A:
This is a very frequently asked question, in one form or another, and has proven to be a particularly tough nut to crack. Although Las Vegas hardly makes a secret of its free-flowing attitude towards booze, casinos proved predictably reticent about divulging any numbers, even though we assured them we were far from averse to indulging in the odd adult beverage ourselves and wouldn’t think any less of them.
Some properties, including the Las Vegas Hilton, politely explained that it was company policy not to reveal any such statistics. Fair enough –- at least they didn't waste our time. Some, including MGM Grand and Caesars Palace, just consistently ignored us. Others, including the Hard Rock and DeLuca Liquor (one of the biggest alcohol suppliers in southern Nevada), teased us with promises of getting back to us with valuable information that was never forthcoming, leaving us high (or rather not) and distinctly dry.
As far as those few who were helpful are concerned (to whom we extend our heartfelt thanks), it was still tough getting comprehensive or specific information from them. Some people knew about liquor, but not beer, some in terms of cost but not of volume, and so on. So the best we can do is present to you what we have, which admittedly isn't much, and leave you to come up with some guesstimates of your own.
- Bellagio apparently goes through roughly $9,000-worth of beer in their pump room and 50-60 cases of beer on the casino floor on an average weekend day.
- Mandalay Bay was able to give us an approximate figure of $500,000 in total booze costs for the property per month, which includes all bars, restaurants, comps, etc.
- Boulder Station revealed that each bar there (we believe there are seven in total) gets two deliveries per day of around 20-30 cases of beer, so that's a consumption of approximately 500-700 bottles of beer per bar, per day. They're not big on draft over there, apparently, and only get through about eight barrels of beer on tap each week.
- Paris and Bally's proved to be among the more helpful and informed of the properties we spoke with. The beverage manager we spoke with gave us the following figures: Bally's gets through approximately 70 cases and five kegs of beer a day, while Paris's slightly boozier patrons guzzle around 100 cases of beer and 10 kegs.
- Finally, just when we'd given up hope of getting any more information at all on this subject, we came across a recent feature on the Venetian in the Toronto Globe and Mail, which listed all kinds of stats about the property, including the fact that more than 6 million drinks are served annually on the casino floor and that 48 different brands of alcohol are pumped from the hotel's underground storage facilities to the bars using more than nine miles of tubing. Their cocktail waitresses walk an average of seven miles a day.
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