Hard Times in Las Vegas?

photos by flipchip • lasvegasvegas.com
Las Vegas times

$8.4 billion MGM Mirage CityCenter Las Vegas

With the national economy playing dead the big Vegas casino companies are reporting 1st Q earnings below last year's record numbers. Record gasoline prices makes the journey to the desert gambling mecca prohibitively expensive for some while arriving visitors are bringing smaller bankrolls. Unfortunately, aeroplanes are the carriage of choice for the majority of Vegas visitors. It's been the life blood of Las Vegas and now those arteries are blocked by post 9/11 fears.

All of this doom and gloom news should cast a pall over Vegas, a dimming of the of the famous Vegas neon. Right? Of course not. This is Vegas, Baby.