Culture

Las Vegas Airport Claps Back At Popular Narrative About Dying City With Subtle Response To Panic

by Last Updated
Las Vegas Dead Casinos Panic Broke Reaction
iStockphoto

Las Vegas is a dying city. Nobody wants to spend money on The Strip because it’s too expensive. Gen Z doesn’t like to gamble and online apps ruined the fun of betting at sportsbooks. Other cities have clubs that are just as good or better without having to pay for airfare.

Those are the kinds of things you’ll find about the Entertainment Capitol of the World on social media these days. Everybody seems to be panicking about the future of Las Vegas as if it is doomsday.

Although this overwhelming narrative started at the end of 2024, it really picked up steam during the week of the Super Bowl. Hotel rooms that would typically carry a price tag of at least $1,000 a night were selling for pennies on the dollar. Bars with watch parties were surprisingly empty. Casinos weren’t getting the influx of in-person bets that they would normally expect for the biggest sporting event in the United States. One of the most popular blackjack pits in one of The Strip’s most popular casinos had five dead games on the Saturday prior to kickoff. Dealers made $450 less than last year on the Friday before.

If you were to read social media, the spiral continued through February and into early March.

Here is an first-hand account of the struggling scene from someone with close ties to the city, allegedly:

I live in Vegas, my mom works on the strip, can confirm, s— is super dead, and only people here are likely to have booked a while ago, whoever comes for conferences, and even then these people aren’t spending

— @cousin_vanko / X

Some locals might push back on that portrayal, and to be fair, the winter is the dead season in Las Vegas.

It picks back up in March. I was a server in Las Vegas for 14 years so I know this… depending on what events are here there may be some busy times in between but for the most parts that when the least amount of people are here in Las Vegas.

— @PolitiTickle / X

It is also important to note the numbers because January was a great success. Casinos had their second-best month ever and won $1.44 billion from gamblers. Strip casinos won $840 million, which reflects a 22.5% increase year-over-year.

But you would never know that things were cooking early in 2025 if you only read what people say online. You would think Las Vegas is on the verge of collapse. And maybe it is. Who am I to say?!

Harry Reid International Airport told a very different story on Monday. The primary airport for Vegas posted the following video of its traffic outside the terminal:

It was accompanied by the following caption:

It’s a busy Monday at LAS and we’re seeing heavy traffic on the roadways leading to T1 parking. Please drive safely and give yourself extra time if you’re heading to the airport this afternoon! ✈️

— @LASairport

I obviously cannot confirm whether or not the post from Harry Reid was in direct response to the panicked outcry over the weekend, but the timing is coincidental. It reported a busy travel day less than 48 hours after people declared Las Vegas as dead.

I scrolled back through the airport’s official feed and I did find a few similar posts from the past so this was not a one-off thing. Mondays are busy.

Still. Harry Reid had not posted about a busy Monday since last year. And suddenly it’s bustling?! Whether intentional or not, the post served as a direct contradiction to the death of Las Vegas. Maybe we should hold our judgement for a larger sample size.