Las Vegas, Sin City
A casino is usually a facility for various forms of gambling, including card games. Casinos can be either privately owned by individuals or by corporations. Casinos can be located near or mixed in with other hotels, tourist attractions, restaurants, cruise ships, retail shops, and other forms of tourist entertainment. Some casinos are even known for hosting live music, including live concerts, stand-up comedy shows, and theatrical productions.
Today, Las Vegas is the most popular tourist destination in the United States, with more than four million visitors taking part in casino gambling activities each year. This metropolitan area is home to numerous state and national casinos, as well as hundreds of privately owned gaming facilities. There are more than two dozen racetrack facilities in the vicinity of Las Vegas, making it the country’s largest gaming site. One of the most popular attractions in Las Vegas is the world-famous Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The speedway was built by Las Vegas residents after the passing of a bill that allowed people to use public roads to hold horse-drawn carriages.
Casino gambling can be traced back to the nineteenth century when the West ended up with a thriving industry based on gambling, especially when the state of Nevada was created out of the need for a financial system to support the fledgling state’s development. When the U.S. attorney general suggested opening state-funded facilities to provide a legal alternative to slavery, gambling quickly became popular throughout the region. The prevalence of legal gambling spread throughout the United States and soon there were all kinds of legal casinos, with all sizes and varieties of gambling equipment. The Atlantic City and Las Vegas became the destinations of choice for many gamblers around the country and even around the world.
Gambling has always been linked to show business. However, in recent years it has moved far beyond that stereotype. Today the main article topic is tourism in Las Vegas, with casino owners, management and developers competing to make their areas inviting, profitable and quotient exciting. Although gambling on the strip is the most well-known amenity, other areas in Las Vegas are quickly becoming favorite tourist destinations.
There are now two Las Vegas casinos in Macau, the Venetian and the Sands. Both of them have established themselves as major tourist draws. The Sands was recently awarded the “Gambling Capital of the World” title by the World Commission for Tourism Organization (WCTO). The Venetian is thought to be the most modern casino in the world. Although the majority of the publicity surrounding both Macau casinos has been about the high rollers, the main article in the Las Vegas Sun proclaimed that even the average gambler could walk away a big winner.
Although Las Vegas is considered by many, to be the Mecca for gambling, Las Vegas still lags behind other major U.S. gambling cities in terms of visitor revenue. With continued growth in Las Vegas it is anticipated that revenues for these Las Vegas casinos will surpass those of the New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Dodgers combined. The main article in the Las Vegas Sun proclaims that the future of Las Vegas lies in the direction of offering more gaming options, both in addition to gambling itself. Even though the strip has been the center of so much controversy over the years, it has managed to attract millions of people annually to its many casinos.