Sin City is dying

I've read all the inevitable jokes about Roy of Siegfried and Roy getting mauled by the tiger: I wonder how the writer of that Simpson's episode where Mr. Burns opens a casino and a Siegfried and Roy type act gets mauled by a pissed off tiger feels right now. I mean it was an obvious joke, and the odds of something happening with big nasty cats over the long haul for them was probably getting close to 1:1, but nobody wants to predict anything like that do they?

They're talking about the economic spillover effects now: all the dancers and performers fired, the ticket revenue lost, the trips cancelled - who knew that Siegfried and Roy were that big a draw? But why else would one want to go for Vegas if not for the spectacle of acts such as these?

You can gamble almost everywhere else on the continent. In Ontario alone there are three (soon to be four) big commercial casinos, six "charity" casinos, and 15 (soon to be 18) slots-at racetracks facilities. There are plenty of local places to lose money hand-over-fist at.

Vegas used to have an air of danger about it. People would look at you with suspicion if you frequented Vegas. You might be dangerous.

Now Vegas is the playpen of Celine Dion's spoiled little brat. The marketers have succeeded in making Vegas a "family destination." Ugh.

Sigfried and Roy, laugh if you will, were part of the dangers of Old Vegas. Unless they get newer, hotter acts to have extended stays in Vegas it will be harder to convince the pigeons (ie. tourists) to flock to the slot machines.

It's just as easy to plug quarters into a machine at home...