There are slot machines at the airport, waiting for you to get off the plane or giving you something to do while you wait for your baggage. It is, in no small part, what built this city and what continues to drive it, as evidenced by the fact that you can find gaming almost everywhere. And in Las Vegas, gambling is no longer the biggest revenue generator, earning less than half of most resorts’ revenue (the rest comes from hotel rates, dining, nightclubs, and the like).īut strip away all the facts and figures, and what you are left with is the undeniable lure of Las Vegas as a gambling mecca. Additionally, the recent Supreme Court ruling lifting the ban on sports betting will also likely take a big piece of the pie. As of this writing, there are more than two dozen states that have Native American or riverboat casinos, and nearly that many that have commercial casinos.
Even in the United States, the proliferation of legal gambling in other areas is eclipsing Las Vegas in terms of revenue and scope. That title belongs to Macau, China, where casinos with familiar names like MGM Grand, the Venetian, and Wynn pull in more money in 2 months than the casinos on the Strip generate all year. Las Vegas is no longer the gambling capital of the world.