If it’s as bad as they say in Vegas, why don’t they stop the resort and parking fees? Lower food prices? Give people a reason to come back?
That’s the $64,000 question, to borrow the name of the '50s game show.
We've addressed this topic many many times since the gouge got going in earnest after the COVID shutdown. At that time, the casinos were recovering from a near-death experience and believed they had to make as much money as they could as fast as possible. Then, finding little consumer resistance, at least for several years, they kept right on making big profits fast.
Also, this is the age of “maximizing shareholder value,” while spinning it as "enhancing the guest experience." The mostly short-term gain beats up on both the customer and the product, regardless of harm to reputations and trust.
For example, we were interested to see how Derek Stevens laid it out in an interview with the New York Times for a story titled, "A Downturn in Las Vegas Could Signal Tough Times for the Nation."
We don't have a subscription to the NYT, so we couldn't get past the paywall, but the UK tabloid Daily Mail quoted from it extensively. Stevens, pointing to his crowded Circa casino, told the NYT reporter that his casinos are sending more limousines to pick up guests arriving in private jets than ever before. "'All our minimums are pretty high. Every seat is taken."
From the Daily Mail: "Stevens also criticized people who have complained about the city's elevated prices and said that negative headlines might be the result of 'somebody who’s just pissed they’re getting squeezed out.'" Hm.
Speaking of minimums, on Monday, VegasAdvantage posted a survey concluding that Vegas table-game minimums have increased 76 percent since 2020, with 58 of 63 casinos increasing minimum bets and 30% at least doubling them. (Downtown had the largest average increase, perhaps thanks to Circa, which opened in December 2020, while the locals casinos had the smallest.)
Stevens concluded, “We can all fondly remember the 99-cent shrimp cocktail and a dollar a gallon for gas. But the reality is that’s in the past and it’s not coming back.”
It's also no secret that Vegas is consistently skewing toward the high-end and younger demographic, people who don't mind paying the new-normal prices or just don't care about them.
Which leads us, finally, to the answer to your question.
Why don’t they give people a reason to come back? Because they don’t give a damn if you do.
