Sex Industry and Sex Workers in Nevada

Las Vegas has long been known as the symbolic center of the commercial sex industry. Nevada is host to the only legal system of prostitution in the United States. From the early legalization of quickie divorce and marriage to the marketing of its large resorts, sexuality has been a key component of Nevada’s tourist economy. If trends continue, for good or for ill, the sex industry will be an even larger part of the economy in the future. The sex industry refers to all legal and illegal adult businesses that sell sexual products, sexual services, sexual fantasies, and actual sexual contact for profit in the commercial marketplace. The sex industry encompasses an exceedingly wide range of formal and informal, legal and illegal businesses, as well as a wide range of individuals who work in and around the industry. This report will review the context in which sexually oriented commercial enterprises have flourished, discuss general trends in the Nevada sex industry, and make policy recommendations

From Nascar to Cirque du Soleil: Lessons in Audience Development

Examines marketing trends and principles in entertainment and performance. Case studies include nonprofit arts organizations, mega-concert promoters, for-profit entertainment conglomerates, sports promoters and religious organizations

The Shifting of the Las Vegas Tourism Industry: A Historical Perspective on Management and Resort Revenues

Las Vegas has been internationally recognized as the entertainment capital of the world. Whether it is top dollar luxury, world class fine dining, or vibrant night life that one seeks, Las Vegas certainly has something for everyone. The latter half of the 20th century has shown the city unprecedented arenas of success, but with intense global competition on the rise, it is clear that Las Vegas is no longer the only major player in the game. The turn of the 21st century has brought a new wave of economic challenges, and though Las Vegas has adapted over the years with a remarkably consistent stream of reinvention, revenues have shifted not only to different subsets of the hospitality industry, but also abroad. The proliferation of the gaming industry worldwide has ushered in a new era of accessibility that will inevitably force Las Vegas’ experiential product to reposition. Now, patrons need not travel thousands of miles to the Mecca of gaming and entertainment when closer destinations offer similar experiences, and this presents a reasonable threat to the city’s potential revenue flow. Furthermore, domestic tourists are gambling less and less in favor of other forms of entertainment. The future of Las Vegas as an international resort destination is uncertain, but the city’s history may shed some light on current and prospective predicaments

What Do They Do in Las Vegas Strip Casinos? An Analysis of the Attitudes and Behaviors of Gen Y Casino Customers

Totaling over 63 million, Generation Y, also known as the Millennial Generation, is the new generation of casino customers (U.S. Department of Commerce, 2011). While there are no specific dates to mark its beginning and ending, individuals born between 1982 and 1994 are generally considered as Millennials or Gen Yers. A survey conducted by the American Gaming Association (2013) revealed that Gen Y casino customers made up the highest casino visitation rate with 39% having visited a casino in the previous year; however, it is also shown that Gen Yers spends more on non-gaming departments and have less intention to gamble during their visit. Apparently, this emerging gaming segment noticeably changed the composition of customers, or the casino demographics, of the gaming industry. As gaming has been the industry’s top revenue driver, it is critical for casino executives to understand the reasons for the Gen Yer’s decreased interest in gaming by studying the habits and behaviors of this particular segment. In this study, research on the common traits of Gen Yers, their attitudes and perceptions towards gaming, and factors affecting their decision on gaming activities will be reviewed. Furthermore, this study focuses in the Las Vegas gaming industry, as markets in different regions are too dynamic to be generalized as a whole. After reviewing their gaming behavior, this paper will recommend to the gaming executives strategies that are more appropriate and effective for this customer segment

The Las Vegas Fremont Street experience: A new tourist destination to revitalize a declining downtown

Downtown Las Vegas, the old city center, represents the history, culture, and heritage of Las Vegas. Casino Core is a district whose function as a planned casino, hotel and entertainment district in the heart of Downtown Las Vegas. With the development of Las Vegas as an international entertainment center, the old city center declined. In order to revitalize the declined downtown, the Fremont Street Experience, a project of public-private partnership between City of Las Vegas and the Fremont Street Experience Company, was implemented to try to attract tourists down to downtown area and compete with casinos along the Las Vegas Boulevard. With the addition of the Fremont Street Experience (described below), this area came together as a compact, interactive and intense pedestrian oriented casino, hotel and entertainment environment, incorporating restaurant, special gift shop and supporting entertainment uses along Fremont Street, with continuous active frontage from one end to the other. The design of the project transformed the idea of pedestrian shopping mall into an urban theater and made downtown a complete resort destination and a must-see attraction; This paper verifies the success of the Fremont Street Experience as an tourist destination project and an initial project to revitalize the old downtown Las Vegas, and at the same time, evaluates the influence of technical show in making the attraction for the revitalization of the declined downtown

Estimating the indirect gaming contribution of poker rooms: Is poker room volume a peripheral driver of slot revenue?

