Vegas Doesn't Want Me Anymore (?)

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Vegas' demographic is shifting.

In the hey-day of Vegas, the 60's-70's when every name who was a name did a residency at one of the Strip resorts, the target demo was 40-year-olds and up. In most of the vintage Vegas photos you see (check out @classiclasvegas on Twitter) you see nothing but middle aged white guys and their big-haired wives. Everyone's wearing a suit or an evening dress. The entertainment is dinner theater, Martin and Lewis, Frank, Hollywood stars, lounge and Broadway acts.

Now the DJ culture has taken over Vegas. Nightclubs drive the social scene; Marquee club at Cosmopolitan accounts for 13% of the resort's revenue. ONE CLUB. It's $1500 bottles of Grey Goose, spiked hair and fake tans, and the hookup culture rules the scene. Name DJ's pull down $40K a night to play a pre-mixed set on their laptops. The day for the club kids is sleep in, go to the pool, nap, maybe a little poker or sportsbook for the guys while the ladies go to the spa, and out to the clubs at night. You rarely see them in front of the slots.

The resorts reflect this. Even in just the 4 years I've been going I see less and less young (20's) people in the casinos, it's mostly the blue bloods in from Kansas and the hardcore local gamblers. Comfy sports bars with reasonable prices are being pushed out for "ultra lounges" charging $17 for a cocktail. The former inward-facing drive of resorts to get people into the casinos is being replaced by pushing all the development out onto Strip-facing retail and downscale food joints, all up and down the Strip.

The change has been overwhelming just over the last 4 years. I understand why the resorts are doing this; if gaming revenue is trending down you have to maximize the profitability of your property somehow, it's just business. But it does begin to marginalize those of us who still seek the "classic" Vegas experience, that being good drinks, good food and gaming, all in a relaxed atmosphere without fucking Skrillex blasting in your ear all day.

I've mentioned it in previous posts but I wonder how long the youth-skewed development can sustain the "Vegas experience", before it begins to lose the essential "Vegasness" of Vegas.

I still love going to town. There's still enough Vegas there to justify it for me. And Vegas still seems to want me, as I get comp offers from multiple properties on a weekly basis. But as I get older and Vegas' culture skews younger, how much longer will I want to keep taking them up on those offers?

Because I don't do nightclubs, and I sure as shit don't do Skrillex.

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