment and sports, and less on gambling.
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Probably.

GON said:
Do hotels in Vegas need a casino to attract customers and make profits?
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No. there are plenty of hotels in Vegas that do just fine without a casino.

I offer Atlantic City as an example. Claridge and ShowBoat do just fine without a casino. Plus there are other hotels there that have never had a casino, and they don't seem to be constantly changing ownership or going under. Gambling is oversaturated in a lot of places (maybe most?) already anyway, so finding other reasons to attract tourists is now necessary,

In so far as changing roulette wheel and blackjack odds more in favor of the house, all the casinos are doing it. Alienating casual gamblers seems to be their business model now. The casinos only want the gambling addicts and whales, which reminds me a lot of the homebuilders and automakers who really only want their most profitable customers.

I've personally never been to Vegas, but I do go to Atlantic City several times a year, as I enjoy the beach and boardwalk, and the adult only pool at Borgata off season (Water Club Tower pool). The fact that there are less kids is reason enough to go there.

I still see places expanding in Vegas, and with the Atlantic Club reopening as a hotel in Atlantic City, it seems that at least developers think that people will keep coming to both places.
 
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GON said:
Reported food prices on the strip are often higher than New York City, or Los Angeles.
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It's tourist pricing on food. It's almost the same in Atlantic City where your choices are either a food court or a super expensive upscale restaurant if you want to eat in the casino. The Texas Roadhouse in Egg Harbor Township is where I go for steak when I am there now. I miss the steak special at Plate in Taj Majal.
 
zzyzzx said:
It's tourist pricing on food. It's almost the same in Atlantic City where your choices are either a food court or a super expensive upscale restaurant if you want to eat in the casino. The Texas Roadhouse in Egg Harbor Township is where I go for steak when I am there now. I miss the steak special at Plate in Taj Majal.
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OOA 2019 I had to go to Atlantic City for a meeting. A buddy(who recently passed away- life is short) at Ruth Chris in Atlantic City. The restaurant tab is still memorable--- not a happy memory.
 
Because I was showing a foreign visitor the lay of the land, I swung through Atlantic City for my one, and likely only, visit...... a dozen years after "it opened".
I am the product of a big, anti-gambling family.
We stayed at the smallest, most 'family owned' place we could find and asked about dinner.
The deskman directed us to a small buffet, upstairs and out of the way, in one of the casinos.
It was the best as total experiences go.
 
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