Gambling Brings People to Southern Nevada

Las Vegas was seen as a destination where growth came from shopping and dining rather than gambling. But now it seems the order is reversed. Only the future will show us if it is just a fadish increase of betting or a new trend.

The concept of visitors' gambling habits was just one among hundreds of informative pieces in the latest edition of the Las Vegas Visitor Profile Study. The survey included 3,600 personal interviews conducted in 2006. The final conclusions were based on comparisons with the surveys from 2003, 2004 and 2005.

Due to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority which has sponsored the study for 32 years it became one of the most reliable sources of publicly accessible information about why people visit Las Vegas and what they do during their trips.

The study revealed that 11 percent of respondents said gambling was their main reason for visiting Las Vegas, up from 5 percent in 2005. Kevin Bagger, director of Internet marketing and research for the authority, declared that they have to see if it evolves into a trend over time or is just a change for this year.

However, the average of total money people spent gambling in 2006 was $652, an increase of more than $25 or about the cost of one hand of blackjack at many tables on the Strip. The amount of costs on food and drink rose to nearly $261, with $12 more than the precedent year. On a scale of one to five, visitors stated that the main reasons who lead them visit Las Vegas were dining, gambling and gawking. After these came shows, shopping, clubs, spas and golf.

There is an interesting result of the survey. It indicates that the fact the respondents event was in Las Vegas also prompted them to actually attend. For example, 48 percent of the respondents who came for a trade show or convention said that the location of the event in Las Vegas influenced their decision to attend. According to the research, the number of people from households with six-figure incomes who visited Las Vegas increased with 14 percent from 10 percent in 2003.

All these changes are stimulating the enlargement of new multibillion-dollar resorts on the Strip, such as the $7.4 billion City Center by MGM Mirage and the $4.4 billion Echelon by Boyd Gaming.

Although, there were marked increases in the budgets for Las Vegas trips, for some categories of expenditures they were not so big. It is the case of shopping which increased just $4 per person to about $141, much less than the 2004 increase of more than $27 or the 2005 increase of more than $12. Moreover, it the results includes only people who shopped during their trip, the spending per person decrease $14 to $206.

Michael Kammerling, senior vice president of retail at Grubb & Ellis in Las Vegas, declared that rising energy costs and economic uncertainty probably play a part in people being smaller spenders.