Fun, weird, and goofy facts about Vegas

PHOTO : Vegas strip, center of Vegas fun (public domain source)

The following list depicts some fun facts about Las Vegas for trivia / history buffs and Vegas funatics. Some of the info included here changes daily because no city on earth evolves and sheds it's analogous skin more rapidly than Las Vegas. Thus, consider some of the info here as a vague approximation of reality , which is what Vegas is at least partially about anyway.

- Las Vegas is a Spanish term meaning " The Meadows"

- Las Vegas was founded in 1905 and became a legally incorporated city on 3/16/1911 

- First hotel - casino opened in Vegas was the Golden Gate Hotel and Casino in 1906

- First casino legally licensed was the Northern Club on Fremont Street in 1931 (by Mayme Stocker , a female)

- Mafia member Ben " Bugsy " Siegel built and opened The Flamingo Hotel - Casino utilizing mob funds in 1946. The mob retired (shot and murdered) Bugsy in 1947 for overspending and perhaps skimming mob money while completing the project. He was murdered in his girlfriend's home while reading the LA Times while sitting on the couch.

PHOTO : Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel ( public domain source )          

- Las Vegas celebrated it's 100th birthday on May 15, 2005.

- Number of Las Vegas citizens is approximately 500,000 ; Clark County has approximately 1,500,000 residents

- There are approximately 200,000 slot machines in the area

- Number of annual Vegas visitors approximates 40,000,000

- Number of licensed gaming entities = 1750

- Hours per day average visitor gambles = 4

- Average length of stay for visitors is 3.7 days.

- Annual Clark County gaming revenue is nearly $9 billion dollars

- Average gambling budget per trip per person is approximately $560

- Mean price per acre in valley prior to the recession was about $160,000 

- Price per acre on the strip pre-recession was about $11,000,000

- Number of hotel rooms is over 150,000

- Number of pillowcases washed at MGM Grand daily = 15,000

- Number of doors at MGM Grand = 18,000

- Annual number of toilet paper rolls used at Bally's Hotel and Casino = 1 million

- Average number of daily weddings is 315

- Wedding licenses cost $55 ; there are no required blood tests or waiting periods and couples can wed at any time of day or night ( for as cheaply as $200)

- The average cost of filing for a divorce is $450 .

- Lucky The Clown marquee sign at Circus Circus Hotel has 1232 fluorescent bulbs ; 14,498 incandescent bulbs ; and 3/4 mile of neon tubing lighting ( no wonder they're replacing it )

- In good times, Excalibur Hotel goes through 44,000 Cornish game hens, 15 thousand pounds of hamburger meat, and 4200 pounds of prime rib monthly.

- Caesar's Palace has used 2 million plus maraschino cherries, 11 thousand ounces of caviar, 2 million ounces of tomato juice, and close to 600,000 ounces of vodka in a year's time. 

- More than 60,000 pounds of shrimp are consumed daily.

- Mandalay Bay has 5,300 palm trees, and their famous wave pool has a capacity of 1.65 million gallons of water.

- Average nightly room rate as measured in Novermber, 2009 is just over $93. This is reflective of city - wide room rates, not just the strip.

- There are 37 golf courses in the area. Green fees range from $35 - $250 to play pasture pool.

- There are 15,000 miles of neon tubing on the strip and downtown. 

- Nevada ranks 1st in nationwide state gold production.

- Pre - recession, Vegas hosted an average of 3750 conventions annually.

- The electric bill cost to operate the Luxor pyramid beam is approximately $60 per hour.

- Vegas boasts 17 of the world's 20 largest hotels.

- If you shoot your neighbor's noisy, barking dog and it's in their yard, your neighbor can hang you for it. Two separate links ( here and here ) reported this was legal in the state of Nevada ; I did not peruse the state statute codes to verify it. Perhaps one might consider discussing the situation with the neighbor or calling animal control initially (the local animal control ordinances are in fact very strict about barking dogs as a nuisance ).

- The roughly four mile stretch of the strip is not in the Las Vegas township, but rather situated in three unincorporated communities known as Paradise , Winchester, and Enterprise. No worries, I'm not changing my page title to the Paradise Examiner.

- On any random night, there is an estimated $30 - 60 million in the larger casino vaults. On holiday weekends, those estimates double.

- The Stratosphere Hotel tower, at more than 1100 feet, is the tallest building west of the Mississippi and the 5th tallest nationwide.

PHOTOS : Stratosphere Hotel tower in Vegas (public domain sources )

- The area is home to the largest community of Hawaiians outside of Hawaii.

- The largest slot machine jackpot ever won in Vegas was just under $40,000,000 

- Though not a fun fact, a research study conducted by Temple and Harvard University researchers and reported in the Las Vegas Sun showed that Vegas residents are 40% less likely to commit suicide if they leave town. Further, visitors are twice as likely to commit suicide in Vegas vs elsewhere. I don't think the local Chamber of Commerce promotes the results of that study, but Vegas has always been known to have among the highest suicide rates nationwide.

Cheers...

Charles Higgins