En esta avenida de seis kilómetros y medio se concentran los hoteles, casinos y atracciones más conocidos de Las Vegas. Pero detrás de las luces de neón, la gran industria del juego y el espectáculo de la ciudad se esconde una historia no tan brillante.

Mariam Khan

The Strip in Las Vegas, Nevada, has forty-five casinos and even more hotels, as well as restaurants, shopping malls, convention centres and churches. This famous road attracts over forty-two million visitors a year. 

GLOBAL INFLUENCES

The Strip features some of the world’s most iconic buildings. Walking along the road is like travelling around the globe. You pass an Eiffel Tower of the Paris Las Vegas Hotel & Casino, an Egyptian pyramid of the Luxor Resort & Casino, Venetian gondolas of The Venetian Resort Hotel and a Rome Colosseum of the Caesar’s Palace. Other attractions include the dancing fountains of the Bellagio and a giant 550-foot ferris wheel.

THE MAFIA CONNECTION

The mafia was very much responsible for developing the casino industry in Las Vegas in the 1940s. Legalised gambling and prostitution attracted organised crime syndicates from New York. Notorious gangster Bugsy Siegel started constructing the Flamingo, the city’s first major resort and casino, in 1945. Some say that the name referred to his girlfriend, Virginia Hill, who had very long, thin legs.

A BAD GAMBLE

The Flamingo’s budget was 1.5 million dollars, but the actual costs were more than six million dollars! Siegel’s New York partners were not happy with that. Then the hotel started losing money, and closed temporarily in 1947. Siegel was given a second chance and made a desperate attempt to make it successful. It started to make a small profit, but it was not enough. Soon after, Siegel was shot to death at his house in Beverly Hills.

YOU BET!

Known as the ‘Sin City’, Las Vegas has something to offer everyone. However, most visitors come to gamble. The casinos earn hundreds of millions of dollars a month. Neon signs invite visitors to come in and spend, spend, spend. Drinks are free as long as you are gambling.

ROMANCE

The other popular activity on The Strip is getting married. Over one hundred thousand couples say “I do” in Las Vegas every year. There are themed weddings to satisfy all tastes: pirate, western, Egyptian, zombie, disco and intergalactic. You can have Elvis conduct the ceremony or he can walk you down the aisle, as if you were his lost child. Considering the history of Las Vegas, a gangster theme would also be appropriate.   

Glossary

EXPLAINS