The author does a good job trying to find nuanced reasons behind the slump, but it's certainly just the money. The prices at every step of the process are exorbitant. The food is not worth the price you pay, end of story. And the table minimums are so high that you don't have time to really settle in and get into that feedback loop described in the article, where you sit there for hours and soak up "free" drinks and make friends.
In my case, the one time I went to Vegas I dropped a hundred on craps and played as carefully as possible, and I was out after 15 minutes. There's only so much you can do when a single bet is $25. The casino got my money efficiently, but they didn't help me generate the positive memories that would convince me to become a repeat customer. Apparently their profits are up, but it feels like a squeeze born from short-term thinking that's going to blow up in their faces eventually.
exabrial|2 months ago
The taxes on nearly everything are also exorbitant, on top of the inflated prices for everything in the city.
We won't be going back, and it's unlikely they'll ever be able to retreat from both the high taxes and inflation.