Vegas Casinos, Hotels Sweeten Pot With Deals During Economic Bust

By CHUCK HENRY

Updated 1:25 PM PST, Mon, Jan 26, 2009

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The water is still dancing in front of the Bellagio, your odds of winning in the casino haven't changed and the neon is as bright as ever.

On the surface, Vegas looks like Vegas, but something has changed. Tom Kubisack from Laguna Beach says he noticed it right away.

"It's a lot less crowded. You don't have the fight the crowds. You come here and you walk right into a restaurant. You don't have to wait an hour or hour and a half. Now it's maybe a two-minute wait, if that," Kubisack said.

Compared to this time last year, visitation to Las Vegas is down 10 percent. That is unheard of -- a double-digit drop in Las Vegas -- it's never happened before. When the November numbers are released next month, it's expected to be much worse.

Lorenzo Thomas, a valet at Cesar's Palace, says he knew it was bad when people with $100,000 vehicles started giving dollar tips.

This week, one of the largest owners on the strip, Sheldon Adelson, who runs the Sands Corp., which owns the Venetian, became Las Vegas' biggest loser when his personal wealth dropped by more than $25 billion.

Because Nevada's tax structure relies on gambling dollars to fund everything that happens in the state, lawmakers are considering opening up a new source of revenue by lowering the gambling age from 21 to 18.

Before the economic crisis, roughly a million Southern Californians a month traveled to Las Vegas. To keep those cars coming, Vegas is turning to what it's best at doing: offering deals.

Here's just a sample of the rates this week:

$27.85 a night at the Stratosphier
$80 at the MGM Grand
$58 at the Monte Carlo
$30 at the Sahara
$27 at Texas Station
$119.37 at the Venetian

Even at the most luxurious of properties, like the Trump Tower, visitors can get a suite for $138, and guests will also receive a $50 credit for use at the restaurant or spa.

Don't want to drive all the way to Vegas, there's Whiskey Pete's, just a few feet on the Nevada side of the state line in Prim. Rooms are going for $13 a night, Sunday through Thursday.

As every casino owner knows, without tourists, Vegas would be nothing more than just a lot of bright lights in the desert.