Is Bigger and Newer Always Better? A Review of CNN’s ‘Story of Sin City’

The final episode of the four-part documentary series, "Vegas: The Story of Sin City" debuted on CNN this past Sunday night.

Has modern Las Vegas become the greatest show on earth … or just a giant circus tent with the most clowns?

As with the first three segments, the new installment divulges several intriguing revelations -- and even showcases a few surprises. As an aficionado of all things Las Vegas, admittedly, I tend to be cynical about dumbed-down, spoon-fed fast-food entertainment for the masses. This especially applies to mainstream media’s often painfully uninformed and twisted portrayals on gambling. Let’s face it – anytime Las Vegas is the subject, most of the content is repetition and exaggeration.

However, this original CNN production does quite a commendable job in capturing the long evolution of Las Vegas, both for better and for worse. The series melds the disparate worlds of gambling, entertainment, business, and politics. Still, we’re left with the uncomfortable dichotomy that Las Vegas just is as much a distorted freak show as a mirror of who we are and what we’ve become. It’s uncertain if that interpretation is cause for celebration or horror.

CNN’s Las Vegas Binge

The series, which has run over the past month on Sunday nights, with frequent repeats of the hour-long episodes throughout the week, is generally segmented into decades. The first episode focuses on the early history of the city through the end of the 1950s. The second highlights the 1960s, often called "the golden era" of Las Vegas. 

Part 3 showcases the 1970s, an awkward time for the city and the casino industry. I was most fascinated by this period given the growing pains of mass marketing and international success. Las Vegas (and casinos) currently face many of these same issues today — including an identity crisis. 

Indeed, it’s tough to rise to the top, but then it’s even tougher to stay there. Early on, Las Vegas was an easy bet, a virtual lock as a gambling and entertainment mecca. But letting that bet ride on Las Vegas to stay fresh and exciting remains a perpetual risk and a question mark.

That leaves just one more show to go – the conclusion. Here are my takeaways from Episode 4, covering the period of 1980 through the end of the millennium:

The Mirage casino-resort, opened in 1989, kicked off an era that would change the face of Las Vegas, if not its underbelly. (Image: Alamy)

Changing Casino Dynamics: Welcome to the Show!

It's hard to recall any time Las Vegas had any low points. After all, even the slowest periods of development still included some growth and were profitable. Nevertheless, the early 1980s certainly saw a definite slowdown. The American economy hadn't fully recovered from the "malaise" of the late 1970s. Music and entertainment were in a state of transition, leaving casino showrooms in a state of flux, uncertain about who should be headliners. 

Even the biggest casinos were changing – from what they looked like, to who gambled there, to who ran them. Corporations took over, and organized crime tried to stake its final territorial claim. They predictably lost (see the movie Casino, which perfectly captures this era of transition). The house always wins.

Las Vegas' meticulously-crafted imagery has always been closely tied to entertainment. After the Rat Pack, Elvis, and other superstars faded, replacements of that megastature were hard to find. So, casinos began promoting from within. 

Siegfried & Roy, previously schlocky cruise ship magicians who worked with wild animals as their main novelty (mostly big cats) was the first in-house act to really hit the big time and go mainstream with audiences. Initially, critics predicted no one would pay top-dollar prices to see unknown lounge acts. But the new extravaganza shows weren't just popular as well as immensely profitable. Replacing "Sinatra" with white tigers and circus acts (Cirque du Soleil, Blue Man Group, etc.) allowed casino shows to run year-around. 

This showroom entertainment revolution provided several advantages. These lesser-known acts were hungry to work, and were cheaper (at first -- they eventually commanded huge salaries). They could also work 12 months a year, which was never possible with superstars. Perhaps most enticing, acts like Siegfried & Roy, Danny Gans, Wayne Newton, and others were willing to sign long-term contracts and become ambassadors of the city. So Las Vegas tourists could plan vacations far in advance and know that their favorite headliner would be performing. 

Steve Wynn’s Vision

The history of the modern-day casino era has two key dates and watershed years – 1966 and 1989. 

Howard Hughes' residence and takeover of six Las Vegas casinos ushered in massive changes, and provided a new respectability for the gambling industry. It also heightened the aspirations of what was possible in this city. But it was Steve Wynn more than two decades later who was the boldest visionary. He remains most responsible in redefining Las Vegas from the old days into the new era. 

By the late 1980's, even organized crime interests couldn't raise the hundreds of millions of dollars necessary to construct and open a new megaresort. Somehow, Wynn leveraged his success in smaller casinos (including the Golden Nugget) and broke ground on the biggest and most luxurious casino in history. 

The Mirage remains the most important casino ever built, costing $600 million initially. It opened in 1989 and less than a decade later, Wynn re-raised himself all in and did it again by opening the Bellagio, a similar turning point for Las Vegas and the Strip.

Wynn's luxury properties would become the model of the new Las Vegas. Strike the term "casino." The new game in town was "resort." The new Las Vegas was all about entertainment, comfort and excitement. Tourists didn’t want just dice and cards. They wanted an experience. Visitors could come to Las Vegas, not even gamble, and still have a great time. That would have been unthinkable before. 

Implosion of the once iconic Riviera Hotel & Casino in 2016. The destruction of places people have long loved has become a show unto themselves. (Image: Gene Blevins / ZUMA / Alamy)

Growth Curves

However, these changes came at a cost. Glitzy Las Vegas became kitschy Las Vegas. Tuxedos and evening dresses were discarded for cutoffs and flip-flops. Las Vegas' shift in target demographics towards middle class demands was essential. After all, in the old days it was 400 rooms that needed to be filled. Now, 4,000 rooms needed occupants every night who were willing and able to spend their money. Hotel expansion and the financial demands imposed therein were arguably the single biggest influence on why Las Vegas is what it is today (my opinion).

