By Wayne Allyn Root
The ignorant, clueless mainstream media has it wrong again. They’re so dumb, they couldn’t spell “CAT” if I spotted them the C and A.
We’ve all seen the nonstop headlines claiming “Las Vegas is in Freefall” “Vegas is Dying” and “Vegas is Finished and Will Never Recover.”
All of which is a gross exaggeration.
First of all, Vegas is plenty busy- just like always. Just a little less busy than last year. Revenues are down single digits from last year- which was one of greatest years in the history of Vegas.
In 2024 Nevada casinos enjoyed the all-time-record largest win total in history- $15.6 billion. The Vegas Strip hit all-time record revenues for the fourth straight year. Almost 42 million tourists visited Vegas in 2024- close to another all-time record.
Does that sound like Vegas is dying, or dead?
If your business is off single digits from the best year in history, and the four consecutive best years in history, is that collapse, or freefall, or reason to panic? Of course not.
As usual, the media is grossly exaggerating, with shocking headlines, meant to sell newspapers and explode TV ratings. What a surprise. It’s like a scripted reality TV show.
But compared to last year (the best year in history) business is down this year, and Vegas casinos are laying off employees. That part is true.
So, what exactly is happening? Why is business down this year? The mainstream media would never understand this, but this is another classic case of Republican success versus Democrat failure.
The Vegas brand is perhaps the most famous and valuable in the world. No one could screw that up, right? Wrong. Democrats poison everything they touch.
Democrats have destroyed every big city in America; they screwed up the border and illegal immigration; they screwed up inflation; they screwed up the national debt; they screwed up our public schools; they even screwed up the military with woke transgender brainwashing.
Yet with Trump in office only a few months, the border is secure; the National Guard is making cities safe again; we have peace in the Middle East; Trump’s tariffs have produced record setting monthly budget surpluses; and the US Marines just announced they’ve hit their recruiting goals for the year 2026 in just two weeks.
It’s that easy for Trump and Republicans to turn things around.
Las Vegas is no different. Not all of Vegas is down. Only the Vegas Strip is down. The off-Strip and suburban casinos and hotels in Vegas are booming. Why? What’s the difference?
The reason why is simple. All the major resorts on the world-famous Vegas Strip are owned and operated by Democrats- mostly Ivy League-educated Democrats from Wall Street, who know nothing about gambling or tourism.
MGM is run by Democrats. Caesars is run by Democrats. Harrahs is run by Democrats. Wynn is run by Democrats (since they ran brilliant Republican billionaire Steve Wynn out of town). Even Venetian sold out to Apollo Global Management based in New York, since the death of brilliant Republican billionaire Sheldon Adelson.
Not only are the Strip casinos run by dumb, clueless Ivy League Democrats, but most of them sold the land under their casino-resorts to Blackstone- a Democrat-run Wall Street firm that now charges them obscene annual $100 million to $300 million land lease charges.
But the off-Strip casinos and resorts are almost all owned and operated by Republicans.
Station Casinos is booming- the Republican Fertitta family owns them.
The downtown Golden Nugget is booming- it is owned and operated by Tillman Fertitta- a Trump Republican who is now President Trump’s Ambassador to Italy.
Boyd Casinos are booming. They are run by the Boyd family- who gives mostly to Republican candidates and PACS.
South Point Casino is booming- it is run by the Republican Trump supporter Michael Gaughan.
Have you seen the recent red state vs blue state breakdown? As many as 21 U.S. states plus Washington DC are now either in, or near recession. But Texas and Florida are booming. Most Southern states are doing well.
There you have it. Just like red states vs blue states, the downturn in Vegas breaks down along party lines.
The Vegas Strip resorts run by dumb, clueless Democrats from New York are all charging rip-off rates. Parking your car is now $50 at any Strip hotel. Two martinis cost $80. A nice meal costs $500. Resort fees will run you up to $100 extra a day on top of room charges. At MGM properties a bottle of water in your minibar might cost you $25.
And here’s the craziest rip-off of all- MGM (run by a bunch of dumb Democrats) now charges $25 extra for room service if you want knives, forks and napkins. This is how dumb, clueless and arrogant Democrats from New York, with Ivy League degrees, treat customers.
Personally, I preferred the mafia. They knew how to treat customers.
On the other hand, at any of these off-Strip and suburban resorts owned and run by Republicans, the parking is free, the meals are reasonable, the room rates are inexpensive, and they have movie theatres, bowling alleys, food courts and babysitting. Anyone can afford a fun night out on the town! It’s still like “old Vegas.”
Just like Trump has turned around America in a matter of months, Vegas isn’t dying, or dead. It can recover to new all-time records in a New York minute. If only Republicans (or the mafia) would take over the Strip casinos and go back to the old Vegas formula- cheap rooms, cheap meals, free parking, and then encourage the tourists to gamble with all the money they saved.
The media will never get it. There are two Americas. Low tax, low cost of living, red state America is booming…while high tax, high cost of living, blue state America is dying.
And there are also two Vegas’s.
The problems in Las Vegas all come down to red state versus blue state values.
The mainstream media has no clue… but America has figured it out!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Wayne Allyn Root is a CEO, businessman, best-selling author, and national conservative TV and radio host, who has interviewed President Trump 16 times. Watch Wayne’s TV show “America’s Top Ten Countdown” on Real America’s Voice TV Saturdays at Noon ET and his video podcast “WAR Zone presented by The Gateway Pundit” daily from 6 PM to 8 PM ET at TheGatewayPundit.com. His website is ROOTforAmerica.com. Read Wayne’s latest fun book, “How Democrats Have Made America Great.” It’s 140 blank pages. The joke is on Democrats!
The post WAYNE ROOT: Las Vegas Isn’t “Dying.” But Just like the Rest of America, Democrat-Run Vegas is in Decline, While Republican-Run Vegas is Booming. Here’s Why. appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.