Vegas hits on 20 !!

Have those MBA types really written off the average American consumer?

From Stiffs and Georges:
The prospective clientele was epitomized by ... more Kim Kardashian klones than you could shake a Botox needle at. If you were 30 or older, you looked very out of place. Indeed, there’s a fascinating thread on Two Way Hard Three concerning whether Strip casinos have simply written off the average American as a customer base.

From 2-way Hard 3:

Is the Strip Finished?
Posted by daveschwartz
The Strip is filled with people dressed like cartoon characters, a guy standing on the Bellagio corner preaching Jesus, blocking foot traffic with 6 people handing out papers, the illegals still handing out working lady numbers, its cheap feeling, low class, and embarrassing.

COSMO, the crowd is so young everyone I saw could call me grandpa, but some very serious talent working the bars, not that I had any interest.

1. Strip safety/aesthetics/vibe
2. Entertainment bang for the buck
3. General Strip bang for the buck
4. Downtown is the place to be

Link.

I'm not ready to move my hotel choice to Downtown yet. I'll be at the Flamingo in February for the Super Bowl (I know, I know, the game will be in New Jersey but I won't). I'll visit Downtown to go to Hugo's Cellar. But the thought of being confined to Fremont Street is still a little too depressing.

I agree with most of the article. That is why my stay is always off strip but near (Platinum hotel) and that my gaming at night is not on the strip (Tuscany).

I like to go to the strip in the early morning 7 am - about 11, after that forget about it. Too much of the young idiots who think they are millionaires trying to impress the hot ladies in way to little clothing mised with all the looky loo's cloging up the walkways, and then throw in the porn slappers and the cartoons forget about it.

I think that each of the two posts reflect a "fed up" with the strip attitude but a hesitancy to replace the Strip's carnival atmosphere by embracing Downtown. Its more a rejection of The Strip's carnival atmosphere and a selective embracing of alternatives. Quite frankly I think the thronged masses on the strip are just as bad as the Beautiful People in the Downtown Pubs/Art-Galleries/Nightclubs.

While I value the "hot ladies in way to little clothing" I sure enjoy an escape from the Pornslappers and Cartoon Characters. The Cosmopolitan might be a good example. Beautiful place, beautiful people, beautiful clubs, beautiful food ... and darned few gamblers in their casino. The Cosmo has dedicated itself to the glitter and glamor and abandoned all efforts to snare the gamblers.

Perhaps the excesses of The Strip will be a boon to the various Locals Casinos and eventually perhaps a boon to the various geographically remote casinos as increasing numbers of tourists question the value of flocking to The Strip's carnival atmosphere.

Interesting stuff, but what does the thread title, "Vegas hits on 20 !!" mean?

Quote: daveschwartz @ 2-way Hard 3

the illegals still handing out working lady numbers,

Those guys are illegal? I never realized. Guess I never thought to ask them for ID.

Quote: DJTeddyBear

Interesting stuff, but what does the thread title, "Vegas hits on 20 !!" mean?

Took me a while to figure it out, too - I'm pretty sure it means Vegas is catering to the "twentysomething" crowd, especially on the Strip.

Oh I thought it meant that Vegas was appealing to all the twenty year old prostitutes running around...
I like a vague thread title, subject to our own perverse interpretation....
My first thought was blackjack at least, but that was quickly succeeded by the sexual.
Business before pleasure!

Quote: DJTeddyBear

Interesting stuff, but what does the thread title, "Vegas hits on 20 !!" mean?

I think he just used a catch line from the article.
"Expecting otherwise is like hitting on twenty."

Quote: NickyDim

I think he just used a catch line from the article. "Expecting otherwise is like hitting on twenty."

Primarily it was indeed that line in the article that suggested the title to me but I was also aware of relationship to the moneyed twenty-something crowd that Vegas seems to be luring. Quite some time ago I had an argument with Mr. Schwartz about the economy decline should be a cause of Casinos to markedly raise, not lower, room rates. So when I saw that statement in the article and the phrase that followed about "hitting on twenty" I laughed. I knew all our blackjack counters and would-be counters would read ANY thread entitled hitting on 20 no matter what its actual contents.

