The Vegas You Don’t Know

Let’s go to Las Vegas! Yes, I do mean the one in Nevada.

We know this town, bright lights, glamourous people dressed to the nines, gambling in high roller rooms, partying in exclusive clubs, swimming in exclusive pools, being catered to by the staff in every casino with no worries or cares beyond living our decadent lifestyle and having fun with beautiful people. The ads on TV sell it, the billboards show it. Remember, “What Happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas”. Every club is exclusive to you if you are a glamourous hardbody (man or woman or in between) or you have enough money. Fancy cars to buy, rent or borrow, fancy clothes and accessories for sale in exclusive shops that tease you as you walk through the casino floor or the many shopping areas. The airport is packed with private jets for hire, personally or business owned jets brining in the Big Shot and the ones that casinos send to pick up their whales. On a Friday the line of private aircraft is very long as they fly out to pick up and deliver their clients to the lap of luxury. Just read the tail markings, there are planes here from all over the world bringing in the rich and famous.

We are consummate people watchers and we watch everyone who is in Vegas.

The ads rarely show the common person who comes to Vegas. These folks aren’t part of the rich and glamourous. They fly into town by the hundreds of thousands per year to get a taste of the high life. They come from all walks of life and usually fly coach seating so they can save some money to spend on the decadent things available to the rich. There are restaurants here that if you have to ask the price, you can’t afford to eat there. Most of the clothiers and accessory shops are the same way. Save all year for that exclusive dining experience or eat in your favorite celebrity chef’s restaurant. Buy that Rolex or Hublot watch you have always wanted. It’s Vegas Baby, Eat Drink and Party, it all stays in Vegas. There is an orgy of consumption happening here every day and night. There are acts, legal and illegal occurring all the time. Witness extreme jubilation in wins and weddings and rock bottom lows of passed out drunks in the streets and the telephone breakups of couples as one sits on the curb with a bag after being thrown out of another’s life.

These people come from modest backgrounds and want to see how it is to throw their cares to the wind and be frivolously decadent for a weekend. Young couples who want a taste of the party life, older couples who have saved up a while to experience the vibrancy of letting go of their ordinary life for a while and the young singles who are here for their own agendas.

The “common” visitor may save all year to be able to afford a weekend in a town that is totally built upon a false image. These are the people who built this town, not the “whale” or high roller. The glam folks may spend a few (ten) thousand in a couple days but the average visitor, when combined with all the other low rollers, pays to keep the lights on in this town and makes those big corporations billions of dollars a year. For example, the third quarter earnings report for 2019 for MGM alone showed 3.1 BILLION dollars.

These visitors fill the hotels and motels in and around this town nightly. They use the rideshare cars and taxis, they ride the bus and the monorail. They shop at CVS and Marshalls and all the other stores on and off the strip. These are the visitors that keep Las Vegas alive and thriving. The promotional photos that are used by the casinos don’t show the throngs of people walking up and down the strip to see the sights or saving on money by not paying for the rideshare. These are the visitors going into the specialty shops like M&M’s, Coke, Bubba Gumps, and others lining the strip. This is the real visitor to the Las Vegas glitz and glamour. Some come to party in a town where you can walk down the street with a drink and there is something happening all night long. Some come to party in the nightclubs, famous for their late hours and advertised debauchery, some are here for the fancy dinners and to be treated like a big shot, some are here because they think there are no laws or rules. We have the new Marijuana tourist/visitor who is here to flaunt the legality of using the drug in the face of their home state where it isn’t legal yet.

There are the retired people who have moved to the desert because they are tired of the climate they came from. These people have either moved to the valley permanently or “snowbird” here. There are a number of them who don’t worry about income and then there are the ones who live from retirement check to check. These folks are rarely seen on the strip and go to the “locals” casinos for better deals that the tourists and party crowd aren’t looking for or don’t even know about. The retired folk move from local spot to local spot, counting their retired dollars and watching their comp dollars so that they can optimize their retirement time in Vegas. These are the folks to ask if you want to know about every comp available anywhere in town. You’ll find them in most of the off strip casinos, usually playing low limit slots, table games and poker. They have a ring full of players cards and don’t spend a dime without making sure they are logged onto the comp system. They work successfully to get the maximum use of their free and discounted items.

So, no matter who you are or your particular demographic, each of us helped to build the resorts and gaming halls of Las Vegas and Nevada in general. We are the other Vegas visitor, the continuing contributor to the economy, not the whale or the flash-in-the-pan “high roller”. We are the ones who pay the bills and keep the lights on.

Come one and all, and enjoy your time in Vegas and we’ll probably see you all there.

BFD