(Opinion) Las Vegas used to mean something.

(I submitted this to the Review Journal on 10/13/2025 as an opinion piece)

 It wasn’t just another city with casinos, it was the destination. A fantasyland where every resort had a personality, a story, a soul. The Flamingo's lush gardens. The Mirage's erupting volcano. Caesars Palace with its fountains and Cleopatra’s Barge. These weren’t gimmicks. They were promises. They told you: "You're somewhere different now."

That old Vegas was the work of gamblers and visionaries. Steve Wynn. Kirk Kerkorian. Bill Bennett. Jay Sarno. These were builders, dreamers, risk-takers who didn’t just want to make money, they wanted to make magic. Their fingerprints were on everything, from the carpet patterns to the cocktail recipes.

But that Vegas? It’s slipping away.

What we have now is a city traded in for shareholder value. A Strip where you can barely tell one resort from another. We replaced pirate ships with shopping malls, volcanoes with minimalist lobbies, and neon with cold, corporate LED screens. Las Vegas didn’t evolve, it got streamlined, sanitized, and stripped of personality.

The strategy now is painfully obvious: cater to fewer, wealthier guests. Fewer staff. Higher margins. Serve fewer people, charge them more. Let the whales prop up the entire model.

And the rest of us? The average player with $500 to spend? We’re background noise. We used to feel like kings for a weekend. Now we’re treated like a liability unless we’re willing to drop five figures.

There aren't enough $10,000 / day gamblers to go around. And when every property fights for the same shrinking pool, it becomes a race to the bottom: slashing comps, hiking prices, gutting experiences. The magic gets lost.

You can't sell wonder by the ounce. You can't spreadsheet your way into nostalgia.

Vegas needs something radical. Not a throwback. Not another retro lounge or 90s theme night. We need someone to rethink the entire experience. From the ground up.

Bring back immersion. Bring back interaction. Build a floor that feels alive. Let people play, stream, create. Mix gaming with entertainment, content, and community. Create spaces where people aren’t just placing bets, they’re making memories.

Vegas used to be where you went to feel something. Today, it feels like you're walking through an airport with slot machines.

We need someone brave enough to take the next big gamble. Not another safe bet. Not another corporate "activation." Something real.

The kind of risk that built this city in the first place.

That’s the bet I’d take.

And it’s one Vegas desperately needs.