Shocker: What’s the greatest era of growth for Las Vegas? Before seeing this documentary, I would have thought it was the 1960s. Or, maybe some decade more recently. The correct answer is 1984 through 1994. 

Visits to Las Vegas doubled in that era. Moreover, profits quadrupled. So, more people came. And, they spent lots more money. Hence, this period provided the blueprint that remains in place to this day for corporations. Unfortunately, the influence of casino pioneers who put their names (and reputations) on the buildings – including Sam Boyd, Benny Binion, Jay Sarno, Kirk Kerkorian, Steve Wynn, and others – has diminished to the point of irrelevance. The face of the casino industry is a blur. A dark space. A mystery. A cog. A lance sheet. A quarterly report. A stock share. The Las Vegas Strip became uncomfortably impersonal, yet also incomprehensibly profitable.

Prior to this docuseries, I never thought much before how important the wedding business is (and remains) to Las Vegas and parts of the local economy. 

A century ago, because of lax residency laws and a state desperate for visitation and revenue, Nevada was known for only one thing -- divorces. Nevada was the capital of "quickie divorces." But the state, and particularly the city of sin, morphed into one of the most popular destinations to tie the knot. Celebrities flew here to get married. Impressionable average Americans followed the lead and flowed into small chapels, the drive-thru, and other motley mediums of matrimony. To this day, all the big casinos have wedding chapels. Las Vegas has 240 venues where dreamers can legally get married.

Shallow Take on the WSOP?

Vegas: The Story of Sin City (Episode 4) includes one segment on the World Series of Poker. This inclusion was a pleasant surprise, though the show did a poor job explaining the allure of this once-a-year-poker pilgrimage. 

The WSOP is the richest competition in all of sports. We end up with a shallow portrait of advantage gambling and incomplete and unsatisfying look at one of the broadest marketing tools in the history of the city (it appears on ESPN worldwide numerous times throughout the year and is a virtual marketing tool for tourism). There's a reason why tens of thousands of players come to Las Vegas from 100 different countries each year to compete for almost a half-billion dollars in prize money. 

Even an interview with Jack Binion, the legendary casino operator who created the WSOP, fails to offer any thoughtful explanation as to why this particular event and other gambling attractions like it are so enticing to so many people. Yes, I was glad to see this included, but the 3-4 minutes spent on the WSOP was embarrassingly shallow. (Full disclosure: I was the World Series of Poker Media Director for nearly 20 years, so I may have some biases.)

Binion's Gambling Hall on Fremont Street. Even what's old in Las Vegas is regularly made new again -- always with more lights. (Image: Alan Novelli / Alamy)

Build, Grow, Implode, Repeat

Even Las Vegas' failures can be attractive, to both locals and visitors alike. This includes its very destruction. Consider the outlandish public appeal of casino implosions. Older once-legendary casinos including the Stardust, Showboat, Landmark, Sands, Dunes, Frontier, Desert Inn, Hacienda, Riviera, Aladdin, and so many more adult playgrounds have been blown up and reduced to rubble. 

For some reason, many observers think of this as entertainment. When the classic Dunes sign ignited, blew up, became engulfed in giant flames, and then crashed to the desert floor into a pile of glass and steel, those who never once graced its magnificence cheered like it was a football game and thought that moment was progress. Now today, we're paying $30 to park a car and stumbling over kiosks while walking half a mile to dine at a celebrity restaurant. I guess that qualifies as "progress" to some. 

Remember "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas"?  I hate that slogan and always have. It was a cheap marketing gimmick created by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. I despise it. 

This slogan, and its subsequent revisions, sends a bad message. After being inundated with all its licentious imagery, is anyone surprised that so many visitors, including celebrities, have taken that slogan as a personal green light to misbehave and break the law? When we promote recklessness and lawlessness, guess what happens? We get more recklessness and lawlessness. 

So, what's ahead?

The New, New Las Vegas

There is no Part 5 to this CNN series. Not yet. That elusive chapter remains to be written, and we are the authors of that future story. We are the architects of our own destiny.

Las Vegas became the fastest-growing city in America for many years. Many of us came here and chose to live here, as I did in 2002, because it remains the fulfillment of our dreams. But with continuous growth are ongoing growing pains.

The new Las Vegas is now a mega-tropolis. It's a place many locals do not dare venture to go, sans those who work there. It's an economic and cultural caste system of "haves" vs. "have-nots." 

There is so much for our writer to love and hate about this photo and what it says about where "Sin City" is headed next. (Image: Bob Kupbens / Associated Press / Alamy)

Las Vegas used to be a bargain. Now, the average hotel room costs $300 a night. Formula 1 racing turned The Strip into a giant cluster maze, closing down roads and disrupting a million lives for months at a time -- for a blip on the calendar that lasted just a few hours. 

This year, the Super Bowl came to Las Vegas for the first time, certainly a great thing for the city but also a beacon for other lesser events that transform the city into something unrecognizable from what it was before. The Sphere has become our latest icon and new toy, giddy fun to look at and enjoy, but just as much a giant question mark asking … so, what’s next?

Las Vegas is our mirror, good and bad. It’s the looking glass into all things possible, and even seemingly impossible. In Las Vegas, the circus is always in town and the show never ends.

Always opinionated and often controversial, Nolan Dalla has written extensively about Las Vegas and the gambling scene for 30 years. When he's not writing or gambling (sometimes at the same time), he loves trying out new restaurants, drinking fine wine, and avoiding long walks on the beach. He also goes on massive tilt when losing, and is known for some epic, profanity-laden rants. Contact him at: nolandalla@gmail.com.