Fewer people are putting themselves at risk of losing their home playing roulette or misplacing the groom after a debaucherous bachelor party. Las Vegas is experiencing a tourism slump, which experts attribute to larger American trends of a slowing economy and a decline in foreign travelers:

• Visitor numbers overall were 11% lower in June compared to the year before, after declining for six months straight on a year-to-year basis, per the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.
• There were also 11% fewer networkers expensing $18 cocktails convention-goers visiting the city, compared to June 2024.

What happens in Vegas…has roots outside of Vegas

The vacant slot machines at Caesars Palace could be indicative of how Americans feel about their wallets, since it takes financial chutzpah to gamble. Experts say that economic anxieties are making Americans more guarded in their leisure spending, as evidenced by how they scaled back on their vacation budgets this spring, according to a recent Deloitte survey.

Rising labor costs and fewer gambling enticements like bargain steak tips may have diminished the bang for the buck of the entertainment mecca, prompting some to consider destinations without daily $50 resort fees and more hiking instead.

Plus, foreigners foregoing stateside travel is hitting Las Vegas harder than other places as it is the fifth most popular destination for foreign visitors to the US:

• The number of international tourists visiting Sin City declined 13% in June from a year ago—part of a nationwide trend that industry experts attribute to tightening border control and frustration with American politics.
• Canadians, who make up the largest group of foreign visitors to Vegas, have cooled on trips south of the border after President Trump imposed steep tariffs on the nation and referred to it as the 51st US state. Some of the dropoff might also be due to cost of living challenges within Canada, University of Ottawa economist Isabelle Salle recently told the Guardian.

But…Vegas isn’t ready to fold. Some Americans might just be postponing their Vegas vacations in anticipation of major events soon to be hosted by the city, including the F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix in November, the 2026 FIFA World Cup, and concerts by Paul McCartney and the Backstreet Boys, casino industry consultant Oliver Lovat told NPR.—SK

Sportsbooks were once exclusively a physical location and the only place to put some money down on a game or a fight, unless you were living the Uncut Gems life.

But as online sportsbooks have proliferated following a 2018 Supreme Court decision that paved the way for states to lift their prohibitions on sports betting (besides Nevada and three other states where it was already legal), brick-and-mortar options have felt the impact:

• A number of sportsbooks located at sports venues across the country have closed recently: Betting parlors have shuttered at PHX Arena, Progressive Field, Audi Field, and Churchill Downs in the last year.
• Cordish Gaming’s President Rob Norton said last year that in-person sports betting revenue at the company’s Maryland Live! Casino had plummeted 65% since online gaming launched in November 2022.

Currently, there are 38 states with legal online sports betting. As even more states push to make it permissible, the position of the in-person sportsbook industry will only grow more precarious. American Gaming Association Vice President of Research David Forman said digital sources made up 30% of commercial gaming revenue last year, up from 25% in 2023 and 13% in 2021.

It’s not just America: Sweden’s only remaining brick-and-mortar casino, Casino Cosmopol, will close next year, citing a rise in online gaming and sports betting. There were once four government-run casinos in Sweden, dating back to 1999.—DL

Las Vegas tourism has dropped off this year, and that’s bad news for service workers, because when the chips are down, the tips are down.

Gratuities are a big deal on the Strip: The University of Nevada, Las Vegas, estimates 180,000 people in the metro area work for tips. But visits to Las Vegas dipped 6.5% during the first five months of the year, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, and hotel occupancy was down 14.6% in June compared to the year before, per real estate data company CoStar. That means fewer guests are handing five-dollar bills to bellhops, and fewer tablets are getting swiveled around with various tip percentage options.

No tips, no taxes

The tourism slowdown stings even more since some service workers had hoped to cash in on a new federal policy from the GOP’s recently passed tax law that allows them to exempt up to $25,000 in tips from income taxes.

But “no taxes on tips” assumes there are tips, which have been drying up in the desert:

• A tattoo artist in downtown Vegas told the Wall Street Journal last month that his monthly tip income recently dropped from $3,000–$6,000 down to $1,500.
• A supervisor at a doughnut shop told the WSJ his tips dipped from about $175 a week to $100—a big drop for someone who otherwise makes $15 an hour.

It’s an especially cruel hand for Vegas to draw, since President Trump has said the “no taxes on tips” policy was inspired by a waitress who works in the city.

Tax return: Service employees may not have time to wait for tourism to pick up again to take advantage of “no taxes on tips.” The policy is slated to sunset after 2028, though experts say it could prove popular enough for Congress to extend it.—BC

Despite all the attention Hellman’s got for throwing one lucky couple a sauce-filled wedding in Las Vegas this summer—complete with a mayo color scheme and a tower of chicken fingers—turning a wedding into the ultimate brand-sponsored collab isn’t new.

Luxury designers have been soft-sponsoring celebrity weddings for years, and fast-food chains have been riding the nuptial promo wave ever since Burger King paid for a conveniently named couple’s Illinois wedding ten years ago. Now, the post-pandemic wedding boom and Vegas’s quest to uphold its “Wedding Capital of the World” title have built an empire of kitschy, consumer brand-sponsored weddings:

• Taco Bell announced that for Valentine’s Day this year, you could get married in its Las Vegas chapel with a bouquet of hot sauces for just $777…a $177 increase from when the company first announced the package in 2017. The upcharge isn’t inflation-related: it’s a nod to the lucky trio of numbers on Vegas slot machines and, most importantly, a push to get the brand’s PR machine PR-ing again.
• Oscar Meyer’s Wienermobile parked in Sin City in April 2023 as a pop-up chapel. It’s still driving around the country, inserting itself into people’s special day.
• Denny’s Vegas chapel offered a promotion on Valentine’s Day this year for a free wedding (normally $199) for anyone who got married between 9am and 5pm.

Big picture: It doesn’t matter how many people gripe about a plushie mascot officiant ruining the sanctity of marriage; Vegas is desperate for couples to come get married. Even after 2021–2024 marriage license totals lapped pre-pandemic levels, officials say they’ve seen a significant slowdown in the first half of this year due to economic concerns. Clark County reported about 900 fewer weddings in June compared to last year.—MM

Those ditching Kansas for the glamour of Vegas are about to encounter…a really compelling rendering of Kansas.

Beginning on August 28, the Sphere will start screening The Wizard of Oz, the 1939 MGM musical starring Judy Garland. “You’re not just going to be watching it, you’ll be living it,” Sphere President and COO Jennifer Koester told Morning Brew.

Prepare to be immersed: The presentation includes 167,000 audio speakers, haptic seats, and 4D effects, including fire and flying monkeys to freak out surprise the audience. Oz at the Sphere also boasts the highest-quality resolution for a movie ever, and a painstakingly re-recorded score that even cinephiles are excited about.

But changing up a beloved movie, especially the one the Library of Congress says is the most-watched in history, is as risky as a scarecrow standing near fire. Critics of the project have pointed out:

• The movie’s runtime was cut from 102 minutes to 75. Possibly related: Every second of this version takes more than 12 days to render.
• Artificial intelligence supported by Google filled out scenes to fit the Sphere’s massive screens.

Bottom line: About 7% of all Las Vegas visitors go to the Sphere, James Dolan, the CEO of Sphere Entertainment, said on an earnings call this week. He thinks the Oz showings will raise that to 10%. If you’re in town now, Glinda’s bubble and a field of 5,000 silk poppies are waiting for you at the Venetian.—HVL