Las Vegas is the Entertainment Capital of the World. Huh?! It used to be, but the Nevada Gaming/Entertainment tax has killed live music in the casinos. In the glory days of Las Vegas there was entertainment everywhere. Seven days a week -twenty-four hours a day there was something going on somewhere. I remember (centuries ago) seeing Kenny Rogers and the First Edition at the lounge at the Sands. There was no one in the lounge, but they played their heart out, and everyone in the casino listened and knew they were there. Ten years ago there were bands that played the lounge circuit. Monday nights at the Maxim talent night filled the entire casino. The "showroom" at the Four Queens was actually a lounge. The Platters played there sixteen weeks a year for ten years to a full room with people standing outside four and five deep to watch. I was a "railbird" going from casino to casino hanging over the railing (most casinos had brass railings around the lounges) to watch amazing live performers.
About ten years ago all of that came to an end. I missed the music, but I didn't think much about why it had happened. I simply assumed that the casinos had become too cheap to pay the entertainers. Then a few months ago we called a downtown casino about doing an event in their meeting room. The answer - not if you have live entertainment. Why? Because of the Live Entertainment Tax. Live Entertainment Tax? What's that. We found another venue. They said . . . we'd love to have you, but NO live entertainment. We won't pay the taxes. So we started looking into it. It turns out the "new" gaming-entertainment tax isn't new. It was put in place ten years ago - when live entertainment disappeared in the lounges. But it didn't just disappear, it was murdered by the State of Nevada. For Las Vegas, a city where the economy has gone to hell in a handbasket in the last decade, this may be the dumbest tax ever. In the good old days of Las Vegas when it was the Entertainment Capital of the World, people went to a show, and an 18% tax was added to your bill. That was fine. But now . . . .
The Stratosphere charges a ticket fee to take the elevator to the top of the tower. If they have live entertainment at the top, the elevator ticket has a live entertainment tax added. Then there is live entertainment tax added to the food and drinks and any merchandise sold. So how do you avoid the tax? Kill the entertainment . . . and the careers of all the entertainers in town who were here when Las Vegas was the Entertainment Capital of the World.
It's not simply that the State of Nevada shot themselves in the foot when it comes to one of the major draws for its cities that sit in the middle of nowhere, they have shot entertainers in the heart!
Why should tourists come to Las Vegas if it's nothing more than a collection of two and a half miles of tall buildings with slot machines? You can see tall buildings in any big city in the world - most with more architectural integrity than anything in Las Vegas! If you want to drop your money in a slot machine, there's an Indian Reservation or River Boat within driving distance of anyplace in the country.
People who live in Las Vegas talk about the good old days when the Mob ran the town - and ran it right. The corporate mentality of "it's about the bottom line" has killed a city where you used to be able to smell the money! The dealers all knew your name at your favorite casino. It was exciting. Now it's ticket in-ticket out. Nobody knows your name - or cares to. Change people don't exist. Cocktail waitresses can't make a living because no one has cash. And the president of the country has told conventions not to come to Las Vegas driving a stake through the pocketbooks of cab drivers, hairdressers and bellmen who can no long make a decent living.
Nothing can be done about ticket in-ticket out or no one carrying cash, but there is one thing that can bring back some of the excitement and glory of Las Vegas . . . LIVE entertainment. Get rid of the idiotic tax! Bring back the music. Do something to make Las Vegas special, because not only is it no longer the Entertianment Capital of the World, it is no longer the Gaming Capital of the World. That title goes to Macao - a half a world away.
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