Fun Facts About The Fabulous Las Vegas, NV. USA
When talking about gambling, there is no big debate when we call Las Vegas the gambling capital of the world. Located in the South of Vegas, State of Nevada, United States, and also known as Las Vegas Strip, it is just 4.2 miles long (6.8 km), but is worldwide known due to its high concentration of casinos and resort hotels. If we see the sign saying “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas”, we know we are in the right place.
Actually, the Strip is not exactly in Vegas, but in Paradise and Winchester, just outside Las Vegas to the south, but the name has stuck due to the proximity. The architecture and lights present make this region be considered a scenic night route, and if this is not touristic attraction enough, what about if we think that fourteen of the biggest twenty five hotels in the world are located there?
If we count well, we can find the impressive number 62,000 hotel rooms, just enough places for everyone to sleep after a night gambling. The area has developed itself a lot in past years, and we can find a corridor of resorts in an extension close to one mile. As it is one of the most desired destinations in the world, the casinos, hotels and restaurants are permanently being modernized, so there is always something new to see when we return.
Some History
If we go back to 1930 we would not find Vegas the way it is right now, in fact, nothing more far than the truth, as one single casino existed there and was called Pair-o-Dice Club. This casino was located in Highway 91, so not in the Strip. For a casino to exist in the Strip we had to wait 10 more years, until 1941 to be exact, when El Rancho Vegas opened doors.
In 1942 a second hotel, Hotel Last Frontier, opened its doors and that was the official birth of the Strip. The Las Vegas myth was born and growing, and organized crime figures, who saw the full potential of gambling and invested opening new resorts, had an important role on this development. The Flamingo opened in 1946, while Desert Inn opened its doors in 1950.
1969 marked the birth of a new era in Las Vegas with the opening of the International Hotel. This was considered the first mega resort and had the impressive number of 1512 rooms. A mega hotel doesn’t start just like that, so the staff was trained in the Flamingo Hotel while the International was under construction. The International still exists today under the name of Westgate Las Vegas.
From this point on Vegas was pretty much unstoppable and in 1973 the first MGM hotel and casino opened its doors, with 2084 available rooms. Not only was this the biggest hotel in Vegas, but also one of the biggest in the world, considering room number and room dimensions. After an historic fire in 1980 that resulted in the death of 87 people, MGM Grand Resort was sold and renamed Bally’s.
The level just kept on rising, and in 1989 The Mirage was open, establishing the mega resorts as the standard for Vegas instead of the small hotels, that were affected by the change. Entertainment and eating options, gambling and rooms, all was available in one single place. Rio and Excalibur opened on the next year, 1990.
Vegas Today
Even if the Strip has lost its eternal status of biggest gross gambling center to Macau, talking about the Bellagio, Palazzo, Encore, Venetian and Wynn, we certainly realize that Vegas today is aiming at high end customers, and that is much more than revenue. In fact, it’s a luxury that more and more people are willing to indulge themselves with simply because they want to go to Vegas and live the dream.
