Just a few more spins of the wheel and you’ll get it all back. From Alex Berenson at alexberenson.substack.com:
Sin City is becoming more like everywhere else, and vice-versa. That’s good for Vegas and bad for the United States
But it’s a dry civilizational collapse.
Last week I flew to Las Vegas to play in “The Main” – the signature event of the World Series of Poker, where players put down $10,000 to seek a first prize that this year is $12.1 million.
The tournament is still going, without me. I finished about 1600th of the 10,043 players, just short of the money line. (I didn’t spend $10,000, I won my way in for $430, so I didn’t feel so bad.)
Outside, the temperatures were close to 110, not that anyone at the tables would know. The Las Vegas Strip is among earth’s most engineered environments, a four-mile stretch of gambling palaces that keep the heat out and the money in. It is almost a shock to walk a few blocks from the Strip and see desert sand in the empty lots waiting to become hotels.
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(Yes, that’s the desert)
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I’ve visited Vegas to play cards at least a dozen times since the 1990s, watching the Strip grow bigger and fancier year by year. A generation ago, the casino companies built themed hotels to evoke other places – New York, Paris, Egypt, Venice.
A neon Potemkin village with everything for sale.
Sibling goes out there often in his wayfarer retirement and says they need to shut it down for 72 hours and just clean everything off.
I was underage for my only visit and did notice how hot it was but the rolls of quarters for the arcade made my day.
It is dry compared to Red State where you can hear the humidity crackle and see the moisture in the air during summer.