Originally posted by: Kevin Lewis
Laughlin realized that it was (and is) a remote, ugly desert shithole with nothing to offer except gambling--and with Vegas nearby, who would bother going there? They solved that problem by being a) a bargain destination b) a senior destination (at one point, it was determined that the average age of visitors was 70!).
Fast forward to covid, which almost killed Laughlin. They took the post-pandemic boom to be some kind of sign that they could now posture as a fancy-ass destination resort. Vegas on the Colorado. So they jacked up prices to Vegas levels and stopped offering deals.
To say that that failed miserably would be an understatement. Laughlin forgot that you need a good reason to go there. They stopped offering reasons. Now, it's a dying, shrinking near-ghost town.
Hey Mr Kevin
I can partially agree with you. I see that the number of visitors has dropped significantly compared to last time when I was there. The only casino that still has a lot of business is the Riverside. The others are doing so-so. The 2-5 game that used to be regularly and sometimes even had 2 games at Harrah's Poker Room has died almost and only sometimes they have a game but even that's not sure anymore.
The Aquarius has removed most (but not all) of its good videopoker and the tables are deserted. The big Colorado Belle Casino sits there idle with a fence around (what are they waiting for?). The River Palms tries to lure in people by advertising "no resort fees". And if you drive 10 miles more to the AVI resort you will see a similar situation. Just like you described. The room rates at the AVI are dirt cheap during the week but pumped up on the weekend (don't know why). Back to Laughlin, even the dining options are limited and mediocre at best.
Instead of visiting Laughlin on my recent trip I went to Mesquite. Similar development but at least the Eureka has quite good videopoker and the atmosphere there was good. A quiet town in the desert but at least it's somewhat special and my new hide-out when I need time off from the Vegas action.
From Switzerland
Boris