Canary In the Casino
Sin City Sin Turistas?
Las Vegas is where discretionary income goes to spawn. Unlike salmon that journey upriver to a desired goal, few discretionary dollars get that far. Most stay in the river, never spawning, lost instead to the green vortex of money that swirls around and through Las Vegas.
As the saying goes, “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.” Money happens in Las Vegas. Casino by casino, bar by bar, show by show, handle by handle, money untethered from its spenders’ dreams swims into the pockets of the gaming industry.
Has hell frozen over?
If there are Cheeseburgers in Paradise, there are cheeseburgers in Sin City – and a Las Vegas casino chain recently slashed the price of theirs to $5.99. Who wouldn’t enjoy a low-cost, tasty cheeseburger? That’s a wonderful development, isn’t it?
Not in Las Vegas. In Sin City, a cheap cheeseburger is a sign of the Apocalypse. Anthony Curtis, publisher of the Las Vegas Advisor, saw something ominous, not wonderful, reported Alex Schechter for SF Gate. “ He found the deal appealing but out of character for Las Vegas,” Schechter wrote, “and he promptly announced in his newsletter: ‘Has hell frozen over?’”
“The way he saw it, if a consortium of casinos such as Station (typically laser focused on profit margins, like most businesses in town) was willing to bring prices down, it could be a sign that the casinos were hungry for customers,” added Schechter.
Hungry indeed. “According to data from Smith Travel Research,” wrote Abel Garcia and Tricia Kean for KTNV, “hotel occupancy in Las Vegas fell 14.9% in June. The situation worsened in July, with the city posting the sharpest decline in the nation for the week ending July 5, when occupancy fell to 66.7% — down from last year.” Casino workers have noticed.
"Our members are quite concerned right now" Ted Pappageorge of the Culinary Union told KTNV. "What we're seeing is a softness in business." "Our members are telling us that the companies are holding off on hiring and there's incidental reductions. Some of them are significant," he added.
“Based on data from the U.S. International Air Travel Statistics program, Las Vegas has seen consistent declines in overseas arrivals throughout 2025,” reports Travel Weekly, “with only January posting growth compared with the prior year. The drop-off accelerated in June, when international visitor arrivals fell by 13.2%.”
“International visitation saw steep declines from two major markets: Mexico and Canada,” reported NPR in April. Amanda Belarmino, a UNLV associate professor, told NPR she thought the economy was primarily responsible for the reduction – but not entirely, noting “factors such as wildfires and geopolitical tensions still may be contributing to the decline.” She clearly underestimated the latter.
“60% of Canadian adults say recent U.S. trade policies and political statements make them less likely to travel south of the border in the next 12 months,” reported Forbes in April, adding, “More than one-third (36%) of those surveyed had planned to travel to the U.S. in the next year but have since canceled those plans.”
Donald Trump’s policies will cost U. S. tourism up to $29 billion, Forbes reported in July. “While other nations are rolling out the welcome mat, the U.S. government is putting up the ‘closed’ sign,’” said Julia Simpson, president and CEO of WTTC.
The Trump Effect: No Fun, No Mon
Pollsters are asking the wrong question. According to my AI query, the question most frequently asked by pollsters about the Trump administration is a variation of "Do you approve or disapprove of the way Donald Trump is handling his job as president?" That is the lynch pin of presidential polling, whether by Gallup, Pew, The New York Times, etc.
Here is what they should be asking: Are you having fun?
America is a place where people have fun – because they have the freedom to enjoy themselves. Take away fun and you remove what makes America America. Remember “the pursuit of Happiness?” That’s us.
Donald Trump is the assassin of joy. Ever since he descended from his 5th Avenue Olympus, he has spread hatred and division. He tells followers people they disagree with are not neighbors, but enemies. America is wound up as tight as an armature. That’s the Trump effect.
American unhappiness is costing employers “more than $2 billion each day due to lost productivity and absenteeism caused by toxic workplace behavior,” according to Sarah Bonk and Kara Revel Jarzynski, writing in The Fulcrum. “Americans are exhausted by division,” they add, “and it’s showing up at the office, in customer interactions, and on company balance sheets.”
It’s also showing up in the casinos, restaurants, and clubs of Las Vegas. The raison d'etre of Sin City is fun. People go there to play. But fewer people are enjoying the playground. Those international dollars are not going to Las Vegas because America is not fun anymore. It’s not a welcoming place.
Historians like Jon Meacham like to talk about the “soul” of America. “The soul is what makes us ‘us,’” he told the Democratic National Convention last year. “In its finest hours America’s soul has been animated by the proposition that we are all created equal and by the imperative to ensure that we are treated equally.”
Is equality the only consideration? What if we are all equally miserable?
Enjoyment is a national imperative. Fun is social oxygen. Las Vegas is a giant neon canary in the American coal mine, deprived of that oxygen. The Sin City swoon is a foreboding that we are losing something priceless: our joy.
Ignore the casinos’ misery at your risk; it will not stay in Vegas.