Leave the Kids at Home

Sex and Sin Make a Comeback in Las Vegas

Las Vegas spent the 1990s trying to attract families by transforming itself into a kid-friendly entertainment paradise.

But children don't gamble, and they can distract their parents from gambling¹. So now the city is returning to its roots, with a new mantra: Leave the kids at home.

The family-oriented hotels that redefined Las Vegas over the last decade are switching to more adult fare, including topless revues. Newer hotels like the Palms are designed as adult-oriented party hotels, built around nightclubs and sexy shows rather than amusement parks and family restaurants.

City officials are abandoning the family-friendly line. "We want it to be an adult play land," said Mayor Oscar Goodman. "We want people to feel free. We want them to think that this is the place that they can come to and not have any inhibitions."

Family Central

At the beginning of the 1990s, Las Vegas was facing new competition from a boom in legal gambling on riverboats and Indian reservations. The city's gambling revenues plunged², declining by almost half a billion dollars in 1992 alone.

Las Vegas seemed tired, and needed to find a way to set itself apart from the rival gambling establishments that were popping up across the country. The city's leaders decided³ to make Vegas a spectacular "experience" that would attract whole families rather than single gamblers.

In less than 10 years, virtually every hotel on the Strip was demolished⁴ or rebuilt, at an estimated total cost of $12 billion. The new hotels were huge - 20 of the world's 23 largest hotels are in Las Vegas - and provided spectacular entertainment like the artificial volcano at the Mirage⁵, which spewed out flames every 15 minutes after dark.

   在上世纪九十年代初，赌船和印地安保留地的赌博合法化，使拉斯维加斯面临着新的竞争。该城的赌博收入锐减，仅在1992年，就下降了大约5亿美元。拉斯维加斯似乎累了，在遍及美国风起云涌的搏彩新秀的咄咄逼人势头下，它必须找出一条新路子，以突出自己特色。赌城的领导人决定使拉斯维加斯成为一个与众不同的"体验"，以此来吸引整个家庭而不是单身赌客。

One of the biggest of the new hotels, the 5,000-room MGM Grand, spent $100 million to build an amusement park so children would have somewhere to go while their parents gambled. "We really made a very concerted effort to try and focus on all of the nongambling aspects of Las Vegas," said Alan Feldman, vice⁶ president for public affairs for MGM Grand.

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority launched an intensive advertising⁷ campaign aimed at families. Anthony Curtis, a professional blackjack player who publishes the Las Vegas Advisor⁸, a consumer newsletter, says the aim was to remove the stigma⁹ of gambling: "This whole advertising campaign for Vegas was to remove that barrier, so the husband would go, 'It's OK. They've got pools. They've got shopping. They've got food. They've got something to do with Junior.'"

Kids and Gambling Don't Mix

The campaign succeeded in generating a slew¹⁰ of media stories about Las Vegas as a family destination. "That worked very, very well - until the people started actually coming with their kids," said Curtis.

Families came, and total visitor numbers to the city more than doubled in a decade. But casino owners found that the parents were spending too much time with their kids when they were supposed to be at the gambling tables. And those parents who did gamble often left their children unattended until late at night, in an environment where they were still exposed to adult temptations like X-rated pamphlets and billboards¹¹. Some parents worried that gambling might look like a little too much fun in this sanitized, family friendly world. "It's sort of tantalizing¹² to watch them all play. I mean, I want to play too," a young boy told ABCNEWS while visiting the MGM Grand in 1993.

"I don't think Vegas really wanted the kids," said Curtis. "I think they wanted the non-gambling spouse¹³."

The MGM Grand shut down its children's amusement park after just nine months. "It was not a huge success," Feldman said.

Back to Its Roots

Now Sin City is returning to what it does best: adult entertainment. The number of sex clubs has tripled in the last five years. On a busy Saturday night, more than 1,000 strippers perform in clubs along the Strip, where they can earn as much as $200,000 a year.

"Everybody's pushing and wanting a sexier Las Vegas," said Tracy Ault, who has been singing and dancing on the Strip for 10 years. "It's about the sexy, edgy¹⁴ entertainment, and looking at beautiful women and having a great cocktail¹⁵ with your buddies¹⁶ and having a hot night of fun."

During a post-Sept. 11 lull¹⁷ in business, Mayor Goodman gave the strip clubs a boost in the Las Vegas Review-Journal, urging "all able-bodied constituents¹⁸" to "go out and have a lap dance."

The big hotels are getting in on the act too, opening revues that feature near-naked dancers. The hotel show with the most nudity is at the MGM Grand. Called "La Femme," it features topless and nude¹⁹ dancers from the famous Crazy Horse revue in Paris. Mainstream²⁰ entertainers are spicing their acts up too. Comedy magician Fielding West, a veteran on the Strip, added topless assistants to his act and renamed it Comedy, Tricks and Naked Chicks.

Whether or not sex and nightlife work as Las Vegas's latest attraction, Curtis is sure the city's leaders will keep looking for new ways to draw people into its casinos, the lifeblood of its tourist revenue. "I love the way Las Vegas morphs from one to the next. I love the way that they're always inventing new ways to bait the traps." ABCNEWS

  大宾馆也闻风而动，推出了几乎裸体的歌舞。MGM Grand上演的"La Femme"在宾馆中最为开放，由在巴黎享有盛名的"野马"歌舞团表演裸舞。

   主流专业演员也不甘落后，用色情作为佐料，喜剧魔术师Fielding West是赌城的一个元老，他也用上身裸体的助手参加表演，还把自己的喜剧重新改名为"诡计与裸少女"。

   无论色情和夜生活是否再成为拉斯维加斯的最新亮点，Curtis肯定该城的头头将不断寻找把人拉进赌场的新招数，因为这毕竟是该城旅游收入的命脉。Curtis说："我喜欢拉斯维加斯变来变去，我喜欢他们总是不断想出新招数来引诱人跌落陷阱的做法。"