Son lived there for years. Managed numerous ̶c̶a̶s̶i̶n̶o̶ resort construction projects. Went to visit often. Worthwhile: Mt. Charleston, Red Rock Canyon, Hoover Dam, Imperial Palace Auto Collection (Duesenbergs). Waste of time: Everything else. Recommended times to visit: one (1). Recommended length of stay: two (2) days.

That's pretty much correct.

How about some gratitude? When the place drys up in twenty years two million people are going back where they came from.

I couldn't stand Vegas when I was there, it was ugly and noisy and gaudy. All the casinos, no matter how they look or what their scheme is, look exactly the same on the floor, and its hideous. Miserable looking people in clouds of cigarette smoke, crouched over machines with a mix of desperation and shame in their eyes, floor girls who would be cute if it wasn't for the godawfully ugly outfits and look of misery in their eyes, and carpet that looks like something Herb Tarlek would reject as too much for one of his jackets.

Its just a pit of despair, a toilet where money, dreams, and self worth are flushed away into the hands of horrible men in ugly suits. The cars move so slowly you could walk across the top of them faster to your destination, hotel rooms that seep with sorrow and failure, and these days even the lodging and food is too expensive.

I was in Vegas last April. I used to enjoy trinkling twenty bucks worth of quarters into an old style one-armed bandit, but slot machines are no more. What they have now are incomprehensible, undecipherable video games. They flash, blip, and play a sort of cartoon with a lot of music, but you're never sure what the objective is or why you won or lost. They don't even take or pay cash. It's all aimed at people used to living life through Iphone apps. No fun.

JWM

I am not much of a gambler. I was in Vegas for a professional meeting a while ago. I find the modern electronic slot machines to be charmless and uninviting. When they were mechanical, you had some connection to the action. You might be able to influence it by the way you pulled the lever or your body english. Now its like logging into a web site. It has nothing to do with you.

Wow!! They seem to use up a LOT of that Lake Mead water and power.
If ONLY there was somewhere nearby to put "spent" nuclear power/medicine/research "waste"....

I always thought James Carville would have made a better HST than either Depp or Murray. I suppose Malkovich as well. Never been to Vegas. Back in the day I knew a professional drinker who lived there in the sixties and seventies. He did not care for gambling but had all the other vices. He loved the place and regaled us with stories.

If I was twenty years younger I'd go to Vegas and establish myself as The King of Light Bulbs.
My membership in the AOEW (Ancient Order of Electrical Wizards) would assure my success.

Fact #6: There's a mile of wire in a screen door.

“What in heaven’s name brought you to Las Vegas?” “…My health, I came to Las Vegas for the waters.” “The waters? What waters? We’re in the desert.” “...I was misinformed.”