

"Facts About Las Vegas"

(1996 statistics from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.) A record 29.6 million travelers visted Las Vegas in 1996. A nationwide survey by the U.S. Travel Industry Association found that 38% of all U.S. residents have been to Las Vegas in their lifetime. The average length of visitors' stay in Las Vegas was almost 4 days (3.7). 87% of all people who visted Las Vegas in 1996 gambled. Of people who gambled, the average gambling budget for the trip was $580.90., On average, those gamblers gamble 4 hours per day. 68% of the people who gamble play the slot machines most often. The largest percentage of visitors to Las Vegas were in the age group of 65 and older (22%). 35% of the 1996 Las Vegas visitors had earned a high school diploma. 26% of the 1996 vistors graduated from college. In 1996 there were over 100,000 hotel rooms (101,106) in the city of Las Vegas. New York City has 63, 279 hotel rooms. During 1996, singer Wayne Newton celebrated his 25,000th Las Vegas performance. Siegfried and Roy performed their 15,000th Las Vegas Show. In 1996 Las Vegas hosted 3,827 conventions and 112 trade shows. On the Las Vegas strip in 1996 there were 40 casinos with a gross gaming revenue of at least $1 million for the year. More Stats... Two decades ago, 2 states had legal gambling and 48 states outlawed it. Today, 48 states have some form of legal gambling. Only Hawaii and Utah do not. Over 60% of American adults gambled last year or over the past twelve months on some activity. Over 80% say that gambling is legitimate and casinos are okay. Gambling generates more revenue than movies, spectator sports, theme parks, cruise ships and recorded music combined. Las Vegas is the fastest growing city in the U.S. Players lose $6 billion a year at Las Vegas casinos. The number of visitors to the new casino/entertainment complex, "New York, New York " in the first two months of its opening equaled the visitor volume for all of Las Vegas. If it continues at this pace, by the end of the year there will be 30 million visitors to Las Vegas and 30 million to "New York, New York." Gambling has become a $40 billion dollar a year industry in the United States. From 1974 to 1994--20 years--the amount of money Americans legally wagered has risen 2,800 percent, from $17 billion to $482 billion. Experts outside the gambling industry estimate that people with gambling addictions account for about 5% of all players--but 25% of casino and state lottery profits.- Gambling interests have contributed $4.5 million to political parties and candiates at the federal level since 1991.--Center for Public Integrity, 1996 report (NOTE: This number is dwarfed by the amount spent at the state-level, as FRONTLINE's "Easy Money" report shows. Most of the laws regulating gambling are state laws.) Mirage Resorts Inc., made Fortune magazine's 1996 list of the 10 most admired companies. Steve Wynn, the company's CEO, as of 1996 had a $1 billion dollar line of credit with Bank of America. The California State Employee's Retirement fund, U.S. Steel's pension fund, and Harvard University's endowment have all owned stock in gambling companies. During Virgina's 1995 legislative session, gambling interests hired 48 lobbyists. In Texas, they hired 74, more than two for every state Senator and one for every two members of the Texas House of Representatives. A U.S. News & World Report computer analysis of 55 counties that got casinos between 1990 and 1992 found that the 4 percent increase in new businesses in these counties matched that for the rest of the nation, leading to the conclusion that gambling does not generate economic expansion in the areas in which it operates. The fastest growing industry in the world is Indian gambling. There are 150 Indian casinos in the U.S. as of May 1997 Indian gaming is a $27 billion a year business in the U.S. (1997). join the discussion / what are the odds? / gambling: pro and con / interviews / timeline / facts & stats / tapes & transcripts / press

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