In 1931, open gambling was legalized, creating opportunities for developers to build large hotels with casinos such as Bugsy Siegel’s Flamingo Casino Hotel.
Entertainment soon took center stage, and Las Vegas emerged as a tourist destination. Shows featuring performers like the Rat Pack and Cirque du Soleil attracted large audiences and cemented its standing as an entertainment mecca.
The construction of Hoover Dam
Las Vegas has come a long way since it first emerged as a railroad town in 1905, becoming an internationally acclaimed entertainment center and tourist hub famous for its world-renowned hotels and casinos.
Hoover Dam’s construction in the 1930s led to an economic boom for Boulder City, as thousands of workers relocated there for its construction. Workers needed gambling and entertainment – which led infamous mobster Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel to invest heavily in Las Vegas Strip casino gambling as a form of investment; his influence is what ultimately heralded its modern era of growth and success.
Although Las Vegas had long been associated with gambling, Siegel’s vision transformed it into an oasis in the desert. He introduced large-scale resorts and major casino brands that attracted new types of clientele – an immense departure from bootleg liquor and sex clubs prevalent during previous decades; plus it helped counter the mafia’s grip on town.
The first casino
Few cities capture our imagination like Las Vegas does, yet its meteoric rise to be the world’s gambling Mecca remains puzzling. How did a desert scrubland become such an irresistibly glamorous locale?
Beginning in 1905 with the arrival of a railroad connecting Los Angeles and Salt Lake City, Nevada underwent a dramatic transformation. Railroad backers and settlers helped shape its layout; while gambling was outlawed officially by Nevada state legislation in 1910, illegal casinos continued their presence via speakeasies or illegal casinos.
Bugsy Siegel invested in The Flamingo casino resort in 1946, adding new levels of grandeur and luxury to Las Vegas and ushering organized crime into the picture that would ultimately shape its development.
By 1954, over 8 million visitors annually were flocking to Sin City – lured in part by performers like Frank Sinatra and Liberace as well as rows of slot machines. Alongside mob money, developers borrowed from sources like Wall Street banks, union pension funds, and the Mormon Church; thus creating the vibrant, family-friendly destination it remains today.
The rise of the mob
Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, legendary mobster figures like Bugsy Siegel and Meyer Lansky opened iconic casinos like the Flamingo and Desert Inn as fronts for illegal gambling operations, money laundering operations, or both. Gangster-run operations tightly dominated Sin City; tales abound of shaking downs, beatings and even murder.
But by the 1960s, mob influence had begun to decline as Attorney General Robert Kennedy launched a nationwide crusade against organized crime and brought in new blood. Mob leaders eventually lost their presence in Vegas casino markets when Chicago mafia boss Sam Giancana sent mobster Anthony Spilotro under state gaming regulators’ watchful gaze to oversee loan-sharking and other street rackets at casinos such as Stardust and Fremont.
The rise of gambling
In the 1980s, Las Vegas underwent many changes that helped shape what we know today as modern Las Vegas. A larger-than-life ethos took over along the Strip with bigger casinos and resort hotels offering the highest standards of luxury and service; family-oriented attractions like theme parks and shopping malls began popping up as well, giving Las Vegas more depth in terms of appeal to a range of visitors.
Gambling in Las Vegas is flourishing, with revenue for casino games reaching record heights last year. Many casinos are targeting high-value gamblers by increasing table limits and offering more luxurious amenities, and this strategy has proven itself successful by keeping profits even when there are fewer customers visiting at once. This trend should continue as more people discover this premier gambling destination; Las Vegas casino operators look forward to further innovating to attract a younger crowd! The future looks bright for this gambling city of many casinos!