This paper examines the effect of poker room volume on slot revenue. Using data from a destination market casino on The Las Vegas Strip, slot coin-in and poker room rake are compared over a 212 day period. With rake as the independent variable and coin in as the dependent variable, a causal model is established that demonstrates a statistically significant connection between the two. Somewhat surprisingly, poker room volume does serve as a legitimate driver of slot revenue. This study advances the literature by establishing this relationship and determining that poker room volume has an indirect income effect on at least one other component of casino operations. However, given the marginal economic benefit when poker-room expenses are considered, managers may still be well-advised to consider other gaming alternatives to maximize the cash flows from valuable casino floor space

Dollars, Defense, and the Desert: Southern Nevada’s Military Economy and the Second World War

Modern Las Vegas has come to inhabit a unique place in the American imagination. A neon mirage glittering amid the desolate Mojave Desert, “Sin City” is both celebrated and scorned as an oasis of gambling, nightlife, and entertainment. Consistently ranked among the nation’s fastest-growing metropolitan areas, Las Vegas has experienced sensational economic, infrastructural, and demographic growth in recent years. The dizzying pace of this development makes it difficult to imagine that the city was once anything other than the bustling urban playground it is today. Like many great western cities, Las Vegas came of age during the World War Two era. A mere hamlet of 8,422 residents in 1940, it had nearly tripled in size by 1950. Many believe Las Vegas to be synonymous with its gambling economy, but war, not wagering, triggered the city’s first period of dramatic growth. A sizeable military presence, established during World War Two and sustained by the Cold War, took root in southern Nevada. Though never as visible as the area’s high-profile gambling industry, this military economy was a vital factor in the development of the nascent metropolis

The upscaling of Las Vegas: An examination of increased gaming revenue

The purpose of this study was to examine how popular luxury has become a driver of key volumetric which has resulted in increased Strip Gaming Revenue. This study examined three independent factors: (a) Strip Visitor Volume, (b) Strip Hotel Occupancy Percentage, and (c) Average Daily Rate (ADR) of Strip hotel rooms. The independent factors are influential on the dependent variable of Strip Gaming Revenue. This relationship has economical and psychological impacts on the transformation and evolution which has been taking place mostly on South Las Vegas Boulevard---The Strip. Secondary data were collected from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) from January 2001 through June 2008 for the purpose of this study. The hypotheses related to the relationship among the variables were supported through multiple regression analysis, and a model showing the relationship was developed; On an average monthly basis, Strip Gaming Revenue during the period was about {dollar}454 million; Strip Visitor Volume, 2.1 million; Strip Hotel Occupancy, 92.0%; and ADR, {dollar}124.55. Analysis indicated that an increase of one person per month adds about {dollar}65 to Strip Gaming Revenue; 1% in Strip Hotel Occupancy adds nearly {dollar}3.3 million; and an increase in ADR of {dollar}1 adds more than {dollar}3.1 million to Strip Gaming Revenue per month. These findings support the expansion of luxury accommodations on the Las Vegas Strip

Technology enhancement in hotel guestroom

This is an exploratory research paper looking on various types of technology, facilities enhancement and devices adopted by hoteliers for their guestrooms to meet the ever increasing demand and expectations from their guests. This paper also explores the technologies and devices that owners use to leverage on business sustainability for their operations. As part of the corporate social responsibility, hotel owners are exploring the opportunities to increase these activities through the use of modern technology and devices to reduce damage to the environment such as using energy saving devices in their properties. Business and leisure travelers who are environmentally conscious will be interested in this paper as they will have a better understanding on the technologies adopted by hoteliers that have a positive impact on the environment and at the same time without compromising the service level they deliver and at the same time be able to have a memorable experience during their stay in the hotel

Lights, audience, profit: The evolution of the Las Vegas spectacle

Las Vegas is known as a post-modern city; its development in the later half of the twenty-first century is an explosion of tourism, spectacle and gambling. Especially with the transitions of the past two years and the great variety in the new shows, no one has asked the question how did Las Vegas get from the showgirl to Blue Man Group? If we are to visualize a Las Vegas in the future, it is essential that we understand the whys of and the forces that impel change in the Las Vegas entertainment industry; As there are no chronologies of the Las Vegas spectacle this paper is an effort to delineate the evolution of the spectacle as a beginning step to understanding the forces that change Las Vegas. What follows is a piecing together of myths, opinions, visual accounts, personal memories, and some documented chronologies of the development of the current shows in Las Vegas