I used to go to Vegas four times a year like clockwork – there are two reasons why the city is dying

A former Las Vegas regular has revealed why they believe Sin City is dying amid falling tourist numbers.

Vegas tourism is down 11 percent and overall visits to Las Vegas are down more than 6 percent this year, figures from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority show. 

This week the oldest casino – The Golden Gate Hotel & Casino – announced a huge sweeping change. It will no longer have live table dealer games and instead replace human dealers with electronic games.

A former Vegas regular took to Reddit explaining they believe the tourist boycott is down to two things; ‘the pandemic’ and ‘corporate greed’.

‘I booked a trip and was on the strip the day some of the casinos reopened (after the pandemic) and it was dead, of course, but it was on it’s way back,’ the user wrote.  

As companies attempted to claw their way back into the green following the Covid-19 shut down, the user blamed the city’s decline on corporations relying on ‘the common man’ to recoup their losses.

After having been a ‘Vegas regular for over 20 years’, they saw how prices were soaring following the pandemic. 

‘Resort fees. They started implementing them and every year they go up,’ the user took issue with first. 

‘Even if you are getting comped rooms, some of these places have nightly resort fees ranging from about 40-80 bucks. That gives you access to Wi-Fi and usually the spa. Both things that were previously free.’

The user said that food prices also took a noticeable increase, where buffets used to be served at around $20 to $30. 

‘Now there are fewer buffets to be had and they are all around 50 and up,’ they wrote, noting that ‘most are brunch only so forget about a full dinner buffet’.

The gambling tables also had increased minimum bets if you wanted to sit and play. 

‘Pre-pandemic you could walk into most strip casinos and find 5-10 dollar tables and most would be full day and night,’ they wrote. 

‘Now you find a rare low minimum table anywhere on the strip and most have jumped to 25-50 minimum.’ 

But the gambling tables came with another issue as staffing numbers were also reduced, according to the user. 

With fewer staff comes slower service, which they said is a ‘huge problem’ when gambling. 

‘Most gamblers like to take advantage of the free drinks, but if they have to wait 20 minutes or more for a waitress to even come by and notice them, then another 20 for her to make it back around, that’s a problem,’ they wrote. 

Yet, even if gambling is not your cup of tea, other forms of entertainment have also seen a prices ‘skyrocket’.

‘Shows and events, prices have just skyrocketed for shows,’ the user wrote. ‘Prices everywhere have gone up but most people can’t justify paying 2-300 a ticket for a show per ticket.’  

They also noted that parking fees can cost a driver around 30 to 50 dollars per day if they wanted to ‘park at  hotel where they were actually staying.’ 

After having spent the last 20 years going to Vegas ‘four times a year like clockwork’, the user has since cut their trips down to two and even considered skipping their second trip for this year. 

‘People need to just avoid Vegas until they realize they have to adjust prices that reflect what middle America are willing and able to pay,’ they said. 

Another frequent visitor said they had been ‘five times since 2012, always for business’, but agreed that corporate greed was a major issue. 

‘The first time I came, I was pleasantly surprised that I could just wander from casino to casino, having a beer here and there and some nice food in between. Enjoy the spectacle, hang out with colleagues and watch the crazy people,’ they wrote on the Reddit thread. 

‘And at the end, I wasn’t completely broke, or maybe even won a couple $$. Now, it seems like the only reason to go to a certain casino is if you have a hankering for a specific restaurant.

‘Everything else is generified and looks the same. The prices for food are astronomical… the corps have realized that people will pay anything, because once they are on the Strip for an event, they have no other options.’

Another user chimed in and agreed that corporate greed has been one of the biggest factors keeping Vegas from coming back to life. 

‘I live in Vegas… this is 100 percent what I’ve heard the locals say is the problem too,’ they said. 

‘[Big companies] talk about how they’re optimizing for the high rollers now but [there] just aren’t that many. And as they lose money they continue to raise prices to make up the difference but that just locks out even more people.’ 

But Vegas has not only struggled financially following the pandemic, but also due to a steady decline in tourism which has been attributed to the president’s rigorous immigration efforts. 

The same user claimed that ‘Trumps anti immigrant stuff is really hurting international tourism’.

‘I’ve heard people say that we used to get a lot of Canadian tourism here but not anymore. The strip is super empty.’ 

Another user added: ‘Finally, someone has said it. People I know from other countries who used to come to the US regularly (especially Vegas and Florida) say they are boycotting us. Some of this is due to the spike in cost, some is out of fear and some is political.’

‘We’re all starting to freak out,’ Charlie Mungo, 36, a tattoo artist in downtown Las Vegas told the Wall Street Journal. 

Mungo further told WSJ that Trump’s new policy was positive, but it doesn’t help the root of the problem. 

‘No tax on tips, that’s a rad thing,’ the tattoo artist said. ‘But it doesn’t really do us much good if there isn’t any people to get tips from.’

Mungo said he now makes about $1,500 a month and has lost nearly a third of his clients after Canadian tourists who used to represent 30 percent of his business stopped coming.

But the employees are not the only ones feeling the loss of tourism, as companies are also reporting major losses.  

Caesars Entertainment, which runs eight casino resorts and one non-gaming hotel on the Strip, reported a 3.7 percent year-over-year decline in net revenue in the second quarter of 2025, according to SEC filings. 

From April to June, the company brought in $1.054 billion in Las Vegas, down from $1.095 billion in the same time period in 2024.