Why Vegas Will Survive COVID-19
Las Vegas has been hit like no other city by the pandemic and subsequent shutdowns. Besides the closing of casinos, bars, strip clubs, pools, etc. the Playground of America has been crippled by the lack of tourists flying from all over the world to let loose. It’s been rough; it’s going to get rougher.
Since joining the ranks of ‘casino management’ I’ve been working and researching for an upcoming book I’ll write about my experiences as well as a brief history of the parts of Vegas you know nothing about: the Off Strip Casino World. In my research I’ve noticed an unusual trend in this bizarre, neon-bathed city: it changes course about every ten or twelve years.
Given my career path has done exactly the same thing, it is oddly serendipitous that I’m living here now. In some small part, I wanted to live here because of the romance of the earlier version — Sinatra, showgirls, the Mob. Arriving in 2019 landed me in the ‘Family Friendly’ Las Vegas — residencies, sports, buffets. Decidedly less romantic is the Disney-fied playground but that’s about to change.
Casinos are finding customers coming to their properties for now are more hard-core gamblers who don’t need the amenities to attract them. Since many Strip properties’ models are based on amenities to attract tourists, they will return in some fashion. But [Barry] Jonas said there will be more thought behind it, and at casinos where amenities aren’t as vital, there will be even more scrutiny.
“We were heading in that direction anyway, but we just saw an acceleration of cutting that out,” Jonas said. “It was a few players — Eldorado-Caesars — being the most visible — but there were a number of operators that held onto this belief of ‘let me have a loss leader because ultimately players will develop into profitability.’ They gave a lot of free play and free rooms and thought it would be worth it.
“That attitude is now much different. Players are getting less and employees are getting less, and the vitality of these businesses are secure.”
Simply put, Vegas was created for the ultimate recession-proof trifecta: gambling, prostitution, and booze. As it undergoes its next transformation, it seems that the city returns to her roots in those three delicious prospects.
The environment right now is that those establishments that banked on the big tourist dollar are nosediving hard while the locals casinos are, while not swimming in business, doing much better than the Strip. This is, in part, due to the fact that the smaller casinos and gambling halls never catered to the tourist dollar. These joints are for gamblers, both high rollers and degenerates. Prostitution is illegal in LV but the underground blowjob trade is booming. The bars are shut down but like every other time in American history, the locals know how to get a drink around here.
Of the many things I find inspiring by this glitzy oasis in the Mojave Desert, the indefatiguable drive to innovate ways to party and make a buck or two doing it is center. The state was founded by people coming from all over for the freedom of movement, the escape from heavily populated cities, and for gold and silver.
The history of Nevada is that of Boom & Bust. The sheer number of small towns and cities, sprung up like cactus in the enormous desert in the wake of mining successes only to be leveled a decade later because the ore ran out only to find gaming or prostitution or booze to spring back to life is astounding. Boom then Bust then Boom again is so common here it’s a cliché.
Relatively speaking, Vegas is a young city. While it has had its seedier past what with the Mafia (still around but corporatized), graft, and at least a stone-skim version of segregation (but not anything like those hot beds of racism back east), the kind of person who gravitates to this place is an optimist, first and foremost. Maybe secondarily, delusional and lunatic.
Las Vegas is an entire city located in an entire state founded on hope. Hope for a better life, hope for a lucky day, hope for a taste of glamour. The plants that survive the extreme heat are amazing and resilient. The animals that still roam wild are the toughest fuckers this side of Africa. The people, both those born here and those who gravitate to the lights and sounds, are about as eccentric as the many themed casinos and twice as likely to bounce back when decimated by an extreme drought or random flash flood.
Even luckier (for me at least) we came here as the state becomes more liberal in political energy.
So, yes. This pandemic has laid America’s Party Place low but, unless I’m completely off-base, this town will reinvent herself yet again. As awful as this current situation is, I’m damned excited to be a part of the next, new Las Vegas. I’m finding a pride in being a Nevadan.