The theme is that Vegas in embracing the 20-somethings and Kardashian Klones is going after pop culture of youth and beauty in order to get those with money. The trouble is that age group spends its time and money in clubs rather than casinos and at video games rather than table games. People have been complaining for years that the Strip was getting clogged with all the vagrants, vendors and posers in Elvis costumes. The changing demographics really is an erosion of the gambling base into a base of "Party Goers" in a carnival atmosphere wherein a trip to the casino to gamble is at best an afterthought. Ferris wheels, The Cosmopolitan, Nightclubs, Pools, Freaks and Strutters all add up to a fun town but a decline in gambling. I can almost envision a croupier and a roulette wheel being installed at the Cosmopolitan behind a pane of glass with a small sign and a small mallet hanging nearby: In case someone actually wants to gamble with money rather than gambol with the strutters, break glass and awaken the croupier.

IGT will have to come up with some way to parlay a Halo or COD experience into gaming revenue for a casino so these 20 somethings will feel at home gambling.

This sounds like the attitude a resident would have. I ignore most of those things when I'm on vacation.

- I don't know if they have changed or not, but it is extremely easy to ignore the porn slappers. The time share people are by far worse in my opinion because they talk to you. Isn't it rude to not say hello back to someone that greats you?

- I'm ok with the 20 somethings because I know that is how many casinos get closer to making a profit. People spend more in a club than I do in an entire trip to vegas at the tables. I laugh at them when I see them in the bushes throwing up at 5am. Sure I'd like it if they went away, but this is no different than a few other downtowns I frequent. The young hip crowd is just not the same as it was 10 or 20 years ago.


He also gives a large number of reasons why the strip is awful and then 1 paragraph on why downtown is better. I find more costumed characters downtown per block than on the strip. The overall quality of hotels is still far better on the strip. I love downtown, but it is still downtown. I enjoy the walk down the strip at night. On freemont this walk takes all of 10 minutes.

Don't forget the pickpockets once the light show starts Downtown. Not everyone is looking up and there's a reason for that.

Quote: 1BB

Don't forget the pickpockets once the light show starts Downtown. Not everyone is looking up and there's a reason for that.

Ssshss! Some poor dealer will be hungry for tips, so don't interfere with my income source!

I'll admit that some vacation visitors are there to have a good time and will not let themselves be phased by what locals see as "blight". Locals get tired of walking around the costumed posers, tourists smile and walk around them without any intense rancor. After all, if you are in Vegas for two weeks and desirous of merriment, you won't sweat the small stuff even if it ain't really all that small.

Yeah, young women unconscious in the remote shrubbery can be fodder for a vacationer's snap shots and may not be that much of a nuisance, but in general there is a "Chamber of Commerce" awareness of a growing number of discontents. Its a change from Sin City referring to gambling and prostitution to Sin City referring to Gluttony, Glitter, Glamor with gambling not only no longer leading the list but in many instances no longer appearing on the list or even in a footnote to it.

Quote: heather

Those guys are illegal? I never realized. Guess I never thought to ask them for ID.

Guess they only have their welfare id-cards.
They do have cool shirts though... they stand out in a brawl.

Quote: FleaStiff

Its a change from Sin City referring to gambling and prostitution to Sin City referring to Gluttony, Glitter, Glamor with gambling not only no longer leading the list but in many instances no longer appearing on the list or even in a footnote to it.

Those silly twits are young and have money so they want to party and Vegas is turning into a gigantic Party Town. Everyone is opening up bars, restaurants, arcades, dance clubs, concerts galore, pools, Ferris wheels, drug-filled rage venues, dark cabaret venues (The Act at Pallazzo) and the like.

Meanwhile, Black jack is disappearing and going 6:5 and table games are giving way to glittering lights on trendy slot machines, party pits are growing (which usually means "dealers" do twenty minutes on the pole during which the drop box gets zilch).

I can see these yuppies driving back to Los Angeles after having partaken of over a dozen different entertainment-related activities but never once having gambled at anything, much less spent a substantial amount of time and money gambling.

Most people fall into two categories...too dumb to gamble, or too smart.
Most of us on WoV fall somewhere in between....lol

Harrah's (or whatever corporate moniker it goes by today) made a living by skillfully shearing those that fall somewhere in between, but now Vegas seems to no longer interested in just shearing them, they want to wine them, dine them, pamper them. I mentioned putting a croupier and a roulette wheel behind a pane of glass ... soon I expect someone will take me up on that idea.