Question of the Day - 25 November 2025

The short answer, to us anyway, is yes. But "Sin City" is a brand now, not an admonition.

In some ways, Las Vegas hasn’t been Sin City for decades, at least not in the way the nickname was originally intended. But in other ways, it’s never fully lost that identity — it’s just been rebranded for a new era. In other words, it’s certainly not the outlaw town it once was, but the spirit of indulgence is still baked into the Vegas DNA — only now, a $50 resort fee and $20 parking fee are attached.

In the 1940s, '50s, and '60s, Sin City referred to wide-open gambling, long before it was legal anywhere else in the country, with lots of drinking, risque entertainment, gangster shoulder rubbing, and, perhaps primarily, ready sex for sale or even comped. In addition, the sense of lawlessness and indulgence gave visitors a kind of dispensation to do what they couldn't, shouldn't, or wouldn't dream of doing at home. 

Of course, the corporate era diversified Las Vegas in order to attract new crowds. That included family-friendly attractions, high-level dining, even cultural (gasp!) events, while the Sin City aspects, such as topless revues, showgirls, shills, and a tolerance for working girls, faded into the mists. True, that transition backfired to a certain extent and by the early 2000s, Vegas was back into hedonism, personified by the slogan “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.” Even then, it was corporate-sanctioned hedonism — sanitized, expensive, and heavily surveilled.

Today, you could call Las Vegas the home to "polished vice." There's still plenty of sin, we suppose, but now luxury has replaced affordability: dayclubs, bottle service, upper-end escorting instead of open prostitution. You can indulge, but within highly managed and  powerfully profitable parameters.

We'd add that while Sin City remains associated with Vegas' history of gambling and nightlife, the city is actively rebranding once again, having insinuated a family-friendly insert into its other traditional moniker of the Entertaiment Capital of the World -- and Sports. Other than the occasional cheating scandal and misbehavior of athletes, the sports focus is decidedly beyond the traditional meaning of Sin City. 

In short, Las Vegas wears "Sin City" like a sequined cocktail dress: flashy, unapologetic, and eternally alluring. But most of the "sins" have been adapted and coopted to draw broader crowds. The ones that remain are the province of the well-heeled and celebrity-crazed.