Vegas Is So Cute When It Gets Defensive

The New York Times had a not-quite-news article about the poor economy in Las Vegas this weekend. Most that read ECG know that Las Vegas, like every other casino market in the USA, is down.

Las Vegas was hit particularly hard as they had the largest real estate crash to go along with everything else. On top of that, Las Vegas isn’t the only gambling market in the country any more.

“Am I worried?” Mr. (Billy) Vassiliadis, (the chief executive of the advertising agency that represents the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority) continued. “Hey, listen, I wish we could go all the way back to before Atlantic City opened. By my nature, I like monopolies as long as they are my clients.”

Everything in the article is fact, but like most newspaper articles it had an angle. That angle is that Las Vegas’ economy is doing poorly.

Of course, Las Vegan’s (I thought a Vegan was something different) took objection pointing out the positives in the market. Doug Elfman from the Las Vegas Review Journal got super defensive in response to protect his home town.

I’d quote the article, but I don’t want to get sued by the LVRJ. Elfman is generally a very good writer but this piece comes as whiny as it does protective of the city. So, I’ll quote myself for emphasis.

So? The truth? Like everything in life it’s in the middle. Yes, things in Las Vegas are down but clearly some of the market has learned how to move forward and are doing so.

Of course, I’m rooting for things to get better in Las Vegas. There’s no better place in the country to lose yourself for a day, night or week. There are so many things that I can root for in Las Vegas.