{"id":238031,"date":"2023-12-01T08:04:17","date_gmt":"2023-12-01T14:04:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=238031"},"modified":"2023-12-02T13:19:56","modified_gmt":"2023-12-02T19:19:56","slug":"vegas-myths-busted-strip-casinos-earn-most-of-their-revenue-from-gambling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/vegas-myths-busted-strip-casinos-earn-most-of-their-revenue-from-gambling\/","title":{"rendered":"VEGAS MYTHS RE-BUSTED: Strip Casinos Earn Most of Their Revenue from Gambling"},"content":{"rendered":"

EDITOR’S NOTE: <\/strong>“Vegas Myths Busted” now publishes its new entry every Monday, with a bonus Flashback Friday edition. <\/em>Today’s entry in our ongoing series originally ran on Oct. 21, 2022.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

The Las Vegas Strip has been the heart of gambling in the US for decades. But gambling is no longer the heart of the Las Vegas Strip. Over the last 30 years, casino profits have slowly shifted to nongambling sources.<\/p>\n

\"Dean
Rat Pack crooners Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra play blackjack at the Sands in 1960 when blackjack kept the casino lights on \u2013 and Dean and Frank in the showroom. (Image: eBay)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

From the 1950s through the early \u201990s, about 75% of an average casino\u2019s revenue was earned on the casino floor. That\u2019s why so many guests used to be compensated for their rooms, drinks, meals and shows \u2013 if they played. That\u2019s what the casino \u201cspecial guest card,\u201d invented by the Dunes in the \u201960s, was designed to track. Initially not computerized, the cashier recorded the card number at every buy-in. Enough of them translated into comps.<\/p>\n

\n

Today, the Strip\u2019s revenue stream has flipped, with nongambling sources accounting for 75%. According to the most recent quarterly earnings reports from its three biggest resort companies, MGM Resorts Las Vegas generated only 23.4% of its $2.037 billion in revenue from gambling. Caesars Las Vegas only earned 27.6% of its $1.142 billion in revenue, and Wynn Las Vegas only had 24.1% of its $561 million in revenue from gaming operations.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

That’s why your room is no longer free unless you do some seriously<\/em> high-rolling.<\/p>\n

A Wynn Win<\/h2>\n

When Frank Sinatra made his Las Vegas debut at the Desert Inn in 1951, he told the crowd, \u201cFor six bucks, you got a filet mignon dinner and me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Steve Wynn, who in the \u201970s bought, beautified, and built out downtown’s Golden Nugget, saw an opportunity in Vegas’ renowned tackiness. Instead of being about cheap buffets and shows, he decided it could be more like Monte Carlo.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In 1989, he opened The Mirage, which offered its guests the best of everything. Dining at his Kokomo\u2019s restaurant, they ate world-class steak and seafood while surrounded by banana trees and waterfalls in The Mirage\u2019s indoor rainforest.<\/p>\n

\u201cWynn had said a few years before that Las Vegas didn’t need another casino, but it sure needed an attraction,\u201d said Michael Green, professor of history at UNLV. \u201cBy that time, more states and areas had legal gambling in some form \u2013 tribal and riverboat casinos loomed, and Atlantic City was siphoning off business. If you wanted to gamble, you didn’t need to go to Las Vegas, and soon you would have even more options. So, Las Vegas had to compete.\u201d<\/p>\n

Entertainment Followed Suit<\/h2>\n

Because of The Mirage\u2019s success, every resort upped its dining game. Wolfgang Puck opened his first restaurant outside California — Spago, in the Caesars Palace Forum Shops in 1992. More celebrity chefs followed, proving that dining was doable as a profit center. Via extension, Wynn realized, so was entertainment. A year after opening The Mirage, he installed Siegfried & Roy in their own $40 million theater and charged more than $100 a ticket to see them.<\/p>\n

That began the sea change in entertainment,\u201d Green said. \u201cNow there would be normal or regular costs \u2013 enough to show a profit \u2013 to see a show, and it would have additional bells and whistles. Then came large arenas that meant performers were less likely to pop in for a week in the showroom, as Elvis did at The International or as Liberace did to open the Riviera in 1955. Costs and expectations changed.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The transfer of power from occasionally mafia-backed millionaire casino owners to shareholder-beholden corporate executives\u00a0also encouraged “four-walling.” Instead of paying to stage their shows, casinos made independent producers pay them<\/em> to rent their showrooms. This\u00a0brought in essentially what Vegas remains known for today: superstar music residencies, traveling companies from Broadway-proven productions, and the strange wonder of Cirque du Soleil.<\/p>\n

“Gambling is still important to Las Vegas, but this is a dining and entertainment town now,” Green said.<\/p>\n

Look for \u201cVegas Myths Busted\u201d every Monday on\u00a0<\/strong>Casino.org. <\/strong><\/em>Visit <\/strong>VegasMythsBusted.com<\/a>\u00a0to read previously busted Vegas myths. Got a suggestion for a Vegas myth that needs busting? Email corey@casino.org.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

EDITOR’S NOTE: “Vegas Myths Busted” now publishes its new entry every Monday, with a bonus Flashback Friday edition. Today’s entry in our ongoing series originally ran on Oct. 21, 2022. The Las Vegas Strip has been the heart of gambling in the US for decades. But gambling is no longer the heart of the Las […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":78,"featured_media":238032,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,3313,81896,81886,88494,82353],"tags":[13363,81990,13628,82196,23,82012,82246,81920],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nVEGAS MYTHS RE-BUSTED: Strip Casinos Earn Most of Their Revenue from Gambling - Casino.org<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"EDITOR'S NOTE: "Vegas Myths Busted" now publishes its new entry every Monday, with a bonus Flashback Friday edition. 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